Reviews on OnePlus 5.

After the successful launch of Oneplus 3t, now the company has come up with brand new OnePlus 5. Basically, the look of this piece is same as that of an iphone 7, but has specifications better and come at almost half the price.

Oneplus 5 Design

OnePlus 5 looks like OnePlus 3t from the front with more curved borders, and talking about the back of this phone, its same as that of an iphone 7. The build quality is still excellent and now slimmer at 7.25mm and lighter at 153 grams.

OnePlus5 has shaved off quite a bit of the side borders and the glass curves along its edges mssakes the phone feel great when you hold it. It is a bit slippery without a cover as the sides are a lot thinner than on the OnePlus 3T, so that’s something to keep in mind. Luckily, the OnePlus 5 handles drops pretty well, and there are instances where people did accidentally drop it from waist height, and the phone was left with only minor bumps and scuffs along the edges.

The best part here is that OnePlus has fixed the OnePlus 3T’s annoying touch latency issue. The display supports the DCI-P3 colour profile, which is also used by the iPhone 7. This offers a wider gamut compared to sRGB. The colour tone simply feels more natural and is much easier on the eyes. Sadly, OnePlus is sticking to full-HD as the screen resolution, which is one of the few compromises it had to make to keep the cost down.

Talking about the cons of this piece, the first is that the screen tends to wash off when used directly in sunlight. It’s worse if you use the ‘Dark’ theme, but even with the default appearance settings, things aren’t exactly great.

The OnePlus 5 ships with a pre-applied screen protector, which is unnecessary due to the use of Gorilla Glass 5. The protector doesn’t cover the entire glass surface, so its edges rub against your fingers when you swipe from the sides of the phone, and lint accumulates at the edges.

In terms of physical connectors, it has  a USB Type-C port at the bottom along with a 3.5mm headphones socket and a speaker grille. Button placement remains the same as on previous models, with the power button on the left and the volume rocker plus an Alert Slider on the right. The Dual-SIM tray accepts two Nano-SIMs, and 4G is supported with VoLTE.

It does have some new aesthetic touches such as the edges of the speaker grille and USB port being painted black. However, the paint around the camera bump on our Space Gray unit starts chipping after just a day’s usage.

In the box, you get a USB Type-C cable and a pretty chunky power adapter. There aren’t any headphones or a cover bundled in the box. Overall, the OnePlus 5 feels a lot more ergonomic and comfortable to use than its predecessor due to its slimmer and lighter body.

This phone is best used with a cover to avoid accidental slips (and possibly prevent undesired paint chipping around the camera bump). Between the two colour options, the black is more popular.

OnePlus 5 Specifications

OnePlus earned its reputation to begin with by offering top-end specifications, and the company hasn’t skimped here at all. There are two variants, Slate Gray with 6GB of RAM and 64GB of storage, and Midnight Black with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage.

OnePlus is also making a big deal about the type of RAM and storage it has used for the OnePlus 5 respectively, with a two-lane ROM which is said to double bandwidth for faster app install speeds and loading times.

In benchmarks, the OnePlus 5 put on a very good show compared to its peers. However, the Random Write test on the 128GB version of the 3T still trumps everyone else.

Apart from the OnePlus 5’s brand new hardware, another big change is the slick new OxygenOS 4.5.0. It’s built on Android 7.1.1 Nougat and feels a bit more refined than before, with slightly smaller icons and text for the menus. There’s no app drawer button now as you simply swipe up to expand the dock.

Swiping right takes you to shelf, which lets you customize widgets for the weather, set reminders, see your recent apps, and monitor cellular data and storage usage. This can be disabled if needed.

Flicking through the apps in the app drawer and switching between them doesn’t put any stress on the phone, and the transitions are buttery smooth. Call quality is very good. The speaker is also pretty loud for conference calls.The ambient light sensor can be a bit too aggressive in low light an override is needed manually at times to make the display brighter.

High-resolution videos played with ease, and the mono speaker belted out pretty high volumes. The phone also supports HD audio enhancements with earphones.

Camera

More than the design and powerful components, the biggest change that the OnePlus 5 ushers in is its dual rear cameras. The similarities with the iPhone 7 Plus extend well beyond just physical design, as even the camera app is pretty much identical.

The app has a simple layout and it’s easy to find what you’re looking for. Shooting modes are hidden in the hamburger menu in one of the corners. The primary camera has a 16-megapixel sensor with a large f/1.7 aperture and electronic stabilization. The focal length here is 24mm (35mm equivalent).

The lack of optical stabilization is a big disappointment given that the OnePlus 3T had it. The slimmer profile of the phone was perhaps done to keep the overall cost within control.

The second sensor has a 32mm focal length, 20-megapixel resolution. To switch between the two sensors, you just have to hit the 2x button on the screen. According to OnePlus, optical zoom actually only goes up to 1.6x, and the rest is software but still “lossless”.

You can then zoom in all the way up to 8x (digital zoom). However, the phone only actually switches to the second sensor when you’re in Photo mode and when there’s good lighting. If the light is anything less than ideal, the phone sticks to the primary camera and basically does a digital zoom instead.

There’s a Portrait Mode, just like on the iPhone 7 Plus, which uses the 20-megapixel sensor to gauge depth. Other than zoomed-in shots and Portrait Mode, the second sensor doesn’t seem to do anything else.

Image quality from the primary camera is very good. Landscapes and macro shots are very nicely detailed with accurate colors. Textures on objects are also very well-defined in close-up shots.

There is some shutter lag, especially in low light, so if you need to get some action shots, your best bet is the burst mode. In low-light, the OnePlus 5 does a good job with details and noise is handled well.

Battery

The battery life of this piece is as good as all other pieces of OnePlus with 3300 mAh non removable Battery. The dash charger (5V 4A) charges the phone in half an hour and is enough for the day’s usage.

Price

Price of Oneplus 5 (6 GB + 64 GB) variant is Rs. 32999 and Oneplus 5 (8 GB+ 128 GB) variant is Rs. 37999. You can check full oneplus mobile price list from The Android Portal website or you can also use amazon offers from Couponwaale to get extra discount.

Oneplus 5 has a lot to offer in the price range of Rs. 30000 to Rs. 40000 and so far the user’s reviews have been good. So if you are planning to buy a new phone, go for it!