OnePlus is one of the few smartphone brand, that launches their smartphones in India as soon as their global rollout. After more than 100 leaks and renders, here we have the official flagship for the 2017, from the small smartphone startup OnePlus called the OnePlus 5.
Numerically, OnePlus skipped no 4, in their portfolio lineup, due to the fact that, the no 4 is associated with the death in China. The device is already available in India via Amazon.in. One can buy either 6GB/64GB configuration or 8GB/128GB configuration for ₹32,999 and ₹37,999 respectively.
OnePlus 5’s major selling point is its specs sheet. The only downside about this smartphone is the display, OnePlus has decided to use same old 1080p AMOLED panel used in their previous flagship OnePlus 3t. Other than that, everything is bumped up to the threshold of smartphone capacity.
The device is powered by Qualcomm’s latest flagship 835 mobile solution, paired with either 6 GB or 8 GB LPDDR4 RAM with UFS 2.1 flash storage with capacity of 64 GB or 128 GB (no SD card support). Like their previous iteration, the device uses Corning Gorilla 5 for the protection of the display.
The device just measures at 7.25 mm, being slimmer than their last flagship. As per the design are concerned, the device offers rock-solid all metal anodised aluminium metal built with unibody design inspired by iPhone 7+. However, the device still offers 3.5 mm headphone jack without any water resistance rating.
The camera plays an important role in this beast. The device offers same 16 MP front facing sensor used in 3t. The main camera gets a big update, now the OnePlus 5 offers dual camera solution with 16 MP(F/1.7) and 20 MP(F/2.6) camera combination. This setup offers 4K video recording capability, portrait mode and 2X optical zoom just like iPhone 7+, however, the device misses out on optical image stabilisation (OIS).
The 3300 mAh battery paired with Dash charging technology is one of the unique feature to this device. The battery can last upto entire day and can be charged from nothing to zero in just 90 minutes (faster than the Quick charging technology). The Android OS is kept as it is, which is a good sign.
To conclude, OnePlus 5 is a great smartphone, but, one should also think on other aspects other than just the specs sheet. Can their fans expect timely android updates (what if it happens like OnePlus 2), what about their after sale services (cost of repair can go upto 48,000 for 28,000 phone). Looking at the design, is OnePlus is really out of idea or they copied accepted design to be on the safer side? IS OnePlus 5 really worth the money at 37,999? as iPhone 7 is retailing at 45,000.