2015 flagship killer or 2016 flagship killer. You know what phones I’m talking about. With the recent announcement of the OnePlus 2, I think it’s time to put the OnePlus One versus the OnePlus 2 head to head and figure out if it’s worth the upgrade. Welcome to my comparison of the OnePlus One and OnePlus 2.
If you measure changes by magnitude then difference between the OnePlus One and OnePlus 2 may seem small and very superficial. And you may be right in saying that they look very similar to each other but differences are actually vast. Starting out with the design and build of the device. The OnePlus 2 has a slightly smaller footprint than the OnePlus One. It also has some rearranged ports and new additions. First off is this new slider button on the left hand side of the device. It’s a dedicated alert button to from all notifications to priority only and lastly to no notifications at all.
In front of the OnePlus 2, you’ll notice a new home button which isn’t actually a button but it’s more of a marker for a capacitive button and the new fingerprint sensor. Also, you still have two capacitive buttons on each side. If you look on the top, you’ll notice the headphone jack has been placed on the opposite side. Over to the right side of the OnePlus 2, it looks pretty much the same as the OnePlus One. And lastly on the bottom, you’ll find a new USB Type-C port and some really beautiful-looking speaker holes. Also you probably noticed by now the aluminum running all around the brand new OnePlus 2. It’s definitely a step up in terms of build quality because it honestly feels just as good in the hand as the Moto X (2nd Gen) and that’s high claim.
The screen has also been slightly tweaked from the original OnePlus One. It may have the same amount of pixels and the same size at 5.5 inches but the display is slightly brighter and to my eye, has a little bit more color accuracy than the outgoing model. Not by much but noticeable when you have them side by side.
Flip these two to the back and you’ll find a slight movement of the camera and flash downward but you’ll also see a small black dot that houses the laser autofocusing system. The cameras also receive the upgrade in terms of OIS (Optical Image Stabilization). Lastly the OnePlus 2 will be offering different style swap covers including Kevlar, Bamboo, Black Apricot, and more.
The changes on the outside draw in comparison to the changes internally. For starters, the new OnePlus 2 comes with 4 extra cores. That’s right. That means it’s packing a Snapdragon 810 processor, 4GB of RAM, the Adreno 430 GPU and 64GB of built-in flash storage. Compared to the OnePlus One, that’s 1 extra GB of RAM and 4 extra cores.
A huge part of why I personally love my own OnePlus One and why the phone is so successful is that incredible battery life. The OnePlus One came with a 3100mAh battery and this new OnePlus 2 comes in an even larger 3300mAh. And with the same resolution and same size display, we should be getting even more phenomenal battery life.
The next thing I want to talk about is the new software. When the OnePlus One was debuted last year, it was announced with partnership of Cyanogen. The phone came stock right out of the box with Android 4.4 KitKat with Cyanogen Mod 11S. All since then, the partnership has dissolved and OnePlus has moved over to OxygenOS. The OnePlus 2 is running version 2.0 and aesthetically it runs more like stock Android Lollipop. However, there are some interesting features such as the Shelf. And OxygenOS still gives you enough power to customize your device.
The last piece of this story is the price. When the OnePlus One was debuted, it had a price tag of $349 for a 64GB model. Since then, it’s been discounted to $299. The new OnePlus 2 64GB model is $389. That’s only $40 more than last year. So is it worth the extra money? I absolutely think so. But if you want to know for sure, hit the subscribe button and watch out for my full review of the OnePlus 2 in the very near future.
