The OnePlus 5 Smartphone Is a High-Spec, Dual-Camera Hype Machine
The OnePlus 5 is the Chinese manufacturer's most ambitious smartphone to date, featuring an iPhone-inspired dual camera and a higher price tag. Unlike past OnePlus smartphones that were always priced below $500, the newcomer costs $539 in top spec — a $60 bump over its predecessor, the OnePlus 3T.
Familiar Looks, Excellent Build Quality
The OnePlus 5 looks a lot like an iPhone 7 Plus — at a quick glance, it's pretty much impossible to tell the two phones apart. The device also looks like the twin brother of Oppo R11 — another phone made by the parent company of OnePlus that's not available in the United States.
With the above in mind, the OnePlus 5 looks good in the metal, if a bit familiar and generic. There are three colors to choose from — Midnight Black, Slate Gray, and a limited edition Soft Gold.
The build quality of the all-metal OnePlus 5 is impeccable, though the device isn't waterproof. With that feature being standard on high-end phones from Apple, Samsung, LG, HTC, and Sony, we find it pretty disappointing OnePlus decided to skip it.
The Specs
OnePlus smartphones have always been all about specs, and the latest one is no exception. The lengthy spec sheet of the OnePlus 5 is headed by the powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chipset, coupled with 6 GB or 8 GB of RAM (that's what a typical laptop has these days). The former comes with 64 GB of non-expandable, ultra-fast storage, while the latter offers 128 GB.
The 5.5-inch Full HD AMOLED display of the OnePlus 5 has remained unchanged from the device's predecessor, the OnePlus 3. It's sharp and vibrant, though it can't match the resolution of its Android competitors. A 1080p display also means that the OnePlus 5 cannot work with an Android DayDream VR headset, which requires a QHD display.
Other key specs of the OnePlus 5 include Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity, speedy Wi-Fi, and two SIM card slots. In an increasingly rare sight in today's phones, a standard audio jack is also on board.
The OnePlus 5 runs a sleek custom Android interface called Oxygen OS. It looks a lot like stock Android, yet it features an incredibly rich set of customization features, allowing you to completely make the software experience your own. It's handily one of the best custom Android interfaces out there.
High-Res Dual-Camera Setup
The dual-camera camera setup of the phone includes a 16 MP sensor with f/1.7 aperture, coupled with a 20 MP sensor sitting behind a telephoto lens. The notable omission in the device's camera specs is optical image stabilization, which is standard for high-end phones these days. The front-facing camera has a 16 MP sensor too, so your selfies will come out pretty sharp.
The quality of the images captured by the phone is good, but not on par with the best camera phones out there. Unlike Apple, Samsung, LG, and HTC offerings that deliver great photos on just about every occasion, the OnePlus 5 often produces slightly underwhelming images with a tad too much noise, especially in low-light conditions. This is an area where the missing optical image stabilization would've helped a lot.
Because of its dual camera, the OnePlus 5 can capture portrait photos with a blurred background, similar to an iPhone 7 Plus, though not quite as great. Manual camera controls are also available.
Exceptional Performance and Battery Life
The OnePlus 5 with 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage we tested is an absolute monster. By combining a powerful chipset, a massive amount of RAM (for a phone), and a display with lower resolution for a high-end Android phone (fewer pixels put less strain on the graphics chip), OnePlus created an Android user experience that simply flies.
From unlocking the phone via the fingerprint sensor through opening an app, all the way to enjoying a graphic-intensive video game, the OnePlus 5 won't show even a hint of slowing down. Best of all, because it packs so much RAM, the OnePlus 5 will let you run a multitude of apps and seamlessly switch between them without any effects on its performance.
The OnePlus 5 packs a 3,300 mAh battery that can easily last through a full day of heavy use. More moderate users can stretch the time between charges even further.
OnePlus uses the ultra-fast Dash Charge wired charger, which is incredibly fast — it can charge the battery of the smartphone to 75% in about 40 minutes. The downside is that the charging technology is proprietary, so it only works with the bundled adapter. If you want to get an extra one for your office or car, you'll need to spend $40 or $30, respectively. For comparison, third-party Qualcomm Quick Charge-compatible chargers cost well below $20.
Final Thoughts
The OnePlus 5 is a blisteringly fast smartphone with one of the best custom Android interfaces out there. The device's dual camera is also a nice feature, despite its inconsistent performance on some occasions, which offers a great deal of versatility. If you're obsessed with speed and like to tinker with your Android interface often, the OnePlus 5 is totally worth your attention.
Lack of a waterproof body, a low-resolution display (by high-end Android phone standards), and a far-from-great camera guarantee that the OnePlus 5 will remain a niche offering in the United States. This time around, its price is a tad too close to that of the Samsung Galaxy S8 (currently priced below $600), the HTC U11 ($599), and the LG G6 (this one is actually cheaper).
Pricing of the OnePlus 5 kicks off at $479 for a model with 6 GB of RAM and 64 GB of storage. The high-spec variant, with 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of memory (the one you want) costs $539. Prepare an additional $40 for one of the gorgeous, mandatory official cases for the phone.
Photos by Stefan Vazharov
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