Your thoughts on the OnePlus Phone? Opinion and review here!

Time for my little drop of input after owning and using my OnePlus One for 24 hours.

Initial Thoughts:


Screen: 8/10


Hardware: 8/10


Battery: No Score

Reception: 7/10

Design: 9/10

Software:7/10

Overall: 8.5/10

Hands down best purchase ever

I've been a lurker on XDA for many years now, and normally never feel the need to comment on threads. However with this topic I felt compelled to do so. I'm sure with everyone who's purcahsed a OPO their experience varies from my own, so with that said consider it's purely anecdotal. I have owned many devices in the past 2 years. I started with a DNA, switched to an M7 for a short period of time, dabbled for a few months with an Xperia Z Ultra, and landed on my feet with the OPO. I was super excited as I had always wanted one when they first came out but didn't feel the need to wade through invite pools or beg for the right to purchase the phone. When they allowed open orders on Tuesdays for the first time I snagged one up immediately. My experience since purchasing the phone has been nothing but smooth. I, much like other well informed buyers, was afraid of the yellow banding or other QC issues with the device. Everything from the order process, the fast shipping, and even the packaging presentation was flawless. I am one of those people that inadvertently judges a piece of technology on how well it's packaged and presented to the end user. OnePlus didn't miss the bar at all in this area. It was like Christmas morning all over again. I've been into custom ROMS and kernels for years so I knew even before ordering that I was going to root and flash this phone. Nevertheless, CM11S was still lightning fast and I fell in love with the phone right away. The design was impeccable, albeit I wasn't in love with the Sandstone finish on the back cover, this of course being a minor oversight since you can purchase replacement style covers or simply slap a TPU case over it like I did. I love the charger, and cable that came with the phone. They even were thoughtful enough to include a Nano SIM tray for those users who need it in place of the Micro. The SIM unlock tool was another great addition because we all know how much it sucks searching for a paper clip in a scattered desk space. I plugged it in, installed the drivers, and went straight into Fastboot to flash a custom recovery and root the phone. Installed TWRP, flashed BlissPop, and Boeffla kernel, and I've been off to the races ever since. Now like I said, every user has had different experiences with this phone, but I can honestly tell you I've been made a believer with mine. I was so impressed I convinced my roommate to buy one a week later in place of a G2, when she was looking at upgrading to a G3. I've never had the pleasure of owning a N5 or even N6, but I've had the chance to play with them, and after watching many reviews comparing them side by side, I still have no regrets over getting the OPO. I haven't made any kernel tweaks as of yet, and I'm running my OPO on Straight Talk, where I get LTE almost everywhere I go, and haven't had any issues whatsoever with the hardware. No yellow banding, no overheating, no lag, no nothing. I'm what I would consider a power user, where I'm pushing this thing all day from 8 am, until easily 10 pm at night with anywhere from 4 to 5 hours of SOT, and I still have 20% + of battery life at the end of the night. In standby mode, this thing has lasted almost 2 full days for me. Take from this what you will, but if I could say anything it would be if you're considering getting one, like MANY others have said, there is nothing that rivals this phone for the price point comparison. Don't hestitate, GET ONE.

I won an invite from the Storm Of Invites about 3 weeks ago. I promptly placed an order and the phone finally arrived today. However, while the phone was in transit I chose to sell it to my co-worker and order the LG G3 instead. After doing more research I felt the G3 would better fit my needs. I finally got my hands on the OnePlus One in person today and after messing with it side by side with the G3, I must admit that I am VERY glad that I sold the One to my co-worker and opted for the G3.

Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of pros to the One, but the cons greatly outweigh them for me...

Pros:
- It's very snappy. It feels as snappy right out of the box as my Nexus 5 does with all the tweaks and CM11 installed. And definitely snappier than the LG G3 in stock form.

- The back plate of the phone feels fantastic in the hand. It's very premium and will hold up vey well to scratching.

- The reviews convinced me that the phone would be too big for use with one hand. This is not the case. At best, I have very average sized hands and can say that the One feels great in one hand. I was not afraid of dropping it at all.

- Overall the phone feels like a premium ($600+) device and I'd argue that the overall feel is higher quality than the LG G3. And light years above the Nexus 5 which I've loved for 6 months now.

Cons:
- The d*** yellow tint at the bottom of the screen. I've read about it from many users. Some said it was very noticeable while others said it wasn't a big deal. It's there, it absolutely is noticeable on light grey/white backgrounds, and there is no doubt in my mind that it is a defect. The fact that OnePlus refuses to admit this is a defect and replace phones with this issue is very off-putting and tells me a lot about the company.

- Chrome bezels. This is personal preference but I hate phones with chrome bezels because they just scratch way too easily, in my experience. I wasn't a fan of the chrome bezels on my Nexus 4 and I surely don't like them on the OnePlus One. I have no doubt that they will get scratched up (even with a case) rather quickly.

- While the phone does feel good in one hand, it's still too tall. The height of the phone is borderline awkward looking in person. OnePlus really should have eliminated the capacitive buttons and tried trimming the bottom bezel down a bit.

- Piggy backing off that last one, why the hell does it have capacitive buttons? Google designed great on screen buttons for a reason. There is no need to tack on additional buttons as well. OnePlus should have left that B.S. with HTC and Samsung. I understand you can disable them for the on screen buttons but it's redundant and unnecessary to have them.


...
Anyway, aside from the yellow tint (which definitely would be a deal breaker on its own), the remaining "cons" would not be big issues individually. However, when combined, they made me significantly less impressed with the phone as a whole. Had I not sold the phone to my co-worker I would have returned it for a full refund.

For those who may be curious, here are some other big reasons why I decided to go with the G3 before the OnePlus One even arrived...

- Wifi calling. The One won't have this and since my cell reception at home is horrendous, I've been wanting to get a phone capable of Wifi calling on T-Mobile for a while now.

- After watching MANY reviews of the OnePlus One and LG G3 over the past month or so, it seems everyone was most impressed with the G3's camera. The extremely fast laser focus is a very cool feature that I plan on making good use of.

- Buttons on the back instead of the sides. To me this is a great evolution of the smart phone. Over the past few years I've grown quite annoyed of side buttons that tend to cause issues with cases fitting perfectly and getting accidentally pressed constantly. Plus I've felt that it can be awkward to access side buttons properly with one hand without feeling like you are going to drop the phone. The back buttons on the G3 are very welcomed, in my opinion.


Just my $0.02 for anyone on the fence about buying it. So take it as you wish.

I just received my phone on wednesday, the 64gig version. (Wanted the 16gig but had an invite for the 64, oh well sure I will use the space)

Anyways I loved the packaging the phone came in, I know its minor but man it was so sleek - very good presentation.

I have owned a HTC EVO3d, to a Nexus 4, and got my wife the nexus 5.. And the One Plus One easily beats all of them. The phone's build quality is awesome, it feels so solid.

I have had no issues with my touch screen (other then I bought a tempered glass screen protector and it definitely reduced the sensitivity a little, hardly noticeable if I wasn't always looking for issues with the touch screen!) But no yellowing and no ghosting etc etc.

Signal is great, i have Tmobile LTE in my area and on my Nexus 4 I got 25Mbps, on the OnePlus I get 38Mbps..
Also man the speakers on the phone and nice and loud - and crisp.. All my other phones were so low I always had them maxed out - this phone the alarm went off at full volume and scared the hell out of my wife and I!

And finally the battery life is better then I could have imagined. Easily double the life of my nexus 4.

Love this phone, best purchase. I am thinking of selling my wifes nexus 5 for another one.

** Oh and as far as Lollipop, my opinion of course -but I hardly miss it.. CM really did a great job with the stock rom - I didn't even root it or even flash a custom recovery for that matter.. Felt no need. Only thing I did was unlock the bootloader. Giving my dad my nexus 4 and I actually flashed CM over lollipop just so I can control wakelocks easy, maybe squeeze some battery life out of it for him.


-Ogrillion

I've had the phone for roughly a month, coming from a N5.

Pros:
Screen size, ergo's, CM, speed, screen resolution, excellent wifi and cell reception, insane battery life. Lets see; ease of unlocking and rooting, responsive touch screen. I think I hit the highlights.

Cons;
Will not make my lunch, weighs more then a feather, is not able to diagnose illness or travel in space/time, sometimes when I turn it off, it will stay off. My OPO will not work for me and won't make me money. Does not include a life preserver, uses electricity to charge.