OnePlus 5: What you expect plus a whole lot more

For those in the know, OnePlus is definitely the company you turn to when you want a high-end flagship smartphone minus the high-end flagship smartphone price tag. Because of this marriage of performance, near-stock Android experience and good value OnePlus has amassed somewhat of a cult following for smartphone fans like you and I. And we all look forward to days like these, days where OnePlus reveals their next big flagship smartphone.

This year, it’s called the OnePlus 5 and OnePlus has set out to give us the one thing we really wanted in one of their flagship smartphones: A stunning camera experience. The best part? It also comes with a whole lot more awesomeness.

While good, OnePlus’ flagships were never class-leading in the camera department. Previous devices have had usable (and even good) camera experiences but they never stood a chance when compared to the likes of Samsung, Apple and more recently Huawei. This year, though, they’re hoping to change that and things look pretty promising.

The OnePlus 5 will feature a dual-camera setup that boasts some impressive specifications. It applies the principles of the iPhone 7 Plus and the Xiaomi Mi 6, utilising a telephoto lens and a regular wide angle lens. The regular lens is a 16-megapixel f/1.7 aperture shooter featuring a Sony IMX398 sensor while the telephoto is a 20-megapixel f/2.6 aperture unit.

OnePlus also made some major improvements to the software of the smartphone camera. This dual-camera setup allows the OnePlus 5 to both give some form of lossless zoom as well as the ability to shoot bokeh-fied portrait images. OnePlus also implements a new autofocusing technology to their flagship smartphone simply named Fast AF that calculates depth and has the phone focusing 40% faster than before.

OnePlus 5 also features the company’s new “Smart Capture” technology which, besides giving you better digital zoom and noise reduction, can recognise your scene and optimise the shot for you based on a database of over 1,000 different photos.

For those who want finer control, the smartphone also has a pro-mode which gives you manual controls like manual focusing, shutter speed adjustments, white balance and ISO. It also gives you access to a histogram! This new phone can also capture RAW images for more flexibility when editing in post.

OnePlus is also very proud of their smartphone’s new design. Similarities to the iPhone 7 Plus aside, they said that they’ve worked hard to create a design that’s beautiful and subtle. Thanks to the continuous hard edge that has be modeled after the “horizon line”, the OnePlus 5 is just 7.25mm thick. What’s more, they’ve also kept the 3.5mm headphone jack and alert slider and USB Type C port.

Besides that, its your usual bevy of OnePlus goodness. You’ve got a top-of-the-line Snapdragon 835 processor clocked at 2.45 GHz mated to 6GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 64GB of UFS 2.1 2-lane internal storage. For those who want the absolute last word in power can also opt for the higher spec variant that boasts a whopping 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 128GB of UFS 2.1 2-lane internal storage.

While internals have been boosted, the smartphone does still feature a 5.5-inch Full HD Optic AMOLED display, a front mounted fingerprint scanner, OxygenOS based on Android Nougat and a 16MP selfie shooter in front. Battery capacity is a little higher than the OnePlus 3 it succeeds, coming in at 3,300 mAh, but it is smaller than the OnePlus 3T’s 3,400 mAh cell. Still, it’s got a more efficient processor and support for Dash Charging (which OnePlus says will give you one day’s power in 30 minutes).

Keeping to OnePlus’ mantra of not focusing too much on specs, the OnePlus 5 does come bundled with some quality of life features. For example, the display now has an ambient sensor and a new dedicated reading mode. With it, the display can dynamically adjust its colour temperature (and even change everything to a grey scale) so that it matches the room you’re currently in. This makes reading on it more gentle on your eyes and you can even set the ambient sensor to trigger only when you’re in certain applications.

But that’s not all, OnePlus says that the new display has a dramatic improvement in input lag so actions on the phone feel smoother than they have. Add all that and other updated features like Bluetooth 5.0, NFC, an improved vibration motor and a single global version (that means support for 34 network bands across the globe).

Finally, is OnePlus’ biggest commitment of all: A willingness to listen to feedback from their fans and continuously improve their product as time goes on. Will they actually follow through? Who knows.

Right now, the OnePlus 5 is available in two different specifications:

OnePlus 5 (Slate Gray) — 6GB RAM/64GB storage — USD479 (around RM2,052)
OnePlus 5 (Midnight Black) — 8GB RAM/128GB storage — USD539 (around RM2,310)

Perhaps the biggest omission on OnePlus’ side is the lack of any form of water resistance which kind of sucks on a 2017 flagship smartphone. Still, that aside, the OnePlus 5 is shaping up to be a monster of a handset and we can’t wait to try it out for ourselves.

What do you guys think of the OnePlus 5? Let us know in the comments below!