The OnePlus 3T Review
by Brandon Chester on November 28, 2016 10:30 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- OnePlus
- OnePlus 3T
System Performance
One of the key internal changes that the OnePlus 3T brings to the table is a move from Snapdragon 820 to 821. At a high level, Snapdragon 821 is very similar to 820, and in the case of the OnePlus 3T it's really differentiated by its higher peak frequencies for the CPU and the GPU. Both have four of Qualcomm's Kryo cores in a 2 + 2 cluster configuration, and both use Qualcomm's Adreno 530 GPU. In the OnePlus 3 the performance cluster on the CPU had a peak frequency of 2.15GHz, which is brought up to 2.35GHz on the OnePlus 3T. On paper, this gives a performance improvement of roughly 10%, which is also what Qualcomm states in their marketing materials.
PCMark is a test that the OnePlus 3 performed exceptionally well in. This was due not only to the use of Snapdragon 820, but to software optimizations that OnePlus had made to the OS and the Android Runtime as well. The OnePlus 3T continues this trend, and provides performance improvements across the board. The writing and photo editing tests are the most interesting of the group, as these are tests where software optimizations helped the OnePlus 3 to pull ahead of other competing devices, and the OnePlus 3T pulls ahead even further. It bests the Huawei Mate 8 in the writing test to become the fastest device on record, and the photo editing test improves over the OnePlus 3 which was still the fastest device in the test up until now.
The OnePlus 3T's JavaScript performance benefits from improvements that Google has made in Chrome 54, as well as the increase in peak CPU frequency compared to the OnePlus 3. In the interest of having a fair comparison, I've updated the OnePlus 3's results using the latest version of Chrome so it can also take advantage of optimizations that have been made.
Kraken and WebXPRT 2015 both demonstrate the OnePlus 3T's improved JavaScript performance. The gap is actually a bit larger than one might expect from a 10% increase in CPU frequency, and this could simply be the result of other changes made to the operating system in the newer version of OxygenOS, or changes to the DVFS settings that have been made alongside the change in SoC. Jetstream shows a smaller improvement, but it's in line with what you'd expect to see from the CPU bump.
Ultimately, Snapdragon 821 doesn't come with any mind-blowing performance improvements for CPU-bound applications, but the update does keep OnePlus on par with the competition, and allows them to take advantage of improvements in efficiency and errata fixes in addition to a modest performance uplift. Certain parts of the PCMark test also indicate that the 3T comes with additional improvements at the software level, which will hopefully make their way to the OnePlus 3 with the next major update to OxygenOS, but for now are something you only get on the OnePlus 3T.
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leexgx - Wednesday, January 18, 2017 - link
i just wish they keep most of the buttons near the top left and right side of the phone (some phones have the buttons to low so can use them in phone holder as it presses them)leexgx - Wednesday, January 18, 2017 - link
""can't use phone holder when are all on one side (power button right side, volume on left side is the preferable way, might not be ideal for left handed people but this is how they are norm setup)Pino - Monday, November 28, 2016 - link
ZTE Axon 7 for $ 349 on cyber Monday, with a free Bluetooth beats phone is a much better deal.JoeyJoJo123 - Monday, November 28, 2016 - link
I prefer having the ability to load the most common and popular open-source Android-based OS, Cyanogenmod. Cyanogenmod continues to issue updates to my (apparently ancient, despite only being 2 years old and still very functional) Nexus 4, which Google no longer provides updates for.ZTE Axon 7 has no Cyanogenmod support, and like many other Android phones, it will cease to have manufacturer support (planned obsolescence) after a year, if you're lucky.
I'm looking into a Oneplus 3T now, as Google no longer provides affordable Nexus phones, but mostly because my current Nexus 4 has a degraded battery life over 2 years of charge cycles. Despite lowering the brightness, barely using it, and blocking many applications, my Nexus 4 only tends to last me 12 hours of very light use, and sometimes it fails to last the work day, from when I remove the phone from the charger in the morning, by the time I get back home to charge it again. The upgraded 3400 mAh battery on the OnePlus 3T is a solid selling point, as I'm looking for better longevity of battery life 2 ~ 3 years down the line.
negusp - Monday, November 28, 2016 - link
The Axon 7 has a CM13 port, and everything seems to work so far.For the price the Axon is unbeatable.
And the Nexus 4 always had sh*t battery life. No way around it. Replacing the battery isn't too difficult either.
JoeyJoJo123 - Monday, November 28, 2016 - link
I'll have to concede, there does appear to be a port, but apparently you have to get it directly from XDA forums, and it's an unofficial port; it's not listed on the CyanogenMod website at all.http://forum.xda-developers.com/axon-7/development...
The following are the only official ZTE Cyanogenmod builds listed on Cyanogenmod's site:
https://download.cyanogenmod.org/
ZTE
Blade (blade)
Nubia Z9 Max (nx510j)
Skate (skate)
V9 (v9)
Meanwhile OnePlus's section includes every major phone they've released thus far, save for the 3T which was just released (and sure to get official support in the coming weeks).
OnePlus
2 (oneplus2)
3 (oneplus3)
One (bacon)
X (onyx)
Given ZTE's poor support record on CyanogenMod, I hope that changes for the better in the future. It's the poot CyanogenMod support for manufacturers like Xiaomi, Honor, and Huawei (and now ZTE) that prevent me from buying into the platform. When I buy a phone, a buy something sensibly priced and I intend for it to last me longer than even typical 2 year upgrade plans.
negusp - Monday, November 28, 2016 - link
Your last point is the most important. People who value a Nexus-like phone should get an Axon 7. In that way, we drive demand for ports and releases of custom ROMs.The 3T also won't get very much support, and hasn't been received kindly by the dev community. One of the most notable was flar2 who has said he won't be porting his elementalx kernel to it.
FlyBri - Monday, November 28, 2016 - link
It has already changed for the better ZTE has already confirmed it is working with Cyanogen mod as we speak, and so the Axon 7 is getting official CyanogenMod support. So while the ROM isn't out yet, one will be coming. Looks like your concern about poor support from ZTE regarding Cyangenmod has been eliminated.pierrot - Tuesday, November 29, 2016 - link
CM support official or not is a huge feature. It even makes that cheapo Amazon Fire halfway usablerealbabilu - Tuesday, November 29, 2016 - link
I disagree. CM support or Rom continuity always needed. Software bug , and security hole always there. There are not plenty mobile phone that keep it run long enough to patch every bug, as far i owned and experiences, those one with cm support like oneplus, those one with iOS, and those one with miui rom for Xiaomi phones, that updated regularly.And one thing others is availability hardware spare part, especially the battery and the screen replacement as those are fast moving sparepart for mobilephones. It can be replaced by third party repairman. iPhone always have a big numbers spare part availability on market, Xiaomi phones also have a lot. Oneplus not so many, ZTE even little.