Should we start being more critical of OnePlus?

[Aquila]

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

Sounds like the device would be great for you

 

[anon(10244250)]

Sounds like the device would be great for you

Exactly. If this phone checks all the marks for someone, then that is great, you found a phone for you. And really that is all that matters.

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.

Either I have fantastic eyesight or you have worse, but when I had a 3T, I used it against the Axon 7, and I absolutely could see the difference.

 

[Eggmundo]

What are the complaints people have WRT the display? What is this PenTile stuff?

 

[fuzzylumpkin]

What are the complaints people have WRT the display? What is this PenTile stuff?

It's a subpixel arrangement used by Samsung.

Basically each pixel is composed of 1 blue 2 red and 2 green subpixels, hence the name.

Apparently it really bothers some people... If you're not one of them, just don't think about it, it doesn't matter.

 

[Aquila]

It's a subpixel arrangement used by Samsung.

Basically each pixel is composed of 1 blue 2 red and 2 green subpixels, hence the name.

Apparently it really bothers some people... If you're not one of them, just don't think about it, it doesn't matter.

You're right most people don't care. Pentile isn't a problem by itself, it only is below a high DPI level and the OP is so close that we mostly should not care.

 

[D13H4RD2L1V3]

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

I agree with many of your viewpoints.

However, it's not really to do with the phone itself. It's to do with how OnePlus aims to position themselves in the future.

The OP5 is proving to be a solid device for its price tag with some merits, such as performance (although I doubt the speed is due to the extra RAM, but more to do with less software cruft) and wicked fast charging. However, it is up in the $500 price delta, significantly more than past 1+ devices.

Some of its shortcomings can be readily ignored at a sub-$400 price tag because we're still getting a humongously great deal. But past $500 and maybe even reaching $600, these shortcomings are going to be less forgivable.

I honestly think we should stop treating OnePlus like the bursting disruptor it used to be and more like a mainstream device OEM, as they seem to be slowly becoming.

I like OnePlus for what they did to help redefine what an affordable device should mean, carrying the torch from the Nexus 4 and Nexus 5. However, if OnePlus aims to one day charge premium prices, then it needs to go above and beyond what they've done in the past. Big specs aren't enough.

 

[m3lover1]

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.

Agree. Knocking it for front fps is a bit silly, considering it is personal preference and not objective. Some might not care, some prefers one or the other, so can't fault OnePlus for that. And having the choice of both capacitative and software nav buttons? I definitely don't see that as a bad thing. Having the ability to choose between the two is great. If you're going to place the fps on the front, there will be space to the left and right on the bottom bezel. Why not utilize that space for cap buttons? I understand if they put the fps on the back, then I would argue to not have the cap buttons in order to make the lower bezels as small as possible, but that's not the case here.

And in terms of software, I loved it when I had the OP3. And I've read nothing but good reviews about their near stock software, with some UI customizations available to the user. Plus, OnePlus stepped up their game with updates, with frequent betas, stable updates. Don't see a problem with that.

 

[Golfdriver97]

carrying the torch from the Nexus 4 and Nexus 5.

OnePlus pretty much started on this premise. You can still have a good phone for a low cost.

 

[D13H4RD2L1V3]

OnePlus pretty much started on this premise. You can still have a good phone for a low cost.

Yep, and a lot of others are following on it.

It's just a shame that OnePlus isn't playing in that same ballpark in the way they used to.

 

[digitalbreak]

Using it for a day and I hardly have anything to complain except these:

- The screen is hard to use in direct sunlight
- Need to test low light photos

But the rest - OnePlus 5 certainly delivers. I am not sure why everyone is so picky to bring up something or other to argue. The camera shots, so far in daylight are coming out great. Performance is top notch and OxygenOS rocks with its customization options.

 

[D13H4RD2L1V3]

Using it for a day and I hardly have anything to complain except these:

- The screen is hard to use in direct sunlight
- Need to test low light photos

But the rest - OnePlus 5 certainly delivers. I am not sure why everyone is so picky to bring up something or other to argue. The camera shots, so far in daylight are coming out great. Performance is top notch and OxygenOS rocks with its customization options.

More to do with the price and relative hype.

It's a good phone, I'll give you that, but at sub-$500, its shortcomings are somewhat less forgivable.

$400, I can easily forget them. $500 and more, ehh.

I also tend to be picky, so even small flaws tend to be obvious to me.

As for the camera, it's not that it's bad. On daylight, you can definitely get some nice shots. Issue I kept seeing is somewhat inconsistent lowlight performance and the secondary camera seems to not be very good in lowlight and even parts of daylight. Bummer. Kinda wished they did a Huawei but that's just me.

Again, it's a good camera. Just not as good as it was hyped to me.

 

[mgbosshogg]

Back to the OP,

I am in the more than critical camp.

I was ready to buy one. Being an ex OPO, OP3 owner and my wife having a T as her daily.
OnePlus got it completely wrong as far as I care.

Shocking design, many key features missing and that price.
The price and hype means they get held to a higher standard now.
For months the OP forum has been awash with one sentiment - get the price right.
Here in the UK I'm just not willing to pay £450+ for a dated looking device with questionable customer service and support.

So, I'm out. After trying a few devices out, I never settled and ended up with a S8. After years of using and hating touchwiz, it's a revelation.

 

[codeda]

All phones cost more this year. Parts and chips are costing more, so they have to match. I think for 480 you're getting a great deal still. Think about the new moto z2 play for 499. I do think it's unfortunate it launched the same time Samsung was having a deal (I grabbed the unlocked gs8 for 465 after tax) but if they hadn't, my plan was to grab the OP5. Still will in a few months probably because I switch often.

 

[mgbosshogg]

All phones cost more this year. Parts and chips are costing more, so they have to match. I think for 480 you're getting a great deal still. Think about the new moto z play for 499. I do think it's unfortunate it launched the same time Samsung was having a deal (I grabbed the gs8 for 465 after tax) but if they hadn't, my plan was to grab the OP5. Still will in a few months probably because I switch often.

Snap. Quite often run 2 devices at one time. Will see what the second market is like on the OP5 in a little bit.
Was planning on buying a new 5 but got a great deal on the S8 the week after release. Had the chance to try the G6 for a weekend the same week. Again it's price dependant, but not in same league as the 8.

 

[Eggmundo]

Where is this S8 deal and how/why did they slash the price in half all of a sudden?

 

[mgbosshogg]

Where is this S8 deal and how/why did they slash the price in half all of a sudden?

Samsung.com in the states.

Not sure if the G6 buy one get one free is still on though.
Know a few colleagues that took it up a month or so ago.

NB S8 still £689 in UK from Samsung.

 

[Eggmundo]

We seem never to get these great deals in the UK.

 

[Morty2264]

I still think the OnePlus 5 is really good. I think that any phone will always have room for improvement, especially mid-range phones that very often pick from flagship specs to decide which ones they will indeed incorporate. They can't incorporate everything at a mid-range price bracket. However, I do see the general point here that since this specific iteration is priced higher than the others, that it should indeed incorporate some higher end specs like waterproofing, etc.

 

[j4ee]

More to do with the price and relative hype.

It's a good phone, I'll give you that, but at sub-$500, its shortcomings are somewhat less forgivable.

$400, I can easily forget them. $500 and more, ehh.

I also tend to be picky, so even small flaws tend to be obvious to me.

As for the camera, it's not that it's bad. On daylight, you can definitely get some nice shots. Issue I kept seeing is somewhat inconsistent lowlight performance and the secondary camera seems to not be very good in lowlight and even parts of daylight. Bummer. Kinda wished they did a Huawei but that's just me.

Again, it's a good camera. Just not as good as it was hyped to me.

In my city, U Ultra is same price as OP5 cheap version. U Ultra camera definitely destroys OP5.

 

[torbach1]

So, I'm out. After trying a few devices out, I never settled and ended up with a S8. After years of using and hating touchwiz, it's a revelation.

I've got the S8+, and have had it since the day it launched. It is a fantastic phone in so many ways. I agree that Samsung has come a very long way with their software. I actually like most of their stock apps like their browser over Chrome, their calendar and Contacts over Google's etc.

But one thing that still bugs me a lot is the S8+ real world performance. The OP3T is so much quicker, let alone the OP5, and it's 6GB RAM make a huge difference in terms of keeping apps in memory. 8GB probably doesn't add anything beyond that. So as much as I love the S8+, I'm going to try the OP5. Speed is not everything, and to many and probably most people, the S8+ is more than quick enough. But over time if you're a heavy user, it makes a difference. If you want to see just how much quicker the OP5 is than the S7, check out this video comparison https://youtu.be/jO0kuUXpaPA