Right before the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus was released, we were doing an ongoing challenge (myself and BeauHD were making an ongoing challenge) on the OnePlus One—one of the best devices, in my opinion, for 2014. And while the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus are available for us to buy, we kind of just did a whole little iPhone video every single day on PhoneDog.com. And all of you guys have noticed that. It’s been iPhone-centered. Basically, everywhere on YouTube. So welcome back to our senses. It’s back to the OnePlus One Challenge in a more conclusion type of style because I’ve used this guy for well over 2 months now as my daily driver. I guess a couple of breaks here and there because I had to use other cellphones to review them. But a very good grasp on what the OnePlus One is and how I feel about it. So welcome to the conclusion of the OnePlus One Challenge of PhoneDog.com.
It’s kind of funny because after I finished using my iPhone 6 as my daily driver for the review, I took out my SIM card and I popped it back to my OnePlus One and I was just delighted to use my OnePlus One again because I haven’t used Android in about 2.5 to 3 weeks so far and I’ve really missed it. And it’s kind of hard for me to say that a lot of you guys think of me being an Apple fan boy. I sort of am but I do really love the OnePlus One. It’s probably the best Android phone I’ve used in all of 2014. I’m speaking because it’s a really big display. I love the form factor, the battery life was fantastic. The build quality is not the best. It feels different and it does feel solid in the hands. And overall, it’s just a great device. But sadly, not a lot of you guys can get your hands on it. Pre-orders have been pushed back once again by OnePlus and they’re already talking about the OnePlus 2 that will be coming around Q2-Q3 of 2015.
So as a whole, the OnePlus One is a fantastic device. It has great hardware. The software can use a little work. A couple of the updates were really funky depending on how they messed up the software. There was one update that was actually pulled in an hour because really it messed up just about all the experiences of fluidity through the whole operating system. But as its active state right now, it’s running Android 4.4.4 with CyanogenMod 11 which is the custom version made for the OnePlus One. And it’s a fantastic feeling device. Everything is really smooth and fast. The software is great. You can still get your own custom themes to make it look the way you want it. I currently have the Android L theme, which looks fantastic by the way on the OnePlus One. And they’ve already backed up support for Android L within the first month of Android L being announced to the public which shouldn’t be too far from now, probably by the end of December.
Honestly, in the past two months or so, I haven’t hit a speedbump. I really don’t like that. I guess the worse feature of the OnePlus One might be the size but also the camera. It’s not the best camera in the world. It has some neat tricks. It’s okay. It takes decent photos. But other than that, the screen’s fantastic in displaying video. The hardware’s fantastic in the hardware video. The software is fantastic as in the software video. And just everything is fantastic to use on the OnePlus One. I haven’t found a single reason for me not to like this phone. It’s just a great phone. I guess the biggest fault of the OnePlus One is not everyone can go buy one. You have to be invited to buy one still. And pre-orders won’t be live for another two or three weeks, depending on when OnePlus decides to sell this phone to the public, which again I’m still really, really crazed out by saying it’s been almost a year and you guys still haven’t sold this to the public.
Make sure to leave me a comment below on what you think about the OnePlus One. I think it’s still the best Android phone of 2014. And honestly it’s going to be a great competitor to the Nexus 6, which should be an interesting phone as well for 2014.
