The OnePlus Smartphone Is Now Available for Anyone to Buy –– But Only on Tuesdays

Daniel Bean
·Assistant Editor
Updated
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Smartphone bargain hunters, you now have your day.

The high-powered OnePlus One Android phone will now be available for purchase every Tuesday, freed from its irregular invite-only sales system. Since its 2014 launch, OnePlus has allowed average Joes and Janes to grab its $299 off-contract phone during special promotional sales; those interested in buying at any other time have had to get an invitation by either applying at the company’s website or begging a friend who had already bought a One.

Starting February 10, the company will hold a weekly, 24-hour sale of its heralded phone every Tuesday beginning at 12 a.m. Pacific time right on its website. During open sales, buyers can choose from the 16GB Silk White model or the 32GB Sandstone Black model ($349).

Yahoo Tech’s David Pogue reviewed the One after it launched last year, calling it a true “luxury smartphone for half the price.” It packs a 5.5-inch HD screen and tech guts that provide performance that’s on par with any of today’s big-company flagship smartphones — all for under $300, or less than 50 percent of what an iPhone or Samsung Galaxy S costs off contract.

Since the phone comes straight to customers from the company that makes it, the One isn’t loaded with traditional carrier bloatware. And the version of Android that OnePlus has developed for its devices is largely untouched and closer to the Nexus devices that Google sells — not at all like the liberal redesigns that Samsung and HTC phones are loaded with.

Until invites for the One began hitting the streets in 2014, Google’s 2013 flagship phone — the slightly smaller-screen $349 Nexus 5 — was the poster child for free and unlocked superphone bargain buying. The authors of Android have taken a small step away from the “everyman” approach with their new Nexus 6 phablet, which is also being sold unlocked, directly from the Google Play store, but for a much larger price of $649.

So, until the rumored OnePlus Two sees the light of day, the One will continue to be the one smartphone that price-savvy shoppers should look into. Particularly now on Tuesdays.