I do not agree. 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 are all actually digs against them. The things that OP did right with the 5 are build materials, storage options and ... that might be the end of my list. I do not think it is a bad phone, by any means, but it is leading the industry at nothing and not improving on the things that are some of it's biggest issues (in my opinion, etc, etc):
1) Camera is still apparently way behind the devices it wants to call peers
2) dash charging is cool, but the device still doesn't support USB-PD
3) The obvious iPhone rip-off is not acceptable and they should know this
4) OxygenOS has SO much cool stuff about it, yet is still behind on being properly supported (see OP2) and is not getting security updates with enough regularity to believe they are taking it seriously
5) Over half of US consumers are still left in the cold by this device due to lack of support for Verizon & Sprint
6) 1080p display - I get the sales pitch, just don't agree with it
7) Front facing FPS - this is something I've always disliked (until they find a way to make it invisible and not associated with a navigation button), but I really believe it officially died this year when Samsung finally got rid of their FFPS. Get that button out of there!
8) Devices this year have things about them that make them different. This one doesn't, unless it's the price tag. Price tags do not increase the quality of phones, they increase the value. We need something that differentiates in a way that increases quality.
9) I can't figure out who their target audience is. Do they honestly intend to compete with the S8, G6, etc? Do they think this will compete with this year's iPhone? It seems to me to have more in common, from a design philosophy standpoint, with the Moto Z Play. Is that the target audience?
10) Excess RAM. RAM must be cheap; and in China, it's SUPER important to have as much as you can throw in there - that's a thing people pay attention to in that market. But we have devices that are incredibly smooth with far less - what are we trying to accomplish with more RAM? Is there a real need? Or is this a bandaid for something that should be actually solved, rather than covered up? Hard to know - but it is something that isn't an issue in several other devices, so why is it an issue here? Is it for futureproofing? Why? These phones aren't supported (see OP2).
Obliviously I haven't gotten to use one yet and I may amend this once I get a chance to. There's definitely a market for this thing, it's just not the mainstream flagship market and it's very difficult to determine exactly where they want to fit in, let alone where they actually ought to.
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