REVIEW: OnePlus One

After about almost a whole year since its been out, I got my hands on the much hyped OnePlus One.

There has been an interesting trend lately: Chinese manufacturers developing Android smartphones. Xiaomi and OnePlus are the at the forefront of this trend. Both these manufacturers promise phones with high-end specs at lowest prices possible and market them with tags such as "flagship killers"; which is a highly disappointing overstatement. Anyway, I just got to play with one of my friends' OnePlus One and here are some of my thoughts about it:

Aesthetics:

On design, OnePlus' official website reads that: "Unimpressed with the designs on the market, we weighed each hardware decision directly against the impact it would have on the look and feel of the final product." Big talk, but in the end, the company simply copied the Oppo Find 7a's design.
There's no denying that the OnePlus One is quite a looker. The sandstone finish feels good to hold. The chrome rim around the screen is a nice touch from the aesthetics point of view. As seen on most Samsung phones though, it's faux-metal.

Like most Android phones these days, the OnePlus One is not ideal for one-handed use. The lock button is on the right hand side. Bang opposite is the volume rocker. The buttons have insufficient travel. Because of this, you don't always get proper tactile feedback from buttons. 

The back-cover is not user replaceable. Speaking of covers, OnePlus had promised bamboo and silk white swappable "StyleSwap" for months. Later, the company with a "Never settle" tagline asked its fans to settle without these covers due to "technical difficulties" in manufacturing process. The biggest issue is that OnePlus only has about 25 service centres in India. In comparison, Samsung has more than 40 service centres in Mumbai area alone. 

Display:

The OnePlus One sports a 5.5" Full HD (1080p) screen. As you would expect from the pixel density of 400, the screen is impressively sharp. It is protected by the scratch-resistant Gorilla Glass 3. Although it's an IPS panel, the colours look somewhat dull. Even by LCD's standards the blacks are disappointing. The brightness slightly less when compared to other phones in this price tag. The screen is very reflective. Take it out on a sunny day, and you barely get to read the screen. Overall, the display quality is not what you would expect from an IPS display.

Specifications:

The OnePlus One packs-in some serious firepower; at least on paper. It features a quad-core Snapdragon 801 SoC (System on Chip) clocked at 2.5 GHz. To handle multitasking, you get 3 GB RAM. In the photography department, OnePlus has thrown-in a 13 megapixel camera with Dual LED Flash. The company is using Sony Exmor BSI sensor. For selfies, there's a 5 megapixel front-facing camera. Other features include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS, NFC, and 3100 mAh battery. The phone lacks a microSD card slot. But, it won't be missed since the phone packs-in 64 GB internal storage.

Given all these specifications, the processor performs well in playing medium intensity games, not as well in processor intensive tasks. Again, false promises.

Software:

The phone runs Android 4.4 Kitkat. As you would already know, it comes with Cyanogen 11 customisation that gives you total control of the device. The built-in theme support allows you to customise the handset with ease. You can change the boot animation and fonts without rooting the phone. Keep it in mind though that most themes are paid. Plus, there's a privacy guard to keep a check on the permissions acquired by third-party apps.

OnePlus' default theme is quite nice and user-friendly. Cyanogen's square app icons look good. The problem is that the third-party app icons have no such guidelines, so they look out of place. Plus, when you really think about it, all these customisibility options turn out to be rather useless when you really want to use your device. I mean, who would change the boot animation of their phone as much? In my opinion, day to day users who want to get their work done wouldn't really care about all these options.

The menu navigation and transition effects are mostly smooth. Surprisingly, the phone takes a couple of seconds to render images in gallery. I also found a slight lag when pressing the multitasking button to see all open apps and the home button also lags about 2 seconds when you press it. All those high-end specs won't help you here.

Multimedia:

The OnePlus One does not ship with earphones (WHAT!). The built-in video player is basic. It plays videos and that's that. It lacks subtitles support. However, it's not an issue since the Google Play Store comes to the rescue with the MXPlayer.

Camera:

The camera interface is straightforward. Right hand side keys, let you choose between the snapper and video recorder. Moreover, you can select from Auto, HDR, Beauty, and Action modes by swiping from top of the screen. Strangely, the camera viewfinder is sluggish. If you move the camera swiftly, all you see is ghosting for a second or two. 

The 13 megapixel camera backed by Sony's Exmor sensor performs well outdoors on a sunny day. However, the image quality goes downhill in not so bright conditions. In low-light, it produces trashy photographs. This is strange since the phone sports a BSI (Back Side Illuminated) sensor to enhance low-light performance.

The OnePlus One records 4K videos. However, even when viewed on 42-inch TVs, I couldn't find any quality difference between 4K and 1080p videos. It's worth noting that a 10 second 4K video takes up to 85 MB storage space, which is yet another reason why you should stick to Full HD instead. To keep up with the competition the OnePlus One also supports slow-motion. 

Cellular And Messaging:

The phone's network reception is very good. Voice quality through earpiece was good too. The contacts app is quite similar to what we get on the stock Android OS. Messaging is a standard Android affair. The default keyboard is the one you get on Nexus devices. However, my typing experience on the device wasn't satisfactory at all. The screen at times was either too sensitive or not sensitive at all. Same is the case with 3rd party keyboards. Nothing exciting in this area.

Battery:

Another disappointing factor about this device is the battery life; and it is a huge letdown. During processor intensive tasks, you'll notice battery level taking huge dips. During my usage, the battery lasted a little over 6 hours, where even other mid range smartphones perform well, let alone flagships. On paper, the device has a 3100 mAh batter, non-user replaceable. 

Verdict:

OnePlus started off with an aggressive marketing campaign lambasting big brands. the company promised to deliver a Flagship Killer", but in the end, it has delivered nothing more than a run-of-the-mill Android phone. After comparing it to the similarly priced phones, I think that the OnePlus One's screen and camera are mediocre at best. After sales service is another area of concern. So while it is affordable at Rs.22000 approx, you'll get much better mid-range smartphones at the same price including iPhone 5c and Lumia 830, both which perform  

Sorry hardcore Android enthusiasts, looks like that octa-core CPU and 3GB RAM are impressive only on paper. If you're really that desperate to buy an Android, I suggest buying a Motorola handset than a cheap Chinese smartphone.

Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Thanks!