UPGRADE OR UPDATE?
The Pixel 3, iPhone XR and OnePlus 6T are all follow-up
devices to three highly successful handsets. Is it time for an upgrade…
GOOGLE PIXEL 3
| 6.5/10
The Pixel 3’s rear camera is the best you can get on
a phone today. This time, it comes with a low-light mode for night photography.
But apart from an upgraded processor, a slightly larger display and an
additional front camera, this handset is identical to the year-old Pixel 2. It
is a future-proof device, with assured firmware upgrades, but it’s still not
worth an upgrade for Pixel 2 owners.
Still, if price is not a deterrent, Android loyalists
might want to consider it for its clean stock OS.
Design: The
Pixel 3’s build comprises an aluminium frame with Gorilla Glass body in
dual-tone colour. At first glance, this design is identical to the Pixel 2
handsets: It lacks a homescreen button and boasts of a narrow bezel. Only, its
water- and dustresistant rating has been bumped up from IP67 to IP68. The phone
looks sleek and feels premium.
Display: Its
touchscreen is bright and renders colours with excellent contrast and deep
blacks; this is especially apparent when you view hi-def HDR content. You get
the option to change the display’s colour profile to “Vivid” or “Adaptive” from
within the phone’s settings. Here, you will also find options to display the
time and notifications on an always-on screen and a night mode that can be
scheduled to kick in at a specific time to cut screen glare.
Features: The
Pixel 3 runs a near-stock version of Android Pie; it includes “Active Edge”,
which lets you squeeze the handset’s sides to activate Google Assistant.
You can configure its squeeze sensitivity and even use it to silence incoming
calls.
Google’s ‘Now Playing’ feature, when enabled,
“listens to” and identifies tunes that are being played around you. The track’s
title is then displayed on the lock screen itself. Double-tap this and the
service loads the song in an audio streaming app.
When it comes to performance—going by benchmark
tests—you can expect a 15% improvement over last year’s Google handsets, but
the Pixel 3 still posted scores that were lower than the OnePlus 6 and 6T. In
real-world use, they perform smoothly irrespective of the task at hand – 3D
games, 4K content and multitasking between them. Their frontfacing stereo
speakers sound loud and crisp with bass that’s audible as low as 40Hz.
Now, the Pixel 3 does not support the 3.5mm audio
jack, but you do get a pair of quality USB Type-C earphones that are capable of
clear highs and mids, along with defined lows.
And while it retains a fingerprint sensor at the
back, it still lacks face-recognition unlock.
Camera: The
Pixel 3 comes with a 12MP rear, and two front cameras. The second front snapper
has a wide-angled lens to fit more people in the frame.
The rear shooter is one of the best we have tested.
It captures details and natural tones with just the right amount of exposure.
Shots taken in poorlylit environs are impressive: A new ‘Night Sight’ mode,
which can be used with both cameras, creates a single image by combining
multiple snapshots taken at different exposures. You get a portrait/ bokeh mode
for both snappers and Motion Photos lets you click a picture and capture a few
seconds of video for each shot. Other shooting modes include panorama, slow
motion and photo booth, which automatically triggers the shutter when you
smile. As far as manual control goes, you can only adjust exposure and white
balance before taking a shot.
Battery: The
Pixel 3 XL gives you well over a day’s worth of basic usage – movies, audio
streaming, emails and messaging – on a single charge of its battery. You get
support for wireless charging in this upgrade, and are promised a couple of
extra hours of use with just a 15-minute fast charging session.
APPLE IPHONE
XR | 7/10
The iPhone XR is Apple’s cheapest full-screen
handset. It is priced at less than last year’s iPhone X, yet packs in a better
processor and a bigger screen. On the downside, you get an LCD display and a single
rear camera as opposed to the OLED display and dual shooters on last year’s X.
It’s a phone that does everything you want it to do, albeit with a few,
sometimes unnoticeable, trade offs.
The XR is not a necessary upgrade for existing X
owners; instead it is an excellent option for those with older iPhones (7 and
older) and new users who find the XS or XS Max beyond their budget.
Design: The XR
is fabricated out of aerospacegrade aluminium and layers of toughened glass. It
looks premium though its smooth finish makes it slippery to hold. We recommend
a protective case which would offer grip and also some protection against
accidental falls. The XR, like the X, carries an IP67 rating for water- and
dust-resistance.
Display: The XR
features a 6.1-inch screen instead of the 5.8-inch displays on last year’s X.
It renders crisp text and images with natural colours and contrast. However,
hi-def videos look soft—and deep blacks appear grey due to the backlight—when
compared to the output on other higher-end handsets.
You still get Apple’s True Tone technology that
detects the colour temperature of ambient light to adjust the screen’s white
balance. Also, you can expect the same smooth touch response as you navigate
the iOS interface.
Features: The XR
runs iOS 12 out of the box; it comes with apps such as Weather, Notes and Voice
Memos; you get Health (to monitor your physical
wellbeing); GarageBand (to compose music), iMovie (to
edit videos), Keynote (for presentations), Numbers(for
spreadsheets), Pages (to edit documents), as well as the iTunes
Store (for movies and music) and iTunes U (for
educational content).
Siri, Apple’s digital voice-based assistant, works as
promised with support for Indian accents. For security, you get Apple’s
proprietary Face ID technology – which uses its True Depth camera – to
authenticate users before unlocking the handset.
When it comes to processing muscle, the XR is on a
par with the pricier XS and XS Max handset and delivers a performance
improvement of nearly 40% over last year’s iPhone X. It handles 3D games and
Augmented Reality (AR) apps without any frame drops, and even edits 4K video
recordings without any hiccups. Quality of audio output is also the same as the
iPhone XS and XS Max; its stereo speakers are capable of bass that is audible
up to 40Hz. Audio is also more nuanced while watching videos or listening to
music without headphones. You also get a pair of earphones, with the Lightning
Connector, that are capable of quality, balanced sound.
Camera: Its
single rear camera captures pictures with true colours. It also supports Smart
HDR to automatically pick up detail even in darker areas of a scene. Despite
having one less rear camera when compared to the X, XS and XS Max, the XR works
well to capture portraits with bokeh. You can apply up to three
software-enabled light settings, but this only works when it detects a face in
the frame.
With the selfie camera, the ‘Portrait Lighting’
feature supports five studio lighting effects. You can even shoot a portrait
photo first and adjust the depth of field later. Like the XS and XS Max, you
get the ability to shoot 4K videos with stereo audio for better audio
separation.
Battery: The XR
packs in a slightly higher capacity battery than the iPhone X and the XS, but
less than the XS Max. Even with the bigger display, it survives almost two days
of mixed use before it needs a recharge. The XR supports wireless as well as
fast charging but ships with a regular charger.
ONEPLUS 6T
| 7.5/10
The OnePlus 6T is one of the best Android smartphones
available in India, only it isn’t an upgrade over its predecessor from six
months ago. Instead, it’s a device that gives you options: Buy the “older”
OnePlus 6 if you want a comfortably-placed fingerprint sensor at the rear of
the device along with a standard 3.5mm headphone port. The OnePlus 6T is for
you if you want a smartphone with a smaller “droplet” notch on its screen, a
slightly larger battery within, and if you use Bluetooth ear/headphones with
your handset.
You get a few software upgrades in the 6T, but this
can also be made available as an update to One-Plus 6 that runs on identical
hardware… Design: The 6T boasts of a Gorilla Glass 6 unibody
construction. It looks good, feels premium, but is slippery to hold, so we
wouldn’t advise you to use it without a protective case.
Its build quality is like that of the OnePlus 6.
While both devices are splash resistant, the company has not sought an IP
certification for dust and water resistance. Official sources say the 6T is
hardier than its predecessors and can survive a monsoon shower. In the absence
of proper certification, we did not test this claim with submersion.
Display: The 6T
has a slightly larger screen (6.41-inch) when compared to that on the OnePlus 6
(6.28-inch). Its (almost) edge-to-edge display is only marred by a “droplet”
notch for the front camera. This notch, like before, can be hidden by going
into Display settings. From here, you can also choose between five colour
profiles: Default, sRGB, DCI-P3, Adaptive mode and Custom colour. The 6T’s
screen is bright enough to be visible in sunlight and is capable of natural
colours with deep blacks and excellent contrast. Like it is in the OnePlus 6,
you get Night Mode that reduces blue light to prevent eye strain in low-light
settings and a Reading mode that eliminates colour to render text in
monochrome.
The 6T’s fingerprint reader—now embedded within the
display—requires some finger calisthenics, or for you to hold the 6T with one
hand while you unlock it with the other. We preferred the placement of the
hardware-based sensor—in the OnePlus 6–at the rear of the device because it was
comfortable for single-hand use. Also, we found it to be faster than the
onscreen sensor of the 6T.
Features: The
OnePlus 6T performs identically to the OnePlus 6 in benchmark tests making it
the fastest Android smartphone. It runs on OnePlus’ Oxygen OS on top of Android
Pie.
The 6T is devoid of any bloatware but includes quite
a few features: You get face unlock that works promptly even in the dark, the
option to encrypt apps, as well as a password-protected vault to securely store
files. In the absence of notification LEDs, OnePlus’ ‘lift-up display’ shows
alerts on its lock screen when the phone is picked up. Its Gaming Mode blocks
notifications, and redirects network data to game apps for smoother
performance. All of these features work as promised.
For audio, you get a bottom-facing speaker that is
loud enough for gaming, but they flat out at about 100Hz which means you lose
out on deep bass. With ear/headphones, the sound is crisp and loud. In the
absence of the 3.5mm headphone port, OnePlus now packages a USB C-3.5mm adaptor
in the box.
Camera: The 6T’s
shooters see little upgrade over the OnePlus 6. Like before, you get modes like
portrait (or bokeh), panorama, time-lapse, manual modes for audio and video, as
well as HD and Full HD slo-mo at 480 and 240fps respectively. The snappers fare
well in low light with little grain/noise. The front shooter comes with a
portrait mode and is capable of sharp captures with excellent contrast.
This time around, you also get a Nightscape mode
that’s designed to capture brighter images in lowlight. For this, the camera
captures up to 10 frames that are then stacked to create better-lit HDR images.
This is a software feature and a similar update will make its way to the
OnePlus 6 as well.
Battery: The 6T
comes with a 3700mAh battery, which is 400mAh more than the one in the OnePlus
6. We got about a day and half of mixed use from a
full charge, and this is about two hours more than what we could eke out of its
predecessor. The 6T also supports Dash Charge that juices up the cells in about
an hour. OnePlus could have introduced wireless charging in the 6T. The handset
needed some serious features to differentiate it from the OnePlus 6; and this
could have been something that might have made a slight difference.
Ashutosh Desai
and Savio D’Souza
TOI 3NOV18
No comments:
Post a Comment