Earlier this week, OnePlus revealed and launched their third generation flagship-killing smartphone, the OnePlus 3. This handset, which sells for just $400, is based around a 5.5-inch, 1080p, AMOLED panel. Under this we find a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 System-on-Chip, which combines four processor cores, two clocked at up to 2.15 GHz and the other two at up to 1.6 GHz in a big.LITTLE architecture. The chipset is backed up by an impressive 6 GB of RAM and OnePlus have given the smartphone 64 GB of internal storage. Around the back, there’s a 16MP rear camera, accompanied by an 8MP front facing camera. The device comes with a Cat 6 LTE modem, dual Nano SIMs, NFC, Bluetooth 4.2 and high speed, dual band Wi-Fi technologies too.
When it comes for being kept alive, the OnePlus 3 has a 3,000 mAh internal rechargeable battery. OnePlus have licensed OPPO’s VOOC fast charging technology via a USB Type-C port, rather than using Qualcomm’s QuickCharge technology in either 2.0 or 3.0 flavors. OnePlus are calling their execution of VOOC “Dash Charge.” OnePlus’ Chief Executive Officer, Carl Pei, has stated that customers will need to use the supplied cable and adapter in order to benefit from Dash Charge technology. Both the ‘phone and the adapter contain the necessary circuits to determine if the official cable and adapter is being used, and if not the device will revert back down to normal or regular charging speeds. Given that there are a myriad different “standards” being applied to USB Type-C cables and ports, this is a sensible preventative action as it should stop customers finding their OnePlus 3 devices have melted… but it is also an unfortunate side effect of multiple standards. Carl said: “The Dash Charge cable is thicker to physically push through more amps. You need both adapter and cable to achieve Dash Charge speeds.”
Fast charging technologies are still in their relative infancy, and only a relatively small number of devices have switched from a MicroUSB charger to the new style, reversible USB Type-C adapter, which supports faster charging as a standard without third party manufacturers’ quick charging technologies. However, not all USB Type C cables are the same and there remains a great deal of confusion. OnePlus’ approach – revert to slow charging if there is any doubt – is perfectly sensible, but let’s hope that companies remember the “U” in “USB” stands for “Universal” and some semblance of order can be applied to the USB Type C and 3.x standards.