OnePlus 3: Unboxing and first impressions

The OnePlus 3 has generated its fair share of buzz--after all it is a flagship phone with the distinction of flaunting 6 entire gigabytes of RAM. And the beefy specs continue--it is powered by Qualcomm’s latest and greatest Snapdragon 820 platform, and packs 64GB of internal storage.

Of course, we were only to glad when it reach our desks. The version we received happened to be the ‘press’ variant package comprising the phone, a Dash car charger, and five backplates--all of this in a shoebox-sized package, no less. The retail version will only include the phone itself though.

Here then, is a walkthrough of this flagship killer’s unboxing.

This was the entire package--literally the kind of box you’d expect to find a pair of brogues in. And in typical OnePlus fashion, it was understated.

Sliding out the red container I found the phone along with a set of five interchangeable backplates and a Dash car charger. Dash is the OnePlus fast charging technology that claims to deliver a whole day’s worth of usage (a little over 60 percent) with just 30 minutes of charging.

I wasn’t expecting much from the car charger--it was after all, a car charger. I was pleasantly surprised to find a beautiful and solidly-designed piece, complete with metal knurling on the edge and a mirror finish on top. Perhaps the best car charger I’ve ever seen.

The interchangeable plates range from three wood prints (bamboo, black apricot and rosewood,) to a carbon fiber type texture to their classic sandstone variant.

Then comes the actual phone--the box is true to OnePlus form and continues its understated tradition from its predecessors. There’s a subtle, glossy ‘3’ on the top with the Red ‘1+’ emblazoned up top. Just in case we had any doubts.

Lift off the lid and the first thing you behold is the phone sitting nestled in its red cradle, once again a OnePlus signature package design.

I picked it out and immediately went through the motions of setting it up. Through the process, I couldn’t help but notice how thin and light it felt in the hand. The all-metal craftsmanship was meticulous--from the matt finish on the back to the subtle mirrored chamfer around the screen, it oozed flagship. The power button is the solitary one on the right, which is great as it would leave no ambiguity when reaching for it in the dark, for example. To the left is the volume rocker and the slider for controlling notification sounds. At the bottom is the speaker, the USB 3.0 port, the microphone and the 3.5mm headphone socket. The top of the phone is bare.

The OnePlus 3 runs Oxygen OS (v3.1) which is based on Android Marshmallow 6.0.1. Thankfully, it includes only the default Google apps--devoid of the bloatware that many manufacturers tend to bog down their devices with. There’s the ‘Shelf’ feature, which is accessed by swiping right from the home screen--this is used to access recently-launched apps, the weather and custom shortcuts and widgets.

The camera features modes like time lapse, slow motion, manual and panorama. HDR is built into the photo mode. The Manual mode enables access to the focus, shutter speed, white balance and ISO. Firing off a few quick shots, I found the photos were sharp, with a surprisingly low amount of noise. Although I did feel the camera wasn’t the fastest-focusing I’ve ever seen--toggling from near to far field, the focus time was perceptible.

The rest of the box packs the usual stuff including the Quick Start and User Guide, the SIM tray removal pin and the proprietary Dash charger and USB 3.0 cable.

Both the adapter and the cable are required to use the fast charging on this phone (you can’t use the adapter with another cable, for example.). Of special note was the 4 Amp rating of the phone’s charger--where most other phone chargers offer a half or 1 Amp current rating, the OnePlus 3 charger’s boosted current rating is what enables the device to charge so quickly.

The OnePlus 3 is--in every sense--a flagship phone. From the little time I spent with it, it’s snappy all around and is undoubtedly flaunt-worthy. Look forward to the in-depth review coming up soon.