OnePlus 3 First Impressions - The Affordable Flagship To Beat?

OnePlus is a brand that's known to push the limits in creating handsets with top-end performance with mid-level pricing. This year, after the success of their previous handsets, the company introduced the OnePlus 3.

OnePlus 3 first impressions

it's their 3rd generation smartphone that boast the "flagship killer" tag due to its super high specs and advance features. Not only that, it now goes with a full metal frame build with beautiful ergonomics and design to match. Having said that, this is like a dream like machine for every tech enthusiast out there.

Fortunately, we had an accidental meeting (few weeks back) with the man who's working so hard to bring this handset officially here in the Philippines.  As a result, we were able to grab a quick hold of the device to give you guys a quick glimpse of it. Let's start!

OnePlus 3 Specs

Display: 5.5 Inch FHD Optic AMOLED 1920 x 1080 resolution w/ 2.5D curved screen and Gorilla Glass 4 protection at 401 ppi

CPU: 2.15 GHz 64 Bit Snapdragon 820 quad core processor

GPU: Adreno 530

RAM: 6 GB

ROM: 64 GB

Back Camera: 16 MP f/2.0 IMX298 sensor w/ PDAF, OIS, and LED flash

Selfie Camera: 8 MP f/2.0 Sony IMX219

Battery: 3,000 mAh w/ Dash Charge 4A

OS: Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow w/ Oxygen OS

Connectivity: WiFi, 3G, HSPA+, LTE, Bluetooth 4.2, NFC, GPS, A GPS, dual SIM

Others: Fingerprint sensor, USB Type C, Colors: gray, black, gold
Sensors: Accelerometer, gyroscope, proximity, compass

Dimensions: 152.7 x 74.7 x 7.4 mm

Weight: 158 g

Price: USD 399

Build Quality /  Design

View at the back of the phone, showing the camera hump, single LED flash, OnePlus logo, and antenna lines

OnePlus 3 ranks among the most beautiful yet tough looking phone in the world today. It's made out of a solid slab full metal aluminum unibody with nice to see chamfered edges, semi rounded edges, and curved arc back. On top, there's a layer of Corning's Gorilla Glass 4 to protect its beautiful 5.5 inch screen from scratches and drops.

Curves on top, earspeaker, and selfie cam

That type of setup is known and expected to be durable enough to withstand abuse, bends, and scratches. However, we still must be careful in holding it. Why? dropping this phone on concrete floors may still lead to dents and scratches.

Below there's the single loud speaker grille, USB Type C port, microphone, and 3.5 mm audio port.
On top of it you'll find the fingerprint scanner in the middle

At left, there's a switch for alerts / notifications and a volume rocker

At right the power button and ejectable dual nano SIM card tray is are located

OnePlus 3 is their most solid and refined looking phone yet!

In terms of design, this device seems to be inspired by HTC, Samsung, and LG combine. As a result, it's gorgeous, curvy, slim, and sleek. At just 7.33 mm, it has one of the slimmest frames on a phone with very high specs. Unfortunately, there's just a camera hump at the back which may lead to scratches in your camera lens.

Ergonomically, the phone isn't difficult to hold at all. Plus, there are no sharp edges that shows good machine refinement. There are just times that it'll be too slippery on your hands.

Buttons and ports placement were quite standard too and easy to locate. You'll even get a fingerprint scanner that doubles as the home button key on the lower front part of the phone and special key for notifications / alerts at left.

Camera Samples

Indoor shot 1 on a condition with yellow artificial light

Indoor shot 2 on a condition with yellow artificial light

As of the moment

The OnePlus 3 is a dream like machine. Why? It's a premium phone with monster like specs and upper-midrange like affordability.

Initially, we're very happy with what we saw with this device. It's super speedy due to its Snapdragon 820 chip paired with Adreno 530 GPU and HUGE 6 GB of RAM that's expected to load any type of graphic intensive apps today.

On top of that we also think that its 16 MP f/2.0 Sony IMX298 sensor w/ PDAF, OIS, and LED flash main camera is very capable and ranks among the best in nicest out there today. It is that impressive!