The $550 OnePlus 6T makes me feel like I'm cheating in a world where top smartphones cost $750 or more

Those around me at work, New York City, and the US in general who buy top smartphones are spending $750 or more, with some of them even spending over $1,000 on a smartphone.

And then there's me. I've been using the $580 OnePlus 6T with 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage for a little over a week now, and I feel like I'm cheating with a smartphone that costs $550 at its base and does everything I want it to do just as well as the other top phones I've tried this year.

Surely, something this good shouldn't cost so much less than everything else, right?

To be accurate, I didn't pay for the OnePlus 6T I was using. It's a review unit that OnePlus sent me. Still, had I shelled out $550 to $580 of my own money for the OnePlus 6T, I'd feel like I know something that others around me don't, and that I'm getting away with something I shouldn't.

Check out what it's like to use the OnePlus 6T:

First of all, I'm very much aware of OnePlus and its phones, whereas a lot of people probably aren't.

OnePlus phones have been available to buy since the very first OnePlus One way back in 2014. And yet, I'd bet money that a lot of people have never heard of OnePlus.

That's largely because OnePlus phones before the OnePlus 6T were never sold by carriers in the US, which happens to be where the majority of Americans buy their smartphones. If it isn't at the carrier store, it likely doesn't exist in the average American smartphone buyer's mind.

But ever since the first OnePlus phone, the company has gained a small-but-growing fan base in the US. And now that a OnePlus phone is available to buy at T-Mobile's physical stores and website, awareness of OnePlus is likely to grow.

Still, those on Verizon and AT&T won't find the OnePlus 6T at their carrier stores, so that leaves a major chunk of American smartphone buyers who likely don't know about OnePlus phones. In that respect, OnePlus phones are still a secret.

The OnePlus 6T doesn't run any slower than the top smartphones of 2018.

The OnePlus 6T runs on the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 chip as most top Android devices from 2018 that cost $750 or more, like the Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus, Google Pixel 3 XL, LG V40, and LG G7. That means the OnePlus 6T runs the Android operating system and apps just as well as those other top Android phones that cost $750 or more.

In fact, from my own experience, OnePlus phones tend to run slightly more quickly and more smoothly than those other top Android phones. That's likely because OnePlus phones run a comparatively light "skin" — an extra layer of software that runs on top of Android for extra features and design elements.

It also likely has to do with the extra RAM that OnePlus phones typically have compared to most top Android phones. The OnePlus 6T comes with 6 GB to 8 GB of RAM, which is on the higher end compared to most smartphones in general.

The extra RAM allows for more apps to be stored in the phone's short term memory, which means smoother and faster switching between the apps you often use.

Whatever is going on, the OnePlus 6T runs as well — if not better — than the more expensive Android competition. It's tougher to gauge the performance compared to iPhones, as those run Apple's own chips and operating system. Either way, the OnePlus 6T definitely doesn't feel slower than the latest iPhones.

This thing looks just as good as all the others.

Despite its lower price tag, OnePlus didn't skimp on design, either. The OnePlus 6T has a sleek metal and glass design that looks and feels unique.

The back glass, for example, has a frosted matte finish, which looks and feels superior to smooth glass, in my opinion. Only the Pixel 3 smartphones have a similar finish on the back, but they're late to the party — OnePlus already brought the matte glass texture with the previous OnePlus 6.

The front surface has bezels around the display that are just as narrow — if not narrower — as other smartphones. Even the notch's water-drop design is unique, and it's small and unobtrusive.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider