Last updated : 21/3/2024
Introduction
OnePlus 6 - the last OnePlus flagship with a headphone jack, and the second OnePlus device I know to feature glued-back-first repair procedure (with the first one being OnePlus X). Speaking of seconds, it's also the second OnePlus device I've personally owned. Whether it'll be the last remains to be seen, though with newer OnePlus phones lacking essential features, I'd say it's likely unless I got another OnePlus phone (between 3 & 6 obviously, though who knows).
Summary : Good device for fastboot oem unlock users - I'd probably argue it's the best one if you're fine with 2018's flagship performance. But then again I could make an argument for older OnePlus phones once performance is considered minor issue.
Physical features
The OnePlus 6 felt like it was just right for me. Ok, maybe a bit thin for my liking, but that's one case away.
- On the top section, there's nothing but metal as far as the eye can see... and the secondary mic.
- 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 as you only compromise 1 hand on landscape grip with the ports plugged up, though at the cost of the speaker being too easy to block with the right hand while in landscape position thanks to its positioning (bottom-left).
- Left section contains the dual SIM tray & volume buttons.
- Right section is home to the alert slider & power button. 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 earpiece, front camera, & 6.28' 19:9 notched 60hz OLED display.
- The back holds the fingerprint scanner, flash diffuser (under glass), & rear cameras (which also doubles as NFC antenna). The camera bump is somewhat thick, though at least it's centered.
- For materials, Gorilla Glass 5 covers the front & rear glasses, with aluminium for the alert slider, buttons, & dual SIM tray.
- For buttons, the OP6 feels properly clicky with barely any wobble. Fingerprint scanner is accurate & fast (both are synonymous with "works well") despite it refusing to profile the same finger twice - not sure if it's Jaguar ROM's quirk or the scanner itself. Alert slider's there if you need to shut your phone up without looking at it.
- In terms of haptics, I say it's a bit all over the place. On Simple Keyboard (rkkr), 100ms felt a bit too hard, while ≤99ms are a bit too weak especially away from bottom-center section of the device. But then again, I transplanted the vibration motor from the old frame & glued them to new frame with B7000 (as I had to replace display & frame), so there's probably that as well. There's also some developer anecdotes on questionable haptic feedback implementations as well.
- JerryRigEverything durability test video for the OnePlus 6
Screen protector observations :
- Nillkin H (OnePlus 6) : Fully covers display (and notch) without any air gaps, so it's recommended. While I'd like to consider the H+ Pro, I heard some questionable issues on it, so tread lightly for this one? ...or maybe just go for the Nillkin H listed here - it's not like the extra thickness would matter much (at least for me); and you save some little extra money on it as well.
- Nillkin H(+ Pro) (Samsung A50s) : Too tall to the point of going beyond the phone & too narrow to cover display.
- Nillkin H+ Pro (Xiaomi Mi 8 Lite) : While the asymetrical notch didn't crash into the OP6's speaker grille, the protector itself was a bit too narrow to properly cover the display.
- T-Phox tempered (Oppo R15 "Pro") : Almost similar to Mi 8 Lite above, except the protector's notch doesn't even start covering the OP6's notch (instead of not covering the display widthwise).
- UME tempered (iPhone XS Max) : On one hand, it fully covers the display width-wise with extra 0.5mm coverage. On the other hand, the glass' notch doesn't fully cover the OP6's notch. Also, the glass' adhesive is a bit weak at the edges, leaving some air gaps. Fine in a pinch (or when it's your only choice), but better options do exist.
Audio Quality
The OnePlus 6 has all audio output modules (mono loudspeaker & headphone jack) at the bottom of the device, flanking the USB-C port. The earpiece can also double as second speaker by modifying mixer_paths_tavil or applying a Magisk module.
The mono speaker's quality is serviceable (if a bit boxy), but due to its position, it's much more likely to get blocked than the likes of LG V30 & Poco X3(N/P). If only it was front-firing like the BlackBerry Priv... it might have been interesting. As a second speaker, the earpiece's not as good as the OnePlus 3T here; sounding shrill on its own & far too easy to drown out from the main speaker.
Headphone jack quality is nice, with positioning that doesn't get in the way of landscape gaming like the X3(N/P) & only "costs" 1 hand in combination with the USB-C.
Display
The 6.28' 19:9 notched 60hz OLED display is fine enough for me (turned-off blacks are good, notch is there I guess, and refresh rate is still serviceable despite what those "tech reviewers" are systemically bitching just because ≥90hz exists), though being OLED is basically a burn-in incident waiting to happen, especially since 19:9 also meant 1/3ish of the screen could be FGO's blue bars (only if FGO hasn't deleted them - which they mostly did; but since I remember them quite a bit... let's just say it's my most notorious example).
One thing that I noticed on the OP6's display is the colors - it looked warmer (more yellow-ish) than most of my phones' displays by default. One workaround to this warm colors is to go to Settings > Display > Display calibration > Color calibration & set "Red" to 85% & Green to 84%, leaving "Blue" at 100%.
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 OP6 is in line with most regular glass-backed phones.
- Back panel demands heat, suction cup, & adhesive-cutting pry to remove and glue to re-attach; with camera bump, fingerprint sensor, & flash diffuser adhered to it. The aforementioned fingerprint sensor's cable is long enough that it won't readily tear on normal glass back removal - more on that sensor on the next point. The back panel is glass, so it shouldn't distort from excessive heat; but additional care on prying needs to be taken if you don't want it to break (and I recommend keeping some spare back panels at the ready in the likely case you broke it when prying it out).
- The motherboard cover (which generally doubles as NFC antenna) features a bracket held with red rubber adhered on it, which covers the connectors for battery & fingerprint sensor. That cover is stuck with 10 Philips screws & will take the aforementioned bracket with it when removed. As for the daughterboard cover & speaker module, it's stuck with 8 Philips screws. The cover screws are equal in size & length, so you can kinda get away with not sorting them out, though I mixed in 2 of X3P's (or X3N by hardware similarities) screws to replace the ones I'm missing & so far it fits well (despite the screws being a tiny bit longer).
However, if that bracket & red rubber ever separates, good luck re-adhering them back together... or just don't use the bracket, especially if you're running an aftermarket battery.
- The metal frame feature some tiny holes on its edges, suggesting the possibility of modding in user-removable back panels.
- 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 & the tray doesn't need to be removed for the back panel and/or board cover to go, so you'll have to be really sure you've removed the SIM tray before trying to detach the motherboard, otherwise the entire board is stuck.
- More on the battery (which isn't red by default, though there's Zack (a.k.a. JerryRigEverything in YouTube) making it red with a dbrand skin) - it features a green static pull tab to ease removal, and for first removal, the battery is lightly adhered to the plastic wrapping (or solid adhesive), which in turn is adhered somewhat heavily to the frame. If you use an aftermarket battery with larger capacity (like rakkipanda), don't expect that battery to fit with the wrapping and/or pull tab (let alone rubber strip at bottom of battery slot) on, though suction cup (or cautious "pry of shame", maybe in combination with isopropyl alcohol as well) should still be enough to detach it from the frame's battery adhesive.
- Every removable component except for alert slider (which physically connects with a switch on the motherboard), antenna cables, bottom speaker, buttons, NFC, & vibration motor (which uses contact pins) connects to the motherboard using Lego-like BTBs, which has black silicone seals surrounding the BTB's sockets instead of random capacitors underneath it, making disconnecting those cables somewhat safer.
- Headphone jack connects to the daughterboard, which is also connected to the display with a 2-in-1 flex cable.
- Charging port is on its own flex cable, stuck with 2 2.3mm Philips screws; under daughterboard, battery's plastic wrap (and/or the battery), & a rubber strip on the bottom of the battery slot (if it's there). Replacing it will require all of them out, so good luck.
- As expected of glue sandwiches, physical buttons (power & volumes) are in their holes within the metal frame. 2 screws are in place for the buttons' plastic tabs. Removing & reattaching them will require some precision, though at least they weren't on the same cable.
- Display is very much glued in place, so say goodbye to it if you ever wanted to try harvesting the earpiece grille 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. In my anecdote, I tried to remove the old display from my old OP6 frame... only to end up popping out the entire thing in 1 pull instead of bullying the display to its demise... suggesting some back alley service center plopped some weak glue on it & called it a day (after overcharging the previous owner for it, obviously).
Teardown references :
Custom ROM & Kernel Availability (as of 29/11/2023)
For custom ROMs, the OP6 is highly questionable if you're sticking with OOS10 (for usable TWRP 3.5.2 - last fully functional TWRP on OP6); though it kinda gets better on OOS11 if you don't mind broken TWRP and running only A13 & beyond (there's official crDroid for A11 & A12L in addition to the crapshoot A13 & A14, though it's blind build & developer shills the latest crap... and /e/ with A12L / A13). Only 1 ROM with support for it (Jaguar ROM); everyone else demands A11/OOS11 firmware/vendor & is definitely on A13/A14 (except for aforementioned /e/ & crDroid), which I don't like (and won't test). For those ROMs (the OOS11-dependent ones), flashing should work like the Pixel 3 - flashing its recovery images (either through fastboot flash boot boot.img or fastboot update fastboot-rom.zip) before sideloading the ROM again in recovery (which are actually LineageOS recovery with some theme differences).
Speaking of kernels, we're either welded to stock kernel (OOS10) or limited to a crDroid-only custom kernel (OOS11) with GPU overclocking by default & an alternate build without said overclock; which also features KernelSU-only releases.
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. Speaking of TWRP...
- OOS11/A11 firmware broke official TWRP support for future Android versions, starting from 3.6.1. At least, userdata decryption doesn't seem to work there. Imagine having to inject some stuff to /sdcard/Android via TWRP... only for TWRP to not read the /sdcard folder.
- Potential crashdump issues, without any solid lead on its causes (some reported it on latest OOS11 firmware, some on OOS10, some with custom ROMs, some from questionable soldering ala X3(N/P), etc.). For my anecdote, I (now it's Bob) run the 8/128 variant with Jaguar ROM 37.1 & latest (or last) OOS10 firmware (and secondhand to boot - who knows what the previous owner did with it); and I still haven't faced it... yet. Though time will tell if I'll run into it head-first.
4/3/2024 Update : Another factor thrown into the OP6 crashdump issue according to Renegade Project (from its troubleshooting page, #11. QUALCOMM CrashDump Mode) : The WiFi/Modem subsystem on Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 (SDM845) OnePlus devices is unstable and can get your device to QUALCOMM CrashDump Mode quite often. TL;DR : buggy networking stuff on OP6(T).
Then, for the debatable nitpicks:
- Glass back... without wireless charging. All things considered, this is actually a minor issue that got overblown into the skies by those "tech" 'tubers. But still, I'd rather have plastic back (and there's the potential of modding in removeable back) over these fragile glass on the ass.
- Potential camera issues : Some of these phones could suffer from camera issues where it may cause the entire device to freeze when the camera's opened. I consider this a "minor" issue since I don't really care about cameras. Not that I encountered it myself (yet...), but still.
- OnePlus' firmware being averse to background music playing, though to a less consistent degree than Xiaomi's (or stock OnePlus for that matter). Whether that's the firmware or Jaguar ROM's additions, I'm not sure.
- Stock OnePlus vendor partition contains various weird bloat in /vendor/etc, ranging from some apps (vendor/etc/apps) to a bunch of potentially unwanted Chinese config files. Deleting them seems to have no impact on the system.
- 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 that works only for notifications.
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. However, the slider's mechanical switch is soldered to the motherboard, so if it ever stops working... it will never work again because it can never be replaced.
Conclusion
On one hand, OnePlus 6 offers decent hardware for devices with great bootloader unlocking protocol (unfortunately, there's a trend where the better bootloader unlocking protocol gets for a device; the worse its hardware will be - and vice versa). On the other hand... let's list some devices to compare with the OP6.
- First off; the Poco F1 (please don't get me started on the X3P). On one hand, bootloader unlocking's definitely the weakest point, but once we get past it, its superior hardware (except for display & RAM maybe... and definitely that soldered-on headphone jack & lack of NFC?) will have you question whether trading off hardware & A-only(-like starting with A11/A12L) partitioning for bootloader is worth it.
- Then there's the LG V30 (from the year before OP6's debut), which kinda broke the mold by having an even better hardware (though not really superior to the OP6, which is expected when you have a 2017 flagship & 2018 pseudo-flagship against each other) for its hacky (but actually equivalent to fastboot oem unlock) bootloader unlocking (where you downgrade to 20a/20b Oreo build (and maybe convert to Nougat beforehand) & use some fake unlock code... assuming you're not on V30 from T-Mobile, in which case good luck with lafsploit). Comparing the V30's hardware to the OP6 - it's a battle of tradeoffs (that the OP6 won despite lacking the microSD). On one hand, we have microSD, Qi wireless charging (of that era, input-only), & quad DAC (with top-right mounted headphone jack); but in return we get 4GB RAM, Snapdragon 835 (I mean, it's from 2017), and lousy speakers (before we start including the pathetic earpiece, if it even helped patching up the lousy speaker). As for the display, while it's notchless, the side bezels are curved enough to make regular tempered glasses not viable & LG's P-OLED of that time seems to be a bit more likely to suffer from burn-ins compared to regular OLEDs (not to mention black crush). Oh yeah - the V30 also couldn't run encryption on custom ROMs, unlike literally everyone else.
- For a more even duel between fellow fastboot [oem/flashing] unlock (which also kinda proves whatever I said about bootloader vs. hardware), there's the Pixel 3. On one hand, the Pixel is noticeably smaller (making 1-hand usage less awkward), has notchless 5.5' 18:9 P-OLED, dual front-facing stereo speakers, better charging (Qi wireless exists, wired has USBPD & 18W), USB 3.1, Active Edge, Titan M security chip (compared to no security chip on OP6), and better camera performance (not that the last 3 points would really matter for me). On the other hand, it lacks a headphone jack, its fingerprint sensor can be a bit wonky (I can only hope this to be a one-off issue that can be fixed with a replacement sensor), and it only has 4GB RAM. If only Google was serious on making actually good phones instead of cramming shitboxes with irrelevant gimmicks...
In addition to those, the lack of custom ROMs for OOS10 vendor (not that I would play around with OOS11-vendored custom ROMs) might have pushed me to believe that trading hardware for bootloader isn't really worth it (though we shouldn't have these tradeoffs whatsoever, if not for corpos building shitty devices). But still, if you don't mind running some closed source custom ROM just for usable TWRP, I guess there's that...
Oh yeah - there's the potential crashdump issue, which remains a mystery since there's no solid lead on its causes. Tread lightly for this one & have a plan B in case your OP6 is hit with that issue.
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