This cafe lets students trade their data for a ‘free’ cup of coffee

“There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch,” says the narrator in Robert Heinlein’s 1966 science-fiction novel The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress. As it turns out, there may be no such thing as a free coffee, either. At least, that’s our takeaway from Shiru Cafe, an international line of cafes with one United States branch near Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island — and more soon to open in the U.S. at Harvard, Yale and Princeton universities, and Amherst College.

Shiru offers a “brand new unique business model,” namely to give out free cups of coffee exchange for user data. In other words, it’s the same business model used by tech giants like Facebook, Google, and others — only with caffeine instead of “free” social media or email access. In order to get their free coffee, students must sign up with their name, email, college or university, major, year in school, and professional interests. This is then used to target them with information from corporate brands who essentially sponsor the running of the cafe.

“Through a free drink, we try to give students some information which sponsor company [sic] would like to inform exclusively for university students to diverse the choices of their future career,” the company’s website notes.

In an email to Digital Trends, a representative for Shiru Cafe said that it “takes students’ privacy very seriously and does not share this information with any third parties or directly with our sponsor companies.” Instead, the information is provided in aggregate and then used to arrange face-to-face meet-ups with recruiters in which additional information can be provided.

The Brown branch of Shiru Cafe opened in March and has “exceeded” the company’s expectations. The company estimates that more than 75 percent of Brown students will register with the cafe this semester and it is already receiving upward of 600 customers each day.

It’s definitely an interesting idea, although it’s certainly easy to see why some might find asking cash-poor students to instead trade their data for beverages could be troubling. Still, as noted, this is a business model that is well established among Silicon Valley tech giants. So if we’re worried about trading data for coffee, why are we happy to trade it for email, search engine results, access to social networks, and more?

Editors’ Recommendations

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Text-based lie detector can help cops filter out fake robbery reports

Computational spell checkers and grammar checkers have been around for decades, but what if software was also able to act as a lie detector for text-based documents? That might sound crazy, but it’s a subject that researchers from the U.K.’s Cardiff University and Spain’s Charles III University of Madrid have been working on — and it’s apparently paying off. What computer science researchers have developed is a tool which can reportedly help police identify false statements regarding mugging-style robberies. This is a big problem in certain parts of the world and can lead to a range of negative outcomes — including false insurance claims, wasting police time, and, potentially, even wrongful arrests. The consequences of filing a false police statement can include heavy fines and even jail terms.

The new text analysis tool, called VeriPol, uses machine learning techniques to look at information such as the type of items which have been reported stolen and descriptions of perpetrators. According to its creators, it can then identify false police reports with more than 80 percent accuracy. Common recurrences in false reports include focusing more on the stolen property than the incident, a lack of precise details, limited details of the attacker, and lack of witnesses or hard evidence.

“The main goal is to create a tool that can be helpful for an early detection of these fake police reports, so it can be a complement to police expertise,” Dr. Jose Camacho Collados, a research associate at Cardiff University, told Digital Trends. “In particular, in [our research] we try to specifically study if such a tool can be automatically learned from the textual content of the reports, written by the police, and be applied to new police reports. We used classical machine learning approaches, taking as input police reports which were known to be true or false. The main findings were that people lie using similar patterns and that a classic machine learning approach can detect such patterns and be applied effectively in this problem with a high degree of accuracy.”

VeriPol has been used in several pilot studies, which demonstrated how it is can be successfully used to filter out false robbery reports. “We have now integrated this system in Spanish police architecture, together with an integral training program, and it is being used across a large number of police stations in Spain,” Camacho Collados continued. “As a side — and perhaps more important — effect, we expect that the awareness and communication of this problem will further prevent people from filing fake police reports.”

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Startup to apply quantum mechanics to protect data in fiber-optic cables

A startup called Quantum Xchange has struck a deal giving it access to some 500 miles of fiber-optic cable running along the east coast of the U.S. to conduct trials of a new data transmission method. The system leverages quantum mechanics to encrypt data in a manner that would destroy that data if it were spied on, thereby, in theory, protecting the data from attacks on the network infrastructure.

One of the most damning revelations to emerge from the Edward Snowden revelations of 2013 was that the NSA had reportedly tapped into undersea fiber cables in order to facilitate its wholesale spying efforts on U.S. citizens. Driven by concerns over overzealous oversight from domestic sources, and foreign threats, Quantum Xchange is looking to pioneer a new way of securing data that should make it unreadable to anyone but its intended recipient(s).

It’s developing what it describes as a quantum key distribution (QKD) network. It encrypts the content (here’s how that works) using a quantum bit, known as a qubit. As TechnologyReview describes it, the data itself is protected by the encryption and the qubit key is protected through the fragility within its quantum state. If it were spied on by a party it wasn’t intended for, that would wipe out all the information it carries, thereby making it impossible to snoop on. Better yet, the attempted intrusion would be obvious and detectable.

To facilitate this kind of technology, the QKD will need to set up trusted nodes along the data’s route which act a little like repeaters to boost the signal. There will be 13 of those over the length of the test network that Quantum Xchange is creating.

Named “Phio,” the new network will be used first by banking and other business institutions to shepherd information between New York City and New Jersey. If the project proves successful, Quantum Xchange expects to expand its usage and expand the network in the future.

“We are incredibly excited about the launch of Phio for commercial use,” said Quantum XChange’s CEO and president, John Prisco. “It has raised the bar for modern-day encryption and key exchange, especially now as we sit on the cusp of quantum computers becoming a reality. This technology is essential for every organization that needs unbreakable encryption to keep their mission-critical data safe over any transmission distance – from banking, critical infrastructure, and healthcare organizations to telecommunications and government agencies.”

Editors’ Recommendations

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AMD’s new Threadripper 2 CPUs offer improved performance at a discounted price

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

AMD’s full range of Threadripper 2 CPUs is now available with the launch of the 2970WX and the 2920X. Both chips represent slightly weaker iterations of the flagship 2990WX and the more-affordable 2950X and expand the options for potential buyers and system builders. They’re still not cheap, but they do give those who don’t need the absolute extreme core and thread counts some alternatives at a reduced price tag.

AMD’s Threadripper CPUs have pushed the boundaries of the kind of core and thread counts we can expect from CPUs that aren’t aimed at server builds. The first generation was already impressive with up to 16 cores on the 1950X, but the second-generation offered even more, sporting up to 32 cores and 64 threads at the top end. The 2970WX isn’t quite so extreme at 24-cores and 48-threads, while the 2920X is more akin to the consumer-orientated Ryzen CPUs, with 12 cores and 24 threads.

Like its bigger brother, the 2970WX is targeted at professionals with heavy multithreaded workloads. It has a thermal design power requirement of 250 watts and it clocks up to 4.2GHz when boosted. The only real difference between the two is the drop in core count, though its price tag is also noticeably reduced at $1,300, $500 less than its bigger brother.

The 2920X is the most affordable of the second-generation Threadripper CPUs, sporting a price tag of $650. Its 12 cores can be clocked at up to 4.3GHz when boosted and requires a more reasonable 180 watts to cover its TDP. All the new Threadripper CPUs are built on the Zen+ architecture, the same as the Ryzen 2600, 2600X, and 2700X, and support a full 64 PCI Express lanes. They officially support DDR4 RAM up to 2,933MHz, though can go further with overclocking.

While the 2920X and 2950X are targeted more toward gamers and enthusiasts than their WX counterparts, AMD released an update for the more expensive Threadripper chips which can, we’re told, increase gaming performance by up t0 47 percent. Some of these chips will be making their way into Dell’s new generation of its Alienware Area-51 Threadripper Edition.

None of these CPUs are really targeted at even high-end gamers. We’d recommend the 9900K if you’re looking for the best gaming CPUs out there. If you want to do game streaming while you game though, or are a heavy multitasker, the new Threadripper CPUs are some of the best.

Editors’ Recommendations

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Should you buy the Acer Chromebook Spin 13?

Best Answer The 8th generation Intel Core i5 processor really shows its teeth in the Acer Chromebook Spin 13. If you need a Chromebook that’s beautifully built, powerful enough for intensive business applications (or anything else) and have no qualms about spending $900 for it, this is the Chromebook to buy.

Acer: Chromebook Spin 13 ($900)

The best Chromebook ever made

I’ve used a lot of Chromebooks. Entry-level models costing under $300, the outrageously overpriced LTE Chromebook Pixel, and everything in between have crossed my desk or lived in my laptop bag, and I have no problem saying that the Acer Chromebook Spin 13 is the best Chromebook built as of October 2018. And at $900 it’s a steal if you need a Chromebook like the Spin 13.

How well it’s built and how good it looks play a part in how it earned this distinction. Everything is aluminum — from the sandblasted finish overall to the brightly polished 360-degree hinges to the keyboard pan and wrist resting area — and it feels absolutely fabulous to hold, and even more fabulous to look at. It has a modern design with attention to small things like the taper of the chassis and diamond-cut edges surrounding the Gorilla-Glass covered trackpad. Even the Wacom EMR stylus slot blends seamlessly into the overall look and feel. If you’re any sort of laptop aficionado, this thing is simply gorgeous to behold.

I have no problem saying that the Acer Chromebook Spin 13 is the best Chromebook built as of October 2018.

When a machine looks this good, it needs to perform equally as well, and the Chromebook Spin 13 overachieves here. At a glance, the specs seem to match other high-end Chromebooks: Core i5 CPU, 8GB of memory, 64GB of storage, and a big, bright 13.5-inch display. The Spin 13 has a trick up its sleeve though, as this is not the Intel Core i5 processor you find in other very attractive and very expensive Chromebooks like Google’s Pixelbook. It’s an entirely different beast and you instantly notice it if you foray into Linux software or intensive web apps.

The Spin 13 is something we’ve never seen before but hopefully will start a trend that other manufacturers follow as more Enterprise-grade Chromebooks become available.

8th generation power

Passmark PerformanceTest results for (left to right) Chromebook Spin 13, Core i5 Pixelbook, Core i7 Pixelbook. A higher total is better.

The Acer Chromebook Spin 13 is one of the first performance laptops to use the 8th generation Intel Core i5 8250U processor. To say this CPU is an improvement over last year’s popular mobile Core 7Y series of processors is a complete understatement. The processor in the Spin 13 is a 15-watt block of silicon and transistors that needs a fan (no worries it’s almost completely silent) and performs like a desktop CPU and not a 4-watt chip that while powerful, was radiant cooled, clocked low, and often throttled.

You may have heard people mention the Google Pixelbook and how well it performs at any task — Chrome, Android, or Linux — that is thrown at it. That’s true and the base model Pixelbook is my current laptop of choice. The Chromebook Spin 13 not only destroys even the $1,650 Core i7 model while benchmarking, but it also shows a significant difference in the real world doing something like compiling a few hundred thousand lines of C code or playing a native Linux game like Extreme TuxRacer. The Pixelbook is plenty fast, but the Spin 13 is easily twice as powerful.

As a testament to Intel R&D (as well as frustrating mid-year process refreshes) you’ll still get a solid eight hours of use from the Spin 13 on a single charge. Appropriately-sized 54Wh battery plus Intel power management equals all day use.

Attention to detail

A fast and sleek Chromebook is no good if it’s a chore to use. Time and time again we see Chromebooks that offer a great performance to price ratio, have the options we need but have a horrible keyboard or a bad trackpad — or both. Not this time.

The Chromebook Spin 13 has a backlit, full-sized, chiclet-style keyboard that isn’t quite as good as what you’ll find on a MacBook or Pixelbook, but still excellent and pleasant to use. Keys have a measurable amount of travel when pressed, bounce back satisfyingly fast, and can keep up with my frantic (and typo-laden) 85 WPM mixture of hunt and peck – Mavis Beacon brand of key-mashing. I type for a living and I’m very picky about keyboards, and I could use the Spin 13 all day, every day.

I also can’t heap enough praise on the trackpad, often another pain-point when it comes to Chromebooks. It’s large, covered with ice-smooth polished Gorilla Glass, and handles Chrome’s click anywhere and gestures perfectly. After a few inadvertent taps, because it is so responsive, I was scrolling and flicking naturally. The trackpad here is every bit as good as what you’ll find on a Pixelbook or MacBook.

The display is breathtaking. It’s a 13.5-inch extra-bright backlit IPS LCD at 2256×1504 resolution with a 3:2 aspect ratio. Ten-finger multitouch and Wacom EMR are both integrated, so whether you use your fingers or the included stylus, you’ll get a fluid response. It’s also close to perfect when it comes to color reproduction and has an ultra-wide 170-degree viewing angle. If you’re not into specs, that translates into a large, ultra-high resolution display that’s nice and tall, easy to see from any angle, and looks incredible while watching a video or even working on a spreadsheet.

Other features are an integrated SD card slot, USB A and Type-C ports, a hardware-based Trusted Platform Management security solution, 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac 2×2 MIMO Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.2, and an integrated 720p HDR webcam. Everything you want is there, and it’s all high-quality materials and components.

The Price

At $900, being the best Chromebook ever made isn’t always going to translate into the best Chromebook you should buy. There is no doubt the former is true and we’ve never seen a Chromebook this powerful while being built like a premium product should be built. But do you need a Chromebook this powerful, and are you willing to pay for it?

For an average consumer the Spin 13 is just too much of what you really don’t need.

The Chromebook Spin 13 was designed to be the next-generation of Enterprise laptop. Acer makes a point that it’s perfect for applications like Citrix or HealthCast, and DaaS solutions like Cameyo allow the use of a business’ legacy applications on Chrome OS. You **need* plenty of horsepower to manage this and the Spin 13 has it in spades. Combined with the security and ease-of-management that comes with a Chromebook, I’m sold and think this is the perfect laptop for any business, big or small.

It’s also a great tool for developers who need something with computational power that can travel to a factory floor at General Motors or just to Starbucks, and you’ll appreciate the speed of an unthrottled true quad-core CPU while compiling code or running simulations. I look at my old ThinkPad from another life and can only wish the Spin 13 was available back then.

However, for an average consumer, like the majority of people reading this, the Spin 13 is just too much of what you really don’t need. Sure, you could enable Linux support, install a VM manager through the package manager, or install your Steam library and play every game that doesn’t require a powerful gaming graphics card, but most of us won’t. For those that will, you may be better served by buying an actual Windows laptop or a mid-range gaming desktop with that $900.

For the right person, the Acer Chromebook Spin is the right laptop at the right price. But most of us aren’t that person.

Our pick

Acer Chromebook Spin 13

$900 at Acer

The best Chromebook ever built

The sleek and modern aluminum design, attention to detail, and 8th generation Intel Core-i5 processor make the Chromebook Spin 13 a joy to look at and use. The $900 price tag makes it a specialty machine for people who actually need the power inside it.

OnePlus 6T review: 90% of the phone for 60% of the price

As flagships get massively expensive, OnePlus still has a phone packed with value at a reasonable price.

OnePlus releases a new flagship phone every six months, unceremoniously killing its predecessor in the process. Every other launch is a so-called “T” version refresh: an opportunity to release a substantially similar phone with refreshed specs and a few feature changes, and of course introduce a small price increase. That’s what we have here with the OnePlus 6T.

With this rapid release cycle, it’s tough to break the stigma of feeling like a company trying to extract water from a stone through excessive iteration with small price increases. And yet, the system works. The latest OnePlus phone is always on the cutting edge of specs and hardware trends. The diehard fans get something to look forward to every six months, and casual observers never have to question whether they’re getting a “new” phone.

No matter how similar it may be to its forerunner, the OnePlus 6T is here to take over from the current “budget flagship” leader, the OnePlus 6, and therefore deserves evaluation. For just $549, you get a whole heck of a lot of phone — and yes, some new compromises.

Extreme value

OnePlus 6T

$549 at OnePlus

You just can’t beat what the OnePlus 6T offers: amazing hardware quality, specs and features for the money.

As flagship phones keep getting more expensive, OnePlus sticks to what it does well. The OnePlus 6T’s hardware quality, specs, software and performance all matches phones that cost hundreds of dollars more. And the places where it comes up short are merely marginal differences or non-critical features. This phone offers incredible value: a flagship-like experience for a fraction of the cost.

Pros:

• Blazing fast software
• Full spec sheet
• Huge high-quality screen
• Great battery life
• Above-average cameras

Cons:

• No headphone jack
• In-display fingerprint can be slow
• Horrible haptics
• No IP resistance rating

More of the same

OnePlus 6T Hardware and design

OnePlus has never been the bastion of great design, and its mid-cycle “T” refreshes are even more ho-hum. That makes it tough to get too excited about the OnePlus 6T’s design. The company has graduated from the truly basic hardware of the OnePlus 3 days, but its model of keeping costs down and putting money into high-end specs necessitates basic design.

The 6T feels every bit as solid as a $1000 phone — the design is the only thing that’s lacking.

In the same mold as the OnePlus 6, you get a solid and efficient combination of a thick metal frame and excellently-placed glass on the front and back. The back in particular has a beautiful curvature that feels amazing, and in contrast to so many other phones the metal frame actually feels like metal without any extra paint or coating. The Midnight Black model has a lightly textured finish that looks great but is extremely slippery just like the OnePlus 6 — and far more so than the Pixel 3 XL — making me think the Mirror Black may be the better choice if you plan to run without a case.

The supporting cast makes a return, including the excellent physical Alert Slider on the top-right edge and nice clicky buttons for power and volume. There’s an adequately loud, if a bit hollow, single down-firing speaker … and yes, the headphone jack is gone. Like every other company, OnePlus says this was a space savings to make room for everything else — and while it doesn’t really bother me, this is likely to be a big hang-up for the target audience for the OnePlus 6T. There’s a USB-C to 3.5mm jack adapter in the box (#NeverSettle), but you’ll have to buy USB-C headphones if you want to plug in directly. OnePlus will gladly sell you a pair.

It’s tougher to excuse the lack of water resistance and horrible haptics when you also lose the headphone jack.

With each generation of OnePlus phone, it becomes tougher to excuse some of the shortcomings as the rest of the industry continues to standardize on many hardware features. The OnePlus 6T has no stated water- or dust-resistance IP rating, which I feel is table stakes for this level of phone in late 2018. It also has the worst haptic feedback of any phone over $200 I’ve used, which is really saying something. I once again had to disable haptic feedback across the system because it’s so shallow, rattly and disappointing — it’s also distractingly loud when you’re sitting in a quiet room. It’s these sorts of little things that remind you that you saved a few hundred dollars on your phone purchase.

The OnePlus 6T is marginally larger than the 6, but the only real way to distinguish them is by looking at the display. OnePlus increased the overall display size, now up to 6.41-inches, and also increased the usable real estate by shrinking the notch area to just cover the bare essentials. The softly rounded notch holds a dead-center mounted camera, and is flanked by other necessary sensors — it’s also accentuated by the earpiece right above. As far as notches go, this one’s easy to ignore; and I appreciate OnePlus isn’t even trying to hide it with a dark wallpaper in its advertising. There’s nothing to be ashamed of here.

This is a great display, and the notch is easy to ignore.

At 6.41-inches with a 19.5:9 aspect ratio you have tons of room to accomplish anything you want, yet the phone’s overall size is effectively the same as the Google Pixel 3 XL and smaller than the Galaxy Note 9. The display itself, aside from being positively huge, isn’t anything special. This is the same “Optic AMOLED” tech OnePlus has used for years, with particular attention paid to accuracy and customization so you can get a display profile that works for your eyes. The colors, reflectivity and off-axis viewing are all great to my eyes, but when you get up close you can start to see individual pixels — with a 1080p resolution (2340×1080) it’s just over 400 ppi, which is the threshold of pixel density you want to see nowadays. Peak brightness is also far better than I expected, getting way brighter than I’d ever want indoors and being manageable outdoors, which is a nice treat.

Underneath the display is the most interesting — and controversial — feature: an optical in-display fingerprint sensor, replacing the traditional capacitive sensor on the back. From a user perspective, things don’t change much; these sensors are just as secure and interact with apps the exact same way, but you get a prompt on the screen to place your finger on a defined area instead of reaching to the pad on the back. The problem is how slow and potentially inaccurate the 6T’s sensor still is by comparison: unlocks sometimes happen in half a second, but regularly take upwards of 2 seconds. That doesn’t seem like a long time, but it really is when you’re just sitting there staring at an animation wondering if you need to shift your finger. A typical capacitive sensor will recognize or reject a fingerprint in 0.2-0.4 seconds. Our own Daniel Bader and Harish Jonnalagadda told me they’ve had issues with how often their fingerprints are recognized, but I thankfully haven’t — even still, the slow unlocking is a burden.

In-display fingerprint sensors have come a long way since I used the first commercially-available units, but they still have shortcomings that will annoy, if not outright frustrate, some people. To be clear, this isn’t unique to the OnePlus 6T — every other in-display fingerprint sensor this year has faced the same issues, from the Vivo NEX to the Huawei Mate 20 Pro. They’re simply slower than capacitive sensors, and that’s the trade-off you take for having this sleekly integrated sensor that takes up far less case room (making room for other components, like more battery) than one on the back.

Above average

OnePlus 6T Cameras

OnePlus didn’t make any camera hardware changes coming from the OnePlus 6, nor did anyone expect it to. OnePlus is claiming software enhancements to support the 16MP f/1.7 main and 20MP f/1.7 secondary cameras. The latter has small pixels (1-micron) and no OIS, making it scantly useful in low-light scenes but nicely fills a supporting roll for 2X zoom in good light and applying the portrait mode depth effect. The camera has new algorithms in play that identify common scenes and objects to adjust the camera parameters automatically, and has worked with professional photographers to tune the output for the best possible look.

The 6T doesn’t “wow” you as much as the Pixel 3, but it’s incredibly consistent and takes great photos.

Shooting with the OnePlus 6T I was less likely to get mind-blowing photos than with the Pixel 3 XL, Galaxy Note 9 or LG V40, but that doesn’t mean this isn’t a capable camera. OnePlus has nailed its exposure, white balance and HDR processing to take consistently nice-looking and accurate photos in all scene types, and I really like its color profile. The only gripe here is that those characteristics lead to photos that often look basic or a little bland; but they’re fundamentally solid, and in good lighting I never took an outright bad picture.

Flat surfaces are incredibly smooth, which looks great when viewed at full size but leads to some detail loss on items that should have texture or a sharper edge. It’s a fine line to walk, and in many cases just comes down to personal preference (or is unnoticeable), but I’d prefer processing that provides a sharper edge and lets various items in a scene represent their actual texture. This really is a pedantic level of critique, but it’s these little things that make the difference between the photos you get from the OnePlus 6T and the Google Pixel 3 XL.

Low-light shots continue to be the weak point, even with noticeable software improvements.

OnePlus has tuned its processing to improve brightness and colors while reducing noise in low-light shots, which is appreciated and noticeable even though the end result still lands short of the competition in the next price bracket up. I notice the enhanced brightness in low-light shots, and it comes with an insignificant increase of noise or grain compared to the OnePlus 6 — even though the camera doesn’t hesitate to take photos at ISO 1600 to 3200, which is incredibly high for such a small sensor. Low light shots exhibit the same consistently nice white balance, colors and exposure as daylight shots, but again don’t “wow” me like higher-end phones. The issue of soft edges and a lack of detail is exacerbated by poor lighting, but again is mostly only noticeable when zooming in on photos — if you don’t pixel peep, these shots look good and can easily convince people they came from a more expensive camera.

There’s also an altogether new “Night” mode that you can engage manually that focuses specifically on enhancing super-dark scenes. Not unlike what Google and Huawei are doing in the area, OnePlus effectively uses several frames with processing to brighten an image with less noise. Night mode can dramatically brighten a dark scene, and do so handheld, but it isn’t a miracle worker. It will bring out extra brightness from a scene without creating a blotchy mess, but it does so at the expense of fine detail — and you can immediately notice how soft (and even blurry) edges are. Sometimes it was useful for scenes that were so dark the automatic mode won’t get a usable photo, but I preferred to shoot in auto for everything above horrendous lighting conditions.

Incredibly quick

OnePlus 6T Software, performance and battery life

The OnePlus 6T runs Android 9 Pie, which is effectively the same software we’ve been testing on the OnePlus 6 for months. That means you get all of Pie’s features, including Google’s gesture navigation (as an option), notification changes, battery life improvements, Do Not Disturb changes and a whole bunch of small under-the-hood tweaks.

OnePlus makes a clean, simple, fast and customizable software experience anyone can enjoy.

Having Pie underneath it all is important for the typical OnePlus buyer, but even more so are all of the OxygenOS improvements that OnePlus has added. Things like the gaming mode, reading mode, navigation bar choices, utilities and tools all add value — and do so without getting in the way. The system is also incredibly customizable, with controls to change all of the smallest functions and interface elements if you wish — though that’s only if you want to, because the out-of-box experience is simple and intuitive without superfluous tooltips or pop-ups. OnePlus has also kept its own app additions to an absolute minimum, and you can even uninstall most of what it has pre-loaded. That’s how every company should do it.

OxygenOS is so incredibly fast, and never shows signs of slowing down no matter what you throw at it.

OnePlus must have some sort of voodoo in its “OxygenOS” software that makes it incredibly fast. For several generations, OnePlus has consistently had the fastest, sleekest software in the business. And it’s pretty easy to figure out why: OnePlus both aggressively cuts back on unnecessary features, apps and other cruft, while also axing or dramatically shortening animations throughout the system. When you lay this simplified, cut-to-the-point software on a Snapdragon 845 and 6 or 8GB of RAM, good things happen.

Yes, it means that sometimes animations can feel abrupt and sudden, but once again this is all done with an eye toward the kind of people who buy OnePlus phones. And honestly, anyone can see the benefit of every single function on your phone happening faster than any other phone. And with ample memory, I never saw any issues with app performance — and my history with OnePlus phones leads me to expect that’ll be the case for a year or two down the road.

Having a base of 128GB of storage also gives you plenty of runway to install apps and cache all sorts of media for the next couple of years. Or you can even jump up to 256GB (and 8GB of RAM) for a reasonable $80 surcharge.

Battery life

With a larger 3700mAh battery in tow, I had no worries about battery life on the OnePlus 6T — as I frankly haven’t on any previous OnePlus phone. With an efficient processor, lightweight software and plenty of capacity, this phone lasts just as long (or longer than) the competition. I don’t make any attempt to ease battery usage on my phone, which means I leave the screen on auto brightness, have all of my accounts and notifications on, use ambient display, stream audio over Bluetooth and don’t hesitate to turn on my hotspot when I’m out of the house.

With this usage and 3-4 hours of “screen on” time in my average day, the OnePlus 6T got through the day with plenty of battery left, often as much as 30%, as I went to bed. It’s particularly admirable how little battery the phone uses when it’s not actively in use, but there doesn’t seem to be anything I can do to drain the battery quickly. On a weekend with less time on my phone, I went to bed with 50% in the tank. That’s superb.

Recharging comes at you quickly … at least, if you use the included 20W charger and USB-C cable (or optional $30 car charger. It fills up the 6T extremely quickly, particularly from 0 to 50%, and does so without heating up the phone or faltering when the phone’s in use. I’m still not happy OnePlus doesn’t support one of the widely-adopted industry standards, such as USB-C Power Delivery or Quick Charge, meaning you’re locked into its own accessories for the best charging experience — but at least its own gear provides excellent charging.

Flagship at a discount

OnePlus 6T Review

OnePlus has always operated in an awkward middle ground, landing well above the mid-range segment but also well under the true flagship phones. It purports to play in the latter area, but really doesn’t — and that’s okay, because its value proposition is so much more nuanced than that. The OnePlus 6T once again proves that you don’t need to spend nearly a thousand dollars to have an amazing phone. For $549 you can get a phone that’s built just as well, performs as well, has arguably better software, and has longer battery life than phones hundreds of dollars more.

Flagship phones keep getting more expensive, but OnePlus still offers an amazing phone for $549.

Perhaps the biggest thing OnePlus has going for it with the 6T is the general market shift to more and more expensive phones. With the average flagship phone now costing between $800 and $1000, the “budget flagship” segment the OnePlus 6T occupies has just that much extra breathing room above it. Sure the OnePlus 6T’s price increased to $549, but that feels minuscule when Samsung and Google’s last two big phones just released at $999 and $899, respectively.

There are also two seriously important improvements this time around that have nothing to do with the phone itself: the OnePlus 6T will be sold by T-Mobile, and unlocked models are certified for use on Verizon. Being able to experience the phone in person and buy it with a regular carrier financing plan from a great carrier like T-Mobile is one less barrier for average buyers to deal with. Knowing you can buy a OnePlus 6T and put a Verizon SIM in it, too, opens up another small (but quite vocal) market opportunity.

4
out of 5

It’s easy to argue that the $250+ price difference between the OnePlus 6T and the competition excuses its few shortcomings. Its display isn’t on the exact same level as the competition, the camera doesn’t reach Google or Samsung’s heights, it doesn’t have water resistance, the haptics are crude, its speaker isn’t outstanding, and the design is ho-hum. But those are all extremely marginal differences in the grand scheme of a smartphone. Those are all little things that, for most people, make up maybe 10% of the phone experience. The rest of the OnePlus 6T, the remaining 90%, matches or exceeds the competition — its spec sheet, performance, software, hardware quality and battery life are all top-notch. If you feel the same, the math works in favor of OnePlus; you get 90% of the phone for about 60% of the price.

$549 at OnePlus

OnePlus 6T specs: 6.41-inch display, 3700mAh battery, 128GB base storage

The full spec sheet

OnePlus always fills its phones with considerable spec sheets for the money, and the latest, the OnePlus 6T, is no exception. For a phone that has a base price under $600, this is an impressive spec sheet. Here’s everything the OnePlus 6T has to offer, inside and out.

Operating system	Android 9 Pie
Display	6.41-inch AMOLED, 2340×1080 (19.5:9)Gorilla Glass 6
Processor	Snapdragon 845Adreno 630
RAM	6/8GB
Storage	128/256GB
Expandable	No
Rear camera 1	16MP (IMX 519), 1.22-micron, f/1.7, OIS4K/60, 1080p/240, 720p/480 video
Rear camera 2	20MP (IMX 376K), 1-micron, f/1.7
Front camera	16MP (IMX 371), 1-micron, f/2.0
Connectivity	Wi-Fi 802.11ac 2×2 MIMO, Bluetooth 5.0 LE, NFC, GPS
Audio	USB-CSingle speaker
Battery	3700mAhNon-removable
Charging	USB-C20W Dash Charge
Water resistance	No IP rating
Security	In-display fingerprint sensor
Dimensions	157.5 x 74.8 x 8.2 mm185 g
Colors	Mirror Black, Midnight Black

OnePlus 6T and OnePlus 6

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The OnePlus 6T is official — here’s everything you need to know!

Say hello to OnePlus’s most advanced smartphone to date.

The OnePlus 6T has arrived, and similar to past T models, it retains most of what made its predecessor great while adding a couple of new features and slightly increasing its price.

We were already quite enthralled with the OnePlus 6 from earlier in the year, and the 6T aims to offer an even better experience for about $20 more.

Need some help deciding if this is the phone for you? Here’s everything you need to know about the OnePlus 6T!

Read (and watch) our full review

The OnePlus 6T is a great piece of tech, but is it something that you should spend your hard-earned dollars on?

If you’re in the market for a flagship smartphone experience but only want to pay a fraction of what Samsung, Apple, and Google are charging, the 6T delivers on almost every front. It’s outfitted with top-of-the-line specs, a pair of fantastic rear cameras, and one of the best software experiences that you can currently find on Android.

The lack of an IP water resistance rating and removal of the 3.5mm headphone jack could be dealbreakers for some, but if you want the most bang-for-your-buck in the $500 – $600 price range, you’ll be hard-pressed to do much better than the OnePlus 6T.

OnePlus 6T review: 90% of the phone for 60% of the price

Check out the specs

Every single year, OnePlus packs its smartphones with the very latest and greatest specifications it can get its hands on. With the 6T, that’s no different.

Some of the highlights this time around include the Snapdragon 845 processor, 6 – 8GB of RAM, 128 – 256GB of storage, a 3,700 mAh battery, and Android 9 Pie available right out of the box.

OnePlus 6T specs: 6.41-inch display, 3700mAh battery, 128GB base storage

OnePlus removed the 3.5mm headphone jack…

All that glitters is not gold, and for some potential buyers, the 6T will no longer be a viable option once they realize that the phone does not have a 3.5mm headphone jack.

OnePlus was one of the few remaining brands that continued to outfit its devices with the legacy port year after year, and for die-hard fans, this has the potential to be a deal-breaker.

…But there’s now an in-display fingerprint sensor

On the upside, the removal of the 3.5mm jack allowed OnePlus to equip the 6T with an in-display fingerprint sensor.

Similar to phones like the Vivo NEX, the 6T’s fingerprint sensor has been removed from its backside and now lives underneath the display. Just hold your finger on the new fingerprint icon on the screen, the sensor will ID you, and then unlock your phone.

While it’s certainly a cool party trick and the first big phone in the U.S. to ship with the feature, it’s not quite as fast or reliable as the OnePlus 6’s fingerprint sensor.

The notch is even smaller

The OnePlus 6T follows in the OnePlus 6’s footsteps by having a notch at the top of its display, but this time around, the notch is considerably smaller.

OnePlus adopted the “waterdrop” style for the 6T’s notch, and while there aren’t any functional changes that come with this, it does make the front of the phone look a lot cleaner and doesn’t cut off as much screen real-estate as the 6’s notch.

Nightscape and Studio Lighting come to the 6T’s cameras

Google recently wowed us with its new Night Sight feature for Pixel phones that drastically improves low-light photos, and in an attempt to build its own version of that feature, OnePlus ships with the 6T with its take on this called “Nightscape.”

Nightscape is described as being perfect for “capturing low-light urban environments with improved clarity, less noise, more accurate color reproduction and better dynamic range.”

Also new is Studio Lighting. OnePlus says it worked with photographer Kevin Abosch on this feature that’s “been fine-tuned to recognize faces and adjust the lighting accordingly to simulate professional lightning. In other words, it’s OnePlus’s take on the iPhone’s Portrait Lighting.

There are just two launch colors

At launch, the OnePlus 6T is only available in two colors — Midnight Black and Mirror Black. These are the exact same finishes that were available for the OnePlus 6, with the former featuring a matte finish while the latter has a glossy coating.

It’s entirely possible (and very likely) that OnePlus will offer additional colors later on down the road, but for the time being, you need to choose between black and black.

Pre-orders open November 1

If you’re interested in buying a OnePlus 6T, pre-orders open up on November 1 with pricing starting at $549 for the model with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. Along with that, you can get 8GB RAM + 128GB storage or 8GB RAM + 256GB storage for $579 and $629, respectively.

The 6T will be sold through OnePlus’s website, and for the first time in the U.S., it’ll also be offered directly through a wireless carrier — T-Mobile, specifically.

See at OnePlus

Amazon’s Fire 7 tablet is down to just $40 right now

Don’t miss out on this one!

Amazon has the Fire 7 tablet on sale right now for only $39.99. That’s $10 off its street price and one of the best deals on this tablet we’ve seen outside of rare sales like Prime Day. Today’s deal is available for every color of the tablet, including Black, Canary Yellow, Marine Blue, and Punch Red.

That’s not the only Fire tablet on sale right now either. You can save $30 on the Fire HD 10 tablet. We haven’t seen this tablet drop from its $150 price since August. You can also get the all-new Fire HD 8 tablet for $59,99, which is down from its street price of $80.

The Fire 7 is equipped with a 7-inch IPS display, a 1.3 GHz quad-core processor, and an 8GB storage capacity. Though 8GB isn’t much, you can expand its storage space using a micro SD card, such as SanDisk’s 32GB option for less than $10.

It’s capable of lasting for up to eight hours on a single charge and features Alexa so you can ask questions, tell it to play a song, check the weather and more. You’ll also have access to Amazon’s App Store where you can download apps like Netflix, Facebook, HBO, Hulu, and Spotify. For more info, check out our review of the device.

See on Amazon

Will the OnePlus 6T fingerprint sensor work with a screen protector?

Best answer: The OnePlus 6T’s in-display fingerprint sensor will work with a screen protector, but OnePlus isn’t saying that it will work with every screen protector you can find. Only screen protectors from OnePlus and its to-be-named partners are guaranteed to work, so it’s best to stick with one that comes directly from OnePlus, at least for now.

OnePlus: OnePlus 6T screen protector ($19.95)

This is a whole new world of fingerprint sensors

In-display fingerprint sensors are the way of the future, and they’re slowly taking place of the capacitive sensors we all know and love. These new in-display units are beneficial because they don’t take up as much room inside the phone, and don’t require the rear design of the phone to be changed in order to accommodate the sensor. One of the downsides, though, is that they’re more finicky about what goes on above the sensor — the display panel and glass itself, to start, but also anything you put on top.

The fingerprint sensor is designed to work with a screen protector — but it’s not a guarantee with every one you find.

These in-display sensors work like a camera, with an actual image sensor that uses the light from the display panel to illuminate your fingerprint and capture an image that’s compared to what was initially scanned. By adding another layer to the equation, like a plastic or glass screen protector, it can affect the way the sensor “sees” your fingerprint — just like putting more layers of material in front of your camera lens.

The OnePlus 6T comes with a pre-installed plastic screen protector out of the box, so we know that the fingerprint sensor will work with this extra layer of plastic. What OnePlus can’t guarantee, though, is that any random screen protector you buy online will work the same way. Right now OnePlus is saying that you can only use screen protectors that it sells directly, or from yet-to-be-named partners that will certify that their protectors work with the new sensor.

Thankfully OnePlus is quick to offer its own screen protectors, with quality tempered glass versions that retail for just under $20. If you want to wait for your preferred brand to release a screen protector for the phone, you at least have the protection of the pre-installed protector, which is actually quite good for a basic plastic sheet.

Our pick

OnePlus 6T screen protector

$19.95 at OnePlus

For the moment, the safest way to go is to buy a screen protector directly from OnePlus.

This is a new world where screen protectors influence how well your fingerprint sensor works. If you like to use a screen protector, start with the ones that OnePlus sells directly for the 6T. If you want to use another brand’s protector, make sure that it certifies that it will not interfere with the 6T’s in-display fingerprint sensor.