The OnePlus 6T is now available in a sleek special edition – the McLaren Edition relies on speed and sports a full 10GB of RAM! The shiny glass back impresses additionally with carbon look and orange accents.
The McLaren edition promises more performance, with the smartphone apart from the 10 GB of RAM and Warp Charge 30 in terms of hardware is not different from the standard model.
With Warp Charge 30, you can charge your device in just twenty minutes so you can get through the day. Thanks to the efficient energy management software, the smartphone can be recharged at 30 watts without overheating and performance dips. More information on this feature can be found on our full review on December 13th. In addition, we will give you a detailed overview of performance, battery life and camera. But since the same hardware is installed as in the 6T, you should expect no big surprises.
In this post we’ll go into more detail on the design of the McLaren Edition and show you some of the UI changes. The design aesthetic of the McLaren Edition is characterized by a black back with a carbon pattern and color accents in papaya orange. The carbon pattern surrounds the camera and covers about half of the device. The orange accents extend from the bottom edge over the side edges.
Carbon fiber has been an integral part of McLaren’s vehicles since 1981. Initially, the material was used only for McLaren Formula 1 racing car, since 1983, it is also used for production models. The keys have no orange accents, but can be found in the UI many small color changes.
That said, the McLaren Edition software is identical to the version of Android 9.0 that is installed on the standard model.
There is also a new animation for the fingerprint sensor, which looks very futuristic. Unfortunately, the sensor seems to be slightly slower and less reliable than the standard model. Again and again, unlocking takes up to two seconds instead of half a second. That sounds a bit low, but it feels like half an eternity when you sit in front of the screen and wonder if you have to move your finger now. A capacitive sensor should be able to detect a fingerprint in 0.2 to 0.4 seconds. After all, you can watch the cool animation while you wait.
When you first start the device, you can learn more about the collaboration between McLaren and OnePlus through an augmented reality presentation. Unfortunately, I could not find a way to restart this nice gimmick after setting up the device. Hopefully, OnePlus will provide a QR code, because it’s a great party trick after all.
In the settings under Display> Theme> McLaren you can beautify the user interface with orange accents. The most striking color accents can be found in the navigation bar and in the settings. The theme will probably please you only if you like the color orange. We at Mobile Geeks are of course big fans of color and are happy to announce that there is finally a smartphone with mobile geeks design!
The display is still 6.41 inches tall and equipped with an Optic AMOLED panel with a resolution of 2340 x 1080 pixels. The display is still one of the best in its price range and offers excellent contrast and vivid colors. Also in terms of readability outdoors, I could not find any problems.
The McLaren Edition is not as expected with a Snapdragon 855 equipped, but it has a whole 10 GB of memory on board. Before we take a closer look at the RAM upgrade, let’s briefly explain what the memory in your smartphone is and how you can benefit from the extra RAM.
With its 10GB of RAM, the McLaren Edition has plenty of memory. A part can be used by the device for so-called direct memory access (DMA). While booting, the smartphone reserves a portion of its memory for only the homescreen, touch input, and other features to make the user interface extremely responsive, no matter how many apps are loaded in the rest of the memory. Are you ready for direct touch reactions and instant scrolling? That’s exactly what DMA can offer you.
As far as the battery life is concerned, we could not tell the difference between the 6T with 6 GB RAM and the McLaren Edition. The battery lasts all day long on both devices and depending on how many photos I take on the road, the screen-on-time is between five and six hours.
The Warp Charge 30 feature works very well, and as promised, the smartphone does not get hot during the charging process. In just 30 minutes we were able to charge the battery from 3% to 69%.