Last updated : 8/1/2024
Introduction
OnePlus 3T - the 1st OnePlus phone to enter my inventory.
Summary : Pixel XL with an extra SIM slot & Mi A1's capacitive front (but with fingerprint + home combo & remappable sides).
Physical features
The OP3T feels smaller than its screen size indicated, however it may be caused by me getting a bit too used to the Pixel XL (or the thinness is getting on to me). Otherwise, forgettably fine.
- On the top section, there's nothing but metal as far as the eye can see. Not even a microphone hole.
- USB-C charging port, speaker, headphone jack, & primary mic on the bottom corner. The jack is positioned on the bottom-right, which is somewhat ideal, though at the cost of the speaker being easier to block with the right hand while in landscape position. The left & right corners also houses T2 torx screws, meant to be taken off in a repair / teardown.
- Left section contains the alert slider & volume buttons.
- Right section is home to the power button & the dual SIM tray. Having the power & volume button on the opposite of each other is ideal for faster (yet more likely accidental) screenshots.
- Front side is reserved for the 5.5' 16.9 OLED, front camera, earpiece, fingerprint sensor / capacitive home button, & 2 remappable capacitive buttons flanking the fingerprint sensor.
- The back holds NFC tag, flash diffuser, rear camera, & secondary mic. The camera bump is somewhat thick, though at least it's centered.
- For materials, Gorilla Glass 4 covers the front display, with aluminium for the back, sides, the buttons, & the alert slider. The rear camera is also said to be covered by sapphire lens (at least for the OP3T; the regular OP3 runs regular tempered glass).
- The OP3T's haptics are serviceable, with 46ms on Simple Keyboard being my sweet spot.
- Regarding the buttons, they feel fine (for a phone with simple button mechanism, complete with quite the wobble) if & ONLY IF attached correctly (which can be a challenge on itself). The fingerprint scanner, on the other hand, is tolerable (I used all 5 of OP3T's available fingerprint quotas on my right thumb for this one & it is still not as accurate as I would've liked) but far too sensitive to dirt & grease, which quickly compromises its accuracy (as if it wasn't questionable enough to begin with).
- JerryRigEverything durability test video for the OnePlus 3, which also applies for the 3T since they have similar build profile.
Audio Quality
The OP3T has most of its audio modules (mono loudspeaker & headphone jack) at the bottom of the device, flanking the USB-C port. The earpiece can also double as a second speaker by either modifying mixer_paths_tasha or downloading & applying pre-tuned file (or Magisk module?) from Go-ogle Drive.
The speaker's quality is serviceable, but due to its position, it's much more likely to get blocked than the likes of LG V30 & Poco X3(N/P). As a second speaker, the earpiece works well, with decent sound that keeps up with the primary speaker that often gets blocked.
The headphone jack quality is average, but at least its positioning won't get in the way of landscape gaming as much as the X3(N/P) would & only "costs" 1 hand in combination with the USB-C.
Display
The 5.5' 16.9 OLED display is fine enough (turned-off blacks are good, refresh rate is serviceable). Since it's an OLED, burn in will eventually happen. However, due to its 16:9 aspect ratio, Fate/GO won't produce any blue bars.
When I got my OP3T, it already had a (seemingly minor) burn in on the status bar area. It has since been fixed by a new "original" display, whose only "flaw" is those fucking warranty stickers.
Bootloader unlocking
The bootloader unlocking process is foolproof & simple : plug phone to PC, enable OEM unlocking & USB debugging in stock OS' developer options, boot to fastboot & fastboot oem unlock in fastboot. No connecting to internet (if you have the adb/fastboot tools ready).
Repairability
In terms of repairability, the OP3T seems to place itself between Mi A1 & Poco F1, though in truth somewhat easier than both.
- Back shell requires removing the SIM tray & 2 T2 torx screws flanking the bottom modules (if it's there). Prying off back shell doesn't require any heat whatsoever & the clips are easy to unclip, compared to Poco F1 (and Mi A1 by extension - dear Lord that thing's clips are ridiculously tough). The shell houses the alert slider, vibration motor (on the same cable), NFC pad, flash diffuser, & the buttons' triggers.
- More on the buttons' triggers : First off, they're held on by glued up metal brackets (or doctor up some ≤0.3mm plate if you lost said metal bracket). Next up, while the triggers themselves are metal, the part that interact with the buttons' flex cable are soft plastic, so care needs to be taken when reattaching back shell - make sure they're as out of the way as possible. And if that plastic breaks... that button's done for. Keep some spare button triggers for this one.
- Motherboard doesn't have any covering pieces, but are held by 8 Philips screws, while daughterboard & bottom speaker's held by 7 Philips screws. The screws are different in size & length, so you need to sort them out.
- SIM reader's soldered on the motherboard, though that's common for every phone nowadays except for ASUS ZS630KL / Zenfone 6 2019 / 6z (AFAIK). It's mounted on the back side of the motherboard, but you don't need to worry about it since the tray is removed before the back shell.
- Battery features a static pull tab meant to ease removal, and for first removal, the battery is lightly adhered to the frame - no plastic wrappings here.
- Every removable component except for alert slider, bottom speaker, buttons, NFC, & vibration motor (which uses contact pins). Those BTBs have black silicone seals surrounding the BTB's sockets instead of random capacitors underneath it (except for the display), making disconnecting those cables somewhat safer.
- The power & volume buttons are adhered to the midframe & are on the same ribbon cable, forcing a replacement of both if either stops working. However, it's more likely to damage the buttons' triggers than the buttons' flex cables when prying and/or reattaching back shell, so there's that as well.
- Headphone jack is soldered to daughterboard, which links to loudspeaker & USB-C port (which is on its own cable) with some light tape. The daughterboard also connects to home button / fingerprint scanner combo & capacitive buttons, which are glued down to display.
- More on home button : There's a cutout on display & frame where the button's meant to stick to. In addition, it's also held down by a stick-on bracket.
- Display is very much glued in place, so say goodbye to it if you ever wanted to try harvesting the earpiece grille, capacitive buttons, and/or replace the entire thing for the 1st time (if sticking to same midframe). Then again, your display's probably beyond any helping in that scenario, so good luck.
Teardown references (for OP3, which also applies to OP3T) :
Custom ROM & Kernel Availability (as of 6/12/2023)
For custom ROMs, the OP3T is pretty much running some form of A11 LineageOS, whether it's official builds (or Lineage-microG, which can be skipped in favor of everyone else) or hardened forks like DivestOS & MSe1969's LineageOS-microG. There was A12 LineageOS for the 3T running 3.x kernel, though it's abandoned now.
Speaking of kernels, there's pretty much none at this point. And this also means no KernelSU for OP3T.
Other issues
Let's start out with the bad ones:
- No microSD, which leads to requiring the USB port for flashing ROMs... whether you're using TWRP or not.
- Being stuck at 3.18, making support for A12 & beyond unlikely... to the pouty whimper of tech hipsters & "reviewers" (not to forget the developers with a burning passion for headfirst "RUSH B NO STOP!" onto latest Android). So far, we've seen no ≥A12 for the OP3T aside from an abandoned build.
- OnePlus' firmware being averse to background music playing.
For the debatable nitpicks :
- Fast charging limited to Dash Charging (or USB-C VOOC?) brick & cable - no USB PD or Qualcomm Quick Charge whatsoever.
And, finally, the nice to have ones:
- Alert slider
While this is not something I use regularly (considering it can't be configured for anything unrelated to notification volumes), there's plenty of people who consider this an essential feature. It's combined with the vibration motor on the same flex cable, so you will need to replace both if either stops working.
Conclusion
On one hand, the OP3T is what the Pixel XL might've been had it been developed more competently (except for the buttons, it sucked), as it has additional SIM slot (though I'd rather have a microSD slot in addition to or instead of second SIM card) & a more functional bottom bezel (while moving headphone jack to a better place & adding in front-facing fingerprint scanner). On the other hand, being stuck in 3.18 kernel does hold back the OP3T on custom ROMs (and kernels too), as developers (particularly those with a burning passion for headfirst "RUSH B NO STOP!" onto latest Android) wouldn't want to touch it if they haven't already owned one. If you can't live without latest Android... my condolences (lol). That said, if you don't mind trading microSD for fastboot oem unlock, I guess the OP3T is alright (as in better keeping & maintaining it if you already have it rather than buying one if you don't have it) if you don't mind dealing with its flaws.
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