The successor to last year’s OnePlus 2 is without doubt one of the most anticipated phones right now. Dubbed OnePlus 3, the phone is expected to be announced this week and followed by an official release at the end of this month.
But one would be asking – is the upcoming OnePlus 3 really worthy of upgrading from the still magnificent OnePlus 2? Well, here is something to help you with this tough decision.
Screen quality
As mentioned, OnePlus 2 is still among the best smartphones around. It comes with a decent and roomy 5.5-inch 1080p IPS LCD screen with a pixel density of 401 pixels per inch. The upcoming OnePlus 3 will probably retain the screen size and the resolution, but the IPS LCD panel will be replaced with an even better AMOLED panel, which is touted for its great abilities when it comes to battery life management.
Processing power and storage
With the new OnePlus 3 coming in as a successor to a flagship device, we expect it to also come in with 2016 flagship specs. This means the Snapdragon 810 SoC used on the OnePlus 2 will be replaced by a new Snapdragon 820 SoC. There might also be variations in the amount of RAM being offered as well.
The OnePlus 2 comes in two variants of 3GB RAM and 16GB of onboard storage while the other has 4GB of RAM and 64GB of onboard storage. Unlike many Android devices, you won’t find expandable storage on this device. As for this year’s OnePlus 3, expectations are high that the phone will feature two variants as well, with the base model packing 4GB of RAM and slightly lower onboard storage of 32GB as compared last year’s 4GB RAM variant. However, the 6GB RAM variant of the OnePlus 3 will reportedly come with onboard storage of 64GB.
There are also some reports claiming that the OEM might come in with a 128GB storage variant with the 6GB RAM, but just like the rest of the spec sheet, this is based on rumors and speculations.
Battery capacity, camera, and extra features
The OnePlus 2 carries a massive battery unit of 3300mAh, which promises a full day of using the phone. As for the OnePlus 3, expect an even bigger battery unit of about the same size or slightly above this valuation. Rumors say that the phone will pack a 3500mAh unit, but this is unconfirmed.
There are changes expected in the camera department, with the OnePlus 3 supposedly coming in with a 16MP sensor on the rear as compared to the 13MP found on the OnePlus 2. The 5MP FFC from last year will be improved with an 8MP FFC. Software-wise, the new phone will be powered by Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow out of the box. While the OnePlus 2 has Android Lollipop out of the box, users can upgrade to the new version via an OTA update.
As for the extra features, expect the upcoming OnePlus 3 to carry on with the fingerprint scanner feature, but it will be faster and more accurate than last year’s offering.
From the above, it seems there is really little to get anxious about as the upgrades are not major. Maybe coming in with a 6GB/128GB variant might be the main upgrade, which might just be the real deal breaker for OnePlus.