OnePlus just launched the OnePlus 3, their first handset for 2016. The latest flagship handset from the company packs in top-notch specs inside a beautiful unibody aluminium design. Skip the specs and the beautiful design though, and you’ll realise that there is quite a bit of other interesting tidbits and things to know about the OnePlus 3. Wondering what they are? Read below.
#5 NFC is Back
OnePlus received quite a bit of flak for ditching NFC on the OnePlus 2. While a relatively unused feature, it did not go well with the handset’s ‘Never Settle’ and ‘Flagship Killer’ image. This time around, OnePlus has included NFC support on the OnePlus 3, which means that you can use it for Android Pay, and other NFC-related activities.
#4 Bye Bye Sandstone
The sandstone finish on the back of the OnePlus One and OnePlus 2 had become somewhat of a signature for the company’s flagship handset. With the OnePlus 3, the company is ditching their sandstone finish. Instead, the OnePlus 3 comes with a beautiful unibody aluminium design that looks sleek and very premium. Considering how beautiful the OnePlus 3 looks, I’d say ditching the Sandstone finish was a good decision by OnePlus. The company, however, will offer cases for the OnePlus 3 with five different textures, including one with sandstone finish.
#3 6GB RAM
If you look closely at the OnePlus 3 spec sheet, you will notice that it comes with a staggering 6GB of RAM. OnePlus 3 is not the first phone to be announced with 6GB RAM, but it sure is among the first few. Considering that Oxygen OS is pretty light on resources, I am not even sure how having 6GB of RAM will help the performance of the phone in anyway. Either ways, it will allow OnePlus 3 owners to boast about in front of their friends and families.
#2 Speedy Storage
OnePlus will be offering the OnePlus 3 in only one storage option: 64GB. With the lack of a microSD card slot, some heavy users might frown at the lack of a higher 128GB storage option for the handset. On the positive side, the 64GB storage NAND being used by inside the OnePlus 3 is based on the UFS 2.0 standard that makes it significantly faster than the eMMC 5.0/5.1 NAND chips that are commonly found inside most smartphones of this range. In fact, the only other smartphones in the market that currently makes use of a UFS 2.0 based NAND storage chip are the Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 edge.
#1 Dash Charge
With its beefy 3300mAh battery and the lack of any kind of fast charging technology, the OnePlus 2 took quite a bit of time to go from 0-100%. For the OnePlus 3, OnePlus is introducing its new proprietary Dash Charge charging solution. Like other fast charging solutions in the market right now, OnePlus claims that Dash Charge — capable of supplying 4A at 5v — can charge the OnePlus 3 from 0-60% in only 30 minutes. Additionally, using the Dash Charge adapter ensures that the phone does not unnecessarily heat up and waste power. OnePlus hopes that its fast charging technology will make up for the slightly reduced battery capacity (3000mAh) on the handset.
How impressed are you with the OnePlus 3? Do you plan on buying one? Drop in a comment and let us know.
