2016 was going to be quite a challenging year for OnePlus. The OnePlus One in 2014 exceeded expectations (and how!), while the OnePlus 2 in the following year didn’t do much. What this meant was OnePlus had a huge burden on their shoulders, that of making a truly remarkable phone… once again.
Besides that, a lot has changed since 2014. Buyers paying ~$400 can get phones with some truly top-end tech now, so it hardly makes sense to have flash sales/invite models for phones that expensive.
So OnePlus had two birds to kill with one stone. Let’s see how that went in our review of the OnePlus 3.
OnePlus 3 Review: Design and Build
The design of the OnePlus 3 is something that’s known for quite a while, thanks to ‘leaks’ ahead of its official launch. That said, I never really disliked the design in pictures, and it felt even better in the hands.
OnePlus somehow manage to pull this off each time. Each of their previous phones, including the OnePlus X, seemed to have been written off even before being launched. It somehow changed after launch each time — the design grew on us. I’ll concede that the OnePlus One was the least good looking OnePlus so far.
The OnePlus 3 does have an iPhone-HTC feel to it, which cannot be ignored. It’s a very clean design with not much fuss about it.
The hardware profile switch key remains from the OnePlus 2, and this time feels like its made out of better quality metal that won’t snap. I’ve had issues with the slider on the OnePlus 2 myself, with the slider coming loose and having play.
One thing that does bother me about the visual aspect of the OnePlus 3 is the colour of the home button. While the bezel on the top and bottom of the screen is pure black, the button is covered in silver reflective coating which in my book makes it look a tad tacky.
Another thing about the fingerprint sensor/home button — after growing used to fingerprint sensors mounted on the rear on 5.5-inch phones, it was a bit of a learning curve going back to a home button-mounted sensor.
The OnePlus 3 has a super tiny lip around its 2.5D curved glass (which itself is a sheet of Gorilla Glass 4) that is supposed to protect the digitiser from damage during drops and such. I’m not sure how effective that’s going to be, because the 2.5D glass itself rises about half an mm over the metal lip. That said, I’ve managed to drop the phone a couple of times from around 2-2.5 feet (unintentional), with no visible damage whatsoever.
The unibody metal around the screen comes chamfered with a slight polish to it… the right amount. It’s quite intricate at the edges, in fact with so much going around – 2.5D glass, a metal lip, the chamfered edge and then the matte unibody. It all makes for quite a premium-looking setup.
The right edge has the power button and the SIM tray. The left features the volume buttons and the profile slider. There’s nothing on the top edge — clean as a (curved) whistle. The chin, on the other hand, is quite busy with the external speaker, USB Type C port, a microphone hole and a 3.5mm jack situated on it.
If I’m not wrong, the Gorilla Glass 4 on top of the screen does possess oleophobic characteristics, but I’m not quite happy with how it works. There always seem to be smudges and fingerprints on the panel. These are extremely easy to get rid of (one quick wipe does the job), but I’ve seem better implementation of oleophobic coating.
Flipping over the phone will put you face to face with the minimalistic and trademark 1+ branding engraved in metal, right below the camera and flash. I like how symmetrical everything is on the OnePlus 3, it’s an OCD’s delight. Antenna lines too, exist only on the top and bottom — reminiscent of the Coolpad Max.
OnePlus 3 Review: Hardware and Performance
So far, so good. I’ve only received the critical OxygenOS 3.2.1 update that is supposed to sort out RAM issues, but I honestly haven’t had any issues with the ROM before that.
6GB of RAM is overkill, and there’s no two ways about it in my dictionary. Shipping a phone with 6GB RAM is like installing Windows 98 on your iPod Touch 2nd gen — you do it because you can. Besides that, I’ve never really felt the difference between a 4GB RAM and a 6GB RAM phone. With component costs falling like they are, OnePlus probably thought of adding the additional 2GB (can’t believe I’m saying that – additional 2GB RAM!) for the spec sheet’s sake.
You’ve already seem how the phone marauds benchmark apps. If not, do so here.
Performance in both, general UI and 3rd party apps is brilliant. It’d be fair to say that the OnePlus 3 is among the fastest Android phones on the market, if not the fastest. To provide some context, the apps that I use most are – Chrome, WhatsApp, Slack, Telegram, Skype, Facebook, Instagram, Gmail, Maps, YouTube, AirDroid, and a few more. A few of these (Skype, FB, Chrome, Slack, specifically) are pretty heavyweight but the OnePlus 3 manages to switch between any of those quite effortlessly.
Moving on to the hardware side of things, let’s start with the display. It’s a nice 5.5-inch 1080p AMOLED panel, which is always a good break from the usual IPS screens that we keep being fed. That said, the display lacks the ‘flagship’ element that a $400 phone is expected to have.
Gizchina News of the week
Don’t get me wrong – the colours and viewing angles are right up there, but the ‘wow’ factor — that cannot be quantified — doesn’t seem to exist. Also, it doesn’t help that I’ve been using the OnePlus 3 over two weeks, which may have caused the wow factor to wear off even further.
What you should totally do on your OnePlus 3 though is you should use Ambient Display mode in conjunction with Proximity Wake. Not much, it’ll turn the screen on in ‘ambient mode’ (i.e., Black and White only) when you take it out of your pocket. Black and White because AMOLED displays take zero power to display a black pixel, thus very less juice is consumed when there’s only a few (figuratively speaking) white pixels to light up.
OxygenOS also comes with it’s own ‘Night Mode’ which works quite well. It’ll skip the blue light and give the display a yellow tint which sure is far from just a gimmick. If you’re a user of the fantastic f.lux app on your computer, you’ll know what Night Mode is.
Besides that, the 3.2.1 update also added the ability to turn on sRGB mode, which seems to affect how the display performs in a very apparent manner.
Moving on to the sound quality, I’ve had mixed results. While the external speaker — mono, from what it looks — is surprisingly powerful and neat, I’ve usually had problems using the built-in earpiece. Now, I’m not sure if the issues are caused due to a network problem or a low-grade speaker, but it’s often really hard to make out what the other person’s trying to say during a call.
The fingerprint sensor, in one word, is awesome. It’s really accurate and really, really fast. I don’t have an iPhone to compare with, but I’m pretty sure it is as fast as the newest iPhone.
Battery life has been good so far, and should get better with future updates. OnePlus have usually delivered on the battery front, with the exception of the OnePlus 2. The OnePlus One in fact was a battery monster with some users reporting up to 7.5-8 hours of SOT! While that is not the case here, the OnePlus 3 does give around 4-5 hours of SOT depending on how you use it.
I used the phone on a super long train journey twice, and despite the constant network switching, the phone didn’t let me down.
OnePlus 3 Review: Network and Radio
A bit of a mixed bag once again. While mobile radio reception (2G, 3G and 4G LTE) has been fairly good, I’ve been disappointed with the WiFi performance on the OnePlus 3. The phone keeps dropping my home WiFi connection (2.4GHz), despite the router being only some 30 feet and a door away. No other phones have had issues, but the OnePlus 3 continues to be a poor WiFi performer.
On the other hand, the OnePlus 3 is the best GPS phone I’ve used to far. Indoors, outdoors or on a train – the OnePlus 3 manages to latch on to satellites regardless, delivering superb accuracy.
OnePlus 3 Review: Camera
Honestly, there doesn’t seem too much of a change between the camera performance of the OnePlus 3 and last year’s OP2. The shutter can sometimes be annoyingly slow (I’m not sure if this is problem that developed recently), rendering both, OIS and EIS useless many a time.
OxygenOS ships with a few different camera options. Main modes include: Time Lapse, Slow Motion, Photo, Video, Manual and Panorama. Manual mode lets you control ISO, White Balance, Shutter Speed and Focus. Besides that, you can also opt to save RAW images.
In automatic photo mode, you can tap on the ‘HD’ icon to enable HD mode. This is what OnePlus used to call ‘Clear Image’… and it doesn’t do too much. And besides, it takes away the ability to take photos in HDR, so it’s really not worth using this mode. I also feel that the name is a little misleading.
Here are some samples.
OnePlus 3 Review: Other
OxygenOS ships with some interesting and some gimmick features. The ones that you totally should use:
- Night Mode
- Ambient Display + Proximity Wake
- Double press Power Button to open camera
- Dark Mode (looks really cool) 😉
Besides this, OxygenOS will allow you to configure your buttons (order, on screen or off screen, backlight, etc.), LED notifications, long press button actions, etc.
OnePlus 3 Review: Gallery
OnePlus 3 Review: Conclusion
I believe I’m been as thorough as I could in this review, without taking any sides. To be honest I was quite floored by the OnePlus 3 initially, which is why I decided to push the review back by a week or so just so that the excitement doesn’t turn into misleading.
Anyway, at $399 international, I feel that the OnePlus 3 is a phone worth the money despite the few shortcomings. Funny enough, one of the most important aspects of the OnePlus 3 doesn’t have anything to do with the phone — that of doing away with the invite scheme. I’m pretty sure releasing the OnePlus 3 with an invite system would’ve taken OnePlus nowhere, and they’ve delivered right in the nick of time.
The phone is available via OnePlus to international buyers. Buyers in markets where OnePlus don’t ship officially can buy from here.
Wonder if this is worth the $100 extra compared to LeEco Le Max 2
unfortunately I haven’t had the pleasure of using the Le Max 2, so can’t comment on that
Le Max 2 looks a bit ugly to me, and there won’t be stock Android experience on it. Other than that Le Max 2 is quite comparable and given that it is selling 100$ cheaper it seems a great deal. It does have an IR Blaster that OnePlus seems to be lacking but storage is limited to 32GB unless you go for the more expensive mode.
$100 less? Where?
Are you comparing the 6/64GB version?
He’s comparing op3 with the 4/32gb version of le max with chinese price… A bit unfair, I think ?
That’s what I thought.
And besides that he still “wonders”
?
Well, I can’t really say anything since I write awfully myself more often than not ?
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1d9e9cfa954f5a5db6e2a07d91d053339f92b6c8ed686d7738d2fcac97da1813.jpg
I was referring to the fact that he “wonders” if the LeMax 2 is better for $100 less.
If course it would be a better deal, no brainer.
Unfortunately it doesn’t cost less.
Comparing the two with the same storage and amount of Ram we’ll find out that LeMax2 costs more.
And as you also pointed out, he was referring to the Chinese price of LeMax while Oneplus sells almost worldwide.
Rotfl not only I write badly, now I can’t even read properly: I misread and thought he wrote “wanders”, so I thought that’s what you pointed out ? I’m such an idiot! ?
Maybe I misread because I was thinking “yeah, price is lower, but only for the less-spec version, and only if you travel to china” ?
lol… “Sir Potato” would have been funnier. 😀
The cheapest Le Max 2 I can find that is comparable to this one (6/64) is $398 at FastcardTech plus an extra $2.99 if you want them to add Play Store.
Bad wifi and camera. Pretty disappointed.
Let’s see what the Axon 7 is capable of
Wouldn’t say the camera is bad per se, but yep it would be natural to expect better from a $400 phone. Or if OnePlus could make this camera faster.
Personally I’m not pursuing a perfect camera phone, my old MI4 was enough for my needs and what I love of Xiaomi phones is the shutter speed a la Apple.
But again, that’s on personal tastes.
Speaking of wifi, all those drops on 2.4ghz are unacceptable.
I don’t want even imagine how the 5ghz performs
Some people people had Wi-Fi issues with 1+1, but I never had any (and my wife is still using it).
I have bad luck, if I chance it, I’m sure I’ll get the unit with problems
I am having bad luck with the Robin wifi. Can never get a consistent connection. I am on WiFi all day if I am paying $400 for a phone I don’t want any doubt.
The Axon 7 and Honor 8 are looking better and better. Honor 8 launches in the US on August 16.
Knowing that the components are all the same my suspect it’s a driver issue.
And it’s all down to what we both have been trying to say here:
It doesn’t matter how good and cheap a phone is, if software sucks and the company doesn’t spend resources to fix the problems then it’s pretty much useless.
I’ve never paid much attention to Honors because of what I heard about the UI.
The last Honor I considered buying was the 6, but then I bought the MI4.
I’ll keep an eye on this one knowing that it will be released in the US.
The Honor 8 is basically a P9 without the “Leica” certification and a glass body instead of metal. Has some awesome colors though. The UI is the same as Huawei’s normal phones, EMUI. It used to be one of the worst UI’s available but it has improved a lot.
Any news about the price?
No, it launched for 1999 yuan (about $300 US) for the base 3/32 model and 2299 ($344) for the 4/32 model. I would guess that $349 would be the international price for the base model and $400 for the 4/32 model.
That would work for me
Take those prices lightly though, that’s based on nothing more than my assumptions. For me it’s really down to that and the Axon 7. The 7 is really starting to win me over but in the back of my mind I remember the various problems I had with ZTE and Nubia phones.
I won’t jump on it until I get several feedbacks.
On Neweggs is on presale at $399 and they also give you a over-the-ear headset that costs $99.
Very tempting, but I’m going to wait.
The New Egg headphones are actually $199.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826696147&Tpk=26-696-147
I am just waiting for the Honor 8 to launch then ill make my decision. Are you still using the RN3 Pro? I would actually love to go back to using a Xiaomi (I use a MiPad 2 everyday and love it) but I can’t go back to just using 3G again, I have been spoiled with LTE on the Robin.
Still on RN3, never been happy with it.
I’m looking for a cheap 5.5″ for my mom. I might get her the RN3.
Too bad mine is scratched already
🙂
I knew you’d aiming for Honor 8 haha
This is going to be our next phone balco
Well a lot will come down to reviews. If neither the Axon 7 or Honor 8 impress me I will probably just get the P9 or Mate 8. Two phones I have already used and loved.
I think you misunderstood the correct usage of HD/HDR with your OnePlus 3 unit: HDR has a better effect at good lighting condition while HD is improving camera performance at low light condition.
Less sharpness, but overall way less noise.
A Oneplus 3 with 3gb ram, 32gb storage, a better camera and wifi would have been a stellar phone at 330$ for international buyers. Who really need 6gb ram these days? Moreover, a OP3 equipped with SD652 is more than enough for everyone.
Agree with you, but they are a business and do what brings more money in their pockets
And they killed their invite system. Think they charge a premium for doing that. 😉
At $330 for international customers there would be very little room for profit for them if any.
what about the zenfone 3 deluxe? or its not your cup of tea?
The price is way over my budget.
I set my limit at $400, not a penny more.
i have a spare penny
I’m afraid it still wouldn’t be enough to buy the zenfone
dont ask me why i came back and reply i have nothing to do ok, http://9to5google.com/2016/07/13/alcatel-idol-4s-pricing-pre-orders/ what about this too expensive for the specs? it is in your budget
Nope, that works pretty well for me
lol… share the love brother! 😀
Don’t believe in Wi-Fi issue, maybe it’s router hardware to blame? Or a factory problem of this one device that Yash got.
According to YouTube reviews, camera on Axon 7 is not any better.
He’s a professional reviewer.
He’s been reviewing hundreds of phones so far.
If he had a faulty router then don’t you think he would have figure it out already?
He didn’t have any problems with previous phones, but he’s having problems with the OP3 unit he’s reviewing this week.
If I had to debug the problem, I would exclude the router and concentrate on the phone.
Yeah I have no wifi issues on my OP3 personally and have none of the camera issues described. Its weird really because all the other camera reviews i have read never mention these issues. Maybe Yash just got unlucky with his unit
Agree and disagree both. My OP3 gives good shots and bad shots both. I blame my shaky hands… its easier as I am not a pro reviewer. 😀
Axon 7 is still too new to really judge. A lot of phones, including OP3, need that first update before you can really judge them. From the reviews I have seen comparing the two the Axon 7 has much better color reproduction, the OP3 is brighter especially in low light. That is most likely a software issue for the Axon 7.
My last hope is zuk z2 pro. I still hope for a better camera review for it. Would like to see how it compares to nexus 5x/6p or samsung s7. Seems like zuk haven’t started selling it overseas yet.
I am pretty excited for the launch of the Honor 8 in the US. The blue color looks incredible and I really loved the P9 from my limited time with it. I am also interested in the Axon 7 but waiting for some reviews from the popular sites first.
I’m now camera-spoiled by nexus 5x. P9 was rated pretty low by Dx0Mark and other reviews confirm that it was just marketing (leica), but not expected quality.
DxOMark is like any other benchmark, it rates based on theoretical performance in a lab setting that tell very little about real world performance. They are one of the last sources I would ever use for a camera, they are like the Antutu of the camera world.
As for the P9 it is not a camera for the average user, and the reviews reflect that. If you use it in auto mode (which most reviewers do) it take very good pictures but nowhere near phones like the G5 or S7. But in manual mode it can take better pictures than both of those, you just have to really get the settings right. It’s not for novice users.
In manual mode those can take even better pictures then.
Ive used the nexus 5x, horrible shutter and focus speed compared to oneplus 3 and the light metering and sharpness of the OP3 in well lit conditions blows it out the water.
I’m of different opinion about the quality after comparing gsmarena shots and watching lots of reviews on YouTube.
It’s slow, but bearable enough for me.
I haven’t got the wifi issues yet. Camera… works for me … 😉
But I am interested in the Axon 7.
Maybe he got a faulty unit
Wonder if this is worth the $100 extra compared to LeEco Le Max 2
unfortunately I haven’t had the pleasure of using the Le Max 2, so can’t comment on that
Le Max 2 looks a bit ugly to me, and there won’t be stock Android experience on it. Other than that Le Max 2 is quite comparable and given that it is selling 100$ cheaper it seems a great deal. It does have an IR Blaster that OnePlus seems to be lacking but storage is limited to 32GB unless you go for the more expensive mode.
$100 less? Where?
Are you comparing the 6/64GB version?
He’s comparing op3 with the 4/32gb version of le max with chinese price… A bit unfair, I think 😁
That’s what I thought.
And besides that he still “wonders”
😂
Well, I can’t really say anything since I write awfully myself more often than not 😁
I was referring to the fact that he “wonders” if the LeMax 2 is better for $100 less.
If course it would be a better deal, no brainer.
Unfortunately it doesn’t cost less.
Comparing the two with the same storage and amount of Ram we’ll find out that LeMax2 costs more.
And as you also pointed out, he was referring to the Chinese price of LeMax while Oneplus sells almost worldwide.
Rotfl not only I write badly, now I can’t even read properly: I misread and thought he wrote “wanders”, so I thought that’s what you pointed out 😂 I’m such an idiot! 😂
Maybe I misread because I was thinking “yeah, price is lower, but only for the less-spec version, and only if you travel to china” 😂
The cheapest Le Max 2 I can find that is comparable to this one (6/64) is $398 at FastcardTech plus an extra $2.99 if you want them to add Play Store.
lol… “Sir Potato” would have been funnier. 😀
How does this compare to ZUK Z2 Pro?
Up until this review i’ve been reading reviews where praises are heaped on the oneplus 3 camera performance. To score a 70? Hmmmm. Is that fair? Pictures do look good.
How much would you rate the pictures? Keep in mind I’ve had to keep my hands real stable.
Camera is not the best ever, but not the worse either: 70% is slightly above awful cameras you rated around 60% in the past “because price”, but on an absolute scale this is far above those imho
But I guess that’s the tricky part when rating devices so different…
On an OT note: are you guys going to cover 360 N4S lauch anytime soon? That thing is a beast! ?
Exactly my point. 7.0 doesnt reflect the pictures uploaded.
Yeah …. roll out the 360 N4S. 🙂
Sorry Yash but Im getting none of this bluriness you speak of on my OP3, point and shoot works very well every time, and photos come out super sharp. I hold it about as still as i hold any phone camera. Shutter speed is super rapid too.
Yash you’ve used more flagship devices than i have. So i guess your expectations were high, hence the rating.
Android Authority gave it a 7.5. I’ve seen it given scores anywhere from 6.5-8 so this is right around the average.
I’ve had about a week gone by with this phone.
My previous was a Galaxy S4 (partly damaged screen), which I got rid off finally.
Here are my initial impressions (I’ve not tweaked anything – all defaults, fully updated):
– Design is meh. I hold the Galaxy S6 Edge+ as the benchmark – what a looker that is.
– Build quality is good though. Phone feels solid and reassuring to hold and work with.
– UI stutters often (jitter, jank, whatever you want to call it)
– Web scrolling is choppy on complex pages
– Contrary to what Yash says, phone often moves running apps out of memory
– Display is nowhere near Samsung’s saturated and pleasing displays, low brightness
– Audio chip is substandard. Doesn’t drive my DT-990’s well.
– Camera: I don’t use it.
– Gaming is great
– For me, Wi-Fi was just fine, but that could be because I’m fairly close to the router.
I really wish I could get the S6 Edge+ or the S7 Edge and I can’t say I’m completely happy with the phone, but those phones are at price points I cannot afford, so I had to settle for this. Maybe I should have saved a bit more for the S7 Edge or the G5.
lol man i dunno what phone you are using but my OP3 has none of these issues at all.
UI is smootheset ive used on android, web scrolling is very good
Apps stay in memory
Not a fan of oversaturated displays mine looks fine.
Audio chip drives my ATH-M50X very well, very loud and crystal clear sound
Camera has no bluriness that Yash describes, point and shoot works every time
Havnt tried gaming
No wifi issues at all.
I don’t know about the rest but I have seen a lot of forum posts about the blurriness when taking a quick photo.
Just tried it again now in my garden to be sure, no blur at all. Super fast shutter, all photos got a lot of detail.
Maybe you are on a different ROM version than him? He isn;t the first one to mention this issue.
Not sure, I do have quite a steady hand but taken about 50 photos over the last 2 days all just point or point focus and then shoot all of them look really nice, the detail is really great. If you get too close to a subject it can have trouble focusing but i tried on my other phones and is the same on my mi note and oneplus one when not using macro mode (OP3 doesn’t have macro mode). Shutter gets a bit slower in the dark but still not bad, much better than my OPO. The one thing that is really striking me about this phone is it feels like they thought a lot more about the usability and the general feel compared my OPO, feels a lot more polished and the OS is so nice and smooth. Actually didnt think id like it as much as I do, its really surprised me, feels much better built with the metal chassis and much better in hand than my mi note too. Just gives off a really premium feel. Fprint is just lightening quick as is the quick charge. Really happy at the moment.
It is good that you are happy but a lot of people aren’t, not just reviewers either. The OnePlus forums are filled with people who have all sorts of issues. For me that crosses the OP3 off my list. Hope you enjoy it though and never have any issues.
Funny that cos if you go on any forum for any phone including all the main flagships you find hundreds of people with issues, visited the samsung forums or apple forums of late? They are exactly the same. If you really want to see bugs and unhappy people go on the xiaomi forums. Remember the bugs the iphone 6/HTC 10 and many many others had after launch? The OP3 has also been universally praised across the board by almost every tech site and more importantly first hand it is great to use and should improve even further with updates. Much rather be using a Oneplus than a ZTE or Huawei as they are much more engaged with their community and seem already to be proactively improving the phone all the time, but thats just me…. Guess you should probably cross all smartphones off the list then yeah?
Most forums do have complaints about phones, that is the biggest reason for forums. With the OP3 a lot of those complaints are the same issues I am seeing in reviews. While there has been a lot of praise for the phone, there has also been a lot of issues with the display, ram management, camera and battery life.
You seem really offended that I don’t want to buy an OP3. It’s like I just insulted one of your children. Calm down. The smartphone market is so big we can all like something different. There isn’t one correct answer.
haha dont be ridiculous, couldn’t care less what phone someone else buys just funny you sighted forum posts as a reason to completely discredit a great phone when all phone forums are full of issues and almost every phone i can remember has had a few bugs at launch. Also you some how seem to just totally disregard all the great reviews and satisfied customers and just focus on small bugs. Battery life seems pretty good btw, Still on 76%, after using all day.
Oh you deeply deeply care, its evident in all your posts. We wouldn;t be having this conversation if you didn’t care. I didn’t discredit the OP3 at all, I gave reasons why it wasn’t the phone for me.
As a general rule of thumb, I myself don’t, and I recommend others not to engage with the “lol” / “haha” / “dunno” crowd online.
I posted my findings here, and from his response I could tell the guy didn’t like what I had written. He started with “lol man I dunno what phone you are using”……
Conversation ended there for me, and I suggest you don’t feed the troll by engaging him further. Cheers.
I responded and contradicted what you said with my own findings and now you seem butt hurt for some odd reason, completely baffled as to why though. Couldn’t care less about your opinions on slang terms either or who you engage with. Conversation ends here for me, thanks for bringing nothing constructive to the debate and just sounding angry, rude and obnoxious all because someone disagreed with your opinion.
I often get into discussions with him, you think I would learn my lesson by now.
haha, i like opinionated people, takes one to know one. Baffled as to why this Joshi guy went nuclear though, all I said was i’d had a different experience to him and he lost it completely.
We are both strongly opinionated which is why we often get into discussions. At the end of the day I am glad you found a phone you love. If they can fix all the software issues I might be interested again, I was before it launched. But right now it’s not on my list.
hahaha, hilarious, why would i care what phone a random guy on the internet wants to buy? You’re nuts. Just into phones and enjoy talking about them and found it funny that you read a few negative things and write the phone off immediately, despite a huge weight of evidence to the contrary. Anyway like i say loving this phone so far and would have been the first to criticise it if i thought it wasn’t good just like i did with the mi4i which was awful.
You obviously care because you are trying so desperately and attacking anyone who has an opinion that says something other than OP3 is amazing.
Not seeing many attacks here or trying desperately, just debating and sharing my experience. Where do you get this stuff?
Based on your comments. There are several OP3 users here who are even confirming the blurry issues including Adam Irvine who is a long time OP fan.
Wasn’t attacking anyone though. I’m not denying that people are having those issues either, i’m sure they are. I updated to the latest update straight away and just from my time using it I haven’t found this to be the case. I’ve been testing it almost non stop over the last 2 days and put all the images on my computer to look at and the only time i’ve seen blur is motion blur from moving objects which is normal, everything else has been super sharp and its been a good experience, i was was genuinely surprised like i say as i’m hyper critical. Even compared it to a friends 6s at work and found the detail on similar shots to be better. If i thought it was sub par or was having such issue id be the first to state that and inform people as it would piss me off no end, that is the only reason i’ve been trying to offer another side to the argument because i don’t think people should get put off cos oneplus seem to be doing a lot right with this phone.
Agree with you. This is my daily driver. In all fairness, there are blurry images on quick photos, no denying that. There are good ones as well. It is a mixed bag. 🙂 BTW, on your tip in some earlier discussions, I have Open Camera on it. Thanks for that.
Bad wifi and camera. Pretty disappointed.
Let’s see what the Axon 7 is capable of
Wouldn’t say the camera is bad per se, but yep it would be natural to expect better from a $400 phone. Or if OnePlus could make this camera faster.
Personally I’m not pursuing a perfect camera phone, my old MI4 was enough for my needs and what I love of Xiaomi phones is the shutter speed a la Apple.
But again, that’s on personal tastes.
Speaking of wifi, all those drops on 2.4ghz are unacceptable.
I don’t want even imagine how the 5ghz performs
A Oneplus 3 with 3gb ram, 32gb storage, a better camera and wifi would have been a stellar phone at 330$ for international buyers. Who really need 6gb ram these days? Moreover, a OP3 equipped with SD652 is more than enough for everyone.
what about the zenfone 3 deluxe thats the last comparable spec wise phone i can think of thats left? maybe im a oneplus hater but i wasnt dissapointed because i expected it to be a bit of a miss
Agree with you, but they are a business and do what brings more money in their pockets
The price is way over my budget.
I set my limit at $400, not a penny more.
i have a spare penny
Don’t believe in Wi-Fi issue, maybe it’s router hardware to blame? Or a factory problem of this one device that Yash got.
According to YouTube reviews, camera on Axon 7 is not any better.
Some people people had Wi-Fi issues with 1+1, but I never had any (and my wife is still using it).
I’m afraid it still wouldn’t be enough to buy the zenfone
I have bad luck, if I chance it, I’m sure I’ll get the unit with problems
He’s a professional reviewer.
He’s been reviewing hundreds of phones so far.
If he had a faulty router then don’t you think he would have figure it out already?
He didn’t have any problems with previous phones, but he’s having problems with the OP3 unit he’s reviewing this week.
If I had to debug the problem, I would exclude the router and concentrate on the phone.
Yeah I have no wifi issues on my OP3 personally and have none of the camera issues described. Its weird really because all the other camera reviews i have read never mention these issues. Maybe Yash just got unlucky with his unit
Axon 7 is still too new to really judge. A lot of phones, including OP3, need that first update before you can really judge them. From the reviews I have seen comparing the two the Axon 7 has much better color reproduction, the OP3 is brighter especially in low light. That is most likely a software issue for the Axon 7.
At $330 for international customers there would be very little room for profit for them if any.
I am having bad luck with the Robin wifi. Can never get a consistent connection. I am on WiFi all day if I am paying $400 for a phone I don’t want any doubt.
The Axon 7 and Honor 8 are looking better and better. Honor 8 launches in the US on August 16.
Knowing that the components are all the same my suspect it’s a driver issue.
And it’s all down to what we both have been trying to say here:
It doesn’t matter how good and cheap a phone is, if software sucks and the company doesn’t spend resources to fix the problems then it’s pretty much useless.
I’ve never paid much attention to Honors because of what I heard about the UI.
The last Honor I considered buying was the 6, but then I bought the MI4.
I’ll keep an eye on this one knowing that it will be released in the US.
My last hope is zuk z2 pro. I still hope for a better camera review for it. Would like to see how it compares to nexus 5x/6p or samsung s7. Seems like zuk haven’t started selling it overseas yet.
The Honor 8 is basically a P9 without the “Leica” certification and a glass body instead of metal. Has some awesome colors though. The UI is the same as Huawei’s normal phones, EMUI. It used to be one of the worst UI’s available but it has improved a lot.
I am pretty excited for the launch of the Honor 8 in the US. The blue color looks incredible and I really loved the P9 from my limited time with it. I am also interested in the Axon 7 but waiting for some reviews from the popular sites first.
Any news about the price?
No, it launched for 1999 yuan (about $300 US) for the base 3/32 model and 2299 ($344) for the 4/32 model. I would guess that $349 would be the international price for the base model and $400 for the 4/32 model.
That would work for me
Take those prices lightly though, that’s based on nothing more than my assumptions. For me it’s really down to that and the Axon 7. The 7 is really starting to win me over but in the back of my mind I remember the various problems I had with ZTE and Nubia phones.
I think you misunderstood the correct usage of HD/HDR with your OnePlus 3 unit: HDR has a better effect at good lighting condition while HD is improving camera performance at low light condition.
Less sharpness, but overall way less noise.
I knew you’d aiming for Honor 8 haha
This is going to be our next phone balco
I haven’t got the wifi issues yet. Camera… works for me … 😉
But I am interested in the Axon 7.
Agree and disagree both. My OP3 gives good shots and bad shots both. I blame my shaky hands… its easier as I am not a pro reviewer. 😀
lol… share the love brother! 😀
And they killed their invite system. Think they charge a premium for doing that. 😉
Well a lot will come down to reviews. If neither the Axon 7 or Honor 8 impress me I will probably just get the P9 or Mate 8. Two phones I have already used and loved.
Maybe he got a faulty unit
I won’t jump on it until I get several feedbacks.
On Neweggs is on presale at $399 and they also give you a over-the-ear headset that costs $99.
Very tempting, but I’m going to wait.
I’m now camera-spoiled by nexus 5x. P9 was rated pretty low by Dx0Mark and other reviews confirm that it was just marketing (leica), but not expected quality.
dont ask me why i came back and reply i have nothing to do ok, http://9to5google.com/2016/07/13/alcatel-idol-4s-pricing-pre-orders/ what about this too expensive for the specs? it is in your budget
DxOMark is like any other benchmark, it rates based on theoretical performance in a lab setting that tell very little about real world performance. They are one of the last sources I would ever use for a camera, they are like the Antutu of the camera world.
As for the P9 it is not a camera for the average user, and the reviews reflect that. If you use it in auto mode (which most reviewers do) it take very good pictures but nowhere near phones like the G5 or S7. But in manual mode it can take better pictures than both of those, you just have to really get the settings right. It’s not for novice users.
The New Egg headphones are actually $199.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826696147&Tpk=26-696-147
I am just waiting for the Honor 8 to launch then ill make my decision. Are you still using the RN3 Pro? I would actually love to go back to using a Xiaomi (I use a MiPad 2 everyday and love it) but I can’t go back to just using 3G again, I have been spoiled with LTE on the Robin.
Still on RN3, never been happy with it.
I’m looking for a cheap 5.5″ for my mom. I might get her the RN3.
Too bad mine is scratched already
🙂
Nope, that works pretty well for me
Ive used the nexus 5x, horrible shutter and focus speed compared to oneplus 3 and the light metering and sharpness of the OP3 in well lit conditions blows it out the water.
I’m of different opinion about the quality after comparing gsmarena shots and watching lots of reviews on YouTube.
It’s slow, but bearable enough for me.
In manual mode those can take even better pictures then.
How does this compare to ZUK Z2 Pro?
Up until this review i’ve been reading reviews where praises are heaped on the oneplus 3 camera performance. To score a 70? Hmmmm. Is that fair? Pictures do look good.
How much would you rate the pictures? Keep in mind I’ve had to keep my hands real stable.
Camera is not the best ever, but not the worse either: 70% is slightly above awful cameras you rated around 60% in the past “because price”, but on an absolute scale this is far above those imho
But I guess that’s the tricky part when rating devices so different…
On an OT note: are you guys going to cover 360 N4S lauch anytime soon? That thing is a beast! 😁
Sorry Yash but Im getting none of this bluriness you speak of on my OP3, point and shoot works very well every time, and photos come out super sharp. I hold it about as still as i hold any phone camera. Shutter speed is super rapid too.
Android Authority gave it a 7.5. I’ve seen it given scores anywhere from 6.5-8 so this is right around the average.
Exactly my point. 7.0 doesnt reflect the pictures uploaded.
Yash you’ve used more flagship devices than i have. So i guess your expectations were high, hence the rating.
Yeah …. roll out the 360 N4S. 🙂
I’ve had about a week gone by with this phone.
My previous was a Galaxy S4 (partly damaged screen), which I got rid off finally.
Here are my initial impressions (I’ve not tweaked anything – all defaults, fully updated):
– Design is meh. I hold the Galaxy S6 Edge+ as the benchmark – what a looker that is.
– Build quality is good though. Phone feels solid and reassuring to hold and work with.
– UI stutters often (jitter, jank, whatever you want to call it)
– Web scrolling is choppy on complex pages
– Contrary to what Yash says, phone often moves running apps out of memory
– Display is nowhere near Samsung’s saturated and pleasing displays, low brightness
– Audio chip is substandard. Doesn’t drive my DT-990’s well.
– Camera: I don’t use it.
– Gaming is great
– For me, Wi-Fi was just fine, but that could be because I’m fairly close to the router.
I really wish I could get the S6 Edge+ or the S7 Edge and I can’t say I’m completely happy with the phone, but those phones are at price points I cannot afford, so I had to settle for this. Maybe I should have saved a bit more for the S7 Edge or the G5.
lol man i dunno what phone you are using but my OP3 has none of these issues at all.
UI is smootheset ive used on android, web scrolling is very good
Apps stay in memory
Not a fan of oversaturated displays mine looks nice and sharp and crisp maybe not quite S7 level but still nice.
Audio chip drives my ATH-M50X very well, very loud and crystal clear sound
Camera has no bluriness that Yash describes, point and shoot works every time
Havnt tried gaming
No wifi issues at all.
I don’t know about the rest but I have seen a lot of forum posts about the blurriness when taking a quick photo.
Just tried it again now in my garden to be sure, no blur at all. Super fast shutter, all photos got a lot of detail. Seems great to me, big step up from oneplus one.
Maybe you are on a different ROM version than him? He isn;t the first one to mention this issue.
Agree with you. This is my daily driver. In all fairness, there are blurry images on quick photos, no denying that. There are good ones as well. It is a mixed bag. 🙂 BTW, on your tip in some earlier discussions, I have Open Camera on it. Thanks for that.
Not sure, I do have quite a steady hand but taken about 50 photos over the last 2 days all just point or point focus and then shoot all of them look really nice, the detail is really great. If you get too close to a subject it can have trouble focusing but i tried on my other phones and is the same on my mi note and oneplus one when not using macro mode (OP3 doesn’t have macro mode). Shutter gets a bit slower in the dark but still not bad, much better than my OPO. The one thing that is really striking me about this phone is it feels like they thought a lot more about the usability and the general feel compared my OPO, feels a lot more polished and the OS is so nice and smooth. Actually didnt think id like it as much as I do, its really surprised me, feels much better built with the metal chassis and much better in hand than my mi note too. Just gives off a really premium feel. Fprint is just lightening quick as is the quick charge. Really happy at the moment.
It is good that you are happy but a lot of people aren’t, not just reviewers either. The OnePlus forums are filled with people who have all sorts of issues. For me that crosses the OP3 off my list. Hope you enjoy it though and never have any issues.
Funny that cos if you go on any forum for any phone including all the main flagships you find hundreds of people with issues, visited the samsung forums or apple forums of late? They are exactly the same. If you really want to see bugs and unhappy people go on the xiaomi forums. Remember the bugs the iphone 6/HTC 10 and many many others had after launch? The OP3 has also been universally praised across the board by almost every tech site and more importantly first hand it is great to use and should improve even further with updates. Much rather be using a Oneplus than a ZTE or Huawei as they are much more engaged with their community and seem already to be proactively improving the phone all the time, but thats just me…. Guess you should probably cross all smartphones off the list then yeah?
Most forums do have complaints about phones, that is the biggest reason for forums. With the OP3 a lot of those complaints are the same issues I am seeing in reviews. While there has been a lot of praise for the phone, there has also been a lot of issues with the display, ram management, camera and battery life.
You seem really offended that I don’t want to buy an OP3. It’s like I just insulted one of your children. Calm down. The smartphone market is so big we can all like something different. There isn’t one correct answer.
haha dont be ridiculous, couldn’t care less what phone someone else buys just funny you sighted forum posts as a reason to completely discredit a great phone when all phone forums are full of issues and almost every phone i can remember has had a few bugs at launch. Also you some how seem to just totally disregard all the great reviews and satisfied customers and just focus on small bugs. Battery life seems pretty good btw, Still on 76%, after using all day.
Oh you deeply deeply care, its evident in all your posts. We wouldn;t be having this conversation if you didn’t care. I didn’t discredit the OP3 at all, I gave reasons why it wasn’t the phone for me.
As a general rule of thumb, I myself don’t, and I recommend others not to engage with the “lol” / “haha” / “dunno” crowd online.
I posted my findings here, and from his response I could tell the guy didn’t like what I had written. He started with “lol man I dunno what phone you are using”……
Conversation ended there for me, and I suggest you don’t feed the troll by engaging him further. Cheers.
hahaha, hilarious, why would i care what phone a random guy on the internet wants to buy? You’re nuts. Just into phones and enjoy talking about them and found it funny that you read a few negative things and write the phone off immediately, despite a huge weight of evidence to the contrary. Anyway like i say loving this phone so far and would have been the first to criticise it if i thought it wasn’t good just like i did with the mi4i which was awful.
I responded and contradicted what you said with my own findings and now you seem butt hurt for some odd reason, completely baffled as to why though. Couldn’t care less about your opinions on slang terms either or who you engage with. Conversation ends here for me, thanks for bringing nothing constructive to the debate and being angry, rude and obnoxious all because someone disagreed with your opinion
You obviously care because you are trying so desperately and attacking anyone who has an opinion that says something other than OP3 is amazing.
I often get into discussions with him, you think I would learn my lesson by now.
Not seeing many attacks here or trying desperately, just debating and sharing my experience. Where do you get this stuff?
haha, i like opinionated people, takes one to know one. Baffled as to why this Joshi guy went nuclear though, all I said was i’d had a different experience to him and he lost it completely.
Based on your comments. There are several OP3 users here who are even confirming the blurry issues including Adam Irvine who is a long time OP fan.
We are both strongly opinionated which is why we often get into discussions. At the end of the day I am glad you found a phone you love. If they can fix all the software issues I might be interested again, I was before it launched. But right now it’s not on my list.
Wasn’t attacking anyone though. I’m not denying that people are having those issues either, i’m sure they are. But I updated to the latest update straight away and just from my time using it I haven’t found this to be the case. I’ve been testing it almost non stop over the last 2 days and put all the images on my computer to look at and the only time i’ve seen blur is motion blur from moving objects which is normal, everything else has been super sharp and its been a good experience, i was was genuinely surprised like i say as i’m hyper critical. Even compared it to a friends 6s at work and found the detail on similar shots to be better. If i thought it was sub par or was having such issue id be the first to state that and inform people as it would piss me off no end, that is the only reason i’ve been trying to offer another side to the argument because i don’t think people should get put off cos oneplus seem to be doing a lot right with this phone and it doesn’t reflect everyone’s experience.
So you write “It’d be fair to say that the OnePlus 3 is among the fastest Android phones on the market, if not the fastest.”
And then you rate it 80%. Doesn’t make any sense to me.
This is why I am against scores completely in reviews. They usually don’t match up to the actual review, not just this site either all reviews. I would much rather have just pros and cons with a short conclusion of the authors thoughts.
score based on nothing…..
Like most of your comments.
our comment.
Ye it does nothing for me either Balco, I’d much rather have the pros and cons list too!
For one it has a horrid screen (PenTile) worthy of a 100$ phone.And the reviewer has problems with the wifi too so 80% is more than generous. Just on the screen and the lack of microSD is deserves a negative grade.
I really don’t understand why everyone is so negative about the screen, I’ve owned one for around 2 weeks now and it looks lovely to me…
Granted I did upgrade from the OnePlus One so same Resolution, but my sister has a QHD panel in her LG G4 and a colleague has a LG G3 again with the 2K stuff going on and I can’t really see that much of a difference unless I use the phone approx 3 cm away from my eye ball? Another colleague even came in with an S7 Edge the the other day and ye, whilst that is a good looking screen, I did feel that it’s just because of the ‘edge’ gimmick and not the actual quality/vibrance of the panel…
All I’m saying is I think this screen is very well suited to the OnePlus 3, given that the battery is only 3k mAh surely the 1080p is better in that case alone..?
I have to agree, screen looks great to me, I enabled sRGB as I dont like the over saturated look and actually looks pretty decent in direct sunlight much better than my Oneplus One and that stupid thing in cyanogen that it does to try and compensate but makes teh colours juist look weird. I have yet to find this blurry camera issue, every photo i have taken when i zoom in seems very sharp and richly detailed, sometimes if you get too close it has trouble focusing but it has no macro mode so this is normal. To be honest i’m loving the whole feel and usability of this phone, it just feels much more premium than most of teh handsets ive owned before and its like they have really thought about the look and functionality much more so than on the OPO.
I think the only things I miss from the OnePlus One is the OGS Screen… I loved the look of the OnePlus One switched off, it was all black, you’d have to look really carefully to make out the screen from the upper and lower bezels… Other than that, I do miss the Sandstone back…
The metal is great when you first take it out of the box, I thought wow, it’s thin and feels lovely and premium with that metal feel, but it soon becomes quite unpractical when you realize how slippery it is like that…
I went for the Official Sandstone back case thing, so ye, whilst I now have the grip again, obviously it has made the phone a bit bulkier which makes me wonder why they didn’t just make it that thick in the first place and put a bigger battery in it! Agghhhhh!
But, that is all purely aesthetics and I don’t really care too much about it as it’s not that bigger deal… Substance over Style! (rather than the other way iPhone lovers! ;-p)
Yeah no camera bump and a larger battery would have been nice, but i love the metal, have got sandstone back too, luckily cos the phone is thin it doesnt add too much bulk. What is amazing is the way such a small company has managed to basically trump phones from Goliaths like apple in most departments yet the price is so low, real achievement.
They should separate performance from “hardware”. Maybe Split hardware into CPU&GPU/Screen/Sound/Network&Radio.
Thank you for the review. It was kinda slow on reviews the last couple of months.
So you write “It’d be fair to say that the OnePlus 3 is among the fastest Android phones on the market, if not the fastest.”
And then you rate Hardware and Performance 80%. Doesn’t make any sense to me.
This is why I am against scores completely in reviews. They usually don’t match up to the actual review, not just this site either all reviews. I would much rather have just pros and cons with a short conclusion of the authors thoughts.
For one it has a horrid screen (PenTile) worthy of a 100$ phone.And the reviewer has problems with the wifi too so 80% is more than generous. Just on the screen and the lack of microSD is deserves a negative grade.
score based in nothing…..
Like most of your comments.
our comment.
I really don’t understand why everyone is so negative about the screen, I’ve owned one for around 2 weeks now and it looks lovely to me…
Granted I did upgrade from the OnePlus One so same Resolution, but my sister has a QHD panel in her LG G4 and a colleague has a LG G3 again with the 2K stuff going on and I can’t really see that much of a difference unless I use the phone approx 3 cm away from my eye ball? Another colleague even came in with an S7 Edge the the other day and ye, whilst that is a good looking screen, I did feel that it’s just because of the ‘edge’ gimmick and not the actual quality/vibrance of the panel…
All I’m saying is I think this screen is very well suited to the OnePlus 3, given that the battery is only 3k mAh surely the 1080p is better in that case alone..?
Ye it does nothing for me either Balco, I’d much rather have the pros and cons list too!
They should separate performance from “hardware”. Maybe Split hardware into CPU&GPU/Screen/Sound/Network&Radio.
I have to agree, screen looks great to me, I enabled sRGB as I dont like the over saturated look and actually looks pretty decent in direct sunlight much better than my Oneplus One and that stupid thing in cyanogen that it does to try and compensate but makes the colours just look weird. I have yet to find this blurry camera issue, every photo I have taken when I zoom in seems very sharp and richly detailed, sometimes if you get too close it has trouble focusing but it has no macro mode so this is normal. To be honest i’m loving the whole feel and usability of this phone, it just feels much more premium than most of the handsets i’ve owned before and its like they have really thought about the look and functionality much more so than on the OPO.
I think the only things I miss from the OnePlus One is the OGS Screen… I loved the look of the OnePlus One switched off, it was all black, you’d have to look really carefully to make out the screen from the upper and lower bezels… Other than that, I do miss the Sandstone back…
The metal is great when you first take it out of the box, I thought wow, it’s thin and feels lovely and premium with that metal feel, but it soon becomes quite unpractical when you realize how slippery it is like that…
I went for the Official Sandstone back case thing, so ye, whilst I now have the grip again, obviously it has made the phone a bit bulkier which makes me wonder why they didn’t just make it that thick in the first place and put a bigger battery in it! Agghhhhh!
But, that is all purely aesthetics and I don’t really care too much about it as it’s not that bigger deal… Substance over Style! (rather than the other way iPhone lovers! ;-p)
Yeah no camera bump and a larger battery would have been nice, but i love the metal, have got sandstone back too, luckily cos the phone is thin it doesnt add too much bulk. What is amazing is the way such a small company has managed to basically trump phones from Goliaths like apple in most departments yet the price is so low, real achievement.
so, if had to choose between the Op3, the Mi5 and the Huawei p9, which one would you take?
I think op3 is the best out of the bunch you mentioned tho. I’m using mi5 now. pretty happy with the price and phone. looking out for zenfone 3 deluxe now
thanks, do you have another phone to recommend me in alittle lower price than the Op3 (like the Mi5)?
If flagships that you’re looking for, Zuk Z2 and Mi 5 are the cheapest new flagships around. Either one of these two if you ask me. If you have a lil more money to spend, I’d say go for op3. They have a strong community. Good support in the long run. custom support on op1 and op2 still going strong.
and what do you think about the helio x20 phones linke vernee appolo lite, homtom ht10 and soo? are they in the same level?
I wouldn’t say that they are of the same level as Xiaomi, Lenovo Zuk, Huawei, ZTE, Meizu, Leeco. The brands I’ve mentioned are big timers with proven quality in software and hardware. I think going for brands like homtom and vernee is a sink or swim kinda product. You either get a non working or a working one. Safer to be with the big guys in my opinion. Hence, better warranty support as well. Maybe Meizu MX6? It has the helio x20 as well. The UI is good too, Flyme OS.
ZTE Axon 7, LeEcco Le Max 2, Zuk Z2 Pro, Alcatel Idol 4s and Huawei Honor 8 are all competitors that are similar. They are all priced right around $400.
hi my friend, the ZTE Axon 7, LeEcco Le Max 2, Zuk Z2 Pro and the Huawei Honor 8 are all priced more than 450usd (to expensive for me). my budjet is around the 380usd.
Where are you getting your prices from??
ZTE Axon 7 – $399 US – can order from Amazon, Best Buy and New Egg (free $199 headphones if your order by July 27)
LeEco LE Max 2 – Depends on the model but here are the cheapest prices:
4/32 – $289
4/64 – $413
6/64 – $398
Zuk Z2 Pro –
4/64 – $401
6/128 – $455
Huawei Honor 8 – Not released internationally yet.
Alcatel Idol 4s – Can currently pre-order it for $349.99
ok, thanks my friend. 2 days ago i lost my galaxy s5 after a year of using. i was thinking before to upgrade to the note 4. do you think that all this chinese flagships can do better than the legendery note 4?
I have been using Chinese flagships for years, most of them are just as good or better than those from Samsung. Just do a lot of research, read a lot of reviews, check forums and youtube etc. You can get some incredibly good phones from China at a great price. If you have any questions about a specific phone any of us here can help you.
Hi need some help. I want a phone with QHD (I want an awesome resolution for VR and 5’7), awsome sound quality and really fast battery charge and would long like a day of moderate usage.I was about to buy the Le Max 2. huawei Honor 9 would be the phone, but not yet released. I was thinking on OP3. Do you have any phone to indicate?
OP3 doesn’t have a QHD, ZTE Axon 7 or Alacatel Idol 4S are two to consider also the Nexus 6P.
Well I’m between op3, mi and le max 2.
I would take P9, OP3, Mi5 in that order.
Camera 70%, read this…..
http://www.phonearena.com/news/Best-smartphone-cameras-compared-OnePlus-3-Xperia-X-Performance-Galaxy-S7-iPhone-6s-Plus-LG-G5-HTC-10_id83011
Don’t get me wrong it can take good photos, but the issue for me is the blurriness when you need a quick photo.
Your got shaky hands, don’t blame the phone camera then!!
Also take a look at this……http://www.phonearena.com/news/Best-smartphone-cameras-compared-OnePlus-3-Xperia-X-Performance-Galaxy-S7-iPhone-6s-Plus-LG-G5-HTC-10_id83011
I have heard this complaint from multiple people on multiple forums, do all of them have “shaky hands”?
The better question is why are you getting so defensive?
You should ask yourself that question! Just pointing out all the reviewers here…Google Oneplus 3 Reviews…do not have this alleged problem! The fact is a poor workman will always blame his stools!
Except we don’t have a poor workman here, we have someone who has been doing interviews for quite some time and knows what he is doing. If this was the “workman” he would have this issue with every phone he reviews. He doesn’t. Based on his other reviews we can surmise it is a problem with the device not the user. Here are some reviews that mention it:
“The shutter speed is impressively fast, but I found the focus struggled to keep up at times. I had to retake several shots as the originals turned out to be blurred.” – Tech Radar
Guess you missed this review in your Google searches.
Well if 99 say it’s good and 1 says it’s bad, who do you believe in?
I rest my case. BTW, i use an iPhone 6S as my daily companion!
Except it’s not 99 saying there is no problem and 1 saying there isnt. It’s more like 50% saying it’s fine and, 50% having some sort of issue. Here are even more that mention some sort of blurriness:
“Although it has Optical Image Stabilization, the shakes produced by long shutter speeds are still readily apparent and this means you’ll need very steady hands if you don’t want blurry photos more often than not.” – Android Authority
“There have been some complaints about the OnePlus 3 taking blurring images, but I’ve only had that a couple of times when the autofocus got the wrong end of the stick. ” – Stuff
“That fast AF means photos were generally in sharp focus, although pushed to the limit, it can be hard to judge whether your subject is too close and blurry.” – PcAdvisor
When multiple reviewers all mention it, along with numerous forum posts by actual OP3 users, it is a problem that needs to be looked into. This isn’t anyone trashing the phone you love, it is a problem that needs to be brought to OP’s attention so they can figure out a fix for it.
I have a one plus 3 mate. there are good shots and there are bad shots. Camera/picture quality IMHO is subjective. My wife has a Le 2, sometimes I feel that a picture on her phone is better than the same one on mine. Whether I am happy with OP3 or not … yes I am. But there are times when I think that I should have got an MI 5 or LeEco Max. That is ok.
And @Yash isn’t blaming his stools. 😉
i have letv le max 2. if op3 get 70% camera , le max 2 get 15% or less…
i have letv le max 2. if op3 get 70% camera , le max 2 get 15% or less…
was going to buy OP3 …
but when @yash3339:disqus say no , he MEANS NO !
You gotta take the leap of faith man… I got the OP3. Happy with it so far. Rooted it. Works well as a daily driver. Realized that “waiting” for the perfect phone is like waiting for the perfect partner as both are myths. 😀 😛
ahaha …
Lies, you would never buy OP3 at 399$, according to your prefered price rance, it’s only an option at 299$ hahaha
LIES …. its $199ish actually 😀
and i was trying to get answers … hence a calculated gimmick of sorts
Agree. It can take good photos. But it is not no consistent. There is blurriness at times. I have installed Open Camera as well… not much of a difference. When I compared a couple of shots taken by OP3 and Moto X Style, found the later to be better. But that is just my view. As for a daily driver, happy with OP3 and it may be so because I upgraded from a Galaxy S2. 😉
BTW, wife’s Le 2 is doing well too.
Thank you for the review. It was kinda slow on reviews the last couple of months.
so, if had to choose between the Op3, the Mi5 and the Huawei p9, which one would you take?
I think op3 is the best out of the bunch you mentioned tho. I’m using mi5 now. pretty happy with the price and phone. looking out for zenfone 3 deluxe now
thanks, do you have another phone to recommend me in alittle lower price than the Op3 (like the Mi5)?
If flagships that you’re looking for, Zuk Z2 and Mi 5 are the cheapest new flagships around. Either one of these two if you ask me. If you have a lil more money to spend, I’d say go for op3. They have a strong community. Good support in the long run. custom support on OP1 and OP2 still going strong. Zuk and Miui have strong support too tho but OP just has more options.
I would take P9, OP3, Mi5 in that order.
ZTE Axon 7, LeEcco Le Max 2, Zuk Z2 Pro, Alcatel Idol 4s and Huawei Honor 8 are all competitors that are similar. They are all priced right around $400.
and what do you think about the helio x20 phones linke vernee appolo lite, homtom ht10 and soo? are they in the same level?
hi my friend, the ZTE Axon 7, LeEcco Le Max 2, Zuk Z2 Pro and the Huawei Honor 8 are all priced more than 450usd (to expensive for me). my budjet is around the 380usd.
I wouldn’t say that they are of the same level as Xiaomi, Lenovo Zuk, Huawei, ZTE, Meizu, Leeco. The brands I’ve mentioned are big timers with proven quality in software and hardware. I think going for brands like homtom and vernee is a sink or swim kinda product. You either get a non working or a working one. Safer to be with the big guys in my opinion. Hence, better warranty support as well. Maybe Meizu MX6? It has the helio x20 as well. The UI is good too, Flyme OS.
Where are you getting your prices from??
ZTE Axon 7 – $399 US – can order from Amazon, Best Buy and New Egg (free $199 headphones if your order by July 27)
LeEco LE Max 2 – Depends on the model but here are the cheapest prices:
4/32 – $289
4/64 – $413
6/64 – $398
Zuk Z2 Pro –
4/64 – $401
6/128 – $455
Huawei Honor 8 – Not released internationally yet.
Alcatel Idol 4s – Can currently pre-order it for $349.99
ok, thanks my friend. 2 days ago i lost my galaxy s5 after a year of using. i was thinking before to upgrade to the note 4. do you think that all this chinese flagships can do better than the legendery note 4?
I have been using Chinese flagships for years, most of them are just as good or better than those from Samsung. Just do a lot of research, read a lot of reviews, check forums and youtube etc. You can get some incredibly good phones from China at a great price. If you have any questions about a specific phone any of us here can help you.
Hi need some help. I want a phone with QHD (I want an awesome resolution for VR and 5’7), awsome sound quality and really fast battery charge and would long like a day of moderate usage.I was about to buy the Le Max 2. huawei Honor 9 would be the phone, but not yet released. I was thinking on OP3. Do you have any phone to indicate?
OP3 doesn’t have a QHD, ZTE Axon 7 or Alacatel Idol 4S are two to consider also the Nexus 6P.
Well I’m between op3, mi and le max 2.
Of all the reviewers on the internet, Yash is the one I trust the most. We tend to have the same taste in phones (most of the time). After reading this review the Axon 7 and Honor 8 (both officially launching in the US) are looking better and better.
No disrespect to Yash cos hes a good reviewer and appreciate the review but this contradicts the vast majority of reviews i’ve seen and some of them are far more rigorous in their testing approach with signal strength testing, heat and endurance testing and direct comparisons to other phones in both image quality and the speed and functionality of the camera app itself in all conditions. I’m also facing none of these issues he mentioned with my unit and i’m quite a harsh judge. Really pleased I didn’t spend more for something like the Axon don’t need QHD or front speakers and would never buy a huawei as I dont like their software. Also OP3 is the best value phone available here in the UK too with full warrenties and customer support and oneplus’ approach to software updates seems great and has already improved the device and should improve more as time goes on.
they way how youve been talking it seems like the onplus 3 is the phone of the year and is an absolute perfection, i dunno even when the oneplus 2 had major heat issues people praised it like hell its like oneplus can do wrong
lol, are you mad? Where did i say it was absolute perfection or the phone pf the year? I Just said i’m not facing the issues Yash is and am pleased with the device you joker.
no need for ad hominem, its pretty straight forward thinking, when i see that you said apps stay in memory when this has already been established not to be the case even after the update https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6WpEMIqga0
but you must be opening 1 app or something , no one is fighting against your “pleasement” with the device you just sound pretty biased
Actually it’s pretty much on par with most of the reviews out there. Most reviews for the OP3 are a mixed bag, some praise it others fault it. There is no consistency, even on the forums it’s the same. That would make me cautious to own a phone like that. As for the Axon 7 it costs exactly the same as the OP3 in the US, $399 and it also comes with the ZTE Passport program which is a 2 year warranty.
Unfortunately, UK doesn’t have those privileges and the the Axon 7 is more expensive even after bloody Brexit price increase for OP3.
I like the Axon better tho.
Analysts are predicting further losses for the Pound too. Goldman Sachs is predicting it will fall to $1.20 by the end of the year. A lot of imports could get very expensive this year and next year for you guys.
Ye exciting times… 🙁
I have a few investments in the London Stock Exchange, I am clenching my teeth everytime I check the market. Hopefully the pound bounces back.
I’d like to think it will Balco, it’s all the negativity in the media over here at the moment that’s not helping!
If the papers actually starting publishing some ‘benefits’ to Brexit then things would probably stabilize somewhat…
It has to really. If the Pound continues to fall every major market in the world will end up crashing at some point. So much of the world’s investments are linked to the US and UK economies.
It’s not the popular answer but I honestly think BREXIT was the right move for the UK in the long run.
The FTSE 100 and DOW are higher now than prebrexit !
Ye, I’m with you on the UK thing, I’ve owned one now for approx 2 weeks, on the whole it’s a fantastic device, I upgraded from the OnePlus One which has made it harder for me to be ‘wowed’ by the OP3 because the OPO is still so damn perfect in many ways for me… Anyway, my one and only small disappointment with the OP3 is the Camera, I’ve taken some amazing shots with it sometimes, and then other photos will come out terrible for no apparent reason, I’m convinced this can all be solved in software though so whether I stick with the OxygenOS official OTAs that ‘may’ come in the future, or head on over to XDA-Developers for some fun with it, I’m sure it’ll carry on being an impressive device for me 🙂
The Axon phones are so tacky they should be giving a free fake Hermes belt with each one sold.
Whatever you say sport.
Camera 70%, read this…..
http://www.phonearena.com/news/Best-smartphone-cameras-compared-OnePlus-3-Xperia-X-Performance-Galaxy-S7-iPhone-6s-Plus-LG-G5-HTC-10_id83011
Don’t get me wrong it can take good photos, but the issue for me is the blurriness when you need a quick photo.
Your got shaky hands, don’t blame the phone camera then!!
Also take a look at this……http://www.phonearena.com/news/Best-smartphone-cameras-compared-OnePlus-3-Xperia-X-Performance-Galaxy-S7-iPhone-6s-Plus-LG-G5-HTC-10_id83011
I have heard this complaint from multiple people on multiple forums, do all of them have “shaky hands”?
The better question is why are you getting so defensive?
was going to buy OP3 …
but when @yash3339:disqus say no , he MEANS NO !
You should ask yourself that question! Just pointing out all the reviewers here…Google Oneplus 3 Reviews…do not have this alleged problem! The fact is a poor workman will always blame his stools!
Except we don’t have a poor workman here, we have someone who has been doing interviews for quite some time and knows what he is doing. If this was the “workman” he would have this issue with every phone he reviews. He doesn’t. Based on his other reviews we can surmise it is a problem with the device not the user. Here are some reviews that mention it:
“The shutter speed is impressively fast, but I found the focus struggled to keep up at times. I had to retake several shots as the originals turned out to be blurred.” – Tech Radar
Guess you missed this review in your Google searches.
Well if 99 say it’s good and 1 says it’s bad, who do you believe in?
I rest my case. BTW, i use an iPhone 6S as my daily companion!
Agree. It can take good photos. But it is not no consistent. There is blurriness at times. I have installed Open Camera as well… not much of a difference. When I compared a couple of shots taken by OP3 and Moto X Style, found the later to be better. But that is just my view. As for a daily driver, happy with OP3 and it may be so because I upgraded from a Galaxy S2. 😉
BTW, wife’s Le 2 is doing well too.
You gotta take the leap of faith man… I got the OP3. Happy with it so far. Rooted it. Works well as a daily driver. Realized that “waiting” for the perfect phone is like waiting for the perfect partner as both are myths. 😀 😛
I have a one plus 3 mate. there are good shots and there are bad shots. Camera/picture quality IMHO is subjective. My wife has a Le 2, sometimes I feel that a picture on her phone is better than the same one on mine. Whether I am happy with OP3 or not … yes I am. But there are times when I think that I should have got an MI 5 or LeEco Max. That is ok.
And @Yash isn’t blaming his stools. 😉
Except it’s not 99 saying there is no problem and 1 saying there isnt. It’s more like 50% saying it’s fine and, 50% having some sort of issue. Here are even more that mention some sort of blurriness:
“Although it has Optical Image Stabilization, the shakes produced by long shutter speeds are still readily apparent and this means you’ll need very steady hands if you don’t want blurry photos more often than not.” – Android Authority
“There have been some complaints about the OnePlus 3 taking blurring images, but I’ve only had that a couple of times when the autofocus got the wrong end of the stick. ” – Stuff
“That fast AF means photos were generally in sharp focus, although pushed to the limit, it can be hard to judge whether your subject is too close and blurry.” – PcAdvisor
When multiple reviewers all mention it, along with numerous forum posts by actual OP3 users, it is a problem that needs to be looked into. This isn’t anyone trashing the phone you love, it is a problem that needs to be brought to OP’s attention so they can figure out a fix for it.
i have letv le max 2. if op3 get 70% camera , le max 2 get 15% or less…
ahaha …
Lies, you would never buy OP3 at 399$, according to your prefered price range, it’s only an option at 299$ hahaha
LIES …. its $199ish actually 😀
and i was trying to get answers … hence a calculated gimmick of sorts
I think this phone is one of the best you can get from China, but it’s hard to find one with the European B20 band (800 MHz) at 4G supported…
Maybe this one at the review has problems, or the OP3 just needs some Updates…
cam sucks .. BIG no no !
thanks for the howler Yash !
Of all the reviewers on the internet, Yash is the one I trust the most. We tend to have the same taste in phones (most of the time). After reading this review the Axon 7 and Honor 8 (both officially launching in the US) are looking better and better.
No disrespect to Yash cos hes a good reviewer and appreciate the review but this contradicts the vast majority of reviews i’ve seen and some of them are far more rigorous in their testing approach with signal strength testing, heat and endurance testing and direct comparisons to other phones in both image quality and the speed and functionality of the camera app itself in all conditions. I’m also facing none of these issues he mentioned with my unit and i’m quite a harsh judge. Really pleased I didn’t spend more for something like the Axon don’t need QHD or front speakers and would never buy a huawei as I dont like their software. Also OP3 is the best value phone available here in the UK too with full warrenties and customer support and oneplus’ approach to software updates seems great and has already improved the device and should improve more as time goes on.
they way how youve been talking it seems like the onplus 3 is the phone of the year and is an absolute perfection, i dunno even when the oneplus 2 had major heat issues people praised it like hell its like oneplus can do wrong
lol, are you mad? Where did i say it was absolute perfection or the phone pf the year? I Just said i’m not facing the issues Yash is and am pleased with the device you joker.
Actually it’s pretty much on par with most of the reviews out there. Most reviews for the OP3 are a mixed bag, some praise it others fault it. There is no consistency, even on the forums it’s the same. That would make me cautious to own a phone like that. As for the Axon 7 it costs exactly the same as the OP3 in the US, $399 and it also comes with the ZTE Passport program which is a 2 year warranty.
Unfortunately, UK doesn’t have those privileges and the the Axon 7 is more expensive even after bloody Brexit price increase for OP3.
I like the Axon better tho.
Analysts are predicting further losses for the Pound too. Goldman Sachs is predicting it will fall to $1.20 by the end of the year. A lot of imports could get very expensive this year and next year for you guys.
The Axon phones are so tacky they should be giving a free fake Hermes belt with each one sold.
Whatever you say sport.
Ye, I’m with you on the UK thing, I’ve owned one now for approx 2 weeks, on the whole it’s a fantastic device, I upgraded from the OnePlus One which has made it harder for me to be ‘wowed’ by the OP3 because the OPO is still so damn perfect in many ways for me… Anyway, my one and only small disappointment with the OP3 is the Camera, I’ve taken some amazing shots with it sometimes, and then other photos will come out terrible for no apparent reason, I’m convinced this can all be solved in software though so whether I stick with the OxygenOS official OTAs that ‘may’ come in the future, or head on over to XDA-Developers for some fun with it, I’m sure it’ll carry on being an impressive device for me 🙂
Ye exciting times… 🙁
I have a few investments in the London Stock Exchange, I am clenching my teeth everytime I check the market. Hopefully the pound bounces back.
I’d like to think it will Balco, it’s all the negativity in the media over here at the moment that’s not helping!
If the papers actually starting publishing some ‘benefits’ to Brexit then things would probably stabilize somewhat…
It has to really. If the Pound continues to fall every major market in the world will end up crashing at some point. So much of the world’s investments are linked to the US and UK economies.
It’s not the popular answer but I honestly think BREXIT was the right move for the UK in the long run.
The FTSE 100 and DOW are higher now than prebrexit !
I think this phone is one of the best you can get from China, but it’s hard to find one with the European B20 band (800 MHz) at 4G supported…
Maybe this one at the review is the only one with problems, or the OP3 just needs some Updates…
i remember the ulefone power with 70% score camera 🙂 but…..
another crazy review by gizchina score based on what? lol
cam sucks .. BIG no no !
thanks for the howler Yash !
i remember the ulefone power with 70% score camera 🙂 but…..
another crazy review by gizchina. Score based in what? lol
score 80 performance ?
thermal and performance
How does this fare in the audio quality department, given audio centric phones like the Lenovo Vibe X3?
Would have been good if they had added an IR blaster as well.
That is one thing I miss about my Xiaomi Mi4, the IR blaster. I wish more phones would include it.
How does this fare in the audio quality department, given audio centric phones like the Lenovo Vibe X3?
Would have been good if they had added an IR blaster as well.
That is one thing I miss about my Xiaomi Mi4, the IR blaster. I wish more phones would include it.
Hi Guys! need some help. I want a phone with QHD (I want an awesome resolution for VR and 5’7), awsome sound quality and really fast battery charge and would long like a day of moderate usage.I was about to buy the Le Max 2. huawei Honor 9 would be the phone, but not yet released. I was thinking on OP3. Do you have any phone to indicate?
Hi Guys! need some help. I want a phone with QHD (I want an awesome resolution for VR and 5’7), awsome sound quality and really fast battery charge and would long like a day of moderate usage.I was about to buy the Le Max 2. huawei Honor 9 would be the phone, but not yet released. I was thinking on OP3. Do you have any phone to indicate?