The Flagship Killer: OnePlus One Initial Review


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I think this is the 1st OnePlus One (OPO) Review in TAI. So have given more Pics. The Phone costs Rs. 22,000/- and can be bought from Amazon India site.

A. What is OnePlus One (OPO):
The OPO looks and feels premium. A single Micro-SIM phablet measuring 153 x 76 x 9 mm, weighing at 160g and released in June 2015 as a Flagship Killer by OnePlus, a Chinese Co. It has 4-band 2G, 5-Band 3G and 6-Band 4G with Cat4 LTE speeds. Three soft navigational keys are present below the screen. Check out the Specs Comparo with other Flagship phones.
OPO 00.jpg

OPO 01.jpg

This was in my Radar for some time, but not available in India. It is available thro’ Amazon India but buyer needs to have an Invitation to buy it, making it difficult to acquire Globally as well as in India. That’s one of the reasons I chose Asus ZF5 three months back. Things are changing now, as in the last week alone, three more OPOs landed in our Co; perhaps OnePlus has ramped up the production. How to get the ever elusive Invite ? Members interested in getting an India Specific Invite should go straight to Heading C.

B. Decision making:
It all started when I toggled Wi-Fi on 09-Jan-15 evening on my Asus ZF5. I learnt that I got an invite from OnePlus. AN INVITE ! Next 10-15 minutes, I was wondering, if it was worth to change the ZF5, because the ZF5 has impressed me THAT much in the 2+ months’ of use. Though ZF5 has just a HD screen, you’ve got to USE that to feel good. Resolution apart, the HD screen always impresses the user. On top of everything, the user interface of Asus Zen Launcher is too damn good. If at all I have to nitpick, the Rear Speaker is meek in loudness. But should I miss a chance to have the One in my hands? NO, it shall be BOUGHT.

C. Getting an India specific Invite and Amazon Experience:
Opened Amazon and Yahoo Mail, clicked on the link, it took me to OnePlus website, chose the Invite Sl.No, applied it in Amazon India only to know that it was a Global Invite which cannot be used in Amazon India. Crestfallen :-( But, the decision WAS already made to BUY IT. After polluting the environment for five minutes, decided to give it a try. Two minutes later I landed at https://forums.oneplus.net/forums/india-invites/ .

In another 20 minutes I could send PM to two members willing to share invite. Within 5 minutes both replied; one was free and the other was for Rs.300/- (to be paid to his friend’s bank A/c blah blah blah). After five minutes PM-ing, I had an India specific Invite from the 2nd one for FREE. Found it was Genuine and placed an order immediately for Rs 22,000/-. All this happened on 09-Jan-2015 night.
Next day around noon, in the middle of a 3 hour looong presentation, my Asus vibrated and I saw my friend silencing it. On a hunch, called the caller; it was a delivery man from Amazon ! B___s to the PPT; dashed out and had the OnePlus One in my hands 10 minutes later. It was an amazing “next half-day delivery” by Amazon under Free Shipping [clap]
Note-1: You have to send them PM. Google to know how it is done there.
Note-2: Do NOT ever share your e-mail ID on those threads publicly.
Note-3: Paying a nominal amount for an Invite is at your discretion.

Setting up OPO and App Transfer:
I got it on 9th, charged battery fully but powered it on the next day due to some other engagement. Transferred ALL my Call logs and SMS Logs from ZF5 to OPO. Asus ZF5 did the “App transfer” from my Google Play A/c on its own, but all B-Folder Data was lost then. So, I preferred to do that manually this time taking some extra time.

The One Experience:
OPO is pretty fast to boot. It does everything fast and lag-free due to the 3 GB of RAM. About 54GB storage was available on first Boot. My ZF5 struggled with a photo heavy 50 slides PPT, but OPO was right at home with the same PPT. Out of the Box, it runs KitKat 4.4.4 (now in Jan 2015), with Cyanogen Mod 11S. Cyanogen Mod offers ways to customize Android which are integrated right under Settings. CM11S also has a search function built into Settings helping user to locate exactly what he/she is searching for. Customizing OPO is pretty easy and fun.

Pull down from Top Right for Notifications and Top Left for Toggles; same as in Asus Zen UI. We can change the size of toggles in OPO. It also provides a Ribbon under Notification where you can add toggles. Redundant though. You can add Camera in Toggles or in this Ribbon and Tap it to see a tiny camera view and Tap again to capture a Pic. Cool, but not needed for me. Yet I like Zen UI more, for its pleasing looks.

Double Tap on Notification area to send screen to Sleep (only works 50% times) and double Tap to wake it up. I have assigned “Screen Shot” capture to the Power button, so no struggles pressing Power and Volume buttons together. When screen is in Sleep mode, draw left or right to control Audio tracks. All time Battery level (in %) and Signal Level (in numbers say -65, -85, -98 etc,in dBm) can be brought on the display. Customizations Galore.

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OPO Bat 01.jpg

Call quality:
It is easy to force 2G/3G/4G/Combo modes. Monday morning, the first few calls thro’ the in-call speaker were pretty bad. A reboot and since then call quality is very good. The receivers reported no problem in hearing me either.

Apps:
OPO does not come preinstalled with any Games or bloat ware; No Adobe (?) and Office Apps either. OPO comes with its own 5-Band Equiliser which can be called up anytime. The default audio player if Google’s which I never liked. I’ve installed Kingsoft, MX Player (for videos),Rocket Player (for audios), All-in-1 Calc, ConvertPad, Merrium-Webster, ES file Explorer, Greenify, CPU-Z, StumbleUpon, GoogleKeep (Notes) etc. I am sticking with GMaps. 65 Apps are installed currently and 1.2GB RAM is available Free.

Camera:
I didn’t check the default Video Player, didn’t shoot Video but took only 3 sample Photos to see the low light capability and the Resolving power of the 1/3.06” sensor from Sony.For comparison, the point and shoot Cams have 1/2.3” sensor normally. The quality is much superior to any phone in the price band (of Rs 22,000/-), more than adequate for a Mobile Cam. The quality may be 95% of the Pics from Phones costing about Rs 40,000 and more. That is impressive.

Display:
The screen is too good with its FHD resolution, though one cannot compare it with AMOLED screens. Watching movies and videos on the 5.5” LCD is fantastic. I have to say something about the HD screen of Asus ZF5. It is difficult to fault it, even when compared to OPO’s FHD. I feel the touch response is better in ZF5 by 5%.

Loudspeaker:
There are two speakers at the base, which are not obstructed unlike my ZF5’s mono speaker (which is at the rear and gets obstructed easily). It is loud. On 80% volume, it is heard in every room in my 2000sq ft, 3BHK Apartment. The quality of output is very good for a mobile phone. I have nicknamed it “Tea-shop-Radio”. But because both speakers are next to each other, I don’t think I’m getting stereo effect from them. Yet to try a headphone.

Battery life:
Having a capacity of 3100 mAH and with good Stand-by times, this is easily a TWO working day Phone. My first proper observations was 1D 17H 45M. GSM Arena gave this a 66 Hours Endurance Rating.
OPO Bat All.jpg

Flip Cover:
Bought the official cover “designed by OnePlus” on Amazon for Rs.699/-. Even the packaging is good. With this Flip Cover, the thickness has increased by 2mm but the premium-ness feels enhanced much.
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Problem:
Bluetooth pairing with my Verna is the only Problem now. Neither of them are seeing each other like a quarrelling hubby and Wify. This seems to be a known problem as per the Internet Forum. Though connection with my ZF5 or other phones is not a problem. As of now, not taking calls while driving.

Misc:
My phones since mid 2006. Nokia never could make thin phones and that's one of the reasons (other than joining Android Bandwagon) for their wipe out.

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Thread Starter #2
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Re: The Flagship Killer : Initial review

Two corrections in the above post.

Under Miscellaneous, it should read "Nokia ... (other than NOT joining Android Bandwagon) for their wipe out".

And, my AT&T unlocked Moto Atrix2 bought in Nov 2010 was missing in the above list, as Chottu was busy doing something with it. Still giving one working day Battery Backup with the 3 Yr old original Battery. It has a HDMI port that helps connect to HDMI enabled TV. Cool. Perhaps one of the first 10 Dual Core Android phones. Coming from Nokia 5800XM's 3.5" Resistive VGA touch screen, the 4.3" Capacitive qHD touch screen WAS superb. Used to give me a full day backup. In spite of having 1GB RAM, it failed as Moto quickly came up with Atrix HD and RAZR MAXX within a few months of launching the A2. Pic for the sake of completeness is given below:

Atrix2.jpg
 
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OnePlus One - Info on India Specific Invites

If you need to have the One, but is totally frustu by the Invite System, you may go thro' the Bay's India site. From 24K to 32K I've found people reselling the One. If you want it in your name, you need an Invite. Go thro' these two threads on Oneplus forums.

https://forums.oneplus.net/threads/mod-j-invites-india-specific-invites-inside.232699/

https://forums.oneplus.net/threads/india-specific-invites.197699/

Battery Life and Charging Time:
In my 2nd observation, it was 2D 8H 54M from 100% to 16%. IIRC, that was with Screen on Time (SOT) of little over 6 Hrs and Voice Calls for about 50 minutes.

The supplied "Charger + Cable combo" charged the 3100mAH Battery from 16% to 82% in 60 minutes. THAT is pretty fast.
 
Thread Starter #6
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That's an excellent review with good number of snaps. OPO invite is running across many forums (or should I say people are running behind it) and some do sell the invite as well[frustration]
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released in June 2015 ???[confused]
Thanks for comments and true, it sells for around Rs1 to 2K on the Bay. In OnePlusone forums the invite may be available for about Rs.500/-, but mostly people give it for free. Depends on buyer's perseverance. There's an element of risk in it, like buying an already shared invite. But Boss, it is worth the risk. OPO is the only phone (though costliest of my phones) I purchased with LEAST amount of internet research. May be 2 to 3 online reviews done months back. I've to admit, I've spent more time reading about OPO and CyanogenMod11S AFTER buying it.

released in June 2015 : Ha Ha Ha. June 2014 it should be. You caught me there.
 
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OnePlus One - Solution for Bluetooth not Pairing with Car Audio

Today I reached our Co car parking as usual 20 minutes earlier but sans morning newspaper. Attempted to sort out the known "Bluetooth not Pairing problem with Car Audio" and SOLVED it. As this problem is reported on the net, giving a step-by-step solution below:

Step 1: BT ON in Car Audio (I've made it default ON in my Car) and BT OFF in Oneplus One
Step 2: BT ON in Oneplus One. I also kept a time out of 5 minutes.
Step 3: Make Phone visible to ALL.
Step 4: Search for Devices from Phone. Note: Search was done by Car Audio earlier.
Step 5: Car Audio (Verna) seen on the phone within a few seconds. Pair it. "BT Symbol" appeared on Car Audio.

Played a song and made a call; things work as they should. Problem Solved [:D] .

PS: Some cranky and unexplained connection issues prevented BT communication earlier. Cannot be a hardware issue as right from the 1st week sending and receiving files between OPO and my 8 year old Moto SLVR L7 wasn't a problem. Has to be minor software glitch yet to be addressed by Oneplus.
 
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I recently purchased the One Plus One. I must admit the invite system is pretty frustuating enough. But some of the forum members do dole out invites for free. Even I have helped a couple of guys with an invite.
Leaving that apart, the phone is a gem to use. The screen, camera and voice quality is better than my previous Galaxy Mega 5.8. As luck may have it, my Mega's 5.8 Screen faced vertical lines due to a fall just couple of day prior to me recieving the OPO (OnePlus One). I have transferred all data from my old phone to OPO. Am looking to sell my Mega 5.8 with the screen issue. No use keeping the same we have a couple of my old phones lying around including a Nokia E72 and BB 8900 curve which works as a backup phone in case we need it.
 
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OnePlus One : GPS & battery Life

This GPS Fix Screenshot was captured on 21-Jan-2015 near Krishnagiri, TN, while I was on my way to home town.

My earlier Asus ZF5, had surprised me with a fix using 12 satellites (link here http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/f...first-few-hours-impressions-3.html#post417694). Well, OnePlus One bettered it by using 19 satellites. This was after I was stationary for about 3 minutes.

3m GPS error.png

Another surprise was the location accuracy. With a primary error of 3m and a Dilution of Precision (DOP) of 1m, total positioning error was just 3m (3m x 1m). That is too damn good for a mobile phone based GPS/GLONASS receiver.

Below is the life I'm getting out of the 3100mAH battery. The Ph was fully charged on 21st and on the 3rd day (on 24th Jan) still had 7% left.

Battery Life.png

BTW, Rocket Player is a free Audio player with equalizer, folder view etc etc.

PS: Wify's Asus ZF5 also lasts for 2 days matching above figures !!! She uses it ONLY for voice calls.
 
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Today, OPO was available at Amazon.in from 10AM without an Invite. Helped a senior colleague to buy it at 10:03AM. The phone was delivered at his BLR home by 3PM. THAT was fast.
 
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OnePlus THREE: Below is a picture of OPO of a friend, OPO mentioned at post # 10 and mine. The one day old in the company of one month old OPOs kept on my table was a sight to behold. Caught lot of attention in the morning, forcing us to break up the Gang. It's cool na ?

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Photo taken using friend's Mi3, little PP job and re-sized.

Latest OTA Update: There was a talk earlier that Indian Specific OPOs won't get OTA update from CyanogenMod. So surprised to get the OTA update (CM11S 05Q) today morning. It brings an integrated SwiftKey Keyboard (which I already had as 3rd party), MaxxAudio by Waves, three options to focus in Video mode etc. The Equaliser in the already available the AudioFX App has been now replaced by Maxx, with a much better UI. Yet to test the audio. The full change log w.r.to this update can be found at https://forums.oneplus.net/threads/update-cm-11s-05q-ota-released.265240/
 
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India specific Invite available with me.

I have an India specific Invite to share. Will share it with a fellow member totally free. First come first serve basis. You'll have to buy it from Amazon India site. I'm not sure if it is 16GB or 64GB version. Afraid to click the e-mail link for the fear of wasting the Invite. PM me.

PS: This offer to TAI members will expire by 8:30PM today.
 
Thread Starter #13
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At 10AM on 24th Mar, both 16 n 64 GB versions will be available WITHOUT Invite. Screenshot of mail attached below :

Screenshot_2015-03-21-07-13-38.png
 
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OnePlus One - Phot sample

The mobile Cam for me is an instrument to record some data when I don't have a Paper / Pen in hand. It is also used to record some events, when the photographer is late or someone forgot to call him or just for the heck of it. Very rarely I use the mobile Cam to capture something because it looks good; that job is left to my NEX. This Pic below was shot on one such occasion. The EXIF data - F/2 aperture; 1/33 sec shutter speed; ISO 300; Focal length of ~ 28mm and time was around 6:30PM.

IMG_20150115_182745.jpg

Pretty decent for a mobile Cam at that time of the day.

The next one was taken from our Terrace in HDR mode. The first picture shows how dark it was and the next one shows the center crop. Just look at the time of the day and the 1/6 seconds shutter speed. You can make out the general shapes. Hand-held of course. Where the road starts closest to me is about 150 feet (minimum) away.

IMG_20150323_224402.jpg

IMG_20150323_224402-crop.jpg

In my NEX (DSLR Vs Mirrorless) thread, I'll post the JPEG OOC from my NEX-5R (may be within a few days). You can see what transformation a damn good APS-C Sensor and a lens with Image Stabilisation can do to the above scene. The OPO Cam was used just to show how dark the scene was (in comparison to the NEX output).

Oops. 21 minutes past midnight. OMG. Good night.
 
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OnePlus One : Problems and Solutions

Call Quality Problem: This is really intriguing. Since last 10-15 days, callers at the other end have been complaining; metallic voice, broken and had lot of echo. In a nutshell, it was crappy. After the initial minute or so, the call quality would improve to perfection. This problem wasn't there earlier; come up pretty recently. First I though it was a BSNL / tower related problem, as BSNL has updated their server recently and their 3G signal strength SUCKS big time (friends with Airtel also make same complaint. In fact most of their conversations in our 200 acre office area is Hello Hello only, Where to go [confused] ). Actually, this seems to be a hardware or software issue with Noise Cancellation (OPO has two Mics). People have reportedly solved this problem by turning OFF "OK Google from any screen" (settings ---> language & input ---> voice search ---> "OK Google detection). Have done so. Let's see if it solves problem in my phone.

Mobile / Screen NOT Powering ON: On last Sunday, the phone display wouldn't wake up. Tried charging, nope. Threw the phone on the mattress a few times in harmara Bajaj istyle; nope again. The simple solution came from the OnePlus site. Press and hold the power button for 20 seconds. Problem Solved. Darn, Forgot to call my number to see if THAT woke the phone up. Some Engineer I am [frustration].

StumbleUpon: This App is really a fantastic one, but, beware of the HUGE data consumption. I have chosen Photography and Humor as my interests in the App; perhaps all the photos are high quality and the App LOADS all the photos in the page. 450MB mobile data was gone in just two days. Only 300 odd MB is left out of my 28days / 1GB data plan with 20 more days to go. Also, for the past 2 months, my 8GB BSNL broadband quota was getting consumed within 15-20 days. Currently have uninstalled. However, the App is way too good. Google+ doesn't come anywhere near it. Will have to look at other BSNL Plans. Any suggestion from fellow BSNL BB users ?
 

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