Anyone got a OnePlus One?

[ZesPak]

Lord said:

Im happy to answer any questions people have about the phone, in conclusion it is a fantastic phone and the best you can buy at the moment. I am just very very picky about phones as they seem to hold themselves back when it comes to design and build compared to fruity products

Nice writeup, thanks!

What makes you hold Apple in such regard to, lets say, the HTC One?

How are the speakers on the One+?

Have you had experience with the Oppo Find 7a?
If you put them next to eachother it's hard to ignore the similarities:

http://www.phonearena.com/phones/size/OnePlus-One,...

[Altrezia]

ZesPak said:

Nice writeup, thanks!

What makes you hold Apple in such regard to, lets say, the HTC One?

How are the speakers on the One+?

Have you had experience with the Oppo Find 7a?
If you put them next to eachother it's hard to ignore the similarities:

http://www.phonearena.com/phones/size/OnePlus-One,...

I had a HTC One (m7) and the speaker grills started coming away from the handset after just 3 days. Eek!

The M8 looks more solid, though.

[Lord Pikey]

ZesPak said:

Nice writeup, thanks!

What makes you hold Apple in such regard to, lets say, the HTC One?

How are the speakers on the One+?

Have you had experience with the Oppo Find 7a?
If you put them next to eachother it's hard to ignore the similarities:

http://www.phonearena.com/phones/size/OnePlus-One,...

I spend a lot of my time mocking my iphone loving friends, but i have to admit, the hardware, the feel and the form of the iphone is second to none. Its just the software that lets it down.

I have had a play with with the M8 and its solid, probably the best built android out there. For me the M8 wastes space with the HTC logo below the screen, and the larger than normal black space between the screen and the edge, just make the phone smaller. I also dont like sense that much but in all honesty, i am basing that on using a very old version of sense. Did i mention i am very picky? I am probably being overly harsh on the m8.

Im not sure i can answer the speakers question adequately as im not a yoof that likes to impress others with his taste in music. I have only used the oneplus with headphones. If you could ask a specific question ill do some tests and report back if you like.

I have not tried the oppo 7a, but i hear it mentioned a lot being compared to the Oneplus. Id like to get my hands on it and feel the differences.


A couple of other things i forgot to mention initially.

• The camera. Cant fault it. Its as good as my nexus 5 and note 2 and better than than my other half's Sony in her opinion.

• the back. Its weird. Not bad, but i cant say its good either. its just odd. I have the Nillkin case fitted now so i kinda forget its there.

Oh, and if the VP of Samsung, HTC, Google etc etc is reading this and wondering how your going break apples dominance.... give me a call. Id do it for free, its just frustrating watching your half-arsed attempts each year

Edited by Lord on Tuesday 23 September 10:25

Edited by Lord on Tuesday 23 September 10:28

[ZesPak]

Lord said:

Im not sure i can answer the speakers question adequately as im not a yoof that likes to impress others with his taste in music. I have only used the oneplus with headphones. If you could ask a specific question ill do some tests and report back if you like.

Oh, I just use it to watch some news/youtube vid in the morning at the table, or show a vid to my friends. The F7a is incredible in it's loudness, the N5 was quite disappointing in that aspect (had to lean in to understand anything).

Lord said:

I have not tried the oppo 7a, but i hear it mentioned a lot being compared to the Oneplus. Id like to get my hands on it and feel the differences.

Wish I could help you, I have the 7a but I'm not parting with it .

Lord said:

A couple of other things i forgot to mention initially.

• The camera. Cant fault it. Its as good as my nexus 5 and note 2 and better than than my other half's Sony in her opinion.

Hmm, the N5 is generally known to have a good camera but not great. The Note series & F7 supposedly have great camera's.
But, as an everyday shooter the N5 isn't too shabby.

Lord said:

*the back. Its weird. Not bad, but i cant say its good either. its just odd. I have the Nillkin case fitted now so i kinda forget its there.

From the looks of it and descriptions I've read it's very close to the F5 back. Which was good but the F7 feels more "premium" ime. But, as you say, most of these phones will be used in cases (like the iphones).

Lord said:

Oh, and if the VP of Samsung, HTC, Google etc etc is reading this and wondering how your going break apples dominance.... give me a call. Id do it for free, its just frustrating watching your half-arsed attempts each year

For my job I've got several products of a lot of manufacturers. IME the Apple gear is hardly "premium" in all but feel, which is then quickly covered up by a £5 plastic case.
Apple dominance is here to stay a while. Remember ipeople laughing at large phones? Widgets? 3rd party keyboards? Look at the number of orders of the 6 & 6+, 10 milion, mostly by people who have never even seen the phone. Release the iPhone 6, as it is now, for half the price and call it a Sony and you won't get a fifth of that number over a year let alone over a weekend.
Imho vanilla android these days is as easy, if not easier, to use as iOS, often at half or 1/3rd of the price. But people (rightfully so maybe) often stick to what they know.

[Lord Pikey]

ZesPak said:

Lord said:

Im not sure i can answer the speakers question adequately as im not a yoof that likes to impress others with his taste in music. I have only used the oneplus with headphones. If you could ask a specific question ill do some tests and report back if you like.

Oh, I just use it to watch some news/youtube vid in the morning at the table, or show a vid to my friends. The F7a is incredible in it's loudness, the N5 was quite disappointing in that aspect (had to lean in to understand anything).

• - I think it will be find for that. Mine is fine for volume. Just tested it in the office and i can hear it quite clearly over all the background noise.

Lord said:

I have not tried the oppo 7a, but i hear it mentioned a lot being compared to the Oneplus. Id like to get my hands on it and feel the differences.

Wish I could help you, I have the 7a but I'm not parting with it .

Lord said:

A couple of other things i forgot to mention initially.

• The camera. Cant fault it. Its as good as my nexus 5 and note 2 and better than than my other half's Sony in her opinion.

Hmm, the N5 is generally known to have a good camera but not great. The Note series & F7 supposedly have great camera's.
But, as an everyday shooter the N5 isn't too shabby.

-* I think im not that critical of cameras. I have got some great shots with both. The oneplus comes with a different camera apk that has a "clear" image function. i have it turned on but i havnt been able to tell the difference yet. I use a DLSR for posed photos so for me the phone is just for random snaps.

Lord said:

*the back. Its weird. Not bad, but i cant say its good either. its just odd. I have the Nillkin case fitted now so i kinda forget its there.

From the looks of it and descriptions I've read it's very close to the F5 back. Which was good but the F7 feels more "premium" ime. But, as you say, most of these phones will be used in cases (like the iphones).

-*Indeed. i think a case is imperative with the oneplus. The surface glass is just too vulnerable without one

Lord said:

Oh, and if the VP of Samsung, HTC, Google etc etc is reading this and wondering how your going break apples dominance.... give me a call. Id do it for free, its just frustrating watching your half-arsed attempts each year

For my job I've got several products of a lot of manufacturers. IME the Apple gear is hardly "premium" in all but feel, which is then quickly covered up by a £5 plastic case.
Apple dominance is here to stay a while. Remember ipeople laughing at large phones? Widgets? 3rd party keyboards? Look at the number of orders of the 6 & 6+, 10 milion, mostly by people who have never even seen the phone. Release the iPhone 6, as it is now, for half the price and call it a Sony and you won't get a fifth of that number over a year let alone over a weekend.
Imho vanilla android these days is as easy, if not easier, to use as iOS, often at half or 1/3rd of the price. But people (rightfully so maybe) often stick to what they know.

• -i think your right. I really don’t think any of the manufacturers can break the apple spell. Maybe their only chance is to do a Lexus type luxury brand but supported and owned by one of the big players. But then again, the press would probably tear it to shred for being a "posh" htc / samsung etc.

Speaking of the Sony in your example. The new z3 compact ticks almost all of the right boxes. If it ran CM or a vanilla android it would be perfect. Last time i checked the Sony’s werent very well supported with CM. I haven’t checked the other roms out there though.

• edit . i did a really bad job of commenting inline. i prefixed my replied with a *

[bicycleshorts]

I've just got one of these - I'll post up again if I get any invites.

Thoughts so far having upgraded from a rooted CM10 Galaxy S3:
- it is big, but it doesn't feel too big in my hands. That said, I don't have a case on it yet which may make a big difference.
- the stock theme of CM11 is really nice, but some major apps (e.g. Dolphin Browser) don't have custom tiles which makes it look a bit crap
- the camera is fantastic - really pleased with this
- the charger cable/usb->eu adapter/eu->uk adapter is a pain. Also while the red usb cable looks quite smart (inc. non cased USB connector) it is a pain in the ass to use
- migrating from phone to phone is unbelievable simple with Android now. I simply went into the play store, located "my apps" and downloaded them all

However, these negatives aside, I'm really happy with the phone. Especially as it cost under £300. I know people with the Nexus 4 and 5 and would say this is a big improvement on those (similar price range). I'll also never buy another Samsung phone after all the things which went wrong with my S3 (came with loads of crap samsung apps, didn't handle rooting + CM10 very well, refused to charge via USB so had to use 2 batteries + external charger).

Lastly - adding a new homescreen took me fking ages to figure out. Previously there was an option in the menu somewhere to choose how many screens you wanted, now you have to drag an icon over to the far right until it creates a new screen.

Edited by bicycleshorts on Tuesday 23 September 13:48

[ZesPak]

bicycleshorts said:

Lastly - adding a new homescreen took me fking ages to figure out. Previously there was an option in the menu somewhere to choose how many screens you wanted, now you have to drag an icon over to the far right until it creates a new screen.

Can't you "pinch" to zoom out on the homescreen? That usually gives you a grid of the current screens, allowing you to remove and add screens at will.

[bicycleshorts]

ZesPak said:

Can't you "pinch" to zoom out on the homescreen? That usually gives you a grid of the current screens, allowing you to remove and add screens at will.

The menu button takes you to a selection screen but afaik there's no way to add screens from this. You can reorganise existing ones though. Not a huge issue once I figured it out but was unintuitive for me.

[ZesPak]

bicycleshorts said:

The menu button takes you to a selection screen but afaik there's no way to add screens from this. You can reorganise existing ones though. Not a huge issue once I figured it out but was unintuitive for me.

Hmm, been using Nova Launcher on all my Android phones for years so that's why I thought it would work .

[bicycleshorts]

Yeah, I've had a few Android phones and don't ever remember it being an issue! Maybe it's me getting older

[Luke.]

Altrezia said:

Ooh, you might be right - that's October I think?

Any good to you?

http://www.avforums.com/threads/or-trade-oneplus-o...

[Kinky]

My son dropped mine a few weeks ago - and it survived. A little dent on the corner, but other than - nothing

However, that prompted me to get the Cruzerlite case for our 2 OPOs and sits nicely with the screen.

After 3-odd months months of use, I personally can't fault it at all - no issues for me with the screen size (although I am used to the size), or the sound

I'm at the fan gathering tomorrow, so looking forward to see what they have to show and play with

The only gripe I have is with the charger. I have it plugged into my PC - much easier than the multi-plug solution.

Anyone else going tomorrow?

[Insanity Magnet]

Lord said:

I have had a play with with the M8 and its solid, probably the best built android out there. For me the M8 wastes space with the HTC logo below the screen, and the larger than normal black space between the screen and the edge, just make the phone smaller. I also dont like sense that much but in all honesty, i am basing that on using a very old version of sense. Did i mention i am very picky? I am probably being overly harsh on the m8.

Maybe a little harsh. If you have a look at the teardowns on the web you will see that there isn't much wasted space in these things.

(disclaimer - doing anything other than stretching the mechanicals of a portable electronics unit where the electronics guys have served up some circuit boards that don't. quite. fit... SolidWorks is hidden below a stack of browser windows and I have some deliverables for tomorrow)

[Lord Pikey]

I am probably too harsh. I had my Nexus 5 in bits over the weekend to replace the screen and its very neatly packaged, i assume most of them are the same. I guess im eager for the next gen products to come sooner.


Just another update to my review. Battery.

I took my oneplus off charge at 5,45am yesterday. Used it heavily for an hour commuting into work. Throughout the day i regularly checked FB, engadget, twitter and wrote a fair few whatsapp and emails. I then used it on the way home to listen to a podcast. For some unknown reason i forgot to charge it overnight. It then had another hour of use on the commute this morning and was on 17% when i got to my desk... Not bad, compared to how my nexus 5 behaved.

[Durzel]

Shame it seems near impossible to get OPO invites without sitting on their forum spamming posts, etc. I've given up hope of scoring one.

[Lord Pikey]

Just in case you have not seen this

preorders start in October

http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communicat...

[Luke.]

Durzel said:

Shame it seems near impossible to get OPO invites without sitting on their forum spamming posts, etc. I've given up hope of scoring one.

Er... I posted one for sale on this very page..

[Durzel]

Luke. said:

Er... I posted one for sale on this very page..

Thanks, but looks like AVForums is down at the moment so couldn't read the content of your post there.

[Luke.]

Durzel said:

Luke. said:

Er... I posted one for sale on this very page..

Thanks, but looks like AVForums is down at the moment so couldn't read the content of your post there.

Ahh. Basically there's a chap there selling his OPO for asking price. Only had a 3 days or something, but doesn't like the size. Its the 64GB in black.

[Jaldi]

Durzel said:

Shame it seems near impossible to get OPO invites without sitting on their forum spamming posts, etc. I've given up hope of scoring one.

Durzel, I've got an invite for you, if you still want one?