The budget super-phone you never knew you wanted… until now!
THE PITCH
If you're racing to catch a bus or train, or just glancing for 2 mins at your phone, here's my elevator pitch…
Grunt. Speed. Elegant styling. Ridiculously quick. Super-affordable. Sexy-in-Black. And, Oh the camera(s) on this device... Crisp quality pictures, and an even sleeker 'portrait mode’. Easily kills all of the competition on the majority of benchmarks, and all that for a comparatively 'diet' price point.
Buy a OnePlus now!
Need further convincing? Read on.
The OnePlus5 comes in a sleek black.
It has a very sturdy feel and design with an all metal chassis. And a burnished non-reflective matte coating.
One particularly useful design cue is the side button for muting notifications. The left side of the OnePlus5 has a super-handy slider button for doing just that. And has three settings: one to mute all notifications, one to allow all notifications, and a mid-level to allow only priority notifications.
Buy a OnePlus now!
Need further convincing? Read on.
STYLING AND DESIGN
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| The OnePlus5 in Matte Black (snippet of Carbon Fibre case top-right) |
It has a very sturdy feel and design with an all metal chassis. And a burnished non-reflective matte coating.
It also has a decent weight to it while still feeling very light.
One particularly useful design cue is the side button for muting notifications. The left side of the OnePlus5 has a super-handy slider button for doing just that. And has three settings: one to mute all notifications, one to allow all notifications, and a mid-level to allow only priority notifications.
I've found this very handy and use this all the time especially when you're in those awkward moments where you quickly need to adjust this (like when someone else's phone rings out in the middle of a meeting)!
THE CAMERA(S)
The OnePlus5 is revolutionary in that of all the phones with dual cameras released around the same period (we're talking early to mid-2017), OnePlus decided,
“Nah, do you. We’ll do it differently”.
“Nah, do you. We’ll do it differently”.
It comes loaded with a dual camera setup at the back of the phone.
One 20MP sensor and an accompanying 16MP sensor primarily to support 2X optical zoom with no loss of image fidelity. It also does pretty well for itself in low light shots.
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| Image Credit: Instagram.com/__uncle_paulie__ |
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| Image Credit: Instagram.com/__uncle_paulie__ |
One 20MP sensor and an accompanying 16MP sensor primarily to support 2X optical zoom with no loss of image fidelity. It also does pretty well for itself in low light shots.
It also has a very crisp 16MP front-facing camera for taking #Selfies
#PortraitMode uses some form of artificial intelligence algorithm to apply a blur effect on photos to make the subject stand out better and give it a more refined sense of depth-of-field in focus. It works automatically and all you need to do is just switch to that setting in camera mode and it does the rest for you.
It does still need some work though as in some cases it tends to blur the edges of the primary subject as well or get confused by highly contrasting colours like black text on a light background. All-in-all, ‘Portrait Mode’ on the OnePlus5 does an amazing job most of the time.
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| Portrait Mode on the OnePlus5 really makes the subject standout |
It does still need some work though as in some cases it tends to blur the edges of the primary subject as well or get confused by highly contrasting colours like black text on a light background. All-in-all, ‘Portrait Mode’ on the OnePlus5 does an amazing job most of the time.
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| Focus is sharper and Depth of field narrower in Portrait mode |
SCREEN (Let's talk about Notch… baby)
So.This one doesn't have a notch (*phew*... the OnePlus 6 will though... pictured)
‘The notch’. Hate it or like it, is the next smartphone trend we’re seeing primarily in 2018. (I’ll blame Andy Rubin for even introducing the concept with the Essential phone in 2017. The iPhone X made this even more popular. A few other manufacturers have followed suite since… including OnePlus).
It’s that little dark portion at the top of some smart phone screens housing the front-facing camera and other sensors with phones where the manufacturers are beginning to push for less of a bezel at the top and the bottom.
It's the same reason why one key difference between the souped-up OnePlus5T and the OnePlus5, is that the fingerprint reader was moved to the back of the phone.
We all like the extra screen 'real estate’ this affords us. The notch, however is a very divisive issue. The good thing is, after some protests from the OnePlus faithful, Carl Pei and team decided to introduce a software option to hide the notch on the soon to be released OnePlus6. Effectively including bars of black pixels on either side of it to give the illusion of a flat-lined bezel.
So if you do not like the notch, rest easy. It isn't a problem on the OnePlus5. It won't be a problem on future OnePlus iterations.
Notch aside, You get a 5.5 inch amoled display on the OnePlus5. Generous for doing things like gaming, watching videos or even reading and editing documents on the go. It feels more natural than using a small screen and doesn't hurt the eyes having to strain excessively like you would on a smaller phone.
The OnePlus5 screen has a 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution which ensures that you get a crisp, clear display at all times and in all conditions. Surprisingly, it's also very good in high-exposure to sunlight with minimal reflection (just remember to keep the auto-adjust setting on for screen brightness)
Video
Image stabilization is standard and works very well on the OnePlus5. You can also shoot crisp, clear 4K video easily. Just watch out for memory usage though if you will be shooting a lot of 4K video.
Split-Screen
Yup, it means what it says.
You can use two apps side-by-side (or one above the other depending on your phone orientation in portrait or landscape mode). Pretty cool feature. Although, haven't had many instances where this has been an absolute necessity. Feels to me in general like the sort of feature that you'd really find very useful on a much larger screen like on a tablet.
DASH CHARGE (A full days charge in 30 minutes!)
Shall I say more?
Okay.
I will.
Okay.
I will.
If there's any good reason to get a OnePlus, it's for this reason. The OnePlus5 for instance in just a 30 minute charge, gives you enough power for a whole day!
Gone are the days of charging overnight. You can simply plug your phone in when you wake up, and by the time you're ready to leave for work, school, the school-run..(or whatever else gets you up daily), your device is charged up enough to get you through the day.
OnePlus proprietary Dash Charge technology means that it's still the best in the market in this area making it an easy decision to go for this device for that reason.
There are also no issues with heavy usage like calls and gaming while charging causing overheating. This is a known issue with most other smartphones. In the worst of cases, some even exploding and causing injury to the users.
This is another core difference between Dash Charge and other Fast Charge technologies as its energy use is way more efficient than others.
FINGERPRINT READER AND FACE UNLOCK
I will not elaborate. There is no need to. The fingerprint reader is quick. Very very quick. (Less than half a second). I have experienced absolutely no lag using it to unlock my phone.
Face Unlock seems even quicker. It has also been noted to easily be quicker than the iPhone X’s Face ID. It works, in fact, almost instantaneously!
It is worth noting also that from a security perspective, the iPhone X maps specific points on the face using LIDAR technology to create a 3D image.
The OnePlus Face Unlock on the other hand uses a flat 2D representation of your face. This doesn't mean it is easily fooled for instance by a photo for instance and in fact it is very difficult to trick it.
Try wearing dark glasses even and note that it doesn't unlock. There is a very detailed analysis of the facial biometrics that is done on every unlock attempt before access is granted.
Quick. Effective. Secure (Enough).
STORAGE, RAM & SPEED
I personally opted for and reviewed a 128GB onboard storage version with 8GB of RAM.
This phone has more processing power and memory than my work computer!
It is so ridiculously fast, and the OnePlus Oxygen OS so smooth to use, that I have genuinely forgotten what it's like to use a “laggy” phone.
There is a cheaper option as well with half the storage and memory, 64GB x 4GB RAM. For £50 extra, I think the extra memory and storage space is definitely worth it, especially for a super smartphone they costs you only £549.99.
Also, if you create a lot of media like pictures and videos you'll appreciate the extra storage even more.
Also, if you create a lot of media like pictures and videos you'll appreciate the extra storage even more.
ACCESSORIES
OnePlus, with every phone release, does a lot of work to ensure that there are good host of accessories available at launch. An added bonus is the very detailed styling and range of options made available (and designed) by OnePlus.
Over the years, the catchphrase “Designed by OnePlus” has come to be denoted with style, quality and elegance. Three words that are synonymous with the brand.
One of the all time favourites for OnePlus has been its carbon fibre case.
One of the all time favourites for OnePlus has been its carbon fibre case.
WARRANTY, REPAIRS & TECH SUPPORT
I had a slight issue with the volume rocker of my OnePlus5 getting stuck (sometimes) after just a few months use. Quite unusual.
Although support staff were very nice, unfortunately I was told that this was not covered in my warranty and I'd have to pay £100 to get this sorted. I found this a bit odd given than the volume rocker on any phone must be one of the most difficult things to actually damage, even if you were trying to.
All-in-all, not too fussed about it, however, this is one area in general (warranty and post sales support), that a few users have been known to complain about.
It wouldn't be fair of me not to give you the 'full picture” here.
I do know a fair few though who have had absolutely no issues with having repairs done with OnePlus.
FREE DELIVERY
As an added bonus, OnePlus delivers for all orders over £40 in the UK for free. A minor detail, but noteworthy.
WE TECHIES JUST LOVE ONEPLUS
OnePlus is a company that from day one has always striven to make themselves different. To be simply incomparable.
A good example of this ethos is in the innovative technology that is ‘Dash’ Charging.
As I write this review on a flight to Berlin, I am only able to do so on my OnePlus5 (with ample battery to spare), because I was able to juice up from 34% to just about 79% battery life in the 35 or so odd minutes it took me to wake up, freak out that I'd be late for my flight, get ready, pack my charger and bounce.
I work in a highly technology inclined environment. (So much so that the name of my team at work actually has the word 'Techology’ in it). I was one of the OnePlus pioneers in my team. (Myself and someone else I'll simply refer to as 'The Bearded One') 😉
I had a OnePlus2 at the time. The Bearded One stuck to a OnePlus1 - the first iterant of the device.
Over time, as more and more of my techie colleagues started to ask questions, handle our phones, play with them… we saw a shift.
In less than a year, almost all of my team, who would normally be iPhone or Core Android users have slowly come on board with OnePlus. We got to a point where there were even fewer people not using a OnePlus device.
This says a lot for the virtues of OnePlus devices in general for being very sturdy phones, but even more so, trusted by the tech community. (Another old friend of mine even went as far (and crazy) as configuring his OnePlus1 for cybersecurity penetration testing… (Yes. You can actually do that!).
I'm really looking forward to getting hands-on with the soon to be released OnePlus6. A killer device the OnePlus5 is and it's big brother the OnePlus 5T even more so. It's exciting and frankly mind-blowing to think how much more better the 6 will be considering how crazy-positive the OnePlus5 and 5T already are!
See you at the OnePlus6 launch event on May 16th!
Paulie the Technophile
