Should we start being more critical of OnePlus?

D13H4RD2L1V3

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Well, the OnePlus 5 is here and the reviews were....rather mixed.

The OP5 continues its tradition of supreme hardware specs combined with a relatively affordable price tag for the relative hardware on offer. However, the device also has its share of criticisms, ranging from its camera to the 1080p PenTile display.

Some think it's fine while others think that these do not complement the increased price tag well, especially with the onslaught of deals with phones like the Galaxy S8.

Personally, I fall in the latter camp. I think we ought to start being slightly more critical. Here's why.

Every OnePlus flagship has creeped up in price over the last one. While the 128GB variant of the OP5 is $540, significantly cheaper than others with equivalent storage, the phone is already well past the $500 mark, and this is where we start to throw in offerings like the LG G6, HTC U11 and even the standard Galaxy S8 with deals in the case of that phone.

At that price point, any shortcoming is harder to look over, such as an okay-but-inconsistent camera and a display that, while fine, is nothing really that special.

If OnePlus is aiming to become a mainstream brand soon, I think we also need to look at the company from a different perspective.
 

Aquila

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These 10 things, when taken together, prevent the OP5 from being a flagship level competitor, at any price:

1) 1080p 5.5" display
2) front facing FPS
3) bad software
4) bad security
5) proprietary charging nonsense (the solution is good, but not compatible with existing standards)
6) doesn't work for over half of the US market
7) camera still sub-par compared to the competition
8) the design needs an update, definitely shy away from plagiarism
9) there are no unique features that make it stand out from the competition
10) people seem to want water resistance ratings in flagships
 

Golfdriver97

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While it does seem to be a good phone for the price point, I am inclined to agree that the standard that OP is held to need to be brought to a higher level.
 
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I agree with you op, I lean towards being slightly critical. Someone said that OnePlus went from being a flagship killer to now just a flagship. And really, a welfare flagship at that. I really liked this phone at $400 doing what it did. Now at over $500, it needs to step up that screen or add in some features. That is just my opinion anyhow.
 

D13H4RD2L1V3

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I agree with you op, I lean towards being slightly critical. Someone said that OnePlus went from being a flagship killer to now just a flagship. And really, a welfare flagship at that. I really liked this phone at $400 doing what it did. Now at over $500, it needs to step up that screen or add in some features. That is just my opinion anyhow.
That's how I feel.

At a higher price point, expectations will be higher. They can't just sit and slap on 1080p displays or solid-but-nothing else cameras. They have to go above and beyond at some point if they want to keep charging more for their devices progressively.
 

fuzzylumpkin

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These 10 things, when taken together, prevent the OP5 from being a flagship level competitor, at any price:

1) 1080p 5.5" display
2) front facing FPS
3) bad software
4) bad security
5) proprietary charging nonsense (the solution is good, but not compatible with existing standards)
6) doesn't work for over half of the US market
7) camera still sub-par compared to the competition
8) the design needs an update, definitely shy away from plagiarism
9) there are no unique features that make it stand out from the competition
10) people seem to want water resistance ratings in flagships

Some of those are definitely arguable, but points 2-5 are just nonsense.

And number 6 is... Well, I'm sure it's a problem for American on Verizon, but it's a joke to the rest of us, why should we care? Kill CDMA off already.
 
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I want to just interject real quick and say that I too agree that the placement of fingerprint reader is fine and not an issue. And the software is fine too. Oxygen is my favorite take of an enhanced stock android UI. It's really good.
 

fuzzylumpkin

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Well they are meant to be taken as a package of all ten things together, but I am curious why you think any of those are nonsense. Could you explain please?

Some of them are personal preference, like the front fingerprint sensor, and others just aren't true, at least to my knowledge.

Bad software? In what way? It's some of the best on android.

Bad security? In what way? As far as I'm aware, it's as secure as any phone (with the possibly exception of the Pixel). And you can't unlock it with a photo. Cite a source if you know different.

I'd prefer that the charging tech used be the slower USB-PD compliant system, but that has to be held against everyone. Qualcomm quick charge for example causes way more problems and is slower and hotter.
 

Aquila

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Some of them are personal preference, like the front fingerprint sensor, and others just aren't true, at least to my knowledge.

Bad software? In what way? It's some of the best on android.

Bad security? In what way? As far as I'm aware, it's as secure as any phone (with the possibly exception of the Pixel). And you can't unlock it with a photo. Cite a source if you know different.

I'd prefer that the charging tech used be the slower USB-PD compliant system, but that has to be held against everyone. Qualcomm quick charge for example causes way more problems and is slower and hotter.
For the charging system, I really like what they've done however I can't give it a pass because it isn't compliant with the other standards. If they could have spent the last year figuring out a way to still give their benefit while also supporting power delivery Etc then we'd be totally good.

Bad software comes up due to lack of support for seamless updates, late firmware updates, abandoning the OnePlus 2. Reviews of the OnePlus 5 have indicated that there are still some bugs and stuttering throughout the OS, however it's not clear on if they're saying it's worse than other devices or just that they exist. This is going to be something that needs to wait until we can actually use the device to figure it out. For me the benefit of the doubt does not go to OnePlus because of Prior Generations.

For security I listed it as poor because of the inconsistent support for monthly updates and the lack of a commitment from the company to support monthly security bulletins within 24 hours of them being made available for public release.

The fingerprint scanner is definitely subjective as far as where users want to use it, however I am going after it for a different reason which is one of design. It is in my opinion not okay to still be releasing devices with capacitive buttons. For 2015 devices I was willing to give the front-facing fingerprint scanner a pass if it was the home button and the other two buttons were on the bezel next to it. In 2016 that seemed to be the direction that many wanted to go with it and I do believe that fingerprint scanners are going to come back to the front as companies learn to put it below the display. For a 2017 device a front-facing fingerprint scanner is just outdated. But that's just my opinion. The second thing about the fingerprint scanner though is that the OnePlus still has both software and capacitive keys available to the user. In my opinion this is a mistake and OnePlus should choose one or the other and go all in with it and adjust the design of the face of their device accordingly.

But again all of these things are meant to be taking as these ten things together and not as a list of individual things about it.
 

D13H4RD2L1V3

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The second thing about the fingerprint scanner though is that the OnePlus still has both software and capacitive keys available to the user. In my opinion this is a mistake and OnePlus should choose one or the other and go all in with it and adjust the design of the face of their device accordingly.
I personally like having the choice.
 

LeKeiser

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I have to disagree with the OP.
I bought the first O+ years ago. Was very very happy with it. The price was perfect. The specs awesome. And the community was growing strong.
I decided to change and got an Axon 7 on a geek day.
I was very very happy with the A7 too. Great great display, quad hd. Great great sound, the speakers are really fantastic. Good autonomy as well. But it's weird, not as fast as the O+. Some lags here and there. I still wonder why...
And then, got the opportunity to get the O+5 yesterday, in Paris. Waited hours in the line, thought it was a good thing, like an adventure ;)
And I got it, I finally was able to put my hand on the device :)
So yeah, it's not a quad HD display. Yeah, the speaker is not great, far from it. Yeah, it's DashCharge, proprietary, need the special charger and the cable as well, or it won't work...
So yeah, maybe the design is not that different from the other phones. So what? It's not the design that makes a phone a good one. It's how you use it day to day.

But what a device! It's so fast! Can't believe how fast it is. I can't see any lag, even with many applications in the background. Why? Because the components are top notch. High quality. The 8GB RAM are the fastest, no other phone has such RAM, if I'm not mistaken. OnePlus put everything in that phone so that it would be the fastest. The fastest with the fastest CPU. Oxygen OS is great too. No bloatware, very close to the Android stock. There are many tweaks available. It's an open phone :)
And the OnePlus community is still there, lots of help everywhere. There is always a solution to any problem.

I'm a fan of OnePlus since day one. But I'm not a fan boy :)
Never Settle, right? Well, fits the O+5 :)
 

Aquila

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I'm a fan of OnePlus since day one. But I'm not a fan boy :)
Never Settle, right? Well, fits the O+5 :)

The "Never Settle" thing is one of my biggest issues, because to me it means no compromises, yet the device compromises left and right all over the place. I get it's a marketing term, but since it's untrue, it's just annoying. They definitely are a good bang for your buck, so long as the S8 and others like it aren't on sale.
 

Trigati

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For security I listed it as poor because of the inconsistent support for monthly updates and the lack of a commitment from the company to support monthly security bulletins within 24 hours of them being made available for public release.

Other than Google, what other company has this magical 24 hour release?
 

Aquila

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Other than Google, what other company has this magical 24 hour release?

TCL's BlackBerry devices are still doing it; several companies will get some of their phones done within that period but they all get strikes because it's not all of their devices.
 

LeKeiser

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The "Never Settle" thing is one of my biggest issues, because to me it means no compromises, yet the device compromises left and right all over the place. I get it's a marketing term, but since it's untrue, it's just annoying. They definitely are a good bang for your buck, so long as the S8 and others like it aren't on sale.

Where does OnePlus compromise?
The display? Like I said, I have a QHD phone next to the O+5 and I can't tell the difference. If I don't tell any of my friends, they wouldn't know either where is the QHD. And they are not blind :)
Maybe the speaker... But it's not that bad, and the other phones more expensive have the same kind of speakers...
Where is the compromise? Real question, mind me :)
 

fuzzylumpkin

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The "Never Settle" thing is one of my biggest issues, because to me it means no compromises, yet the device compromises left and right all over the place. I get it's a marketing term, but since it's untrue, it's just annoying. They definitely are a good bang for your buck, so long as the S8 and others like it aren't on sale.

It's marketing. It's just as meaningless as all other marketing nonsense.

Try not to be too taken in by the stuff.
 

Aquila

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Where does OnePlus compromise?
The display? Like I said, I have a QHD phone next to the O+5 and I can't tell the difference. If I don't tell any of my friends, they wouldn't know either where is the QHD. And they are not blind :)
Maybe the speaker... But it's not that bad, and the other phones more expensive have the same kind of speakers...
Where is the compromise? Real question, mind me :)

It's the list of stuff way up there ^^ IMO anyways. 1, 4, 6 & 10 are the most objective.
 

coase

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I think that criticisms to make OP5 match everyone at the top of their game will keep them pushing prices up. It's inevitable that they wouldn't be able to produce Samsung matching quality for $299. The issue is where they compromise. I think the current tradeoff is just about right.

But I fear that people will keep asking for more. I accept that there's some hype. Isn't there always?

But from this point, they can stick to their guns and hold to this price gap in the future OR cave in to try to be the best at close to full price. If so, I think it'll be their doom. If they lower price too much, there won't be enough features for people. So I really hope they stick to this level of tradeoffs -- perhaps by offering different variants at the same price so that different customers can be satisfied.

But a much higher price, even if some features -- such as waterproofing and a better screen -- were also provided would be death to their ability to be a value brand.
 

LeKeiser

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It's the list of stuff way up there ^^ IMO anyways. 1, 4, 6 & 10 are the most objective.

1) 1080p 5.5" display
Like I said, the display is great. I don't see a difference between my A7 display and my O+5. Not kidding. OnePlus has done a great job working on that display.

4) bad security
I don't know, I can't tell if the other phones, the Galaxy S8, the Xiaomi, the... don't know if they have better security...
but if you want security, BB is the way to go. But it's not a competitive phone...


6) doesn't work for over half of the US market
I live in France, the O+5 has all the frequencies I need, so... n

10) people seem to want water resistance ratings in flagships
never dropped my phones in water... Well, I don't take my phone in my shower, I don't go to the beach, I don't use it to wash my dishes, ... So I don't really care about it being water resistant.
But it seems it is actually. Not a great deal, OnePlus didn't want to advertise it, but:

Le OnePlus 5 obtiendrait l’indice de protection IP 67 s’il passait la certification.
The OnePlus 5 would get the protection rating IP 67 if it passed the certification.

Exclusif : le OnePlus 5 est officieusement étanche - FrAndroid