After waiting a few weeks, I finally got my hands on the Oneplus 5. I have been using the device extensively over the past weekend and feel I have used it to a degree where I would be fit to write an in-depth review. I wont go too much into the technical side of things as you can find all of that online.
PROS:
Excellent battery life
Unbelievable performance
Beautiful design
Great camera setup
CONS:
Price is creeping upwards
No SD card slot
Not water proof
No wireless charging
DESIGN:
Out of all the models OnePlus have launched to date, the OnePlus 5 has the best design. Only high grade materials have been used in its construction and the phone has a very premium feel to it. The device doesn’t feel too heavy or too light in your hands.
Since the device is quite slim and has more rounded edges compared to previous devices, it feels easier to hold.The power button is located on the right hand side of the phone while the left edge houses the silent mode toggle and the volume rocker.On the bottom side, there is a speaker, a USB-C port and a 3.5mm headphone jack. The OnePlus 5 is available in two different shades of black plus a limited edition rose gold version.
DISPLAY:
You get the same 5.5 inch Full HD AMOLED display from the previous 3T.Its pixel density of 401 PPI is not at the same level of other flagships but do not forget that those phones cost atleast 10 to 15k more. The display on the 5 is still amazing and you wont feel it lacking unless you do a side by side comparison, to say a galaxy s8 or iphone 7. Nowadays, with flagship phones coming with all kinds of display sizes, you will be pleased to know that the OnePlus 5 comes with the traditional 4:3 viewing ratio.
The display comes with Corning Gorilla Glass 5, so your screen is well protected from scratches and drops from low height. Even then, better to stick a screen protector for added safety.
AUDIO:
The phone comes with a 3.5mm jack unlike the iphone 7 which has no jack. The audio quality is very clear on this phone during calls. The loudspeaker also offers crisp sound but isn’t that loud and I did feel a lack of quality while playing videos through it.You will quite easily block the sound if you accidentally end up keeping your finger over the speaker while holding the phone .It would have been great of OnePlus had included some front-facing speakers here for when you’re watching videos or gaming.
CAMERA:
OnePlus has followed in the footsteps of other manufacturers and for the first time has designed a dual lens camera setup on the 5 . The rear camera is made by Sony and its consists of a 16MP primary camera and a 20MP telephoto lens. The device has good zooming capabilities and I was able to take pictures of distant objects with minimum fuss.
The pictures are bright without being overexposed like the ones on sony xperia models. The portrait mode allows you to take amazing shots using the two-lens setup so you can take a picture of your main subject while blurring out the background.
By Swiping left in the camera interface, you enter the video recording mode. You can record in 720p, 1080p, 1080p at 60 frames per second or in 4K .Remember that 4K video will be useless to you unless you have a 4K Tv or other playback devices on which to play these videos. The quality is stunning but mind you that memory gets eaten up fast which may be a problem if you own the 64GB device and I also felt the battery drained a lot faster while recording 4K video.You can also shoot timelapse videos and slow motion videos if your’e into that sort of thing.
Coming to the 16MP front camera, it takes amazing selfies.It can also record videos in 1080P. It offers almost all the features of the rear camera so you wont be disappointed.
SOFTWARE AND PERFORMANCE:
The OnePlus 5 uses the OxygenOS which is a modified version of android based on android nougat 7.1.1 .So you do get to run multiple apps using the split screen feature. Oxygen os is one of the best out there and can be considered as just a skin on top of basic android. It didn’t make me go mad and pull out my hair by adding unnecessary bloatware and apps like how Samsung and other companies do and try to shove those features down your throat. Thumbs up to OnePlus for their minimalist approach.
Swiping up from the bottom of the screen brings up the app drawer. You can pull down the notification bar by dragging downwards anywhere on the screen so if you are like me, with short fingers, you don’t have to stretch too much to view your notifications . Don’t worry, this feature works only when you are in the home screen.
Gaming on the OnePlus 5 is smooth thanks to the adreno 540gpu and 6GB of ram. I have mostly been playing asphalt 8, fifa 17 and modern combat 5. While playing asphalt 8, I felt slight lag in 2 or 3 instances but it ran smoothly otherwise. There was no noticeable heating and battery drain was also normal. After about gaming for an hour, I usually lost 15 to 20% depending on the game I was playing. Keep in mind that I keep brightness around 30 or 40% most of the time.
BATTERY LIFE:
OnePlus 5 comes with a 3300mAh battery while the older 3T has 3400mAh. Since the one plus 5 uses newer processing technology and is much more efficient in terms of power consumption, it has excellent battery life and the phone will easily last an entire day on a single charge. This included around an hour to 90 mins of gaming, watching a movie, heavy use of whatsapp with WiFi turned on for most of the time and around 20 to 30 mins of phone calls.
The one plus comes with DASH charge, which is basically their term for fast charge and I get around 60% charge after plugging it in for just half an hour and its fully charged in about 100-120mins. Not bad.
MY FINAL THOUGHTS:
OnePlus has introduced an amazing phone which offers one of the best android experiences on today’s market.If you’re currently looking to buy a phone that has great camera quality and can run the latest games and apps with ease, then this is the phone for you.It is a device for anyone who doesn’t want to spend 50 or 60k on a phone but still wants all the features that can be found in a flagship phone for considerably lesser amount of money.
I agree it may not look as amazing as the Samsung devices with their curved displays or have the same audio qualities as some of the other devices out there, but you cant have everything and still expect them to price it cheaply.
Coming to the price point, I feel OnePlus has priced this device reasonably but at the same time by pricing the 5 in the 33-38K INR region, they have pushed themselves closer to the flagship segment, something they had set out to destroy when OnePlus started 4 years back.