The OnePlus 6 Review: Among The Best Of 2018
by Andrei Frumusanu on July 27, 2018 8:30 AM EST- Posted in
- Mobile
- Smartphones
- OnePlus
- OnePlus 6
System Performance
Another Snapdragon 845 device, another system performance section to dwell into. By now following the Galaxy S9 review and Mi MIX 2S review we should have some clear expectations of how the OnePlus 6 should perform. In my MIS 2S review in particular I was very vocal about how superbly the phone performed in terms of performance, and attributed this to a great software implementation on the side of SoC. The OnePlus 6 very much deserves the same praise as it not only has the same extraordinary snappiness, but actually ever so slightly manages to beat the MIX 2S in some cases.
Starting off with PCMark’s Web Browsing test, the OnePlus 6 is very much within the top scorers in terms of performance.
The video editing test again is mostly performing as expected.
In the Writing 2.0 test which uses Android APIs and does operations such as text editing and PDF rendering the OnePlus 6 actually manages to take the top spot in terms of performance. This test alone correlates extremely well with overall system performance of a phone and the OP6 taking first place is indeed very well representative of the phone’s feel.
Photo editing test, alongside the Mi MIX 2S also takes top spots among current devices.
The data manipulation score averages out among top Snapdragon 845 devices.
Finally the total score matches the Mi MIX 2S. There’s not much more to say here other than Qualcomm’s scheduler improvements in the S845 BSP have really paid off this generation and this directly results in excellent real-life performance.
The web tests showcase pretty much identical performance to the Mi MIX 2S which in turn both slightly outperform other S845 devices such as the Galaxy S9 and LG G7.
UI Fluidity
Over the past few months there’s been more outspoken discussions about Android speed tests versus actual device fluidity. In general the latter is extremely hard to quantize into a figure and there will always be corner cases or outliers that will probably perform better or worse when comparing between devices.
In the context of the OnePlus 6 as well as Snapdragon 845 devices I’ve looked more into what actually is different between them and what is seemingly causing the OP6 and MIX 2S to perform better than, say the Snapdragon Galaxy S9. Looking deeper into the kernel it looks like OnePlus and Xiaomi are both using a newer kernel build with more scheduler modifications than the kernels running on the S9 and G7. The details here go quite low level and is out of the scope of any public article, but the effects can be easily seen.
OnePlus 6 vs Galaxy S9+ (S845) Jitter Test
In the UIBench Jitter test we see the difference between the OnePlus 6 and the Galaxy S9 – the latter has a lore more inconsistent rendering frame-times. While in this test both have very clearly great frame-times well under 16.6ms – having more consistent frame times in turn can avoid random workload events that might push frame times over the deadline and result in dropped frames. The OnePlus 6 so far has been the best device in this particular test – only the Pixel phones come near to it but they don’t seem to have the same consistency over time.
Overall system performance of the OnePlus 6 deserves the same praise as the MIX 2S – both devices are currently the very best and fastest on the market and you will be absolutely not disappointed in their performances.
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leo_sk - Sunday, July 29, 2018 - link
A simple case how notch will cause problem. Try enabling network speed in the statusbar. Now you can black your notch or whatever on op6, you will never have the horizontal space to show it. You have to scroll down to notifications to see it, which is just irritating in long term usage. I would prefer instead that the whole are be blacked and the statusbar shifted below the notch, as in huawei phones. Also added benefit that statusbar changes colour with the apps, otherwise a black one seems reminiscent of android 4amosbatto - Sunday, July 29, 2018 - link
The OnePlus 6 represents everything I hate in smartphones:* No replaceable battery,
* No MicroSD slot,
* Notch in the screen,
* Glass back which is prone to break,
* One bottom facing speaker (I want 2 front facing speakers),
* Lack of a decent bezel to protect the screen,
* Need a heat gun and suction cups to open the case,
* Lots of features don't work in LineageOS (notch in screen, VoLTE, NFC, Dash Charging, LiveDisplay / Night Light, LineageOS Styles, System Profile Bluetooth trigger, Adaptive Brightness,
OnePlus Gestures, Color Profiles)
Am I the only one who hates current phone design? Am I the only one who cares about the longevity, hardiness and repairability of phones?
Meteor2 - Thursday, September 20, 2018 - link
Looks like it :-)Vanguarde - Monday, July 30, 2018 - link
No thanks to the Chinese hackers backdoor delivery device. Pass.Meteor2 - Thursday, September 20, 2018 - link
You know that all phones are made in China, right?Wardrop - Monday, July 30, 2018 - link
Just don't break the screen, as you basically have to tear apart every individual component within the phone to replace. Would be good if Anandtech did a tear down as part of their review to see how serviceable and well built the phones they review are.Meteor2 - Thursday, September 20, 2018 - link
That's what iFixit is forSameer-tariq-abbasi - Tuesday, July 31, 2018 - link
Hi everyone no doubt one plus is very excellent in processing but you can't ignore <a href="https://youmobile.com.pk/brands/5/Oppo-mobile-pric... Phones</a> technology both are up to user expectations.4everalone - Tuesday, July 31, 2018 - link
Just thinking out loud, wonder if it would be feasible for them to release a community edition ROM on XDA, free to tinker with, after their support period has ended for a model.Meteor2 - Thursday, September 20, 2018 - link
It's a Treble phone, so you could just install ASOP.