The OnePlus One is the most hyped phone ever to come from a company that most people have never heard of. OnePlus didn’t even exist a year ago. So, what’s the deal?
The Google Nexus 4, the Google Nexus 5, the Motorola Moto G, and now the OnePlus One; this 5.5-inch new kid on the block from China joins an exclusive list of smartphones that offer an awful lot of smartphone for not a lot of money.
Here is a device that rivals the HTC One M8 and the Samsung Galaxy S5 for raw specs, but at a cost of just £229! That’s less than half the price of those aforementioned big hitters.
A phone with top-notch specs and user experience doesn’t have to cost you an arm and a leg. Google has proven this with its last few Nexus devices, Motorola has reinvented itself on the principle, and countless lesser-known Chinese manufacturers have been doing it for years. The latest to launch its company (and an insane marketing hype machine) on this principle is OnePlus with the release of its first phone, the OnePlus One.
Following what felt like an eternity (a few months, in reality) of marketing hype over social media and some hand-picked journalists, OnePlus finally dropped all of the details on the OnePlus One. The company’s mantra of “Never Settle” set high expectations for a phone that was also set to have an amazing price, and in the end it surprisingly met many of those
lofty goals.
The OnePlus One has industry-leading specs across the board, with a huge high-resolution screen, top-of-the-line processor, 3GB of RAM, 16GB or 64GB of storage, solid build quality, customization-friendly Cyanogen Mod OS and a genuinely shocking unlocked starting price. That all seems too good to be true, so what’s the catch? Well, despite the company’s philosophy, no phone is perfect — but the One still has a lot going for it.
The powerful Qualcomm© Snapdragon™ 801 processor with global 4G LTE is coupled with an immersive 5.5” 1080p display for over a day’s worth of battery life. The 3100 mAh battery fits perfectly into the sleek body. The energy efficient display features CABC and DRAM (Display RAM) technology that adjust the level of backlight and differentiate between dynamic and static content on your screen. These technologies reduce the power consumed and allow you to run all your apps and data services, all day long.
The 13 megapixel camera on the OnePlus One excels thanks to quality optics, sensors and algorithms. Boasting a Sony Exmor IMX214 camera with f/2.0 aperture, the OnePlus One camera takes amazing pictures even in low light conditions. Shoot anytime, anywhere for bright, sharp photos. It also boasts 6 physical lenses so photos are precise and detailed without suffering from distortion often caused by lower apertures. With an impressive 5 megapixel camera adorning the front of the OnePlus One, selfies will be more captivating than ever. The extra-wide 80º viewing angle captures more area than other phones so your pictures will include more background without distortion.
Stereo recording and tri-microphone noise cancelling technology are incorporated directly into the OnePlus One. Three microphones work together to identify, isolate and enhance your voice, while simultaneously filtering background noise. Use of the third microphone increases voice clarity by up to 80%.
Launch your favourite apps more quickly than ever before. Tap twice and your screen will come to life, or draw a simple image on the sleeping screen to launch your preferred app. The screen will respond even if your hands are wet.
However, annoyingly, it isn’t compatible with most 4G networks in the UK which may be an instant deal breaker.
The design may not be to everyone’s taste. It’s sleek, simple and stylish. It is sold as an alternative to phones like the Galaxy S5 and One M8, but the OnePlus One is actually significantly larger than the competition. It’s because the phone has a 5.5-inch screen – we imagine OnePlus takes no small amount of glee in offering such a large screen at half the price of its competitors.
Consequently, though, the OnePlus One does take a bit more getting used to than those phones. But it is way off the ridiculous size of supersize phones like the Samsung Galaxy Mega and HTC One Max. You can still use it in one hand. It’s just big.
Another way the OnePlus One claims its own style is by using a very unusual rear finish. The black 64GB version has an oddly, deliberately rough soft touch finish. It’s like a cross between sandpaper and felt. That may sound terrible, but it’s very tactile surface that makes the phone feel that bit more substantial than a lot of other phones, including the Samsung Galaxy S5.
The OnePlus One also comes in white, but only in its lesser 16GB storage edition. OnePlus plans to offer other back covers made of different materials, but don’t hold your breath about these being easily available in the UK.
OnePlus is a Chinese company and China is famous for its phones that ‘borrow’ the designs of other better-known phones. But the OnePlus One successfully creates its own look and feel, and one that compares fairly well with all the other top-end phones we have here in the UK.
Overall, a great phone with an even greater price tag.
