OnePlus 5T vs OnePlus 5 – Here are the 5 Major Changes

The OnePlus 5T is now officially revealed and will go on sale starting November 28th via Amazon India and OnePlus Store. OnePlus priced both the 6GB and 8GB variants of the new OnePlus 5T same as its predecessor. There is also an early access sale for Amazon Prime members on November 21st. Last year, OnePlus launched the OnePlus 3T with the same design as the OnePlus 3. The OnePlus 3T came with specifications upgrade only in terms of processor and front camera. With the OnePlus 5T, the company is offering similar specifications as the OnePlus 5. However, the new smartphone comes with a slightly refreshed design featuring an immersive 18:9 display on the front.

Below, let’s talk about the 5 major changes between the OnePlus 5 and OnePlus 5T smartphones:

Full Optic AMOLED Display

The smartphone world is now moving towards the bezel-less displays. As of now, the complete bezel-less displays are not that comfortable to use and even not all the apps are optimised for it. The Samsung Galaxy S8 and LG G6 launched in early 2017 are the first smartphones to adopt the longer aspect ratios. The new OnePlus smartphone comes with a 6.01-inch Full Optic AMOLED display with Full HD+ resolution and 18:9 aspect ratio. OnePlus also introduced the new Sunlight display that automatically adapts to light conditions. The Corning Gorilla Glass 5 on the top also adds an extra layer of protection to the display.

No Physical Home Button

Looking at the OnePlus 5T, we can immediately notice the lack of the physical home button on the front. Since most of the space on the front of the device is occupied by the display, the company has to ditch the home button along with capacitive home buttons. The new OnePlus 5T features a rear-facing fingerprint sensor along with on-screen navigation buttons. On the OnePlus 5, we have an option to switch between the capacitive navigation buttons and on-screen navigation buttons. The Oxygen OS also provides further customization of the buttons to have back, home, and multitasking from left to right or right to left.

Missing Telephoto Lens

As seen on the OnePlus, the new OnePlus 5T also comes with the same 20MP + 16MP dual camera setup on the rear. While the 16MP IMX398 primary sensor remains same, the company replaced the 20MP IMX350 Telephoto sensor with the 20MP IMX376K sensor. Without the Telephoto sensor, the OnePlus 5T misses the 2x optical zoom. Now, both the camera sensors on the rear comes with f/1.7 aperture. The device can record hi-res videos up to 4K resolution at 30fps and 120fps slow-mo videos in HD resolution.

Bigger & Heavier Device

While the OnePlus 5 came with a 5.5-inch 16:9 display, the new OnePlus 5T offers a 6.01-inch 18:9 display. Instead of having a bigger form factor, the company trimmed down the bezels to fit the larger display. The OnePlus 5T is slightly wider and taller than its predecessor. Unless we hold both the OnePlus 5 and OnePlus 5T devices, we don’t notice these minor differences. However, the OnePlus 5T feels a bit heavier by weighing 162 grams. For comparison, the OnePlus 5 just weighs 153 grams.

OnePlus 5T: 156.1 x 75 x 7.3 mm | 162 grams

OnePlus 5: 154.2 x 74.1 x 7.25 mm | 153 grams

Face Unlock

If you feel awkward about using the rear-facing fingerprint sensor, the company is now offering Face Unlock feature with the new OnePlus 5T. To unlock the device using Face Unlock, the user has to double tap the screen and look into the front-facing camera. It uses 100 facial security feature identity points to detect the correct face. However, we don’t think the Face Unlock will work as fast as a fingerprint sensor. According to the company, the Face Unlock on OnePlus 5T will be 99% accurate but will be less secure than fingerprint and password.

With all these changes, the OnePlus 5T offers much better value for money. Considering the same price tag for both OnePlus 5 and OnePlus 5T smartphones, we feel bad for those who brought the OnePlus 5 in the last few weeks.