If you don’t believe the OnePlus One was disruptor, you must be crazy. This phone, even with all its quirks and invite-system, did something not many phones have done before it. It cost disruption on all sides of the mobile space. And as we prepare for the 2nd Generation to arrive on Monday, July 27, 2015; we must send the OnePlus One off to a way suitable to its magnitude. Welcome to the OnePlus One: One Year Later.
An easy way to catch mobile fans’ attention is to announce crazy specs. Last year, that’s exactly what OnePlus did. For starters, the OnePlus One was given this beautiful 5.5-inch 1920x1080p display with 401ppi. It was easily one of the clearest panels of 2014 and the color accuracy was that of the much more new iPhone 6 Plus. For its CPU GPU and RAM side of things, it was packed with a 2.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon 801 processor which was the processor of choice for all the major Android flagships for the first half of 2014. OnePlus also added 3GB of RAM and the Adreno 330 GPU processor.
Camera-wise, it packed in a 13MP Sony Exmor sensor that was not only able to record 4K UHD video but a DCI standard 4K and 1080p at 60fps. This was, perhaps, the weakest link of the OnePlus One but it was more than enough to be claimed a good mobile phone camera. Last but not least in its hardware department is its massive 3100mAh battery. This was one of the best phones in terms of battery performance of 2014 and probably still is one of the best phones today in terms of battery performance.
Next piece of the OnePlus One lied all on its software. When the OnePlus One shipped, it came pre-installed with Android KitKat and CyanogenMod 11S. Since then, OnePlus has updated their device to Cyanogen 12 and Android Lollipop. Cyanogen is a super flexible and very MOD friendly software that will allow its users to basically change everything and anything. And if you aren’t into the whole MOD thing, stock Cyanogen looks and functions exactly like stock Android. It just looks a little different.
The performance of the OnePlus One was a forte. With its average multi-core scores on GeekBench in the low 3000s, it was a pure beast. It did everything just as good as or sometimes better than its competition. I personally ran my OnePlus One as my daily phone for a few months last year until the new iPhone 6 Plus came around. But the OnePlus One was definitely a ground favorite of mine for quite some time. And a lot of that had to do with the performance the phone delivered.
Another huge aspect of the OnePlus One was its support. Unlike many Chinese manufacturers, the OnePlus One was mainly marketed towards the US and their support was pretty good. For example, I had an issue with a SIM tray problem with my personal OnePlus One and I had a new OnePlus One replacement within a week of my first email. The thing that I’m trying to get at is: the OnePlus One, even though it was a pain to get those invites, was a well-executed device. But at least the phone had no real issues. And let’s not forget that this phone only costs $299 and $349 for flagships off-contract and that was the main selling point of the phone, a flagship without a contract delivered to your doorstep for less than $400. And as we prepare for the next OnePlus device, we must say thank you to this phone. And if the rumors of the next OnePlus to be more expensive are true, then this phone may still be for you if you’re looking for a flagship that doesn’t break the bank.
