OnePlus 6, the first phone on which I spent more than INR 15000. Thanks to my few friends who continuously insisted me to buy an OnePlus phone as they knew my usage. They knew performance is the priority for me when it comes to phones and laptops. In June of 2018, the OnePlus 6 was the only option available from the company worth buying.

So, after a terrible experience of buying it from Amazon and after two unsuccessful attempts by my friends in Chroma stores around Navi Mumbai, I got it on June 8, 2018, from Croma only this time. Coming from Xiaomi Redmi Note 4, this was an overwhelming experience for me for a week. It did not take much time to get used to the device and now it is more than 2 years that it is my daily driver. So, in short, this blog is all about my experience with the OnePlus 6.

The things I continue to love:

1. Oxygen OS: If you ask any OnePlus user what they like most about their phone, more or less, it will be about Oxygen OS only. This thing is clean, smooth, and user-friendly. It keeps the phone light and allows those essential customizations which we need daily. I like my phone’s look clean and I customize it in a way that makes my work quicker. The small tweaks which Oxygen OS offers add big value in daily operations. Oxygen OS delivers the same. I did not see any fancy and unnecessary themes, icon packs, etc. on this nor I came across any bloatware.
2. RAM Management: OnePlus 6 is a beast when it comes to RAM management. I have used this phone with more than 20 apps running in the background many times, but I did not see any lag or freezing issue. Few heavy apps might reload from memory but it’s okay, I guess. Even today, I can count on this for multitasking, thanks to the 8GB RAM inside.
3. Screen: This is where this phone added more productivity for me. The 6.28-inch AMOLED display is perfect for everything. I thought reading eBooks on the phone was a bad idea but this one has changed that perception. Streaming and gaming is an amazing experience as it should be. Most importantly, I can work on MS Excel without opening a laptop for every minor thing.
4. Design: OnePlus 6 is the most beautiful phone designed by the OnePlus according to many people and I can vouch for that. The camera and fingerprint sensor alignment on the rear side giving it a unique look. The presence of an actual fingerprint sensor and 3.5mm audio jack is something I will miss whenever I upgrade. The notch is bigger on this but it’s not bothering at all. And then the alert slider, I am a fan of that.
5. Updates: OnePlus promised three full updates to the OnePlus 6 at the time of launch and they seem to be delivering what they claimed. Frankly, I once thought of switching to OnePlus 8 Pro a few days ago but then OnePlus announced that the OnePlus 6 may get an Android 11 update in Dec 2020. This has pushed my phone upgrade plan by a year at least.

The things that ruin the experience:

1. Camera: I knew the OnePlus 6 camera won’t be at par with Samsung and iPhone and Pixel, but I did not expect such a mediocre camera. OnePlus has improved it significantly over two years with their updates but still, it’s nowhere close to the flagship. Today’s mid-rangers from Realme and Pixel and Xiaomi click better photos than OnePlus 6.
2. Storage: After 2 years of usage, 128 GB storage feels like a limitation. As a digital marketer, I need to keep a lot of multimedia content on the phone, and it eats a lot of memory. The absence of a micro-SD card slot forced me to buy Google One subscription. Clearing cache files has become difficult after the Android 10 update so installing Google File is a must.
3. Battery life: The 3300 mAh battery is surely not enough for one working day for a heavy user. If I am away from home from morning to night, then I would not go without carrying a power bank with me for sure. Even on casual usages like social media and a little bit of MS Word or Excel, the battery goes below 30% in 4-5 hours. If you are taking this phone out for camera purposes, you better keep a fully charged power bank with you.
4. Feels dated: This phone, even if an all-rounder, feels outdated now. It certainly not running with time. With the big notch, 60Hz screen refresh rate, 1080p display, average camera, low battery life and only one major Android update scheduled, the OnePlus 6 is not something you can run for two more years. It can’t even compete with OnePlus’ own OnePlus Nord which is not even a flagship of this year.

Overall, I am a satisfied user of the OnePlus 6 and I will keep using it for one more year (unless some major issue happens). However, if you can and you wish to upgrade to something like the OnePlus 8 Pro, you can’t go wrong. Every phone has a life and that of the OnePlus 6 is coming to an end sooner than I expected while buying it.