not read the review yet but one note for EU buyers who want 4G it lacks band 20 4G800 support so it may not work on some networks in the EU (like UK O2, part support for EE and 3 due to some masts using 4G800), they need to make a revision EU model that supports the band 20
Yeah, but it couldn't have accommodated such a large battery with a smaller one. It's bezels are also a bit larger than some phones with the same or larger screen size, but same thing there, it's for the battery, no space is wasted.
Yes, but the added area for the battery has consistently been shown to outweigh that con, ie larger phones are nearly always at the top of the battery life charts outside of outliers like super low power SoCs or huge thick batteries.
Honestly, the bezel sort of disappears while you're using this phone. I can definitely see how it would bother some people now, but in the end it can negligible if this is your sort of phone.
Also, great review Joshua. I could not have done anything better myself here.
"While one can guess that an airplane is for airplane mode and a flashlight is for the torch, a circular arrow is utterly ambiguous in nature. Given the quick access nature of this menu, one might guess that this is a rotation lock toggle but for one reason or another it's actually the auto-sync toggle." Yes, but this is the same icon Google has used in their quick-settings-toggle widgets, with the only difference being that in this case, the quick settings ribbon is accessible in the drop down notifications shade instead on a homsecreen. Whilst it may be hard to understand the meaning of this icon, it is not like the same icon isn't used on most other devices to represent google's autosync.
I don't think the Auto Sync circle-arrow has actually been in the quick settings in any official Google ROM, correct me if I'm wrong, so I feel like CM and the rest of the AOSP community may have came up with it themselves. From what I remember, you have, User, Brightness, settings, WiFi, Bluetooth, Battery, Airplane Mode, Auto Rotate, and recently, Cast Screen. Android 5.0 finally added a flashlight officially. No Auto Sync mode.
Why does the Oneplus One set a record for final run score in the degradation test, when the 6, 6 plus, and HTC One are above it? Or is that including how long it runs relative to those?
Oh yeah, and I'm pleasantly surprised this phone is getting a review at all, having much less mass consumer knowledge than some others despite a strong enthusiast following (yay, us!).
You need to at least specify what NAND the iphone you tested are using, All the iphone 6 and 6 plus numbers are compromised by Apple's usage of both MLC and TLC. You got major NAND perf and RAM usage differences and that should impact pretty much all the numbers.
thanks for the review :) that mentioned, would a comparison with the Oppo Find 7 yield a similar review conclusion? being a user of the Find 7, i would be interested to hear your 2 cents' worth on it as well.
Go on? If you're thinking subsidized prices, you're still paying for that one way or another. The cost of the phone is included in the bill. Besides that, most carriers will take some percent off your bill if you bring your own phone. And besides *that*, some carriers just have plain crappy phones.
Also for someone like me, I like having a smartphone, but since I'm in a wifi zone for so much of my life I don't bother paying for data. Bill is so much cheaper.
A phablet with no microSD? These larger phones (and of course tablets) are what benefit from that the most, in their role as media players. I wouldn't even consider the OPO.
64GB is already sufficiently large that a microSD isn't totally necessary. Less and less Android phones have this feature now. That has been the general trend now. Google is moving away from it with the Nexus 5/6/9, Apple never has had it in it's products.
There are still some modern products that have it. Samsung GS5, Note 4, HTC One M8, LG G3.
The idea that 64 G is enough is hilarious - this is a phone begging to be used as a media device whilst travelling. The reason for removing the microSD is a function of price. Phone/Tablet manufacturers massively overcharge for adding extra storage. It is also a function of the same manufacturers employing designers who, to put it simply, need to get out into the sunshine a bit more. Not everywhere has good access to the cloud, in fact huge chunks of the first world has poor or no access - and that is before you get started on the data cap that no doubt is written into your phone contract
What's hilarious is are people that believe 5" phone displays should be loaded up with movies and then used as miniature Imax viewers. It's a phone. It doesn't need 80 HD movies with Dolby Digital 7.1.
Yeah if you are going on vacation, enjoy the vacation. Don't spend it watching crappy movies the whole time. You really don't need to carry masses of video and audio around.
Those recent phones have (micro)-USB OTG connectors. So it's possible to stock movies and music on USB thumb drives... I'd prefer to get the choice, though.
LG G2 had no SD card slot, G3 has got one. Same evolution for the HTC One. And Samsung flagships always had SD card slots. So this evolution is not so widespread (if you except Nexus models, and Apple tactics to let the customer pay more and more for enough NAND). .
I held off from getting a OnePlus for that reason for quite a while -- as well as the fact that it doesn't have a removable battery. I was really holding out for either a Google Play edition of the S5, or Lollipop on my existing S3. Since neither one was forthcoming, I went for the OnePlus because of the bare metal and the 64GB.
I agree. But that's for me. Other users have different needs. For me, 64GB is way more than enough. And my Note 3 is not benefiting me by having an SD card slot when I have to take off the cover to get to it. For me, an SD card slot is most useful if you can insert/remove it extremely easily.
Surprised there's no mention of touch issues. My OPO is decidedly my backup phone now, even on the newest firmware, b/c the touch response still isn't as good as other brand name phones. It's gotten much better but you still get missed swipes, zooming when you didn't mean to, etc. To me, it's a big negative to an otherwise excellent phone.
I was trying this phone out while I had my N5 on L preview. I have been trying to decide whether to keep my N5 or this. I love the display and the software works for me except for transition stuttering at times. I agree there are way to many customization options for me to become familiar with as far as themes. I do enjoy the battery life. Even in remote locations where my other two phones will be dead by late afternoon, this still has 30% left. In the end I can't get over the size. I keep my phone in my front pocket and this is too big. My hands are not big, so it is a two handed affair all of the time. Since getting and enjoying Lollipop on my N5, I will keep it and sell the One. I will definitely miss it though.
Can we please get someone who isn't busy fellating Apple to review android phones? Seriously, so sick of this guy. I don't even have to know what the phone is to know how the review will end, every one of his android phone reviews ends with "it's not a bad phone, but there are better options in the market". EVERY. SINGLE. REVIEW. This one bafflingly adds "too much choice having decisions to make on my phone confuses me" just to further drive home the point that he's in a love affair with Apple.
The author doesn't fellate Apple in this review at all. In fact he spends a lot of time praising its hardware (except for the camera) and overall design. Its only in the software that he feels it needs work and, as a OnePlus One owner, I completely agree with him. The software really does need a lot of polish before it can punch with the flagships. However, given the price ($350 for 64GB of onboard storage is insane) its very easy to overlook the software issues. That, and OnePlus has been very good so far with keeping this phone is updated. The last 2 updates alone fixed alot of issues that earlier reviewers like Marques Brownlee were having.
I think you've got blinders on. The review was actually pretty positive and notes while not suitable for direct comparison to high-end smartphones (does not mean Apple), the price is good and the compromises may not bother you.
Did you just have that in your clipboard to post without reading the review? Apple hardly got any mention, and the review was pretty positive. Pointing out the negatives is a reviewers /job/, so I don't know why you'd knock that part...You know, unless you're fellating Oneplus.
I saw many interviews were Android App developers were ask what personal phone they are using responded shyly - "iPhone #*". So, that explains many things here!
Why do your custom screen and battery tests never line up with gsmarena? Their screen results always have different white brightness levels then yours, and their battery tests are always more in line with synthetic scores than yours. They put the contrast of this things screen at 800:1 and the battery life below the G3.
Just to add to what 2kfire pointed out, the author states:
"200 nits on a phone can be as low as 50% and as high as 90%, so setting a standardized brightness percentage would not be an effective method of controlling for display brightness."
I would not trust GSMArena's battery tests as they do not understand how to perform a controlled test.
Their test was in-line with what the synthetic said here and in line with the common sense of less throttling and less software optimization don't make for more battery life.
Very pleased to see Anandtech coming around to reviewing this phone. While I disagree with the opinion that too many options are a negative, especially given the target audience for this device, I pretty much agree with the assessment of the hardware and software.
I think the opinion was more towards the fact that the options were causing some sacrifice on the user-friendliness of the experience, which I think is a fair opinion. Many options, good; many options presented in a confusing way, bad.
Better to have options than not having them. You dont need to use them if you dont want to, but if they dont exist at all, you could only dream about them... the phone is very user friendly, imo.
"Reception, at least for T-Mobile US' band 4/AWS LTE is noticeably worse than most devices that I've tried."
This would seem to be a significant issue; yet this one-line detail is buried under the "misc" section, and not discussed in the conclusions at all. Three pages are devoted to analysis and discussion of photo / video quality, which for most users are likely to be secondary functions.
It's a phone; can I use it to speak clearly to a client? If not, I'll look elsewhere.
I agree. Especially with all the praise and in-depth look given to the Moto X's cellular reception on this site, it would be helpful if all phones reviewed had a small section describing its reception characteristics.
As a T-Mobile customer; this reception quality is top priority for picking a phone! LTE is for most data until T-Mobile changes it to Voice over Internet using LTE band. But that will be in middle 2015 and later.
It not a hardware problem; it a software problem so One Plus should be able to fix it with T-Mobile's assistance.
@Harry, how come you are sure this is a software issue. Could be bad placement of the antenna or bad antenna design in general. Also, I think we don't know if the issue is limited to T-Mobile. That was just the network he tested it on.
You make a good point though, if this is an LTE issue (which the article does not say), then in 2015 this phone on T-Mobile goes from good voice and bad data to issues for both.
More questions: There were software updates mentioned. Did those affect the reception issues? And did they swap out the baseband?
That also made me really nervous. I'm a T-Mobile customer and really need to know how he did notice this. I have seen some good cellular comparison tests in the past on Anandtech. Please lets get some objective comparison or at least some more detail on how this does effect the phone? Indoors, outdoors, calls dropped or not starting, get no reception where other phones have reception. Any reaction by the company?
I am a T-Mobile customer with an OPO. My family also all use OPOs. We have no problems with LTE speeds in the NYC Metro area, although we do not have the T-Mobile Wifi calling app, which requires messing with the bootloader and kernels from what I understand.
This review is missing an important section that always appeared in Klug's phone reviews: network performance. There's one anecdote about how it performed on T-Mobile's LTE, but nowhere are listed even the HSPA or LTE bands supported by this device. It would be nice to see testing in this area.
Totally agree, it's a good phone but def lack polish. I have been using one since launch. The most disappointing part was the camera because the hardware is class leading but the software is seriously holding it back.
I just got my OnePlus One about a week ago. This is actually my first smartphone (yeah, I held out that long) so I have no real reference point to go by, although I have used iPhones, a 2013 Moto X, a Galaxy S5, and the LG G3 briefly. Since I’m not used to the smaller sized devices that were popular in 2007-2013, the OPO doesn’t feel gargantuan to me. In fact, after hearing so much about how massive the device is, I was a little surprised at how reasonably sized it is. I would say I have average sized hands and I can still use the device one-handed for some functions if I cradle it right, although obviously it’s far more ergonomic/efficient to use with two hands. Again, since this is my first smartphone, this doesn’t bother me in the slightest.
Battery life is very good in my experience. Granted, I use airplane mode most of the time and have tweaked the auto brightness curve so that the display is very dim, but so far I’ve been reasonably impressed with how long it can last on a charge. To me this is more important than being able to use the phone one-handed.
The 5.5 inch display is well suited to web browsing and article reading, which are my primary uses for the device. To be honest I wouldn’t mind an even larger display—I’d like to try the Nexus 6 at some point. Reading this review I’m really surprised by the quality of the screen calibration. Subjectively, I can confirm that the display looks quite good, although I’d like my next device to have an OLED for inky blacks and lower power draw. The few videos I’ve watched so far looked about as good as they do on my Dell U2412M. At 401 PPI, the display appears laser sharp to me. Then again I don’t have 20/20 vision, so even a ~250 PPI display would probably appear sufficiently resolving to my eyes. To be honest, I’d trade resolution for even better battery life and performance in a heartbeat.
The bottom mounted speakers leave something to be desired, but I find that to be the case for all smartphones save perhaps the HTC One M8. If you care about sound quality you’ll use headphones. The OPO does a good job of driving my ATH-M50s (and hopefully the Fidelio X2s I have coming in), so it should work well as a DAP without the need to resort to a portable amp.
Regarding Cyanogenmod and the overall polish of the software: obviously this device isn’t going to be on par with iOS or Android Lollipop in that regard, but I haven’t encountered any show stopping bugs so far on the 44S firmware. I’ve also been reasonably happy with the touch sensitivity, although I can’t really assess this as I’m using a .24 mm Orzly screen protector. I look forward to the CM12 update that we should receive early next year and hope that polish will improve with time.
I just read over my post and realized that I'm perhaps gushing a bit too much. So here are some gripes:
The battery isn't user replaceable. Personally, I find this to be the OPO's biggest shortcoming.
As examined in detail in the review, the camera is decidedly lackluster. This doesn't personally bother me as I'll just use a DSLR if I really care about image quality, and the camera is still serviceable in a pinch, but digital shutterbugs should steer clear.
UI performance is overall very good in my opinion, but there still is some minor stuttering/hitching with certain apps. It's not a big deal but it's definitely not as smooth as iOS.
While the OPO doesn't have any deal-breaking issues unlike most Android phones (poor battery life, subpar display, limited storage capacity, middle-of-the-road performance, etc.), it also doesn't have too much to set it apart except for maybe the customizability offered by Cyanogenmod. This can easily be forgiven given the $350 price point, but I still envy the features found in the Moto X.
The OPO is only supported by GSM networks. Definitely a con.
Availability is still limited, and from what I've heard, customer support is pretty terrible. Caveat emptor. Going forward this needs to be OnePlus' top priority.
There's a MIUI ROM out for One Plus One. Could the reviewer please also try that? I've found MIUI to give a pretty polished experience. Sorry as I realize installing a custom ROM on a $300 phone shouldn't be necessary, but considering the great HW, seems a shame to be let down by CM...(but that same argument could be given for all the great Android phones crippled by crappy Android vs iOS)
Its a phone for enthusiasts it seems. Thing is all the options and development was done for people who are able to root and install a ROM on their own. No surprise that Cyanogen has some rough edges for a mass market.
After basically losing interest in this phone due to the incredibly slow market roll-out/invite process, I find it more interesting again now that the Nexus 5 is out of stock in every configuration. The Nexus 6 being so underwhelming in the review here is also helping.
You should also mention that it comes with an additional nano sim card tray so it'll fit both nano and micro sim. It's a very good phone and for the price it can't be beat (unlocked to boot) but the camera is just crap. Luckily, I have an iphone 6 plus as well but for those without an extra phone and love taking pictures, you will be disappointed. Everything else is excellent however.
I actually ordered one of these last week, but ended up cancelling the order. Go scour the OnePlus forums and you'll find there is an unusually high number of reports of extremely buggy software and hardware. One recent forum poll showed 25% of phones had problems. Even people who are extremely happy with the phone consistently live with problems always expecting them to be fixed in the next patch. This goes on for months and months and months. Some of the problems people have had are very serious such as earpiece failures, touch screen lockups, loss of LTE signal, random reboots, sudden data loss, battery drain, yellow banding on the screen, constant app crashes, etc. Die hard fans always blow these issues off. Their solution? Telling everyone to root their devices and load alternate roms or start running the dailies from Cyanogen. Okay... Sounds like a solution to me. To make matters worse, customer support is nonexistent at the company with many reports of receiving no response to support contact for a month or more. People have frequently been forced to file claims with PayPal to get their money back. None of this is mentioned in all the glowing reviews of this device around the web. Word of advice: DO YOUR RESEARCH before you jump in and buy this phone. Even for techies, the cost of ownership is very high in the time you'll likely have to invest to get the phone running properly.
Definitely not agree! As someone who had purchased 3 of OPO phone, I can tell you that all the phones I had purchased were & still are excellent. If you are calling yourself a techie than with this complaining act of yours, you are not deserve to call yourself that. I myself also received a DOA charger from OnePlus and the feedback from them has been great. I received a replacement unit not so long after I filed my report with them. No complaint from me so far. Haters like you go around the web and spreading bad rep about OPO and I would recommend those who still on the fend buy one and try for yourself. You won't find a better deal anywhere else period! The price to pay for those living in the USA is actually even lower than China! Which phone you can buy now can have that?
Why is there always someone out there who tries to make things personal? You have no right to tell me what I deserve to call myself or not and have no right or reason to label me as anything. I have done the research and there are _many_ others who would agree with me. Read the OPO forums. I will not defend myself to you. God! EVERY single time. You people need to get a life and stop making tech your own personal religious war.
I do not honestly know if Oneplus originally intended this a phone to the mass market; even though for all intends and purposes it is now. The clue should be the invite system. I propose this was originally aimed as a 1st edition phone designed semi-exclusively for techies so that it irons out all the hardware, software buggy features. To this effect, the invite system would have worked pretty well with invites being sent out to developers, and android fans who not only are able to come to term with minor bugs but also tackle them in their quest to nourish their problem-solving addiction. It also gives OnePlus an accurate assessment of their customer care (or lack thereof). Unfortunately, the phone has become the victim of it's own popularity and when the phone landed with the non-intended target audience they rightfully complained about how unpolished it feels; the inviters should be a lot more cautious with their invitations. Joshua has done a splendid job reflecting his opinion regarding the suitability of the phone for the mass market, but if he received this as a developer phone I am certain he'd be extremely pleased. If I was a phone producer; this is probably what I'd have done. Indeed all tech companies do this with their pre-alpha or alpha builds but to a much narrower base. Think Glass or Project Ara. OP just went global and now they are reaping their harvest (both good and bad fruits). I'm sure the Oneplus Two will be a far more polished and probably more expensive phone.
"Even people who are extremely happy with the phone consistently live with problems always expecting them to be fixed in the next patch"
No problem, im happy, not waiting a fix. No crashing or so. Works perfectly. Yellow banding issue? yes, and that cannot be fixed (it is in hardware). I could have sent the phone back and got mobey back. But the yellow gloe can be hide with an app changing the colour hue of that area. So it doesnt bother me because i cannot see it at all. I only know it is there, and that bothers me, lol. For me this is the best phone i have had. I could buy another if i needed. I knew that the screen may have a yellow bottom before i bought this and i decided to keep this, because it was only visible in certain situations and i was able to fix it with an app though. Disappointed? Sure. Customer support prooably sucks - althought i got an answer on the next day, but i know many complains about it.
Battery is great. No signal lost. No crashing apps (i do have "only" paid apps, so i dont know if free apps have serious bugs.) No touchscreen lockups. Earpiece failures?? What kind? First time i hear about this.
Your reply was basicly just an assumption based on opinions from people who have had problems. How about making the same kind of assumption based on opinions from people who dont have problem? Or better, bash the phone when you actually have one to bash.
Could you show me the extremely buggy software topic? Im running official 44s without any problems at all.
I just picked up an Honor 6 for nearly 100 euros cheaper (!) than the OnePlus One goes for on Amazon. (The European version of the Honor 6 is only available from Amazon.) Given the price difference, the more preferable screen size on the Honor 6, the better CPU performance of the Honor 6 and its expandable memory, seems like a no-brainer to me. If I were to get a Chinese smartphone, it wouldn't be the OnePlus One. (Also, what's up with the stupid sexist promo they had and the invite-only way to buy the thing?)
I have one and was a little naive caught up in overwhelming positive reviews. Yes, head over to the OPO forums where people beg for invites. I bought one from China (identical except some LTE frequencies) and then got one of these elusive invites a few weeks later. Someone got very upset that they did not get my invite. It is absurd behaviour for adults begging and being so “nice” to get someone to give them an invite to buy the phone.
Then if you read through their forums you will see many complaints of non-existent customer service and RMAs taking months as well as some hideous problems. Of course you need to weigh people’s comments against common sense but the Flagship killer is definitely not what it claims to be. However, I do like the phone personally.
I know this may seem to be a very minor issue and nitpicking, but I would just like to comment that the thinness of the oleophobic coating, if there is one, would have no effect on the feel of the screen. You interact with the surface of the coating, not the thickness. It might lead to a shorter effective life for the coating, but not a difference in swiping feel.
I bothers me, because this is something that a little bit of thought would have revealed as being illogical. And if writers write things that are illogical in one part of the article, where else will they do that where we won't notice it, and come to a wrong conclusion because of it?
Profiles have been available in Android ROMs for at least a year now, if not longer. It's one of the first things I turn off when flashing an AOSP-based ROM on my phone.
DT2W has been available in Android ROMs within a month or so of LG releasing their sources, as they were the first ones to enable it (works wonderfully with the LG G2 where the power button is on the back).
IOW, neither of these features are exclusive to CM 11S, or even CM, or even just AOSP.
I was beginning to think this site would never review the OPO, much appreciated. But: Oneplus One has strong reception! (But lacks LTE 800Mhz band) And people should know that a 5.5" phablet is big, so how can the size be a problem? Maybe the author also think the iphone 6+ is just too big? Let customers decide what screen size he/she wants, please. Joshua Ho seem to forget this phone wasn't made for average joes! CM is all about customization so how can too many options be a problem? Please understand a lot of geeks chose android because we appreciate the almost endless possibilities and CM takes this further than google's stock android. So this phablet is perfect for XDA members NOT for someone like my mother.
Are you sure your mother wouldn't like it? My grandmother that is 96 years old thinks 5,5" is the perfect size for her. Also my mother that has a 5,3" phone doesn't want a smaller device.
The display calibration results are perplexing to me. I know when the phone was first released, it was using a calibration profile created by then CyanogenMod employee François Simond (supercurio), who has also worked with Anandtech on reviews in the past. It didn't surprise me that the screen was very accurate then. But then a couple months ago, OnePlus released an update that did away with supercurio's calibration profile (and let supercurio go / didn't renew his contract) because too many people were complaining that the screen looked too yellow (warm), as 6500K often does to the untrained eye. The update shifted the white point drastically up to the 8000K range (super cold and blue looking) and presumably made colors less accurate. I sold the device a short time later due to annoying bugs, but now I'm confused by these results. What version of CM11S was this phone running as tested? Did you test an old version of the software or did they reinstate the proper calibration profile in a recent update? This review could mislead some people hoping for a properly calibrated screen if you did indeed test the One with the older software.
An article beginning with "There's really not much else to be said" ...
Why do you keep this smug asshole on your team, Anand? Are you really looking to drive away viewers?
Regarding the OnePlus One, this config would have been decent in mid 2013. Coming in late 2014, this phone is not only not a flagship killer but average at best.
"Reception, at least for T-Mobile US' band 4/AWS LTE is noticeably worse than most devices that I've tried. "
I'm a T-Mobile user; and this above result sure makes me uneasy to even consider it as a purchase! Hopefully, One Plus, can find some way to fix the LTE for T-Mobile so it can be more clear!
I'm a T Mobile user and haven't had issues with the OPO reception in the NYC metro area. LTE speeds are as fast as those observed with a Samsung S3 and S5.
The reason this phone is so popular isn't that it matches up perfectly with flagships, even though it does it's best job, but rather that for $350 off contract it allows you to finally have a near flagship phone on non-contract services without breaking your bank. I went from an EVO LTE with $99 a month from sprint, to $50 a month with t-mobile non contract. $50 savings a month, and I don't have to use last year's gear while doing it.
I do not understand why CM is criticized because of its options:
I like them and I use them - for me a stock Android phone has too few options. I need to use Xposed/ Gravitybox to get the options back, otherwise I can't stand it.
Also I do not understand what is wrong with CM's Theme Engine: It works well and there are lots of themes I really like. Of course there are also themes which do not work correctly one way or the other, but that's not the Theme Engine's fault.
So I would see it exactly the other way round: CM adds sensible features to Android. Of course there are also lots of settings in CM which I don't use, like the profiles. But why should I be embarassed about this? I use what I want and I ignore the rest. That's what options are for.
Also I didn't have difficulties getting used to CM at all.
So I think from the software side Joshua Ho got it wrong.
If I would be malicious I'd say it's no wonder that the Anandtech staff likes iOS so much, because they seem to be too stupid to use a fully-featured OS :-)
It's not that they're dumb, far from it, but that the presentation of the options can leave a lot to be desired. Joshua Ho points out the number, but the number of options alone isn't the real issue. It's too number made available to people that require them to either search outside of the ui to understand or to learn what they do through trial and error.
I'm perfectly fine with that, I have a OPO (https://plus.google.com/+ShirondaleKelley/posts). Still, such a thing must be cited. Even power users just want to be users sometimes. Maybe they just want to exert their power through workflows instead of configuration. Maybe they want to be able to recommended a good phone to friends without becoming their personal and default support option. Having such a thing the review reminds you of what the norm is and allows for a much more comprehensive review. It's constructive criticism, not scalding or venomous criticism.
Since we're all power users here, maybe we would still get to phone for our friends but decide to install miui or preconfigure certain items. A review like this certainly helps with the decision of what to recommend and how to handle it.
In my experience, people like CM's options, even the 'regular' users.
My GF uses CM11 on her Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.4 - I had to install it because she hates the Samsung-UI the device came with. With CM, she is satisfied with the device.
I've also shown two friends how to install CM on their older devices (SGS2 and HTC Desire HD). They also like it.
Nobody said that he/she is confused. Nobody wants to have less options.
So I still think that CM is fine and I still do not understand how somebody would prefer less options. It just does not make sense to me.
Again, it's not solely the number but in how they're presented. If it had a more cohesive, polished presentation then the number really wouldn't matter. The way that some part of the interface exposes (or doesn't) functionality is the true issue here.
No, that doesn't mean that everyone will have trouble. I just don't believe that you should have search outside of a ui to understand how to complete basic and intermediate level items. That can be the cause with some of the cm11 functions. It's nowhere near all of them, it's something that I see the team fixing over time. It used to be way more daunting in the beginning, the team has been making great improvements while adding more functionality and I love it for that.
For the record, I love CM's customization options.
I vastly prefer the Google Camera app though. I suspect what happened is the reviewer got frustrated with the CM Camera app and that boiled over for everything else. When everything else is actually fine.
Really, this phone is like over six months old! And, you're reviewing it now? The whole point of a review is to help buyers make up their mind. Not a lot of people start buying when a device is six months old.
To be fair, the phone still isn't straight up for sale. You can't just go to their site and have one shipped to you on the spot. You can only pre-order it.
To be even more fair, their comment (not yours) is completely retarded. Pre-orders are closed. Nobody reading this review can even buy one right now. Still invite only until another pre-order window opens. So I'd say the review is still quite timely.
So, just because they have a different business model, that means you should review it late? They may never open pre-orders proper for the One (in the way other companies do) so, if that's your rationale, Anandtech should never review the phone. Also, I don't know if you live in Asia, but, in some countries, you can actually just go to a shop and buy one. Yes, you'll pay a premium from $20-$50 but it will still be cheaper than competing phones.
Also, how is it that OnePlus One is seen as the first device to challenge to challenge the $600+ flagship paradigm when Xiaomi has been doing this for at least two generations of devices?
Xiaomi makes devices targeted to the Asian market (think bands). These guys are making the same thing, but pushing the western markets hard with it. So it's basically higher quality Xiaomi for the masses.
Great everything but the dark display and a bit ugly design. Good to have 6" and even 6.5" model too at the expense of bezel. Another good unknown Chinese brand is Zopo, I'm happy with its 6" phone for more then a year. No one including Apple beats its screen and battery life.
Want leading battery life with a mannageable size? Sony Z3 Compact. Loving mine, 4.6" might be a bit small, but it's light, fits a pocket nicely and lasts FOREVER on a charge. And has a full speed Snapdragon 801 inside driving a 720p screen, which makes it scream.
I would contend the "too big to use with one hand" issue is overblown. I have been using it for a while now and have no problem using it with one hand. MMV, but claiming "it's almost impossible to use it comfortably with one hand" is just plain not accurate, and reflects a strong bias by the reviewers against larger phones. I would contend that if you used the phone a bit longer, you would likely come to appreciate the larger "phablet" size, and find that particularly for its diE it's surprisingly comfortable to use due to innovative form factor design choices. Other than that, a solid review :)
How does it feel to be the idiot who benchmarked this phone on the "balanced" performance profile? Lol. Change CPU to performance mode in settings for serious gaming or benchmarking and you'll see those results jump significantly.
Also regarding your comment about cheating...you're being disingenuous. Cheaters clock the chips higher than stock, and temporarily increase thermal limits in order to get performance that wouldn't ordinarily happen. The "cheating" by switching to 2.5GHz is actually a feature in the phone for "per application performance profile." The phone comes with "balanced" mode preselected. But runs An tutu in performance mode, which is a fully selectable and sustainable mode as even your benchmarks showed little to no throttling happening.
Actually for daily use I stick to power saver. Other phones benchmarked don't have the CPU profiler installed at stock. So for benchmarking, performance mode should be enabled. And even if you disagree with that, even though the other phones you're comparing to are running in performance mode all the time, you can't make the claim that this phone cheats on benchmarks by running in performance mode.
And for the record...in performance mode, this phone dominates all other android devices.
Lol, funny =) hopefully he checked also it is not running max 1036mhz. It is a known faulty setting, and easily fixed by enabling developer options and check that cpu is running at it should and not locked to max 1036mhz. I actually had that issue, and in the performance mode it was still running at 1036mhz before i checked that setting.
Hit the submit button accidentally. I was sarcastic about did he check the mhz before testing (his phone was running correctly), but if you feel your phone is slow, check your phone isnt set to max 1036mhz.
I've been using it for a month. Besides some initial bugs to make it work properly which where solved in a couple of weeks I have no other complains. You might prefer to start using two hands for typing but many of us already where doing that with tiny iphone4, as for the rest I am able to manage everything in one hand which in my case is not particularly big. As for the phablet: yes, here is the measure, as much as I love it I haven't used my ipad mini not even once since I received oneplusone, you can just do everything here so, if any, biggest danger is how you scale your internet use for any porpoise with this device
"First, the size is definitely too much to handle". The opo is 152.9mm x 75.9mm, the iphone 6+ is 158mm x78mm. Your iphone 6+ review had no problem with a phone larger than the oneplus one, and rounded corners "feature" does not make a screen more reachable.
What else can you expect nowadays? Unfortunately I feel that you dont get objective reviews about apple anymore from anandtech. This is a good example.
The hardware of the camera is actually pretty good. There's no getting around the lack of OIS, but otherwise it works well enough when pair with good software and capable hands.
I've had the phone for two weeks. I have little experience with Android and none with Cyanogenmod, but I was not confused about the optional... options that allow you to customize your phone, if you, you know, want to.
The battery charges quickly on my AC charger and the included USB charger, but it charges really slowly on several other micro-USB chargers that I got with Nokia and Motorola handsets over the past two years.
I did notice a little weirdness to the feel of the touch screen, but I put an amFilm screen protector on there, and have no issues now.
I use the phone about the same as I've used smaller phones, though I guess I was never much for one-handed operation. I like the stability of holding the phone and then using my other hand to do all the things.
I think the bottom line is that there's very little you give up in comparison to phones that cost $300 more. I don't think there's anything you can't live without.
@Joshua Ho a lot of people are amazed / confused over the battery test results, the incredible high numbers for screen on time and battery life in general per these tests, would you possibly be able to go into more detail as to how these tests are done?
glad that my irk with benchmarking in balance mode was addressed ; also the size "issue" :) i have it for 2 months now and can't let it rest.....my nexus 7 is full of dust :) i just hope they'll manage to ramp up production so all other manufacturers will be forced to reconsider their profit margins. i think everybody should cheer them up :)
" While contrast with viewing angle changes isn't as good as AMOLED panels, I don't see any color shifting with viewing angle changes. This seems to remain an advantage of IPS panels for now."
You know you're reading a review on iAnandtech when the writers tries to find every little scrap to be able to pretend LCD is on par with AMOLED in 2014.
The extreme difference in dynamic range (by a factor of 1000 to 1) makes the theoretical minute differences in "colour accuracy" that Anandtech WRONGLY finds in their comparisons, completely irrelevant.
Anandtech's flawed tests has often been openly criticized by professional display testers as being inaccurate. For instance by Displaymate, which all manufacturers use to test and calibrate their displays.
I have never, ever had any issues with aging of AMOLED displays. I really think you need to update your sources. The absolute first generation of OLED had aging issues. That was 6-7 years ago.
LCD displays age and bleach, too. My old laptop (which is around 4 years) with an LCD has issues showing the difference in low contrast areas, which is a big problem with all these modern/material themed sites and apps these days.
> you need to update your sources My source is myself! My 2.5 year old Samsung phone has faint spots all over that are marginally visible when the whole screen is a dark color.
So, in summary, you liked the phone but cyanogen had too many options? I'm pretty sure this phone is targeting those who enjoy the additional privacy and options provided by Cyanogen. Anandtech as a whole seems to conveniently ignore the privacy issue as a whole (very disappointing, btw) but to do that for this review is to completely ignore one of the main reasons why this phone has become so popular. Yes, one can put cyanogenmod on most any android device, but not everyone has the will or the know-how to do so.
Here si an invite which have 12 hours left: GLVT-FMIA-VRIY-JQHG.
I am a happy customer of this product since 3 weeks. I planned to buy the Nexus 6 but changed my mind because the hefty price tag.
I am an AnandTech reader since the 440BX days.
I don't agree reviewer point about software. For example, I am so happy to be able to block by default all the intrusive apps request to personal stuff as localization, address book, journal logs, photos and so on. CyanogenMod is a must.
It is sad that OnePlus plan to use their colorOS for their next flagship killer.
Finally, this is true that the device height is a bit too big for me but since it is a bit less than iPhone 6 plus, this is acceptable. Anyways, I bet everyone will follow the band wagon and change their small iPhone 4/5 for phablet within the next two years.
I should have posted this earlier, but I was able to purchase the 1+1shortly after it was released. After having used it for a while, I can confidently say this is one of the best phones I have ever used. It feels like a very premium device and the grey, fine-sandpaper textured back does wonders for grip. At first I felt it was a little too big (I feel 4.7 - 5.0 is the sweet spot) but I quickly got used to it. The screen quality is great as well as the sound (obviously not as good as HTC One). As a fairly heavy user, the battery is up to task. It last all day and I come home with a solid amount of battery left (around 40%). To get an idea of my typical day: GPS high accuracy is always on and I use the phone for emails, texts, google maps/yelp, Uber/Lyft, watching movies/shows and reading kindle books during commute to and from work.
In terms of the software, Cyanogen Mod is highly customizable and response time for launching apps and switching screens is fast. I have recently (over the past 2 weeks) had a couple of glitches but these were minimal such as the lock screen being unresponsive until I pressed the power button down again to wake it up.
I live in NYC and have used the phone on both T-Mo and AT&T. It was as simple as popping in a SIM card and the phone worked right away. I was impressed as I expected to have to switch up a lot of settings. Call quality is good, especially on AT&T. I wish there was a version of this phone that supported VZ bands!
If you have the opportunity to purchase this phone, I say pull the trigger! Paying $350 for 64gb is a great deal considering this is a premium device from a new company with great support. The forums are very active so you can get help quite quickly if you need it. As a guy who switches his phone around once per year (awesome corporate phone policy!), the 1+1 was awesome enough to keep me from switching to an iPhone 6+ as well as the Nexus 6 so it is a great device. I highly recommend it!
PLEASE HELP ME!!! My phone One Plus One charge to 100% took time 5\6 hour. Why? First charge took8/9hours. Now 5/6 hours? It happen to all one plus one phone user?
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wrkingclass_hero - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
Wow, I am surprised that you guys reviewed this. Thank you.leexgx - Saturday, November 22, 2014 - link
not read the review yet but one note for EU buyers who want 4G it lacks band 20 4G800 support so it may not work on some networks in the EU (like UK O2, part support for EE and 3 due to some masts using 4G800), they need to make a revision EU model that supports the band 20MantasPakenas - Monday, November 24, 2014 - link
I'm surprised they didn't review some other great phones that are actually for sale. E.g. Sony Xperia Z3 (including the compact version)...paulstraker6 - Tuesday, November 25, 2014 - link
I have an invitation to buy this phone If anyone want to use it.INVITE CODE - GLC0-VOVS-HM2M-UZDX - One - 64 GB Sandstone Black.
account.oneplus.net/invite/claim/GLC0-VOVS-HM2M-UZDX
Pls use the above link or inv code to buy the phone and need to use it today.
garretelder - Thursday, December 4, 2014 - link
The OnePlus One will never rank among the top phones (see rankings such as http://www.topreport.org/phones/).paulstraker6 - Tuesday, November 25, 2014 - link
I have an invitation to buy this phone If anyone want to use it.INVITE CODE - GLC0-VOVS-HM2M-UZDX - One - 64 GB Sandstone Black.
account.oneplus.net/invite/claim/GLC0-VOVS-HM2M-UZDX
Pls use the above link or inv code to buy the phone and need to use it today.
flyingpants1 - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
Great battery, but too big. 5.25" should do it.Ortanon - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
Size problems aren't just a screen thing: http://tabtec.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/LG-G3...tipoo - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
Yeah, but it couldn't have accommodated such a large battery with a smaller one. It's bezels are also a bit larger than some phones with the same or larger screen size, but same thing there, it's for the battery, no space is wasted.dragosmp - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
They could make it thicker :)flyingpants1 - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
It doesn't matter, since the screen takes most of the battery power. You have a point about the bezels, though.tipoo - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
Yes, but the added area for the battery has consistently been shown to outweigh that con, ie larger phones are nearly always at the top of the battery life charts outside of outliers like super low power SoCs or huge thick batteries.srkelley - Thursday, November 20, 2014 - link
Honestly, the bezel sort of disappears while you're using this phone. I can definitely see how it would bother some people now, but in the end it can negligible if this is your sort of phone.Also, great review Joshua. I could not have done anything better myself here.
piroroadkill - Friday, November 21, 2014 - link
"but it couldn't have accommodated such a large battery with a smaller one."So there's no way I have a 4.7" phone with a 3300mAh battery then.. oh wait, I do..
DIYEyal - Monday, November 24, 2014 - link
I have a 5" phone with a 5000mAh battery.nevertell - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
"While one can guess that an airplane is for airplane mode and a flashlight is for the torch, a circular arrow is utterly ambiguous in nature. Given the quick access nature of this menu, one might guess that this is a rotation lock toggle but for one reason or another it's actually the auto-sync toggle."Yes, but this is the same icon Google has used in their quick-settings-toggle widgets, with the only difference being that in this case, the quick settings ribbon is accessible in the drop down notifications shade instead on a homsecreen. Whilst it may be hard to understand the meaning of this icon, it is not like the same icon isn't used on most other devices to represent google's autosync.
JoshHo - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
The issue is that this icon is given without any text to explain what it really is. It can be obvious to some but confusing to a lot of people.metayoshi - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
I don't think the Auto Sync circle-arrow has actually been in the quick settings in any official Google ROM, correct me if I'm wrong, so I feel like CM and the rest of the AOSP community may have came up with it themselves. From what I remember, you have, User, Brightness, settings, WiFi, Bluetooth, Battery, Airplane Mode, Auto Rotate, and recently, Cast Screen. Android 5.0 finally added a flashlight officially. No Auto Sync mode.metayoshi - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
Correction to my post: Auto Rotate was only on Tablets. The Auto Rotate quick setting was replaced by Mobile Data on Phones.tipoo - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
Why does the Oneplus One set a record for final run score in the degradation test, when the 6, 6 plus, and HTC One are above it? Or is that including how long it runs relative to those?tipoo - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
That last part wouldn't make sense either, the M8 and 6 Plus have longer battery life during the test too.tipoo - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
Oh yeah, and I'm pleasantly surprised this phone is getting a review at all, having much less mass consumer knowledge than some others despite a strong enthusiast following (yay, us!).JoshHo - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
Compared to S801 devices the OnePlus One throttles relatively little.tipoo - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
Ah, thanks for explaining. Any idea why this is? Just a big chassis, or the heat spreader on it, or software?jjj - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
You need to at least specify what NAND the iphone you tested are using,All the iphone 6 and 6 plus numbers are compromised by Apple's usage of both MLC and TLC. You got major NAND perf and RAM usage differences and that should impact pretty much all the numbers.
ziangc - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
thanks for the review :) that mentioned, would a comparison with the Oppo Find 7 yield a similar review conclusion? being a user of the Find 7, i would be interested to hear your 2 cents' worth on it as well.jjj - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
"the first to kill the concept of a 650 USD"Hilariously how little you know and understand the market.
tipoo - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
Go on? If you're thinking subsidized prices, you're still paying for that one way or another. The cost of the phone is included in the bill. Besides that, most carriers will take some percent off your bill if you bring your own phone. And besides *that*, some carriers just have plain crappy phones.tipoo - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
Also for someone like me, I like having a smartphone, but since I'm in a wifi zone for so much of my life I don't bother paying for data. Bill is so much cheaper.Flunk - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
That's funny, I thought I bought a Nexus 5 for $350 without carrier of any kind last year.tipoo - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
Was that meant as a reply to me? I know that, the N5 was a great example of this. Though the 6 is going back up to stupid pricing.tipoo - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
Yes the authors "first" comment was wrong, but I meant about the "understand the market" bit, I'm guessing he means subsidized prices.Arbie - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
A phablet with no microSD? These larger phones (and of course tablets) are what benefit from that the most, in their role as media players. I wouldn't even consider the OPO.coldpower27 - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
64GB is already sufficiently large that a microSD isn't totally necessary. Less and less Android phones have this feature now. That has been the general trend now. Google is moving away from it with the Nexus 5/6/9, Apple never has had it in it's products.There are still some modern products that have it. Samsung GS5, Note 4, HTC One M8, LG G3.
cjs150 - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
The idea that 64 G is enough is hilarious - this is a phone begging to be used as a media device whilst travelling. The reason for removing the microSD is a function of price. Phone/Tablet manufacturers massively overcharge for adding extra storage. It is also a function of the same manufacturers employing designers who, to put it simply, need to get out into the sunshine a bit more. Not everywhere has good access to the cloud, in fact huge chunks of the first world has poor or no access - and that is before you get started on the data cap that no doubt is written into your phone contractChaser - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
What's hilarious is are people that believe 5" phone displays should be loaded up with movies and then used as miniature Imax viewers. It's a phone. It doesn't need 80 HD movies with Dolby Digital 7.1.jabber - Thursday, November 20, 2014 - link
Yeah if you are going on vacation, enjoy the vacation. Don't spend it watching crappy movies the whole time. You really don't need to carry masses of video and audio around.oliwek - Saturday, November 22, 2014 - link
Those recent phones have (micro)-USB OTG connectors. So it's possible to stock movies and music on USB thumb drives... I'd prefer to get the choice, though.oliwek - Saturday, November 22, 2014 - link
LG G2 had no SD card slot, G3 has got one. Same evolution for the HTC One. And Samsung flagships always had SD card slots. So this evolution is not so widespread (if you except Nexus models, and Apple tactics to let the customer pay more and more for enough NAND)..
slfisher - Monday, November 24, 2014 - link
I held off from getting a OnePlus for that reason for quite a while -- as well as the fact that it doesn't have a removable battery. I was really holding out for either a Google Play edition of the S5, or Lollipop on my existing S3. Since neither one was forthcoming, I went for the OnePlus because of the bare metal and the 64GB.martyh1 - Thursday, January 15, 2015 - link
I agree. But that's for me. Other users have different needs. For me, 64GB is way more than enough. And my Note 3 is not benefiting me by having an SD card slot when I have to take off the cover to get to it. For me, an SD card slot is most useful if you can insert/remove it extremely easily.tipoo - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
Yeah, that's my primary concern. Though the 32GB is reasonably priced, especially compared to other high end phones.tipoo - Friday, November 21, 2014 - link
Actually 64 for just 50 more, not 32... quite reasonable. That would be good enough for me.dawheat - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
Surprised there's no mention of touch issues. My OPO is decidedly my backup phone now, even on the newest firmware, b/c the touch response still isn't as good as other brand name phones. It's gotten much better but you still get missed swipes, zooming when you didn't mean to, etc. To me, it's a big negative to an otherwise excellent phone.ratbert1 - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
I was trying this phone out while I had my N5 on L preview. I have been trying to decide whether to keep my N5 or this. I love the display and the software works for me except for transition stuttering at times. I agree there are way to many customization options for me to become familiar with as far as themes. I do enjoy the battery life. Even in remote locations where my other two phones will be dead by late afternoon, this still has 30% left. In the end I can't get over the size. I keep my phone in my front pocket and this is too big. My hands are not big, so it is a two handed affair all of the time.Since getting and enjoying Lollipop on my N5, I will keep it and sell the One. I will definitely miss it though.
Jax Omen - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
Can we please get someone who isn't busy fellating Apple to review android phones? Seriously, so sick of this guy. I don't even have to know what the phone is to know how the review will end, every one of his android phone reviews ends with "it's not a bad phone, but there are better options in the market". EVERY. SINGLE. REVIEW. This one bafflingly adds "too much choice having decisions to make on my phone confuses me" just to further drive home the point that he's in a love affair with Apple.Master_Sigma - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
The author doesn't fellate Apple in this review at all. In fact he spends a lot of time praising its hardware (except for the camera) and overall design. Its only in the software that he feels it needs work and, as a OnePlus One owner, I completely agree with him. The software really does need a lot of polish before it can punch with the flagships. However, given the price ($350 for 64GB of onboard storage is insane) its very easy to overlook the software issues. That, and OnePlus has been very good so far with keeping this phone is updated. The last 2 updates alone fixed alot of issues that earlier reviewers like Marques Brownlee were having.mrex - Wednesday, November 26, 2014 - link
Polish what? The software is excellent already (44s).Phasenoise - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
I think you've got blinders on. The review was actually pretty positive and notes while not suitable for direct comparison to high-end smartphones (does not mean Apple), the price is good and the compromises may not bother you.tipoo - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
Did you just have that in your clipboard to post without reading the review? Apple hardly got any mention, and the review was pretty positive. Pointing out the negatives is a reviewers /job/, so I don't know why you'd knock that part...You know, unless you're fellating Oneplus.Harry_Wild - Thursday, November 20, 2014 - link
I saw many interviews were Android App developers were ask what personal phone they are using responded shyly - "iPhone #*". So, that explains many things here!grayson_carr - Thursday, November 20, 2014 - link
I am an iOS developer and my current phone of choice is the Nexus 5.Conficio - Friday, November 21, 2014 - link
Care to link to at least three of these "interviews"coburn_c - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
Why do your custom screen and battery tests never line up with gsmarena? Their screen results always have different white brightness levels then yours, and their battery tests are always more in line with synthetic scores than yours. They put the contrast of this things screen at 800:1 and the battery life below the G3.2kfire - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
Re: battery, GSMArena uses 50% instead of a fixed luminance.Cinnabuns - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
Just to add to what 2kfire pointed out, the author states:"200 nits on a phone can be as low as 50% and as high as 90%, so setting a standardized brightness percentage would not be an effective method of controlling for display brightness."
I would not trust GSMArena's battery tests as they do not understand how to perform a controlled test.
coburn_c - Thursday, November 20, 2014 - link
Their test was in-line with what the synthetic said here and in line with the common sense of less throttling and less software optimization don't make for more battery life.Master_Sigma - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
Very pleased to see Anandtech coming around to reviewing this phone. While I disagree with the opinion that too many options are a negative, especially given the target audience for this device, I pretty much agree with the assessment of the hardware and software.FreakTM - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
I think the opinion was more towards the fact that the options were causing some sacrifice on the user-friendliness of the experience, which I think is a fair opinion. Many options, good; many options presented in a confusing way, bad.mrex - Wednesday, November 26, 2014 - link
Better to have options than not having them. You dont need to use them if you dont want to, but if they dont exist at all, you could only dream about them... the phone is very user friendly, imo.MadDuffy - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
Thanks for your review.Some corrections on page one specs: MHL not supported and BT 4.0 (not 4.1).
anneoneamouse - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
"Reception, at least for T-Mobile US' band 4/AWS LTE is noticeably worse than most devices that I've tried."This would seem to be a significant issue; yet this one-line detail is buried under the "misc" section, and not discussed in the conclusions at all. Three pages are devoted to analysis and discussion of photo / video quality, which for most users are likely to be secondary functions.
It's a phone; can I use it to speak clearly to a client? If not, I'll look elsewhere.
AoN.
DoktorSleepless - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
Yes, this needs some serious elaboration.Cinnabuns - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
I agree. Especially with all the praise and in-depth look given to the Moto X's cellular reception on this site, it would be helpful if all phones reviewed had a small section describing its reception characteristics.Harry_Wild - Thursday, November 20, 2014 - link
As a T-Mobile customer; this reception quality is top priority for picking a phone! LTE is for most data until T-Mobile changes it to Voice over Internet using LTE band. But that will be in middle 2015 and later.It not a hardware problem; it a software problem so One Plus should be able to fix it with T-Mobile's assistance.
Conficio - Friday, November 21, 2014 - link
@Harry, how come you are sure this is a software issue. Could be bad placement of the antenna or bad antenna design in general. Also, I think we don't know if the issue is limited to T-Mobile. That was just the network he tested it on.You make a good point though, if this is an LTE issue (which the article does not say), then in 2015 this phone on T-Mobile goes from good voice and bad data to issues for both.
More questions: There were software updates mentioned. Did those affect the reception issues? And did they swap out the baseband?
Conficio - Friday, November 21, 2014 - link
That also made me really nervous. I'm a T-Mobile customer and really need to know how he did notice this. I have seen some good cellular comparison tests in the past on Anandtech. Please lets get some objective comparison or at least some more detail on how this does effect the phone? Indoors, outdoors, calls dropped or not starting, get no reception where other phones have reception. Any reaction by the company?Munna2002 - Friday, November 21, 2014 - link
I am a T-Mobile customer with an OPO. My family also all use OPOs. We have no problems with LTE speeds in the NYC Metro area, although we do not have the T-Mobile Wifi calling app, which requires messing with the bootloader and kernels from what I understand.jmasterj - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
This review is missing an important section that always appeared in Klug's phone reviews: network performance. There's one anecdote about how it performed on T-Mobile's LTE, but nowhere are listed even the HSPA or LTE bands supported by this device. It would be nice to see testing in this area.pjcamp - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
Since you took the time to review this vaporphone, perhaps you could also do the Xperia Z3?max1001 - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
Totally agree, it's a good phone but def lack polish. I have been using one since launch.The most disappointing part was the camera because the hardware is class leading but the software is seriously holding it back.
Stochastic - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
I just got my OnePlus One about a week ago. This is actually my first smartphone (yeah, I held out that long) so I have no real reference point to go by, although I have used iPhones, a 2013 Moto X, a Galaxy S5, and the LG G3 briefly. Since I’m not used to the smaller sized devices that were popular in 2007-2013, the OPO doesn’t feel gargantuan to me. In fact, after hearing so much about how massive the device is, I was a little surprised at how reasonably sized it is. I would say I have average sized hands and I can still use the device one-handed for some functions if I cradle it right, although obviously it’s far more ergonomic/efficient to use with two hands. Again, since this is my first smartphone, this doesn’t bother me in the slightest.Battery life is very good in my experience. Granted, I use airplane mode most of the time and have tweaked the auto brightness curve so that the display is very dim, but so far I’ve been reasonably impressed with how long it can last on a charge. To me this is more important than being able to use the phone one-handed.
The 5.5 inch display is well suited to web browsing and article reading, which are my primary uses for the device. To be honest I wouldn’t mind an even larger display—I’d like to try the Nexus 6 at some point. Reading this review I’m really surprised by the quality of the screen calibration. Subjectively, I can confirm that the display looks quite good, although I’d like my next device to have an OLED for inky blacks and lower power draw. The few videos I’ve watched so far looked about as good as they do on my Dell U2412M. At 401 PPI, the display appears laser sharp to me. Then again I don’t have 20/20 vision, so even a ~250 PPI display would probably appear sufficiently resolving to my eyes. To be honest, I’d trade resolution for even better battery life and performance in a heartbeat.
The bottom mounted speakers leave something to be desired, but I find that to be the case for all smartphones save perhaps the HTC One M8. If you care about sound quality you’ll use headphones. The OPO does a good job of driving my ATH-M50s (and hopefully the Fidelio X2s I have coming in), so it should work well as a DAP without the need to resort to a portable amp.
Regarding Cyanogenmod and the overall polish of the software: obviously this device isn’t going to be on par with iOS or Android Lollipop in that regard, but I haven’t encountered any show stopping bugs so far on the 44S firmware. I’ve also been reasonably happy with the touch sensitivity, although I can’t really assess this as I’m using a .24 mm Orzly screen protector. I look forward to the CM12 update that we should receive early next year and hope that polish will improve with time.
Stochastic - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
I just read over my post and realized that I'm perhaps gushing a bit too much. So here are some gripes:The battery isn't user replaceable. Personally, I find this to be the OPO's biggest shortcoming.
As examined in detail in the review, the camera is decidedly lackluster. This doesn't personally bother me as I'll just use a DSLR if I really care about image quality, and the camera is still serviceable in a pinch, but digital shutterbugs should steer clear.
UI performance is overall very good in my opinion, but there still is some minor stuttering/hitching with certain apps. It's not a big deal but it's definitely not as smooth as iOS.
While the OPO doesn't have any deal-breaking issues unlike most Android phones (poor battery life, subpar display, limited storage capacity, middle-of-the-road performance, etc.), it also doesn't have too much to set it apart except for maybe the customizability offered by Cyanogenmod. This can easily be forgiven given the $350 price point, but I still envy the features found in the Moto X.
The OPO is only supported by GSM networks. Definitely a con.
Availability is still limited, and from what I've heard, customer support is pretty terrible. Caveat emptor. Going forward this needs to be OnePlus' top priority.
DanD85 - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
Thanks for reviewing the OnePlus One! It's one of the best phone of this year, combine with the spectacular price and you have a clear winner.webdoctors - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
There's a MIUI ROM out for One Plus One. Could the reviewer please also try that? I've found MIUI to give a pretty polished experience. Sorry as I realize installing a custom ROM on a $300 phone shouldn't be necessary, but considering the great HW, seems a shame to be let down by CM...(but that same argument could be given for all the great Android phones crippled by crappy Android vs iOS)Munna2002 - Friday, November 21, 2014 - link
I'm curious - how does one get this and are there reviews of MIUI doing a comparison with CyanogenMod?Midwayman - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
Its a phone for enthusiasts it seems. Thing is all the options and development was done for people who are able to root and install a ROM on their own. No surprise that Cyanogen has some rough edges for a mass market.Bob Todd - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
After basically losing interest in this phone due to the incredibly slow market roll-out/invite process, I find it more interesting again now that the Nexus 5 is out of stock in every configuration. The Nexus 6 being so underwhelming in the review here is also helping.Shlong - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
You should also mention that it comes with an additional nano sim card tray so it'll fit both nano and micro sim. It's a very good phone and for the price it can't be beat (unlocked to boot) but the camera is just crap. Luckily, I have an iphone 6 plus as well but for those without an extra phone and love taking pictures, you will be disappointed. Everything else is excellent however.augiem - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
I actually ordered one of these last week, but ended up cancelling the order. Go scour the OnePlus forums and you'll find there is an unusually high number of reports of extremely buggy software and hardware. One recent forum poll showed 25% of phones had problems. Even people who are extremely happy with the phone consistently live with problems always expecting them to be fixed in the next patch. This goes on for months and months and months. Some of the problems people have had are very serious such as earpiece failures, touch screen lockups, loss of LTE signal, random reboots, sudden data loss, battery drain, yellow banding on the screen, constant app crashes, etc. Die hard fans always blow these issues off. Their solution? Telling everyone to root their devices and load alternate roms or start running the dailies from Cyanogen. Okay... Sounds like a solution to me. To make matters worse, customer support is nonexistent at the company with many reports of receiving no response to support contact for a month or more. People have frequently been forced to file claims with PayPal to get their money back. None of this is mentioned in all the glowing reviews of this device around the web. Word of advice: DO YOUR RESEARCH before you jump in and buy this phone. Even for techies, the cost of ownership is very high in the time you'll likely have to invest to get the phone running properly.ttremeth - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
Agreed.grayson_carr - Thursday, November 20, 2014 - link
I owned one for a while and this comment is truth.DanD85 - Thursday, November 20, 2014 - link
Definitely not agree! As someone who had purchased 3 of OPO phone, I can tell you that all the phones I had purchased were & still are excellent. If you are calling yourself a techie than with this complaining act of yours, you are not deserve to call yourself that. I myself also received a DOA charger from OnePlus and the feedback from them has been great. I received a replacement unit not so long after I filed my report with them. No complaint from me so far. Haters like you go around the web and spreading bad rep about OPO and I would recommend those who still on the fend buy one and try for yourself. You won't find a better deal anywhere else period! The price to pay for those living in the USA is actually even lower than China! Which phone you can buy now can have that?augiem - Thursday, November 20, 2014 - link
Why is there always someone out there who tries to make things personal? You have no right to tell me what I deserve to call myself or not and have no right or reason to label me as anything. I have done the research and there are _many_ others who would agree with me. Read the OPO forums. I will not defend myself to you. God! EVERY single time. You people need to get a life and stop making tech your own personal religious war.srkelley - Thursday, November 20, 2014 - link
*claps*Harry_Wild - Thursday, November 20, 2014 - link
I just got done reading the feedback on OnePlus.net forum and cancel my order too. To much of a hassle if something happens to go wrong with the One!I rather spend a little more and have good customer service!
K_Space - Sunday, November 23, 2014 - link
I do not honestly know if Oneplus originally intended this a phone to the mass market; even though for all intends and purposes it is now. The clue should be the invite system.I propose this was originally aimed as a 1st edition phone designed semi-exclusively for techies so that it irons out all the hardware, software buggy features. To this effect, the invite system would have worked pretty well with invites being sent out to developers, and android fans who not only are able to come to term with minor bugs but also tackle them in their quest to nourish their problem-solving addiction. It also gives OnePlus an accurate assessment of their customer care (or lack thereof). Unfortunately, the phone has become the victim of it's own popularity and when the phone landed with the non-intended target audience they rightfully complained about how unpolished it feels; the inviters should be a lot more cautious with their invitations. Joshua has done a splendid job reflecting his opinion regarding the suitability of the phone for the mass market, but if he received this as a developer phone I am certain he'd be extremely pleased.
If I was a phone producer; this is probably what I'd have done. Indeed all tech companies do this with their pre-alpha or alpha builds but to a much narrower base. Think Glass or Project Ara. OP just went global and now they are reaping their harvest (both good and bad fruits). I'm sure the Oneplus Two will be a far more polished and probably more expensive phone.
mrex - Wednesday, November 26, 2014 - link
"Even people who are extremely happy with the phone consistently live with problems always expecting them to be fixed in the next patch"No problem, im happy, not waiting a fix. No crashing or so. Works perfectly. Yellow banding issue? yes, and that cannot be fixed (it is in hardware). I could have sent the phone back and got mobey back. But the yellow gloe can be hide with an app changing the colour hue of that area. So it doesnt bother me because i cannot see it at all. I only know it is there, and that bothers me, lol. For me this is the best phone i have had. I could buy another if i needed. I knew that the screen may have a yellow bottom before i bought this and i decided to keep this, because it was only visible in certain situations and i was able to fix it with an app though. Disappointed? Sure. Customer support prooably sucks - althought i got an answer on the next day, but i know many complains about it.
Battery is great. No signal lost. No crashing apps (i do have "only" paid apps, so i dont know if free apps have serious bugs.) No touchscreen lockups. Earpiece failures?? What kind? First time i hear about this.
Your reply was basicly just an assumption based on opinions from people who have had problems. How about making the same kind of assumption based on opinions from people who dont have problem? Or better, bash the phone when you actually have one to bash.
Could you show me the extremely buggy software topic? Im running official 44s without any problems at all.
johnny_boy - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
I just picked up an Honor 6 for nearly 100 euros cheaper (!) than the OnePlus One goes for on Amazon. (The European version of the Honor 6 is only available from Amazon.) Given the price difference, the more preferable screen size on the Honor 6, the better CPU performance of the Honor 6 and its expandable memory, seems like a no-brainer to me. If I were to get a Chinese smartphone, it wouldn't be the OnePlus One. (Also, what's up with the stupid sexist promo they had and the invite-only way to buy the thing?)ttremeth - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
I have one and was a little naive caught up in overwhelming positive reviews. Yes, head over to the OPO forums where people beg for invites. I bought one from China (identical except some LTE frequencies) and then got one of these elusive invites a few weeks later. Someone got very upset that they did not get my invite. It is absurd behaviour for adults begging and being so “nice” to get someone to give them an invite to buy the phone.Then if you read through their forums you will see many complaints of non-existent customer service and RMAs taking months as well as some hideous problems. Of course you need to weigh people’s comments against common sense but the Flagship killer is definitely not what it claims to be. However, I do like the phone personally.
melgross - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
I know this may seem to be a very minor issue and nitpicking, but I would just like to comment that the thinness of the oleophobic coating, if there is one, would have no effect on the feel of the screen. You interact with the surface of the coating, not the thickness. It might lead to a shorter effective life for the coating, but not a difference in swiping feel.I bothers me, because this is something that a little bit of thought would have revealed as being illogical. And if writers write things that are illogical in one part of the article, where else will they do that where we won't notice it, and come to a wrong conclusion because of it?
cr0wb4r - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
I think two options in CM11S will make all the nit picks worthwhile: Profiles and double tap to wake.Having a Home and Work profile allows me to turn off/on lock screen. Huge
Double tap to wake and see notifications and then double tap status bar area to go back to sleep. Again Huge.
Just my 2 cents on the plethora of CM11S options
cr0wb4r - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
Sorry, forgot to mention that Profiles make it AUTOMATIC to turn on/off lock screen. I realize this is obvious to most...phoenix_rizzen - Thursday, November 20, 2014 - link
Profiles have been available in Android ROMs for at least a year now, if not longer. It's one of the first things I turn off when flashing an AOSP-based ROM on my phone.DT2W has been available in Android ROMs within a month or so of LG releasing their sources, as they were the first ones to enable it (works wonderfully with the LG G2 where the power button is on the back).
IOW, neither of these features are exclusive to CM 11S, or even CM, or even just AOSP.
toyotabedzrock - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
I have read that the updated version of Chrome running on lollipop on the nexus 5 sees a rather large bump in the Octane benchmark.Allan_Hundeboll - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
I was beginning to think this site would never review the OPO, much appreciated.But:
Oneplus One has strong reception! (But lacks LTE 800Mhz band)
And people should know that a 5.5" phablet is big, so how can the size be a problem?
Maybe the author also think the iphone 6+ is just too big? Let customers decide what screen size he/she wants, please.
Joshua Ho seem to forget this phone wasn't made for average joes! CM is all about customization so how can too many options be a problem? Please understand a lot of geeks chose android because we appreciate the almost endless possibilities and CM takes this further than google's stock android.
So this phablet is perfect for XDA members NOT for someone like my mother.
mfmx - Thursday, November 20, 2014 - link
Are you sure your mother wouldn't like it? My grandmother that is 96 years old thinks 5,5" is the perfect size for her. Also my mother that has a 5,3" phone doesn't want a smaller device.Munna2002 - Friday, November 21, 2014 - link
My mother and grand aunt also like the size of the OPO.grayson_carr - Thursday, November 20, 2014 - link
The display calibration results are perplexing to me. I know when the phone was first released, it was using a calibration profile created by then CyanogenMod employee François Simond (supercurio), who has also worked with Anandtech on reviews in the past. It didn't surprise me that the screen was very accurate then. But then a couple months ago, OnePlus released an update that did away with supercurio's calibration profile (and let supercurio go / didn't renew his contract) because too many people were complaining that the screen looked too yellow (warm), as 6500K often does to the untrained eye. The update shifted the white point drastically up to the 8000K range (super cold and blue looking) and presumably made colors less accurate. I sold the device a short time later due to annoying bugs, but now I'm confused by these results. What version of CM11S was this phone running as tested? Did you test an old version of the software or did they reinstate the proper calibration profile in a recent update? This review could mislead some people hoping for a properly calibrated screen if you did indeed test the One with the older software.techcrazy - Thursday, November 20, 2014 - link
Where is Sony Xperia Z3 and Z3 Compact review?wyewye - Thursday, November 20, 2014 - link
An article beginning with "There's really not much else to be said" ...Why do you keep this smug asshole on your team, Anand? Are you really looking to drive away viewers?
Regarding the OnePlus One, this config would have been decent in mid 2013. Coming in late 2014, this phone is not only not a flagship killer but average at best.
Harry_Wild - Thursday, November 20, 2014 - link
"Reception, at least for T-Mobile US' band 4/AWS LTE is noticeably worse than most devices that I've tried. "I'm a T-Mobile user; and this above result sure makes me uneasy to even consider it as a purchase! Hopefully, One Plus, can find some way to fix the LTE for T-Mobile so it can be more clear!
Munna2002 - Friday, November 21, 2014 - link
I'm a T Mobile user and haven't had issues with the OPO reception in the NYC metro area. LTE speeds are as fast as those observed with a Samsung S3 and S5.littlebitstrouds - Thursday, November 20, 2014 - link
The reason this phone is so popular isn't that it matches up perfectly with flagships, even though it does it's best job, but rather that for $350 off contract it allows you to finally have a near flagship phone on non-contract services without breaking your bank. I went from an EVO LTE with $99 a month from sprint, to $50 a month with t-mobile non contract. $50 savings a month, and I don't have to use last year's gear while doing it.BabelHuber - Thursday, November 20, 2014 - link
I do not understand why CM is criticized because of its options:I like them and I use them - for me a stock Android phone has too few options. I need to use Xposed/ Gravitybox to get the options back, otherwise I can't stand it.
Also I do not understand what is wrong with CM's Theme Engine: It works well and there are lots of themes I really like.
Of course there are also themes which do not work correctly one way or the other, but that's not the Theme Engine's fault.
So I would see it exactly the other way round: CM adds sensible features to Android. Of course there are also lots of settings in CM which I don't use, like the profiles.
But why should I be embarassed about this? I use what I want and I ignore the rest. That's what options are for.
Also I didn't have difficulties getting used to CM at all.
So I think from the software side Joshua Ho got it wrong.
If I would be malicious I'd say it's no wonder that the Anandtech staff likes iOS so much, because they seem to be too stupid to use a fully-featured OS :-)
srkelley - Thursday, November 20, 2014 - link
It's not that they're dumb, far from it, but that the presentation of the options can leave a lot to be desired. Joshua Ho points out the number, but the number of options alone isn't the real issue. It's too number made available to people that require them to either search outside of the ui to understand or to learn what they do through trial and error.I'm perfectly fine with that, I have a OPO (https://plus.google.com/+ShirondaleKelley/posts). Still, such a thing must be cited. Even power users just want to be users sometimes. Maybe they just want to exert their power through workflows instead of configuration. Maybe they want to be able to recommended a good phone to friends without becoming their personal and default support option. Having such a thing the review reminds you of what the norm is and allows for a much more comprehensive review. It's constructive criticism, not scalding or venomous criticism.
Since we're all power users here, maybe we would still get to phone for our friends but decide to install miui or preconfigure certain items. A review like this certainly helps with the decision of what to recommend and how to handle it.
BabelHuber - Friday, November 21, 2014 - link
In my experience, people like CM's options, even the 'regular' users.My GF uses CM11 on her Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.4 - I had to install it because she hates the Samsung-UI the device came with. With CM, she is satisfied with the device.
I've also shown two friends how to install CM on their older devices (SGS2 and HTC Desire HD). They also like it.
Nobody said that he/she is confused. Nobody wants to have less options.
So I still think that CM is fine and I still do not understand how somebody would prefer less options. It just does not make sense to me.
srkelley - Sunday, November 23, 2014 - link
Yes, and that's good for them.Again, it's not solely the number but in how they're presented. If it had a more cohesive, polished presentation then the number really wouldn't matter. The way that some part of the interface exposes (or doesn't) functionality is the true issue here.
No, that doesn't mean that everyone will have trouble. I just don't believe that you should have search outside of a ui to understand how to complete basic and intermediate level items. That can be the cause with some of the cm11 functions. It's nowhere near all of them, it's something that I see the team fixing over time. It used to be way more daunting in the beginning, the team has been making great improvements while adding more functionality and I love it for that.
slfisher - Monday, November 24, 2014 - link
Do you have a "CM for Dummies" reference to point to on how to configure it? thanks.icekyuu - Monday, November 24, 2014 - link
Try this - http://cornerplay.com/2014/08/05/cyanogenmod-onepl...For the record, I love CM's customization options.
I vastly prefer the Google Camera app though. I suspect what happened is the reviewer got frustrated with the CM Camera app and that boiled over for everything else. When everything else is actually fine.
Anonymous1a - Thursday, November 20, 2014 - link
Really, this phone is like over six months old! And, you're reviewing it now? The whole point of a review is to help buyers make up their mind. Not a lot of people start buying when a device is six months old.grayson_carr - Thursday, November 20, 2014 - link
To be fair, the phone still isn't straight up for sale. You can't just go to their site and have one shipped to you on the spot. You can only pre-order it.Bob Todd - Thursday, November 20, 2014 - link
To be even more fair, their comment (not yours) is completely retarded. Pre-orders are closed. Nobody reading this review can even buy one right now. Still invite only until another pre-order window opens. So I'd say the review is still quite timely.Allan_Hundeboll - Sunday, November 23, 2014 - link
If you know how to google you can find an invite in less than 10 minutes...Anonymous1a - Thursday, November 20, 2014 - link
So, just because they have a different business model, that means you should review it late? They may never open pre-orders proper for the One (in the way other companies do) so, if that's your rationale, Anandtech should never review the phone. Also, I don't know if you live in Asia, but, in some countries, you can actually just go to a shop and buy one. Yes, you'll pay a premium from $20-$50 but it will still be cheaper than competing phones.Anonymous1a - Thursday, November 20, 2014 - link
Also, how is it that OnePlus One is seen as the first device to challenge to challenge the $600+ flagship paradigm when Xiaomi has been doing this for at least two generations of devices?Socius - Friday, November 21, 2014 - link
Xiaomi makes devices targeted to the Asian market (think bands). These guys are making the same thing, but pushing the western markets hard with it. So it's basically higher quality Xiaomi for the masses.[email protected] - Thursday, November 20, 2014 - link
can you stop putting iphone benchmarks in the chart? everyone already know its biased and inaccurate.SanX - Thursday, November 20, 2014 - link
Great everything but the dark display and a bit ugly design. Good to have 6" and even 6.5" model too at the expense of bezel. Another good unknown Chinese brand is Zopo, I'm happy with its 6" phone for more then a year. No one including Apple beats its screen and battery life.frombauer - Thursday, November 20, 2014 - link
Want leading battery life with a mannageable size? Sony Z3 Compact. Loving mine, 4.6" might be a bit small, but it's light, fits a pocket nicely and lasts FOREVER on a charge. And has a full speed Snapdragon 801 inside driving a 720p screen, which makes it scream.nspyraishn - Friday, November 21, 2014 - link
I would contend the "too big to use with one hand" issue is overblown. I have been using it for a while now and have no problem using it with one hand. MMV, but claiming "it's almost impossible to use it comfortably with one hand" is just plain not accurate, and reflects a strong bias by the reviewers against larger phones. I would contend that if you used the phone a bit longer, you would likely come to appreciate the larger "phablet" size, and find that particularly for its diE it's surprisingly comfortable to use due to innovative form factor design choices. Other than that, a solid review :)Socius - Friday, November 21, 2014 - link
How does it feel to be the idiot who benchmarked this phone on the "balanced" performance profile? Lol. Change CPU to performance mode in settings for serious gaming or benchmarking and you'll see those results jump significantly.Also regarding your comment about cheating...you're being disingenuous. Cheaters clock the chips higher than stock, and temporarily increase thermal limits in order to get performance that wouldn't ordinarily happen. The "cheating" by switching to 2.5GHz is actually a feature in the phone for "per application performance profile." The phone comes with "balanced" mode preselected. But runs An tutu in performance mode, which is a fully selectable and sustainable mode as even your benchmarks showed little to no throttling happening.
Poor review, IMO.
HubbaMaBubba - Friday, November 21, 2014 - link
Holy shit, I didn't notice that. For everyday usage balanced is the best though, so it makes the most sense for the benchmark.Socius - Saturday, November 22, 2014 - link
Actually for daily use I stick to power saver. Other phones benchmarked don't have the CPU profiler installed at stock. So for benchmarking, performance mode should be enabled. And even if you disagree with that, even though the other phones you're comparing to are running in performance mode all the time, you can't make the claim that this phone cheats on benchmarks by running in performance mode.And for the record...in performance mode, this phone dominates all other android devices.
mrex - Wednesday, November 26, 2014 - link
Lol, funny =) hopefully he checked also it is not running max 1036mhz. It is a known faulty setting, and easily fixed by enabling developer options and check that cpu is running at it should and not locked to max 1036mhz. I actually had that issue, and in the performance mode it was still running at 1036mhz before i checked that setting.mrex - Wednesday, November 26, 2014 - link
Hit the submit button accidentally. I was sarcastic about did he check the mhz before testing (his phone was running correctly), but if you feel your phone is slow, check your phone isnt set to max 1036mhz.Jc.ray - Friday, November 21, 2014 - link
I've been using it for a month. Besides some initial bugs to make it work properly which where solved in a couple of weeks I have no other complains. You might prefer to start using two hands for typing but many of us already where doing that with tiny iphone4, as for the rest I am able to manage everything in one hand which in my case is not particularly big. As for the phablet: yes, here is the measure, as much as I love it I haven't used my ipad mini not even once since I received oneplusone, you can just do everything here so, if any, biggest danger is how you scale your internet use for any porpoise with this devicejomo60 - Friday, November 21, 2014 - link
"First, the size is definitely too much to handle".The opo is 152.9mm x 75.9mm, the iphone 6+ is 158mm x78mm.
Your iphone 6+ review had no problem with a phone larger than the oneplus one, and rounded corners "feature" does not make a screen more reachable.
mrex - Wednesday, November 26, 2014 - link
What else can you expect nowadays? Unfortunately I feel that you dont get objective reviews about apple anymore from anandtech. This is a good example.neogodless - Friday, November 21, 2014 - link
Re: terrible camerahttp://robinwong.blogspot.com/2014/09/oneplus-one-...
The hardware of the camera is actually pretty good. There's no getting around the lack of OIS, but otherwise it works well enough when pair with good software and capable hands.
I've had the phone for two weeks. I have little experience with Android and none with Cyanogenmod, but I was not confused about the optional... options that allow you to customize your phone, if you, you know, want to.
The battery charges quickly on my AC charger and the included USB charger, but it charges really slowly on several other micro-USB chargers that I got with Nokia and Motorola handsets over the past two years.
I did notice a little weirdness to the feel of the touch screen, but I put an amFilm screen protector on there, and have no issues now.
I use the phone about the same as I've used smaller phones, though I guess I was never much for one-handed operation. I like the stability of holding the phone and then using my other hand to do all the things.
I think the bottom line is that there's very little you give up in comparison to phones that cost $300 more. I don't think there's anything you can't live without.
Iseek1 - Friday, November 21, 2014 - link
@Joshua Ho a lot of people are amazed / confused over the battery test results, the incredible high numbers for screen on time and battery life in general per these tests, would you possibly be able to go into more detail as to how these tests are done?dragospascu - Saturday, November 22, 2014 - link
glad that my irk with benchmarking in balance mode was addressed ; also the size "issue" :)i have it for 2 months now and can't let it rest.....my nexus 7 is full of dust :)
i just hope they'll manage to ramp up production so all other manufacturers will be forced to reconsider their profit margins. i think everybody should cheer them up :)
shainawilliams1992 - Saturday, November 22, 2014 - link
OnePlus One is now on sale only at http://tinyurl.com/mrq34ostheduckofdeath - Saturday, November 22, 2014 - link
" While contrast with viewing angle changes isn't as good as AMOLED panels, I don't see any color shifting with viewing angle changes. This seems to remain an advantage of IPS panels for now."You know you're reading a review on iAnandtech when the writers tries to find every little scrap to be able to pretend LCD is on par with AMOLED in 2014.
Socius - Saturday, November 22, 2014 - link
IPS displays are actually superior to amoled with the exception of black levels and contrast...theduckofdeath - Thursday, November 27, 2014 - link
The extreme difference in dynamic range (by a factor of 1000 to 1) makes the theoretical minute differences in "colour accuracy" that Anandtech WRONGLY finds in their comparisons, completely irrelevant.Anandtech's flawed tests has often been openly criticized by professional display testers as being inaccurate. For instance by Displaymate, which all manufacturers use to test and calibrate their displays.
AnnonymousCoward - Saturday, November 22, 2014 - link
The color white is still better on LCD than OLED. And OLED phosphors age.theduckofdeath - Thursday, November 27, 2014 - link
I have never, ever had any issues with aging of AMOLED displays. I really think you need to update your sources. The absolute first generation of OLED had aging issues. That was 6-7 years ago.LCD displays age and bleach, too. My old laptop (which is around 4 years) with an LCD has issues showing the difference in low contrast areas, which is a big problem with all these modern/material themed sites and apps these days.
AnnonymousCoward - Friday, November 28, 2014 - link
> you need to update your sourcesMy source is myself! My 2.5 year old Samsung phone has faint spots all over that are marginally visible when the whole screen is a dark color.
pliablemoosethebanned - Saturday, November 22, 2014 - link
I've had a couple of OPO's, and thought they were a great phone, particularly when you factor in the price.AnnonymousCoward - Saturday, November 22, 2014 - link
How bout a Samsung Alpha review? The >5" space doesn't suit me.MDX - Sunday, November 23, 2014 - link
So, in summary, you liked the phone but cyanogen had too many options? I'm pretty sure this phone is targeting those who enjoy the additional privacy and options provided by Cyanogen. Anandtech as a whole seems to conveniently ignore the privacy issue as a whole (very disappointing, btw) but to do that for this review is to completely ignore one of the main reasons why this phone has become so popular. Yes, one can put cyanogenmod on most any android device, but not everyone has the will or the know-how to do so.madwolfa - Monday, November 24, 2014 - link
"..the first to kill the concept of a 650 USD"... but what about Nexus??Narg - Monday, November 24, 2014 - link
They should have used Windows Phone for the OS, then it would have been 100% polished and virus free...Rashkae - Monday, November 24, 2014 - link
So, why not review the Sony Z3 as well?Chostakovitch - Wednesday, November 26, 2014 - link
Here si an invite which have 12 hours left: GLVT-FMIA-VRIY-JQHG.I am a happy customer of this product since 3 weeks. I planned to buy the Nexus 6 but changed my mind because the hefty price tag.
I am an AnandTech reader since the 440BX days.
I don't agree reviewer point about software. For example, I am so happy to be able to block by default all the intrusive apps request to personal stuff as localization, address book, journal logs, photos and so on. CyanogenMod is a must.
It is sad that OnePlus plan to use their colorOS for their next flagship killer.
Finally, this is true that the device height is a bit too big for me but since it is a bit less than iPhone 6 plus, this is acceptable. Anyways, I bet everyone will follow the band wagon and change their small iPhone 4/5 for phablet within the next two years.
nasqb112 - Wednesday, December 10, 2014 - link
I should have posted this earlier, but I was able to purchase the 1+1shortly after it was released. After having used it for a while, I can confidently say this is one of the best phones I have ever used. It feels like a very premium device and the grey, fine-sandpaper textured back does wonders for grip. At first I felt it was a little too big (I feel 4.7 - 5.0 is the sweet spot) but I quickly got used to it. The screen quality is great as well as the sound (obviously not as good as HTC One). As a fairly heavy user, the battery is up to task. It last all day and I come home with a solid amount of battery left (around 40%). To get an idea of my typical day: GPS high accuracy is always on and I use the phone for emails, texts, google maps/yelp, Uber/Lyft, watching movies/shows and reading kindle books during commute to and from work.In terms of the software, Cyanogen Mod is highly customizable and response time for launching apps and switching screens is fast. I have recently (over the past 2 weeks) had a couple of glitches but these were minimal such as the lock screen being unresponsive until I pressed the power button down again to wake it up.
I live in NYC and have used the phone on both T-Mo and AT&T. It was as simple as popping in a SIM card and the phone worked right away. I was impressed as I expected to have to switch up a lot of settings. Call quality is good, especially on AT&T. I wish there was a version of this phone that supported VZ bands!
If you have the opportunity to purchase this phone, I say pull the trigger! Paying $350 for 64gb is a great deal considering this is a premium device from a new company with great support. The forums are very active so you can get help quite quickly if you need it. As a guy who switches his phone around once per year (awesome corporate phone policy!), the 1+1 was awesome enough to keep me from switching to an iPhone 6+ as well as the Nexus 6 so it is a great device. I highly recommend it!
Dark._.Knight - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
PLEASE HELP ME!!!My phone One Plus One charge to 100% took time 5\6 hour. Why? First charge took8/9hours. Now 5/6 hours? It happen to all one plus one phone user?