mentech: OnePlus AMA Roundup: OnePlus 3T Edition

Contrasting the mediocre response to its 2015 products, OnePlus has been on a high with the OnePlus 3 in 2016. The company managed to deliver one of the best and consistent experiences that one could purchase in its price bracket. To top that off, OnePlus is once again in the news with the launch of the OnePlus 3T: an "enhanced re-release" of their best product, aiming to solidify their position as one of the top dogs despite the continuous barrage of new competition.

The launch of the OnePus 3T inevitably presented a situation where consumers, both old and new, had a lot of questions to ask. We answered a whole bunch of such questions in our article on the philosophy of the OnePlus 3T. Mario also went on to answer what changed between the OnePlus 3 and the OnePlus 3T in his extensive review, so check that out as well.

But if you still had more questions, the OnePlus team had offered to host an AMA (Ask Me Anything) session over on Reddit's Android subforum. This AMA was attended by Carl Pei (/u/carpe02), co-founder of OnePlus; Aaron (/u/Aaron_oneplus) from the ROM team; Jonathon (/u/jonathan_oneplus) from the Customer Service team; Steven (/u/StevenG_OnePlus from Logistics and Caio (/u/Caio_OP) from the EU team. The AMA saw close to a thousand comments in all, and a bunch of the earlier ones were answered to by the team.

In case you did not plan to go through all the comments and hunt down replies, we compiled this summary of the AMA session:

On updates:

Android 7.0 is what the next update on the OnePlus 3/3T would be. Android 7.1 was released midway through OnePlus' development cycle, and hence, integrating it would have delayed their schedule of providing Nougat. (Link)
Following the Android 7.0 Nougat update, both the OnePlus 3 and the OnePlus 3T would be on the same update cycle.
Future updates will bring Enhanced EIS to both the devices for their IMX298 camera sensor.
No ETA was given for Nougat update on the OnePlus 3, but it is "sooner than you think". (Link)
The merger of OxygenOS and HydrogenOS has helped the company move at a much faster pace than before while still maintaining two different products with the same team. (Link)

On the OnePlus 3T specifically:

The OnePlus 3T was launched because OnePlus had the capability to improve their product (Link).
Clearing up some confusion, the front camera is fixed focus and not PDAF (Link).
Accessories purchased for the OnePlus 3 (cases, screen protectors) are compatible for the OnePlus 3T as well.
The increase in the battery voltage to 4.4V does not compromise on the safety of the device. OnePlus certified Dash charger keeps the heat out of the device, just like it did with the OnePlus 3.
3rd party chargers (5V/3A) will work with the device, but you will be bereft of "fast" Dash Charging unless you use the certified charger (Link).
The rear camera on the OnePlus 3T did not see any hardware upgrade because there were none ready to go (Link).
The OnePlus 3T does not have a MIMO antenna but does support MU-MIMO (Link).
When asked why the OnePlus 3T (or the OnePlus 3, for that matter) do not come with a hybrid SIM slot and stick strictly to using a Dual SIM try, Carl commented that the 128GB UFS 2.0 storage performs much better than current microSD card implementations (Link).
The reason why a choice for microSD was not provided was to avoid a scenario of unacceptable user experience (Link).
The OnePlus 3T makes use of the F2FS file system while the OnePlus 3 used EXT3. Both use UFS 2.0 for storage (Link).
The OnePlus 3T ships with Enhanced EIS 2.0 (Link).
The Gunmetal Gray color came from feedback from the forums and reddit. Users wanted a darker variant.
"Gunmetal is the best balance between aesthetics and darkness. Darker, but light enough to reflect light the way we want, accentuate the product's subtle curvature" (Link).

On Developer Support for the OnePlus 3T:

"Dev support is something we're serious about, and it's an area where we really put our money where our mouth is. Honestly, we just love the custom ROM scene. It's why we are one of the few that allow for rooting/installing custom ROMs without voiding warranty. It's also why we always release kernel sources and devices trees super early, as mentioned in the OP.

As for devs who are upset about the 3T – we hear you, we understand where you are coming from, and it's something we were prepared for. We have something planned (that we can't announce just yet) to address this. Just hang on a bit. We got you."
– Bradon

Link

On the OnePlus 3:

You cannot swap the battery for that of the OnePlus 3T. This will 100% void your warranty, with OnePlus explicitly condoning this modification. There is no cross-compatibility with regards to the batteries (Link).
The OnePlus 3 will receive EIS 2.0 as well, although no ETA was given for the same.
When asked why the OnePlus 3 does not pack in a 3400mAh battery as well, the team commented that they were still in the testing phase for checking the reliability of the higher density cell, and they were not ready in time for the OnePlus 3. Since battery is an area where quality is very important, the company opted to play safe and not compromise of user safety (Link).

On sales and regions:

The OnePlus 3T will come to India. The time window was left unspecified but OnePlus India's social media channels have pointed to an announcement soon.
Availability on some regions is restricted as production of the device needs to ramp up (Link).

On Daydream support:

Both the OnePlus 3 and the OnePlus 3T are not Daydream compatible yet and there are no plans to support Daydream on either at this time (Link).
Daydream was announced after the product design of the OnePlus 3, so the design remains uninfluenced by Daydream compatibility specifications (Link).

On the lessons of the past:

Q: What do you guys feel like you've learned from the OnePlus X and 2?
A: To think more, and reflect more. To better know ourselves and our situation, and do the right thing. In other words, to find our own true north, and not to have noise such as the market or competition lead us.
– Carl Pei

(Link)

On the future of OnePlus products:

There are no concrete plans on going ahead with "T" releases. The company would like to assess the reception for this current model, so it is early to comment on this (Link).
Will there be more product lines? Carl answered that they could consider that when they are "10x" their current size, and there is still a lot of work to do to reach there (Link).
Will prices of future products move ahead on the price scale? Are current price points sustainable for the company? Currently, OnePlus is happy, but it is a tough market so they are unsure of the future (Link).
Will there be Dash Charge battery packs in the future, or simple cases (silicon/translucent gray) for the OnePlus 3? There are no confirmed plans as of yet (Link).

As the AMA title suggested, a lot of focus of this session was understandably on the OnePlus 3T. Hopefully, this session answered those questions that the community and users wanted answers for.

Check Out XDA's OnePlus 3T Forum >>

Check Out XDA's OnePlus 3 Forum >>

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