When you position yourself as worthy of the best and most expensive from Samsung and Apple, expectations are bound to run sky high. And that’s exactly what they did just before the global launch of the OnePlus 5 on the 20th of June. Rumours, leaks and teasers reached a fever pitch to the point that one wondered whether a gadget would become a victim of its own hype.
As it happens, the OnePlus 5 has largely survived the initial noise and is being snapped up, with the bigger worry now being whether there will be enough to go around. Today the two variants of this phone have been launched in India at an event in Mumbai at prices of ₹32,999 for the 6GB variant and ₹37,999 for the 8GB variant. Given that the new models are not very much more expensive than their predecessor, they're still very much worth it for anyone who can’t afford a flagship.
I have had almost a month to play with both 6GB and 8GB versions of the OnePlus 5, alongside the not-that-old OnePlus 3T, so here’s what it's really been like:
Lighter and slimmer
The first official images of the OnePlus 5 led to squawks of alarmed disappointment from waiting fans as it became evident that the back of the OnePlus 5 looks just like the iPhone 7 Plus and another recently launched device, the OPPO R11. Co-founder Carl Pei ended up taking to Twitter to defend the new look and point out that users will forget all about it once they get their hands on the device — and he’s probably right.
Speaking for myself, I didn’t immediately think iPhone until I placed the 5 next to the iPhone 7 Plus and noted the similarities in the layout and details. But by now I’m accustomed to half the phones trying to copy the iPhone in some way and so it didn’t take too long for me to forget about the look. I have never believed OnePlus phones to be about design in the first place. But if anything, I did feel the new phone had lost some of the personality and attitude of the previous generation. In the end, I just slipped on a great looking OnePlus sandstone back cover whereupon the personality was restored and I got on with the business of using the phone, which is what I suspect all users will do.
OnePlus says that the 5’s design is the most expensive they have ever undertaken. Given that statement, it’s unrealistic to think that they would have come up with a glassy glossy design and impossibly curved edge-to-edge display like Samsung’s. That costs to make and would cost to buy and would make a OnePlus phone a flagship, not a flagship killer.
Whatever OnePlus has done with the design of the 5 has certainly made it lighter, more minimalistic, and easier to hold because of more rounded sides with slimmer side bezels. It’s neat and professional looking if it isn’t outright eye-catching. The rest is on the inside.
More RAM than a laptop
The specs on my notebook now pale in front of my smartphones, particularly the OnePlus 5’s 8GB variant. Of course it’s fast. With the blazing Snapdragon 835 and 6GB or 8GB LPDDR4X RAM options, near-pure Android and plenty by way of storage (64GB or 128GB), the phone’s performance can be nothing but supersonic. Interestingly, I couldn’t really tell the difference between the 6GB and 8GB versions and any ordinary user won’t either. It’s only if you find some specific application that calls that much RAM into play that you would appreciate the extra power. As it is, you can open up dozens of apps, navigate through them at high speed, watch actions take place fast, use the camera or watch movies and play games without it seeming to bother the device or heating it up.
With all that the OnePlus 5 has going for it, it isn’t surprising that the news of OnePlus cheating on benchmark tests was greeted with dismay. The explanation came from the XDA Developers blog which says OnePlus review units have code that boost benchmark scores. OnePlus denies there’s any cheating going on but of course, the very idea can cause some damage to the brand’s image. Luckily none of it need affect the user. Benchmark tests often have little to do with how a device performs in actual usage conditions. I know I was able to use both variants of the OnePlus 5 with no performance issues. A few glitches with the camera freezing were quickly fixed after pre-launch software updates.
Highlight feature: the camera
If there's one thing that has separates the men from the boys in smartphone land, it's the camera. Even if you get all the components and specifications right, you can end up with a camera that doesn't always do its job well. This time OnePlus has taken a good shot at giving a camera that narrows the gap between its device and flagships from the biggies. The new phone comes with a dual camera setup — it says so proudly right on the box "Dual camera clearer pictures". One of the first bits of communications from the company's ' execs was sample images showing off the camera's prowess.
It’s with the camera that OnePlus has gone iPhone-esque. The camera app is rather like the iPhone’s but that's not so important. Two big features make it from the iPhone to the Oneplus 5: the 2x optical zoom and the portrait mode that keeps a subject in focus while blurring out the background to give a depth effect or bokeh.
To do all this, the 5 has a 16MP primary camera and a 20MP secondary camera, strange as that may sound. Both Sony lenses snap into action when you press the shutter button but one gives you a separate Portrait mode. Just like on the iPhone the software guides you to click a picture for depth only if there's enough light and if the subject is at the ideal distance from the camera. This trick often results in very interesting photos specially in good light. But also frequent is the slight blurring of the subject's outlines. The feature has improved after a software update and is fun to use despite the hit or miss. The iPhone also sometimes blurs a bit of the subject but overall handles it better — but then it does cost twice the amount of money.
The apertures on the dual cameras are f1.7 and f2.6 and OnePlus has done something about boosting the light for indoor photos. Outdoors the cameras perform much better of course and the results are generally nice, though not stellar or matching up to the cameras on the current flagships.
For those thinking of stepping up from the OnePlus 3T to the 5, there’s certainly a big improvement in the camera but perhaps not enough to make a second purchase of this phone. The camera is the biggest difference between the two phones but anyone still using the 3T or thinking of picking up one before stocks run out needn’t worry about being stuck with a less capable device, despite the new dual cameras.
All Android
OnePlus’ proposition has, from the start, been to stick as close to pure Android as possible. The company has continued this with the OnePlus 5 which runs on Android Nougat 7.1.1 with OxygenOS 4.5.1 OnePlus’ own interface, on top of that. Using this phone is above all a clean experience that power users absolutely love. There are no heavy customisations or preloaded apps to slow things down and the canvas is clean for users to craft their own experience. The Settings menu sees many little additions, one of them being additional gestures to open up apps. For example you can draw a quick W to open up Whatsapp or M to get to the mail app very quickly. One of the more interesting additions is a Reading Mode which is being compared to reading on the Kindle. There’s a night mode that brings down the blue light, but in addition to that the Reading Mode that turns everything close to black and white and is easier on the eye.
Quick to charge
The OnePlus 5 has a slightly smaller battery than its predecessors. But the 3,300mAh battery charges really fast with the company’s proprietary Dash Charging. In the first 15 minutes I saw it shoot past 27 per cent - enough to tide over several hours if one needs to. It’s fully charged in under an hour and twenty minutes. And then it lasts you right through the day. I never really managed to drain it all out during the course of a day of medium level usage which including a fair amount of movie watching and system and app updates. The fast charging is actually one of the stronger reasons to consider buying a recent OnePlus phone. It’s particularly nice for those who travel a lot and need not to be panicked about charging the phone when on the go. Having used the 3T for several months, I saw no deterioration in the battery’s performance and am assuming the 5 will do well on this front too. There’s no wireless charging, but in India, we haven’t been spoilt by that luxury yet.
Some of the favourites from the previous 3 and 3T are still around and much welcomed. There’s the killer priority switch on the left edge that immediately silences the device or sets it to get priority notifications. The 3.5mm headphone jack hasn’t gone anywhere either. Nor has the support for two SIMs. The device now is Bluetooth 5.0 capable and connects to more bands around the world. The ceramic fingerprint sensor is on the Home button and faster than ever — in fact probably the fastest way to wake up and unlock the device.
A OnePlus phone is for power users who like to use and customise their devices. But it’s future-proof enough to now draw general users who hear about the phone and like the value for money it offers.
Pros: Value for money, super fast performance, high speed charging, top hardware specs, slim and easy to carry, improved camera
Cons: Camera needs further tweaking
(The article first appeared in The Hindu BusinessLine.)