OnePlus 2: First Impressions

Rs. 24,999: I really don't need to write more, do I? Snapdragon 810: yes, I do. The OnePlus 2 is arguably the most talked-about smartphone over the past month, and dare I say, the company got the price concerns out of the way. With the 64GB version priced at Rs. 24,999 and a formidable 4GB of RAM, OnePlus wants you to multi-task as much as you want. There's also a 16GB variant with 3GB of RAM coming soon, to be priced at Rs. 22,999.

Let's get down to the brass tacks now. Is the Snapdragon 810 heating up? On first impressions, no it isn't. OnePlus has added a layer of thermal paste to keep the heating in check, and it seems to be working. The phone is recording a video at 1080p next to me for over two minutes now, and there is no abnormal heating, certainly not like the Sony Xperia Z3+. I wouldn't go as far as to say that the OnePlus 2 won't heat up, but it's a promising start. We'd like to see how our review unit performs, before giving out our final word.

With that done, let's get onto another crucial aspect, the camera. It's a 13MP rear snapper, which on paper is the same. This one's an Omnivision sensor though, compared to the Sony sensor in the One. While I can't, or rather won't, comment on the camera quality right now, the UI is disappointing. Why? Because it's too basic. It is much like the rest of the UI, but OnePlus says that the final build of the OS will be slightly different. I don't see a lot of change coming, though.

That said, stock is still not a bad way to go. OnePlus has added a 'Shelf' screen, which has a lot of potential. You swipe to the left-most screen to get to this and it comes up as smoothly as HTC's Blinkfeed. It's basically a part of the OS, unlike Samsung's Flipboard, which freezes the phone for a second everytime you swipe over to it. Shelf, at the moment, just shows favourite contacts and most-used apps, but there's potential for much more. With OnePlus' penchant for customisation, this, for me, is a nod from the company towards more customisation features to be brought into Oxygen OS in future.

What I would commend OnePlus for is the laser-assisted autofocus camera. It's not as fast as the LG G4, but it's still fast. You will know this if you try shooting a video with it. The camera focuses fast while you're moving around, and the video seems nice. The overall build is pretty much the same, but the phone feels just a tad more compact. It's not, in reality — OnePlus 2 has the same 5.5-inch 1080p display as the One, but the shape is just slightly different for it to fit into your hand cozily. And, like the One, it's not heavy either.

I'm not yet convinced that I want to recommend this to people, though. The Snapdragon 810 will have to do much more than shoot 1080p videos without heating, to get my approval. Moreover, the UI isn't the final build yet.

On first impression, the OnePlus 2 is really encouraging.

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Prasid Banerjee

Trying to explain technology to my parents. Failing miserably. View Full Profile