OnePlus One officially announced. High-end specs at Mid-range price

OnePlus is a new smart phone maker which has just announced its first and only flagship device uncanningly called the OnePlus One. The new Chinese based company was founded by Pete Lau who was previously the Vice President at Oppo. Trying to make a difference in the smart phone industry, the company have been teasing their vision of their ultimate smart phone with a strong motto of “Never Settle”.

Now their OnePlus One flagship has been revealed with a sleek design which is almost similar to the recently announced Oppo Find 7. The front sports a clean look without any branding logo and has a discreet recessed bezel surrounding the glass that’s 0.07mm thick at the edges. It is pretty obvious that the Find 7 is their own home ground benchmark to beat but ultimately they are aspiring to complete with international players.

The One (not to be confused with the HTC One M8), comes with a 5.5″ Full HD display developed by JDI which pushes a pixel density of 400 ppi. Underneath, it runs on the current top of the line 2.5GHz Quad-Core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor with 3GB of RAM. Storage wise, it gets an option of either 16GB or a mammoth sized 64GB capacity. For imaging, the One is fitted with a 13MP Sony IMX214 sensor with a 6-element f/2.0 lens and a front facing 5MP camera, both of which is identical with the Oppo Find 7. The camera is capable of shooting 4K videos and its snappy enough to take pictures in just 0.3 seconds.

The back cover is removable but unfortunately its generous 3,100mAh battery is non-user replaceable. By default, it gets a standard Black and White colour options. For those who desire a unique look, there’s a variety of speciality covers including Bamboo, Wood, Denim and even Kevlar. Dimension wise, the OnePlus One is overall 8.9mm thick and it is 4.6mm at its thinnest point over at the edge. OnePlus has considered using premium materials such as stainless steel and aluminium but that resulted a heavier device which isn’t ideal to hold. Instead the One uses magnesium which brought down the weight to just 162 grams, making it one of the lightest 5.5″ smart phones available.

Out of the box, it will be running a customised version of CyanogenMod 11S on top of Android 4.4 KitKat. The interface is said to be simple and flat for a minimalistic feel. For audio, it boasts a JBL enhanced dual-stereo speakers but it is located at the bottom instead of facing to the front. Connectivity wise, it gets your typical Bluetooth 4.0, WiFi 802.11n/ac and also support for 4G LTE.

At the moment, the OnePlus One will only be available across 16 countries namely Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, UK and the USA. It is priced at just US$299 (about RM976) for the 16GB and US$349 for the 64GB (about RM1,139) model. Despite not having a QHD display, the price is incredible value which could shake up affordable performance brands like Xiaomi.

With a high-end offer at a low price, it definitely make newsworthy headlines. However OnePlus still has a long way to prove itself as a desirable smart phone maker beyond its specification and pricing. They will gain a lot of attention but it all depends on how soon they can fulfil international demand especially when the established players have gotten more foothold. For more information, head over to OnePlus One product page.

OnePlus One Video

OnePlus One Photos

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