OnePlus a Chinese company, that has tasted early success for a startup since its launch of the OnePlus One early last year. It managed to sell over 1.5 million handsets globally. Riding on the success of its first 'flagship killer' the company has now launched the OnePlus Two, which boasts of a better build, a bigger battery, faster processor, and a fingerprint sensor among other improvements. The OnePlus 2 has improved on the design aspect of the phone over its predecessor. It employs a magnesium-aluminium alloy which makes up the metallic frame of the OnePlus 2.
Design:
-The OnePlus 2 for sure looks more refined compared to its predecessor and exudes a premium feel thanks to its aluminium-magnesium alloy frame and stainless steel chamfered edges. The all-black front panel is dominated by a 5.5-inch full-HD (1080x1920p) IPS LCD In-Cell display.
- Alert Slider switch on the left of the phone that gives users an easy access to prioritising notification alerts.The switch is easy to use; you can keep it on top for "No interruptions/Alarms only/Silent", in middle for "Priority interruptions only", and slide it down further for "All notifications" - all without having to unlock your phone.
- The USB-Type C reversible connector on the OnePlus 2 is another feature that makes it a first-of-its-kind feature on a phone selling in India. This only advantage of having this connector here is that users can plug the cable in at either orientation. But no quick charge.
Performance:
- The Android-based Oxygen OS not only keeps the phone free from bloatware, but also offers a couple of interesting features including support for gestures and unlocking the phone without having to wake the screen. Some of the interesting features include gestures like "Draw an O to open camera", "Draw a V to toggle the flashlight", and the ability to swap the order of recent and back buttons.
- It is powered by Qualcomm’s flagship Snapdragon 810 SoC which has a quad-core Cortex A57 and a quad-core Cortex A53 and has the Adreno 430 GPU. This is paired with 4GB of RAM for the 64GB storage variant. The phone still does not so much as budge when you asked it to perform a heavy task, like playing a high end game. However, there is a lot of lag on the UI since the last update.
- The OnePlus 2 has the same specs as the OnePlus One. A 13MP rear camera and a 5MP front camera. OnePlus has added on a laser auto focus mechanism to improve the focus acquisition speed. The rear camera has a 6-element lens with an f/2.0 aperture.
- The fingerprint scanner on the OnePlus 2 allows you to store up to five fingerprints, like most other fingerprint-equipped Android smartphones. The registration process is very simple and quite fast. With other devices you must first wake the phone to scan your fingerprint. The OnePlus 2 does away with this clumsiness nicely and will read your fingerprint from a screen-off state, from which it fires up in about a second.
Conclusion:
-Is the OnePlus 2 the perfect 'value-for-money' smartphone you've been waiting for? Well, the phone ticks most of the right checkboxes; it's got a good built, bright display, clutter-free software, great camera, smooth performance, a fingerprint sensor and decent battery backup.
The OnePlus 2 is a big improvement over the OnePlus One and is barely more expensive. It’s a great phone for the price if you can accept that you do have to settle occasionally after all. At Rs 24,999, it's certainly the most power-packed and feature-rich phone that money can buy at the moment.
By: Sridhar Iyer
Design:
-The OnePlus 2 for sure looks more refined compared to its predecessor and exudes a premium feel thanks to its aluminium-magnesium alloy frame and stainless steel chamfered edges. The all-black front panel is dominated by a 5.5-inch full-HD (1080x1920p) IPS LCD In-Cell display.
- Alert Slider switch on the left of the phone that gives users an easy access to prioritising notification alerts.The switch is easy to use; you can keep it on top for "No interruptions/Alarms only/Silent", in middle for "Priority interruptions only", and slide it down further for "All notifications" - all without having to unlock your phone.
- The USB-Type C reversible connector on the OnePlus 2 is another feature that makes it a first-of-its-kind feature on a phone selling in India. This only advantage of having this connector here is that users can plug the cable in at either orientation. But no quick charge.
Performance:
- The Android-based Oxygen OS not only keeps the phone free from bloatware, but also offers a couple of interesting features including support for gestures and unlocking the phone without having to wake the screen. Some of the interesting features include gestures like "Draw an O to open camera", "Draw a V to toggle the flashlight", and the ability to swap the order of recent and back buttons.
- It is powered by Qualcomm’s flagship Snapdragon 810 SoC which has a quad-core Cortex A57 and a quad-core Cortex A53 and has the Adreno 430 GPU. This is paired with 4GB of RAM for the 64GB storage variant. The phone still does not so much as budge when you asked it to perform a heavy task, like playing a high end game. However, there is a lot of lag on the UI since the last update.
- The OnePlus 2 has the same specs as the OnePlus One. A 13MP rear camera and a 5MP front camera. OnePlus has added on a laser auto focus mechanism to improve the focus acquisition speed. The rear camera has a 6-element lens with an f/2.0 aperture.
- The fingerprint scanner on the OnePlus 2 allows you to store up to five fingerprints, like most other fingerprint-equipped Android smartphones. The registration process is very simple and quite fast. With other devices you must first wake the phone to scan your fingerprint. The OnePlus 2 does away with this clumsiness nicely and will read your fingerprint from a screen-off state, from which it fires up in about a second.
Conclusion:
-Is the OnePlus 2 the perfect 'value-for-money' smartphone you've been waiting for? Well, the phone ticks most of the right checkboxes; it's got a good built, bright display, clutter-free software, great camera, smooth performance, a fingerprint sensor and decent battery backup.
The OnePlus 2 is a big improvement over the OnePlus One and is barely more expensive. It’s a great phone for the price if you can accept that you do have to settle occasionally after all. At Rs 24,999, it's certainly the most power-packed and feature-rich phone that money can buy at the moment.
By: Sridhar Iyer
