OnePlus 2 review: a powerful, premium smartphone for a small price

Smartphones are being launched like crazy. Each week we are surprised and greeted with a new smartphone in the market, and it looks like the smartphone manufacturers are having a cold war in two to three segments—best low budget handset, premium smartphone with low price tag and the high-end beasts. While Samsung, Sony, Apple, HTC and LG are racing each other with the powerful beasts, many others are sneaking into the pockets of the masses with equally powerful hardware and a very budget friendly price tag.

OnePlus is not an everyday name you would hear in the smartphone industry. The small startup from China suddenly dropped a bomb on the smartphone market with the premium spec-low cost handset, the OnePlus One, last year. The device was welcomed by many and appreciated by enthusiasts and geeks. The OnePlus was aimed to break the market with the high-end hardware with a budget price-tag and impressively started a ripple effect with a few others following suite. OnePlus has now once again launched a ‘Flagship Killer’ for 2016, the OnePlus 2, and a sequel from the stable. But does the OnePlus 2 live up to its name of being a ‘Flagship Killer’?  Let’s check it out.

The OnePlus 2 brings a lot to the table, if you are comparing it to the previous flagship, the OnePlus One. Though the OP2 (OnePlus 2) looks almost identical, the core guts have a lot to say. Firstly, the OnePlus 2 has received a larger display screen with 5.5-inches of full HD real estate. Surrounding the display is an aluminum-magnesium alloy frame, encasing the device for a sturdy build. The front panel is a black, all-glossy display with a sandstone finished rear panel that feels great to hold on to. The device feels sturdy, and the design look gives it a premium feel the moment you hold it. Though the OP2 is a bit heavier than the first sibling, it isn’t as bad and one will get used to it after a while.

Many hoped they would be greeted with a 2K display, which could soon be a norm after LG and Samsung have already banked on it. However, the display, though the same (full HD) as the first flagship, sports a superior panel. The display is protected with a Corning Gorilla Glass 4, which scratch resistant and thinner than before. However, the panel is not protected from the edges, and it stirs on top of the alloy frame, making it highly vulnerable to cracks and breaks if you are clumsy enough to drop it on the edge. Make sure you use a silicon case if you know you are clumsy with gadgets. The OP2 measures 9.85mm thick and weighs 175g.

The rear panel, as we mentioned it sporting a sandstone finish, is removable. But the rear panel is simply replaceable for aesthetics—changeable colour panels are available for give you the looks between chick to somber and funky to professional. Each rear panel, apart from the one that ships with it, carries a small chip, attached to the left side on the bottom. The when the rear panel is changed, the chip on the new panel informs the user interface to skin it with a new theme, matching the rear panel. Though the feature is nice, it seems as a practically useless feature, unless you are a person who keeps changing the panels throughout the day. The rear panel only houses the dual SIM card tray beneath it. The battery is non-removable and there are no micro SD card slots for storage expansion. 

OnePlus has dared to take a step ahead in connectivity. By implementing the USB Type-C connector for charging and data transfer, the OP2 became the first smartphone to sport the USB connector apart from the masses. Though the USB Type-C is an early welcome, the new connector does not come along with its benefits. It does not ‘yet’ support fast-charge or high-speed USB 3.0. Hopefully, firmware updates will fix the issue. USB Type-C is also a possible nightmare for the many that may opt for the OP2 as you may require tagging along the charging cable with you. No more chances of borrowing your friend’s cable at work or on trips. Though OnePlus has also produced an ‘optional’ accessory, a micro USB to Type-C converter, it isn’t cheap (Rs 699), and you would have to carry that along anyways. Lastly, the hope for using your USB OTG cable and USB OTG pen drives are just gone out of the window. So if you have to save your large data files and movies, you have to plug it into your computer.

Moving ahead, the OP2 has been equipped with the same 13MP camera that was on the OnePlus One, albeit a slightly better one this time. The 13MP camera now has optical image stabilization, and assisted with a laser-aided focusing system and a dual-tone LED flash. The camera also features an upgraded sensor—1.3-micron-sized pixels, for better image capture along with 4K video capture and slow motion possibility with HD 720p at a whopping 120 frames per second. More on the camera’s performance later.

Under the hood, the OnePlus 2 has the guts of a beast—powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 chipset grunting with eight, 64-bit processors clocked at 1.8GHz and clubbed with an Adreno 430 graphics processor and 4GB of RAM (depending on the variant you opt for). OnePlus has released two variants of the same handset, one with 16GB storage and 3GB of RAM, other with 64GB storage and 4GB of RAM. Accelerometer, gyroscope, proximity and ambient light are the standard set of sensors you should find on almost all phones today.  Powering the smartphone is a huge 3300 mAh battery and the operating system driving the custom Oxygen OS user interface is Android KitKat 5.1. The OnePlus 2 works on two nano SIM cards, both supporting 4G and the wireless interface support dual band 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, making the device future-ready, prepared for ‘almost’ all you would need for a few years ahead.

The OP2 also sports a fingerprint sensor, a wonderful security welcome to a low-cost smartphone. Bundled along with the 2 is a USB Type-C cable (both ends are reversible so you can plug them in blindly), and a charger. Make sure you use the USB cable carefully as they don’t come cheap and are not as easily available either (for now at least). The OP2 has a unique add-on too—the Alert Slider switch, placed on the left edge of the handset. It integrated with the Android operating system to help you seamlessly switch between three profiles: All Notifications, Priority Interruptions, and No Interruptions - without having to unlock your phone or even take it out of your pocket. While some may find it unnecessary, others we spoke to find it a useful option.

As for a few missing features, that many expected it to be a norm, OnePlus has not planned for wireless charging, NFC and the IR blaster. We are not sure if this was cost-factor elimination, but NFC and wireless charging are probably must-have features for the future. Well, at the rate smartphones are outdating to be replaced by newer, smarter ones, you may not find the need for these features so soon.

As far as the UI is the question, the Oxygen OS is almost like a blessing for those who are concerned about a light operating system and unwanted bloatware that smartphone companies throw in. The operating system is super light, to the core and has just the right amount of apps and features that one would need. However, there are a few areas that we were hugely disappointed about. Firstly, there is no gallery app for viewing photos. Google Photos is pre-installed, but trust us, it is a pain to preview your photos immediately after you click. Make sure you install a third-party photo gallery app while you setup your OnePlus 2. As for the camera app, we did find it slightly inefficient and a bit laggy. The camera app could have done with a few more features. Available features are Clear Shot, HDR, Beauty, Panorama, Time lapse and Slow motion. Initially, the camera app was shipped with a huge bug, where one could not zoom on previewed pictures, but OnePlus released an updated firmware which fixed the issue. The update was not small, but a huge 1 gig+ file that needed to be downloaded OTA.

The user interface is pretty simple, yet powerful enough for daily use. It features a few enhancements such as themes, dark mode (to revert the colour scheme and make it easy on the eye), LED notifications for alerting you about the notification type, and gestures for using your phone faster than you normally would. One great feature that OnePlus has added is the app-level permissions for additional security, and data and battery savings. You can turn on or off each app from running in the background, using data or even disable access to the storage if needed.

On the performance front, the OnePlus definitely does show a difference. The eight-core 810 processor along with 4GB of RAM gives you an ease of mind when multitasking and opening multiple apps. Apps open faster as compared to standard handsets with 2GB RAM options. From browsing to gaming and office applications, you won’t find any lag or sluggish behavior. The display having an IPS panel with a 178-degree viewing angle, has an increased brightness and contrast, colours show pretty vibrant too. The display is also easily visible in broad sunlight, while using it outdoors.

Finally, let’s talk about the camera’s performance, the core element of the OnePlus 2. Boasting of a 6-element lens and an f/2.0 aperture, the 13MP camera does stand out from the rest in the segment. In competition with similar handsets, the OnePlus 2 comes pretty close to the Samsung Galaxy S6 (considered as the best camera till date), though it cannot defeat the latter always. The camera outperforms the rivals in certain areas, thanks to the laser-guided focusing and the low-light handling along with OIS. The camera can snap a picture in under 1/3rd the speed of a second, using the IR laser focusing. However, we did notice a little issue with the tap-to-focus option, where the focusing takes a while to fix on the subject.

  

  

  

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We also did notice that the camera’s performance was two-faced—while some photos did turn out excellent, others, at times, were blurred, off focus or even too sharp. However, it all depends on the lighting conditions on the subject. The OP2 was also found to be heating up quite a bit, even when using just the camera for a few minutes. OnePlus should definitely look into the matter at the earliest and probably release a fix for processor management at the earliest. As far as we can tell, the camera cannot beat the top smartphones such as the Galaxy S6, iPhone or the LG G4, but can surely give them a tough competition when it comes to certain weaknesses each one has. To sum it up, the OnePlus 2 does have a superior camera in its segment and can really stand out from the crowd.

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In our experience, the OnePlus 2, though just a second edition to the one-year-old Chinese tech startup and is still probably in its infancy as compared to higher brands, and they are giving the rivals a run for their money. OnePlus presently has a priority of capturing the market by offering premium smartphones at reasonable costs. The prices are presently incredible. The OP2 is available for Rs 22,999 (16GB/3GB RAM) and Rs 24,999 (64GB/4GB RAM). If you are looking for a powerful future-ready handset with a premium and sturdy build, the OnePlus 2 is worthy of a personal communication gadget. The only hurdle would be to get an invite to buy the device.