OnePlus 3

OnePlus is no longer a new name on the market. The Chinese manufacturer premiered in 2014 with its first handset, followed up by last year’s OnePlus 2 and the even more budget-friendly OnePlus X. Now OnePlus 3 takes the center stage and so far, the premise is better than before—Oppo dropped the invitation system so that everyone can use their money to purchase it. Design OnePlus 3 doesn’t look bad with its curves and contours. It’s a grown-up, solid device that comes in an elegant aluminum unibody—a great and durable upgrade over the plastic-clad and glass-backed precursor versions. The design doesn’t bring anything new or original per se, in fact, the body looks a lot like that of an HTC phone. The only inelegant feature of the device is the raised camera lens, but it doesn’t damage too badly the overall design. The home button doubles as a fingerprint reader, something we’re seeing more and more now that Android Marshmallow included native support for them. There is no water resistance or some other protection from the elements, if in case you were wondering. A somewhat bizarre feature is the three-position notification switch on the side. It corresponds to the three modes of Android’s notifications: silent, priority-only and all notifications. The switch seems to be the only way to change notification modes on the OnePlus 3 (there is no software method), thus making it a “hard lock” into whatever mode the user chooses. The back plate cannot be swapped as with the OnePlus 2; if you’re interested in changing the way your phone presents itself, you can order official slim cases from OnePlus—bamboo, black apricot, carbon fiber and rosewood are among those available. Hardware What puts OnePlus 3 in the spotlight though is not the...