But because of its low price, I'm willing to make an exception for the 5T.
For me, the two features an Android phone needs to have is that it should run an unmodified version of the operating system and it should be able to get the latest Android updates as soon as Google releases them.
Those requirements have always limited me to Google's own devices — first its Nexus line and now its Pixel phones. Good thing, then, that Google's devices were always among the best Android phones you could buy.
The 5T essentially meets my first requirement. Its version of Android is about 99% the same as what you'll find on the Pixel phones. The only notable thing missing is the Pixel Launcher, which is an extra layer of features that Google reserves for its phones.
But the 5T doesn't meet my second requirement; OnePlus devices generally don't get the latest versions of Android as soon as Google releases them. As a case in point, the 5T runs Android 7.1; Google's new Pixel 2 devices run Android 8.0.
However, for the 5T, I'm willing to bend my rules. It is just such a good smartphone for such a good price that I'm not going to rule it out just because it can't get the latest Android updates right away.
In fact, I'd go farther and say that if you're in the market for an Android phone, you should buy the 5T. There's little reason to get any other device, unless you absolutely have to have the latest Android updates immediately — or you simply enjoy spending more money than you need to.
There is one big caveat I should note, though. The 5T doesn't work on Verizon's network. So, if you're wedded to Verizon, like I am, you'll have to get a different phone.
The OnePlus 5T went on sale on Wednesday, and it's available from OnePlus' site.
For less than $600, something's got to give ...
So what's the catch?
There are at least two notable features you'll find on other top devices but not on the 5T: It doesn't support wireless charging, and it's not "officially" water resistant.
For me, the lack of those features isn't a deal-breaker, especially because of the 5T's relatively low price. Wireless charging is slow and is more of an extra convenience than a necessity. Fast charging — particularly via OnePlus' Dash Charging system — is much more important.
And while the 5T isn't certified to be water resistant, OnePlus is comfortable saying it will handle light sprinkles. It could potentially handle a lot more than that; some courageous OnePlus owners have posted YouTube videos showing that previous OnePlus phones can handle water pretty darn well.
The 5T's fast-charging feature works better than those of its rivals
OnePlus' Dash Charge fast-charging feature should be the standard for all smartphones. It essentially keeps all the heat-emitting elements of charging in the adapter itself, so the phone doesn't get hot when it's plugged in.
In addition to keeping the 5T cool, the feature allows it to charge faster than rival devices. Other Android phones with fast charging will slow down their charging when they get hot to prevent overheating.
Additionally, I have no complaints with the 5T's battery life.
And its portrait mode works well too.
The 5T's portrait mode, which blurs out the background behind a subject, is very good.
Like that on the Pixel 2 — but in contrast to the same feature on the latest iPhones — the 5T's portrait mode does a great job of keeping the entire subject in focus.
It has a very good camera.
The 5T's camera compares favorably to that of other top phones. The pictures it makes are similar to those of Apple's iPhones; the color palette is warm in tone compared to the pictures shot with Google's Pixel 2 devices, which yield photos with more neutral tones. Its HDR — high dynamic range — feature works very well, bringing out great details in the shadows of brightly lit shots.
The 5T has a 16-megapixel primary camera. Nominally, that's superior to the cameras in other top Android phones, which typically are 12-megapixel shooters. But I didn't see much of a benefit in terms of added sharpness from those additional pixels.
Like many other recent phones, the OnePlus has a dual-lens camera system. Its secondary camera is a 20-megapixel one. Instead of using the secondary camera to offer an optical zoom feature, like the latest iPhones do and the previous OnePlus phone did, the 5T uses it to improve photos shot in dim light.
The result is pretty good. Low-light photos shot with the 5T are sharper than those taken with previous OnePlus phones. However, both Samsung's Galaxy phones and the Pixel 2 do a better job in low light.
A low light photo taken with the OnePlus 5T.
But the phone's fingerprint sensor can be finicky and frustrating to use.
To make room for the 5T's larger display and to offer thinner borders around its screen, OnePlus moved its fingerprint sensor to the phone's back. Unfortunately, that makes it hard to use.
The sensor is flush with the case, so it can be difficult to find without looking at it. And it's not very forgiving. It wouldn't unlock my phone unless I put my finger squarely on it right from the start. It didn't like it when, while blindly hunting for the sensor, I slid my finger over to the middle of it after discovering its edge.
In this way, the 5T's fingerprint sensor is similar to that on Samsung's Galaxy S8, which is equally unforgiving. By contrast, the fingerprint sensor on the Pixel 2 XL is a lot less picky, and the sensors on previous OnePlus phones were easier to use, because they were on their fronts.
Overall, the 5T's facial recognition is much easier to use.
The 5T has a facial recognition feature — and it works almost too well.
The 5T is the first OnePlus phone that comes with facial recognition. The company nailed the feature, but it works almost too well.
When I press the power button on the 5T, the phone immediately unlocks and goes straight to my home screen. There's no indication that it's trying to recognize my face first. It works so fast, it's almost disconcerting. It feels like the feature isn't even turned on, and I don't have any security measures in place.
In fact, the facial recognition feature works so well I hardly ever see the lock screen on the 5T or the notifications it displays there. The only time I tend to see the lock screen is when I'm in a very dark area and the phone has trouble recognizing my face.
Because the facial recognition feature works so well, I had to change how I check notifications. At first, I started angling the 5T away from my face, so it wouldn't unlock while I was going through my lock-screen alerts. Realizing that was ridiculous, I now check my alerts by pulling down the Android notifications shade after my phone unlocks and view them there.
To be sure, as good as the 5T's facial recognition system is, it's not on par with Apple's Face ID technology that's on the iPhone X. The 5T didn't recognize my face when I was wearing sunglasses, for example. That made me doubt whether it would recognize users when they got haircuts or were wearing makeup.
Still, the 5T has one big advantage over the iPhone X — it has a fingerprint sensor also. So if its facial recognition system doesn't work for you, you can always use your fingers to unlock it.
The phone's performance is stellar.
Hiding underneath the 5T's minimalist outer shell you'll find specs that are as good or better than those of most of its rivals.
Like many of its newest competitors, the 5T includes Qualcomm's powerful Snapdragon 835 processor. But it has more memory than most of its rivals. Most top Android smartphones come with 4GB of RAM. By contrast, the base model of the 5T has 6GB and the top model has a whopping 8GB.
The more memory a device has, the faster it can typically switch between apps. And the 5T's extra RAM may make a difference if you customize your phone with software that offers a greater range of Android design and setting options.
I've been testing the higher-end model of the 5T, which costs $560 and comes with 128GB of storage and 8GB of RAM. I actually haven't noticed much of a difference in performance between it and the Pixel 2 XL, which has the same processor and half the RAM.
But I'm not going to complain about the extra memory, especially given that it's included in the 5T's sub-$600 price.
The 5T's screen is great, especially considering the device's price.
The 5T's display is on par with those of other top Android smartphones. It has a 6-inch AMOLED screen with a 18:9 aspect ratio. That's more elongated than the typical smartphone screen from as recently as last year.
Some spec-scrutinizers may think the 1080p resolution on the 5T's display doesn't match up well with the 1440p resolution offered on most other Android flagship devices. But you'd be hard-pressed to notice much of a difference when actually comparing the phones side-by-side.
The 5T's display is beautiful. Its vibrant colors, and brightness and contrast levels equal those of displays on phones that cost $350 more.
The OnePlus 5T looks great.
Design-wise, the 5T doesn't out. But that's a good thing. It includes most of the latest design features of other contemporary phones, including narrow top and bottom borders around its screen and a metallic back. Combined, those elements make for a minimalistic, almost generic, design. It's functional, not flashy.
What is noticeable, though, is just how thin the 5T is compared to other top Android phones. On paper, the 7.3mm thick 5T may not seem that much thinner than Google's 7.9mm Pixel 2 XL or Samsung's 8.6mm Galaxy Note 8. But those fractions of a millimeter do make a noticeable difference.
That thinness combined with its light weight make the 5T supremely comfortable to use.
