The OnePlus 5 has been on the market for about 3 months providing a solution for those who want a powerful, near stock Android smartphone with a modest price. A lot has changed in the last few months as new flagships are being launched left and right by the establishment. We have the LG V30, Moto Z2 Force, the Note 8, iPhone 8, and even the iPhone X. Where does the OnePlus 5 fit in with the competition and is it still worth its $479 price?
One area that I’ve always been able to count on with OnePlus devices is the performance. With a Snapdragon 835 processor with up to 8GB of RAM, the OnePlus 5 is still one of the fastest smartphones in the market and it will be for quite some time. I’ll admit, it’s rare you find a mid-tier or high-end smartphone with performance issues these days. But a lot of what alters the speed and smooth experience of a smartphone is the software and the skin running on top of Android. The OnePlus 5 runs OxygenOS which has been updated since launch and the latest version of Android Nougat. Because it is so lightweight and backed up with topnotch hardware, it runs extremely well.
I read a lot of your comments and many of you dislike stock Android, calling it boring because of the lack of OEM features. What’s neat about this phone is that it technically runs OxygenOS, which has a bunch of customizable features to further tweak Android. There are gestures and other features like a reading mode that will turn content black and white to make it easier on the eyes. And in my experience over the last few months, I have yet to really get bored with this phone. It holds up pretty darn well. I think it’s really tough to get bored with Android in general, given how many different ways you can customize an Android smartphone. And when I use this phone as my daily driver, I don’t really find myself severely missing my iPhone 7 Plus or Note 8 when it comes to taking pictures. I mean the 16-megapixel main shooter performs surprisingly well in low-light scenarios, thanks to the wide f/1.7 aperture. And if I’m itching to use my iPhone 7 Plus for the telephoto lens, I just switch to the 16-megapixel telephoto lens in the OnePlus 5. What I actually miss most is Optical Image Stabilization because I do find it a bit tough to get a crispy photo when I’m not completely still, which is often the case when I take photos. The 16-megapixel front-facing sensor has performed as well or better than some of the higher end smartphone front-facing camera sensors that I’ve tested.
The build of the OnePlus 5 is surely high class with the use of predominately aluminum. I doubt we’ll see a 3.5mm headphone jack in the next OnePlus device so definitely cherish it while it lasts if you do decide to upgrade to the OP 5. While I do use wireless headphones. I actually use the headphone jack for playback via my car stereo so I do appreciate it being here.
Now you don’t get a lot of bells and whistles like wireless charging or a fancy S Pen stylus or front-facing speakers. But you’re also not paying for all these extra features. One feature that really jacks up the price of a smartphone that has yet to really prove its worth is an edge-to-edge display. This display, it has very thin side bezels. But as you can see, the top and bottom shins are pretty thick.
For some of you out there, the OnePlus 5 might offer the best of both worlds: an AMOLED display with thin side bezels and a 1080p resolution to conserve battery life. When the OnePlus 5 was first launched, one of my biggest concerns was the battery life, because it has a slightly smaller 3300mAh battery compared to the OnePlus 3T which has 3400mAh battery. But in my testing, I find that it still lasts me through a full day of moderate to heavy usage with auto brightness turned on.
The OnePlus 5 starts at $479 and that price continues to look better and better as all these high-end flagships are released costing nearly $1,000. I can still recommend the OnePlus 5 for those looking for some of the best bang for your buck. The unit you see in this video was sent to us from our friends over at GearBest.com. We partnered with them because they often price the smartphone for less than the $479 price on OnePlus’ website.