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00:00So this is being shot on a OnePlus 6, so it's going to look and sound quite different from
00:12my regular videos, but this is a video about the OnePlus 6, hence the different look and
00:18sound.
00:19So I wasn't going to do a regular review on this phone, but I like this phone enough that
00:23I felt like it deserved some kind of video, some kind of discussion about my experience
00:28about this phone.
00:29So I'm going to do this video in kind of three stages, I'm going to talk about things I really
00:32like about it.
00:33No, you know what, let's talk about things that I don't like about it first, then I'll
00:36talk about things I'm okay with, then I'll kind of close off with things that I do like
00:40about this phone.
00:41The thing that I dislike about this phone the most is the speaker.
00:44By far, it is the thing that sticks out as being like its worst feature.
00:49It's tinny, it's mono, and in 2018, so many phones out there are bringing stereo speakers
00:54that sound good, that just really sticks out as being sub-par in the industry.
00:59The other thing I don't love about this phone, it's the brand, it's like not the brand OnePlus,
01:03but their support, OnePlus' support of their phones isn't amazing.
01:08The industry, like the phone industry doesn't have great support to begin with, Apple and
01:12Google stick out as being good ones, the rest are kind of eh, and this is one of them.
01:18Things that I'm okay with about this phone, the camera.
01:22It's kind of like, it's a camera that some people say is really good for the money, like
01:27because it's a $530 phone, it's really good, other people say it's a trash camera because
01:31objectively speaking, it's not particularly great.
01:34My stance on it is this, it's not a camera that you would kind of be like, hey, this
01:41is an amazing camera, definitely not that, and it's certainly not improved that much
01:44from the previous generation, so the OnePlus 5, OnePlus 5T had a relatively similar looking
01:49image to this camera.
01:52The dynamic range on this has improved, but across the board, it's not a massive improvement.
01:57I would consider it like a B-tier camera, but I consider it also a good enough camera.
02:05Like not, forget about the price, it's a camera that if you needed to take a shot, you double
02:09tap to get the camera open, it's a fast, it's quick, it gets the job done, and it captures
02:14whatever memory you're trying to capture.
02:16That's what it's good for.
02:17If you want to have like, you know, want to zoom into your photos and kind of examine
02:21the pixels and kind of like really drill down to these photos, you will find flaws in it,
02:26you will find things that you dislike about the images, but for most people, I really
02:30mean this, for most people, this is a great camera, but for the hardcore photographers,
02:36look elsewhere.
02:37Okay, other things I really like about this thing, or I guess let's move on to things
02:40that I do like about this phone, the build quality, I think that's actually one of its
02:45most unique features.
02:47The glass backs, like you have three glass options, and two of them have this kind of
02:51like matte finish, this like satin kind of textured glass, I really like that feel.
02:57It's not something that you see often on other flagship devices, and it just, it really makes
03:01the OnePlus phone this year stick out as being something aesthetically special.
03:05And something that I found is that the textured material, I thought this would scratch or
03:10scuff relatively easily because it's, I mean, on a lot of kind of satin finish products,
03:16this finish will kind of wear out quickly if you scratch it.
03:20I brought keys up to this thing, it's very, very durable.
03:22It is Gorilla Glass 5, and it's strong, it's a nice looking material, and it's also a very
03:26durable material.
03:28Other things I like about this phone, the software, Oxygen OS is something that, well,
03:34if you've never used a OnePlus device and you're kind of interested in it, it's a very
03:38stock feel.
03:39It's not super smooth, like if you're looking for the absolute smoothest Android experience,
03:44you're gonna have to go to a Pixel device, but these are quite smooth, and it's a very
03:47fast device, like the processor in here is like the fastest, the Snapdragon 845, it's
03:52a very fast device, but it's not the smoothest device out there.
03:56Very smooth, but not the smoothest.
04:00Other things I like about the software is like, they have features on the OnePlus phones
04:05that are, like they don't put stupid stuff on here that you see on other phones, like
04:10every feature in here has some utility, like there's no superfluous crap that they're just
04:14trying to stick in here so they just kind of like one up other companies in terms of
04:17like the feature race, they don't do that.
04:20The Oxygen OS feels pretty lean, and things like, okay, so Face Unlock, this is something
04:25that they didn't invent, but they do really well, it's super fast, and they do this thing
04:29that at night, if you have like the iPhone, so the iPhone X, if you try to use Face Unlock
04:34on this at night, it's difficult.
04:36Any kind of iPhone X user out there, they know this, like if you try to use a phone
04:41at night, you bring it up to your face, and it has problems recognizing your face.
04:44The OnePlus phones, they do this thing where if it's nighttime, and you're trying to unlock
04:48it with your face, it'll shine a light onto your face to just make it easier for the camera
04:52to identify your face, and stuff like that that is across the software, it's just, it's
04:58smart, and it's not like super difficult to implement, but they do it, and it just makes
05:03the software feel kind of complete.
05:06So I want to talk about one last thing, it's the big thing on this phone, it's the price.
05:11So this is a $530 phone, and I think there's a lot of like kind of, people take that price
05:19tag with different opinions, and I think a lot of it comes from the fact that there's
05:24like regional differences in pricing.
05:26So in the U.S., a $530 phone isn't that special, because you can get really, really good phones
05:35for that price as well, as an example, like the S8s, and like the S8 Plus, you can get
05:39those for like 500 bucks right now, 550 bucks, and those are really good phones, so when
05:44you look at a used, or refurbished Samsung S8, and you compare it to this, the S8 has
05:49a better camera, it's got a better like, it's just a better phone overall, so when you look
05:53at this, it doesn't seem like a special phone.
05:56So a lot of people that look at like discussions about phones and prices, like they don't
06:01really see the value of this phone, because it's like, wow, I can just go onto Craigslist
06:06or eBay and find a $530 phone that's better than the OnePlus, but that only applies to
06:13the U.S., if you look outside of there, like if you look at Canada, or most parts of Europe,
06:18the pricing on this thing really sticks out as being something special, it's not just
06:24special, you can't get a better phone with the features that this phone has for that
06:29price.
06:30Like I would say the competitor to this, in terms of like specs, for the money, would
06:33probably be the Xiaomi phone, that's like a $500, yeah, it's around $500 after you import
06:39it and stuff like that, and that is comparable to this, but aside from that Xiaomi Mi 8,
06:45there's nothing on the market that hits this.
06:47So if you want like the fastest phone, like really, really fast specs, and like a pretty
06:52good camera, and like the full package, I don't think that there's a better phone than
06:56this brand new.
06:58Now if you live in the U.S., you can probably pick up other phones, like you can get like
07:01a $600 S9 right now, which is like so much better than this, and I think if you're in
07:07that market, and you can pick up a $600 used S9, then this doesn't look that appealing.
07:15But everyone else in the world, if you're looking for that $500 phone, this should be
07:18the one that you look at, like it should be on the short list, at the top of the short
07:22list, because I really like it, and I think most of this world likes it.
07:26It's a good phone.
07:27Okay, that's basically it.
07:28This was like a really rambly video.
07:31I don't think you guys will like it, but I'm probably going to publish it anyways.
07:34Okay, hope you guys enjoyed it.
07:35Thumbs if you liked it, subs if you loved it.
07:37See you guys next time.