OnePlus 6T Thunder Purple Colour Variant Launched in China

OnePlus 6T has received a new colour variant - Thunder Purple - as previously rumoured. Originally launched in Midnight Black and Mirror Black models late last month, the Thunder Purple variant is currently limited to China. The Chinese company launched the OnePlus 6T in China on Monday, and and gradient colour finish will only be available in the 8GB RAM/ 128GB inbuilt storage configuration. The top 8GB RAM/ 256GB storage configuration is only available in the Midnight Black colour, as is the case with the rest of the world.

Listed alongside the Mirror Black (6GB/ 128GB and 8GB/ 128GB only) and Midnight Black (8GB/ 128GB and 8GB/ 256GB only) colour variants on the OnePlus China site, the company is calling the new OnePlus 6T colour variant as Electro-optic Violet, if one goes by Google Translate. The smartphone will go on sale in China on Tuesday, November 6, priced at CNY 3,399 (roughly Rs. 35,900), CNY 3,599 (roughly Rs. 38,000), and CNY 3,999 (roughly Rs. 42,200) for the three RAM/ storage variants correspondingly.

To recall, last month the upcoming Thunder Purple colour was spotted on the company's support page and was briefly listed on Amazon Germany. As seen in previous OnePlus handsets, the Chinese manufacturer can be expected to release several colour models of its smartphone, with past offerings including Lava Red, Sandstone White, and Silk White.

The OnePlus 6T Thunder Purple colour is a gradient option with various shades, reminiscent of gradient designs popularised by Huawei smartphones. 

OnePlus 6T specifications

The dual-SIM (Nano) OnePlus 6T runs OxygenOS-based on Android 9.0 Pie. It sports a 6.41-inch full-HD+ (1080x2340 pixels ) AMOLED display with an 19.5:9 aspect ratio, as well as support for sRGB (100.63 percent) and DCI-P3 colour gamuts. The display is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 6, and said to have a peak brightness of over 600 nits. It features a waterdrop-style notch, with three-in-one ambient light sensor, distance, and RGB sensor, as well as the front facing camera. The OnePlus 6T is powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 SoC, coupled with either 6GB or 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM.

The OnePlus 6T has a dual rear camera setup comprising a primary 16-megapixel Sony IMX519 sensor with an f/1.7 aperture and 1.22-micron pixels, paired with a secondary 20-megapixel Sony IMX376K sensor with an f/1.7 aperture and 1-micron pixels. It can shoot 4K video at 60fps, Super Slow Motion Video (1080p at 240fps and 720p at 480fps). A dual-LED flash accompanies the rear setup, while there is also OIS and EIS available.

The front camera on the OnePlus 6T features a 16-megapixel Sony IMX371 sensor with an f/2.0 aperture and 1-micron pixels. The front camera also supports EIS, and can recording 1080p video at 30fps and 720p video at 30fps. Notably, both the front and rear cameras are unchanged from the OnePlus 6. OnePlus is however also touting improved low-light photography with a feature called Nightscene. It produces brighter images in low-light, with reduced noise, using a new HDR algorithm across a 2-second exposure, and splicing together the resultant up to 10 multi-frame shots together. It will be made available to the OnePlus 6, which has an identical camera setup, later this week.

The OnePlus 6T comes with either 128GB or 256GB of inbuilt storage, not expandable via microSD card. Connectivity options include 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802ac (dual-band, 2.4GHz and 5GHz), Bluetooth v5.0, NFC, GPS/ A-GPS, and a USB Type-C (v2.0) port. The company is touting the presence of Dirac HD Sound and Dirac Power Sound support. There is a 3,700mAh battery on board with fast charge support (5V, 4A) that's said to deliver a full day of power in 30 minutes of charge, while the OnePlus 6T measures 157.5x74.8x8.2mm, weighing 185 grams.

Like the OnePlus 6, the OnePlus 6T retains a single bottom firing speaker. It also features an all-glass build, like the OnePlus 6, with Corning Gorilla Glass 6 protection. The in-display fingerprint sensor is claimed to unlock the smartphone in 0.34 seconds, and work with the OnePlus screen protector - the company doesn't guarantee it will work a third-party protector. The fingerprint recognition is also self-learning, said to make it faster over time when identifying the same fingerprints. The Face Unlock feature - said to unlock the smartphone in 0.4 seconds - makes its way forward from the OnePlus 6 as well.

The OnePlus 6T's Smart Boot feature that is said to improve app cold start speeds by 5 to 20 percent by caching frequently used apps - it currently will only work with gaming apps, with additional compatibility planned for the future. As before, users will be able to hide the notch on the OnePlus 6T, with a UI setting. The Gaming Mode introduced in previous versions of OxygenOS also makes its way to the smartphone. The company says that a feature that lets users activate Google Assistant by long pressing the power button will soon make its way to the handset.

The OnePlus 6T comes with either 128GB or 256GB of inbuilt storage, not expandable via microSD card. Connectivity options include 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802ac (dual-band, 2.4GHz and 5GHz), Bluetooth v5.0, NFC, GPS/ A-GPS, and a USB Type-C (v2.0) port. The company is touting the presence of Dirac HD Sound and Dirac Power Sound support. There is a 3,700mAh battery on board with fast charge support (5V, 4A) that's said to deliver a full day of power in 30 minutes of charge, while the OnePlus 6T measures 157.5x74.8x8.2mm, weighing 185 grams.