OnePlus 3T 'Midnight Black' edition unboxing and hands-on first look

Black is the new trendy color for smartphones and OnePlus, a company that focuses all its effort on the great value-for-money OnePlus 3T phone, has introduced a stylish, Midnight Black edition. This is the same OnePlus 3T from before, just with a different paint job and it looks gorgeous. It has a matte finish, features a 5.5-inch display and runs on the Snapdragon 821 system chip. It also has a very clean and easy to use skin on top of Android 7.1.1 Nougat. Keep in mind that the OnePlus 3T Midnight Black is a limited edition device that already appears as sold out in some markets, so if you want one, you might want to go to the OnePlus store and get one while it's still available.

It also comes in a brand new box with a beautiful black finish outside and it's all red on the inside.

Naturally, we were curious to find out what's inside before starting up the phone, so we wasted no time and went straight to the OnePlus 3T Midnight Black edition unboxing. Here is what is in the box:

The phone itself is no different than earlier OnePlus 3 and 3T devices: it is the slight evolution of color, however, that makes it stand out and gives it character. The phone ships with Android 6 Marshmallow out of the box, but the moment you start it you get a notification that the Android 7.1.1 Nougat update is ready to download and install, and after a few minutes of download and installation, we had our black 3T run a contemporary Android build.

Here is a quick run-down of the specs of the OnePlus 3T: 

Our hands-on impressions with this midnight black OnePlus are very positive: the matte finish feels very nice in the hand and is well balanced, slightly heavier towards the top (but it is very slippery). It comes with a pre-applied plastic screen film that scratches very easily, so we do recommend getting a real glass screen protector. You can get those at the OnePlus 3T official store for around $20.

In terms of performance, the OnePlus 3T runs very zippy and in many places animations are lacking or are very quick, so the phone definitely feels fast, but not necessarily smooth or fluid in a way an iPhone or Google Pixel does.

Overall, for its full retail price of $480, the 128GB Midnigh Black OnePlus 3T is a great value for the money. In the United States, it's still not officially sold on the major carriers, but you can easily use it on AT&T and T-Mobile.