OnePlus 6T: What You're Not Getting And Why

The OnePlus 6T might be the near perfect Android phone, especially for its price. Especially if you're not too picky about not having a vanilla Android experience and if its camera output is more than enough for your needs and tastes. As you might know by now, there are a few trade-offs when you opt for this affordable flagship that may or may not ruin the deal. There might, however, be a few more you aren't aware of. Here are some of those and the reasons OnePlus gives on why they're not there.

It's already known by now that the OnePlus 6T ditched the 3.5 mm headphone jack, despite the company's boast a few models back. There is also no microSD card slot, though the 128 GB starting storage might make up for it. In a recent AMA at its official forums, OnePlus answers why it also removed other features, all for the sake of improving the user experience.

For example, there is no LED light on the face of the phone to indicate that you have notifications. OnePlus promotes its Ambient Display feature where you can easily pick up your phone and tap the screen to show the notifications. Of course, that only works if you already know you have notifications waiting to be seen in the first place.

That would probably be fine if the OnePlus 6T also had an Always On Display (AOD) feature. Given its OLED screen and large battery, that shouldn't be much of a problem. OnePlus, however, isn't yet convinced that the functional value of that feature warrants even that minimal power drain. That may still come if OnePlus is moved enough. Fortunately it might only take a firmware update.

The OnePlus 6T also doesn't come with a pair of earphones in the box. According to co-founder Carl Pei himself, the company considers it wasteful since most probably have their favorite pair of headphones already. Not only would it increase the price of the package, but a cheaper pair would provide a sub-par experience. They do ship a USB-C to 3.5 mm headphone jack dongle and, naturally, recommend their own Bullets-branded headphones, which you have to buy separately.

Speaking of wasteful additional costs, the OnePlus 6T, despite having no headphone jack, also doesn't have an IP rating. It is still water resistant against common scenarios like accidents or using it under a sudden rain, OnePlus insists. It just doesn't cater to the corner cases of swimming with the phone or taking it under water. Getting IP certification would have increased the cost by $30 per unit just to appeal to a very small number of users.

It isn't all bad news, however, especially for those with older OnePlus phones. The company does intend to bring some of the latest features to the likes of the OnePlus 5 and OnePlus 5T, at least those that can be done via software only and don't require the upgraded hardware that the OnePlus 6T has.