I’ve had many phones. Too many to name, really. But out of this sea of handsets, only a few stand out as truly impressive releases.

The OnePlus 6 is one of those handsets.

It is a stellar piece of kit that looks and feels like a million bucks (or, at least $1000).

But here’s the catch: it doesn’t cost $1000 like Apple’s iPhone.

Nope, this phone starts at $579 for the 64GB entry model and goes up to £569 for the 256GB model.

And that, ladies and gentleman, is why the OnePlus 6 is 100% one of the best phones you can buy right now.

I just spent a couple of weeks testing the OnePlus 6. Read on to find out why I love this handset so much.

OnePlus 6 Design – Stylish Glass & All-Display Frontage

I’ve always been a fan of OnePlus’ phones. They always looked nice and presentable, packing in decent specs and solid hardware.

But the OnePlus 6 is a different beast entirely.

Like the iPhone X and Samsung Galaxy S9, it features an ALL-DISPLAY front, as well as a notch, and the overall effect is, well… very appealing.

A defining feature of the OnePlus 6 is the display, which much of the design is built around.

The screen is a 6.28in AMOLED with a 19:9 aspect ratio and a 2280 x 1080p resolution at 402ppi.

It’s a gorgeous screen to behold, with all the plus points of AMOLED including robust, punchy colour, pinpoint sharpness, strong black depth and contrast, clear white hues and plenty of brightness.

It’s also massive, but the footprint of the bodywork is the same as the OnePlus 5T.

I love the way this phone looks. I also really like the way it’s built and how it feels in my hand.

It’s smooth, perfectly styled, slim, and very, very stylish.

And it’s cheap, way cheaper than Apple, Samsung, and LG’s latest offerings which means if you’re after solid value for money, there really is only one game in town: OnePlus.

You also get useful things like a headphone jack (well done, OnePlus), a well-placed fingerprint scanner on the rear, and a notch that houses OnePlus’ version of FACE ID.

It works flawlessly too; I’ve been wowing people with it all week.

Any issues with the overall design of the handset? Not from me, no. If I had to nitpick, I’d probably go with:

• The speakers; they’re a bit tinny
• It’s a very big handset
• There’s no MicroSD support

But that’s literally about it when it comes to hardware grumbles, and most of them are subjective, anyway.

OnePlus 6 Specs

Ah, the specs. Again, the OnePlus 6 does not disappoint in this regard with 8GB of RAM, a Snapdragon 845 CPU, and either 64GB or 128GB of storage.

Bottomline: this thing packs a MASSIVE punch. Performance is insane; everything flies along at a rapid pace. It doesn’t even stop for a breath.

It is easily as fast as Samsung’s latest handsets, and it wipes the floor with Apple’s iPhone 8 (the handset I was using before I got this one to test).

The fact that Apple’s iPhone 8 is similarly priced feels like a joke; the difference between these phones is like night and day (in every conceivable context).

OnePlus 6 Performance

I also haven’t encountered a single issue with this phone since turning it on. Everything has just worked, seamlessly.

The Face Unlock thing is brilliant, much to my surprise, and the rest of the handset follows a similar pattern.

Nothing has been left on the table here: the phone delivers solid, reliable, consistent performance across the board.

I’ve tried to find some issues with this handset, but I really struggled. The software is great, the camera is great, and the overall performance is stellar.

Basically, if you’re after a big-hitter in the performance department, but you don’t want to pay £900/£1000, the OnePlus 6 should be high on your list.

I knew within hours of using this phone that I would be using it for the coming 12 months. It really is that good.

OnePlus 6 Camera

On paper, the OnePlus 6’s camera seems rather similar to what we had inside the OnePlus 5T.

But it’s not; no, there are quite a few key differences in play here, and they all make a significant difference to the camera’s performance.

The primary is a dual-sensor setup with the main sensor being 19% larger than the OnePlus 5T’s, meaning larger pixel sizes and more detail captured.

All the sensors on the OnePlus 6 are made by Sony.

The primary setup combines a 16MP f/1.7 with a 20MP sensor capable of advanced Portrait and bokeh modes.

The front-facing 16MP sensor pairs with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 845 and its built-in AI capabilities for selfies.

OnePlus has also added some pretty interesting video capture capabilities, in particular slow-motion for either 480fps at 720p or 240fps at 1080p.

In either case, however, longer-than-usual slo-mo capture is allowed for up to a minute, which when played back takes about six minutes at slo-mo speed.

To make things as easy as possible, there’s also a built-in video and photo editor which will let you loop, crop, or reverse slo-mo footage.

As you can see below, the results are very good.

The OnePlus 6’s camera, for my money, is one of the best around right now.

I had a blast testing it and the results it produces are brilliant. I also love how it automatically switches to Macro Mode when you get up close to an object.

The whole experience of using the camera just feels so well thought out, everything is just so intuitive. Very impressed. This is a lot better than I was expecting.

OnePlus 6 Battery

The OnePlus 6 runs a 3000mAh battery inside it; it’s non-removable too.

Battery life is decent; I consistently get a full day out of it with heavy usage.

Chuck in fast-charge, whereby you can get a full day’s battery charge in 30 minutes, and you’re on to a winner in the battery department.

It’s as good as the Pixel 2 XL and Galaxy S9+ in this context. Again, once again, no complaints in this regard.

OnePlus 6 Software – Does OxygenOS Impress?

In a word: yes – it is bloody impressive, very smooth, and it appears to be incredibly stable.

Naturally, a big part of the ultra-optimised performance comes from extensive tweaks to the latest version of the Android and OxygenOS platform.

OnePlus has also added an extensive suite of gesture controls, many of which are dedicated to working alongside a new full-screen mode which hides the on-screen Android keys to maximise your view of films, games, and the like.

There’s also a new gaming-specific “do-not-disturb” mode which will ferret away notifications and interruption that could compromise your game - no-one wants to be playing a racing game only to crash into a wall because of a text message forcing its way into your view.

There are other optimisations with gaming in mind too; a toggleable gaming mode will also optimise application load-speed, tweak the resolution and frame-rate for best performance, and enable a gaming-orientated battery saver mode.

OnePlus 6 Verdict

Simple, really: this is one of the best Android phones on the planet right now. It looks amazing and it runs brilliantly. But best of all is the price: it’s significantly cheaper than ALL of its peers.

I’d take one of these handsets over the iPhone X every day of the week and twice on a Sunday. It’s that good.

So do yourself a favour and check it out. You will not be disappointed.

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