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OnePlus 3T vs OnePlus 3 – Are They Actually Different?

OnePlus 3T was launched last month in US and European markets. The phone was launched in India today and will replace the OnePlus 3. To be sold exclusively via Amazon India, the OnePlus 3T comes with a couple of hardware upgrades and a bump in price. In this post, we take a look at all the differences between the OnePlus 3T and the OnePlus 3, and see what all has remained the same.

OnePlus 3T vs OnePlus 3: What Has Remained The Same

The OnePlus 3T comes with a lot of the specs that we have seen on the OnePlus 3. It features the same 5.5 inch full HD Optic AMOLED display, with a pixel density of ~401 PPI. Both the phones run on Android 6.0 Marshmallow out of the box with an almost stock-ish OxygenOS skin on top.

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Both the phones feature the same 6 GB RAM, but the 3T also comes in two storage variants – 64 GB as well as 128 GB. The original OnePlus 3 comes with 64 GB internal storage. Both the phones feature the same UFS 2.0 technology, so you know that the storage is just as fast as it was before.

Coming to the imaging department, the 3T and the 3 both come with the same 16 MP rear camera with an f/2.0 aperture, Phase Detection Autofocus, Optical Image Stabilisation and an LED flash. The front camera is different on both the phones, though. We touch on that aspect in more detail below.


Other connectivity options also remain the same between the two phones. You get dual SIM, 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.2, GPS, NFC and a USB Type C reversible connector. Both the phones also feature the same Dash Charge technology for fast charging.

OnePlus 3T vs OnePlus 3: What Has Changed

The 3T and the 3 differ in three areas – the processor, battery and the front camera.

The new OnePlus 3T comes with a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor and Adreno 530 GPU. On the other hand, the OnePlus 3 was launched with a quad-core Snapdragon 820 processor and the same Adreno 530 GPU.

Between the Snapdragon 821 and the 820, there is very minor difference and that is in terms of efficiency. Snapdragon 821 is nothing but a higher binned Snapdragon 820 chip – in lay terms, it is a higher quality Snapdragon 820 chipset resulting in improved performance. Other features remain exactly the same between 821 and 820.

The OnePlus 3T also comes with a slightly bigger 3400 mAh battery, while the OnePlus 3 comes with a 3000 mAh battery. The 400 mAh difference in the capacity is quite big.

OnePlus 3T vs OnePlus 3: Front Camera

Most of us know that the OnePlus 3T has come up with a new improved camera with a 16MP sensor in place of the 8MP we saw on the OnePlus 3. On paper, it seems quite evident that the camera on OnePlus 3T will perform better but on the basis of our initial comparison between both the phones, things looked quite different.

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Both the phones were clicking impressive selfies but to my surprise, pictures from the OnePlus 3 had a better impact. We clicked pictures indoors, as well as outdoors but the results were unexpected. Selfies from OnePlus 3 had better colour saturation and detailing compared to slightly faded pictures from the OnePlus 3T.

It is hard to accept but the initial experience was same. The reason might be the software optimization on OnePlus 3T is not stable. We can expect better results after a few updates from the company. We’ll be doing a xcomplete selfie comparison between both the phones very soon.

Conclusion

If the question is about the price hike, then we think its justified. OnePlus 3 is already the leader in its category, but OnePlus knows how and when to play the right cards. To fill up the small gaps of the OnePlus 3, they have revised the specs and as the tag line says, “best has become better”. At Rs. 30K, OnePlus 3T is a steal and looks like a perfect device to put your money on.

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Abhinav Singh

Abhinav Singh, a software engineer who is very much interested in social engineering. He is responsible to manage all the social media profiles of Gadgets To Use. He also has a hobby of tracking new apps and gadgets and to share them with our readers as well.