This is the OnePlus 2. After a year of frustrations leading to acquiring the OnePlus One, the OnePlus 2 aims to please the current and new customers with an updated design, improved hardware, and more customization to fit the individual buyer. Before we get into the OnePlus 2, let’s first look at the packaging and the unboxing experience.
You may have remembered the OnePlus One came with a fairly interesting box that looks great but didn’t exactly fit everything that came with the device. The OnePlus 2’s box fixes that with a more ordinary box but it’s still very high quality. It’s all red, has some very simple marketing and lastly, has a very interesting number 2 on the front helping solidify that the company calls their phone the OnePlus 2 numerically and not two as the word.
Once you lift up the top, the OnePlus 2 is sitting very nicely wrapped up in a plastic bag. Beneath that is a book containing information booklets and lastly you’ll find a flat USB Type-C to reversible USB cord and the wall adapter. Obviously, this one is for the international model for Europe and Asia.
Now it’s time to take a look at what you really care about—the OnePlus 2. Aesthetically, it’s a slight departure from the OnePlus One. Things have been rearranged like the placement of the front-facing camera and the 3.5mm headphone jack, which now lives on the top left corner. Also you’ll notice the addition of a front home button, which isn’t actually a button but more of a capacitive sensor that houses the new fingerprint sensor. Also, you’ll notice the notification switch on the left side of the device (which will correlate with Lollipop’s notification menu of all priority-only and off).
A huge upgrade to the OnePlus 2 are the new back covers. You can now choose from Sandstone Black (like the original OnePlus One), Bamboo, Kevlar, Black Apricot, and Rosewood. Another visual change to the OnePlus 2 is the more industrial feel in the hand. The whole device is wrapped around with aluminum which gives it a tremendously more solid feel in the hand. But I have to be honest, it does add a little bit of heft but in a good way. And lastly, the OnePlus 2 seems to have the button placement down on lock.
Next up is the display, the OnePlus 2 carries over its 5.5-inch 1080p IPS panel from the original OnePlus One. And I know you may be angry that it doesn’t have Quad HD panel but the 1080p panel is one of the best I’ve seen and also the color accuracy is really good.
For the hardware inside the OnePlus 2. Overall, it’s been upgraded throughout. Processor’s at 1.8GHz octa-core Snapdragon 810 processor (the version 2 of it), RAM is set at 4GB, and the GPU is the trusty Adreno 430. Storage-wise, you’ll be happy to know that the 64GB model is here but sadly the 16GB model still exists. And if you’ve heard about microSD card on the OnePlus 2, sorry to break it to you but none of that is found on the OnePlus 2.
Battery-wise, OnePlus has upgraded the battery capacity to 3300mAh, that a full 200mAh over the original OnePlus One. Now whether the battery life is still legendary like its predecessor, it’s still a question left unanswered. And until we get our own unit and use it for a longer period of time, we’ll have to wait until a future video.
The camera’s also been tweaked. It’s still a 13MP sensor but the pixels have been enlarged to improve low light performance. OIS has been added and the camera application has been simplified from the last generation. Laser autofocus is a new addition, very similar to the LG G4’s laser autofocus system. 4K UHD video, 1080p and 720p slow motion video are now your allowed video resolutions on the OnePlus 2 so keep in mind that DCI is no longer available in this generation. We’ll definitely put the OnePlus 2 camera to the test and will report over its improvements and downgrades in a future video.
One last thing to mention is the charging port. You’ve probably heard that the OnePlus 2 is using USB Type-C and that is completely true. It’s really nice to see this port on a phone and I’m super excited when all phones will use this in the future.
In terms of software, the OnePlus 2 is running Android 5.1.1 Lollipop with OxygenOS 2.0. I’ll be covering the software and full depth in future videos as the model you’re seeing right now is running Beta software. But with OxygenOS 2.0, it brings features such as Shelf; which will display your most used applications on a separate screen.
This is only the start of it. There’s definitely a whole lot more of content coming on the way. I want to leave you guys with some information about the OnePlus 2. OnePlus 2 will be available beginning on August 11th. The 64GB model will cost you $389 and the 16GB model will cost $329 but won’t be available at launch. But seriously, you want to buy this 64GB model.
