Gadgetory

the sophomore released by 1 plus tries to continue the viral momentum of the first animated splash right off the bat announced through a full VR presentation this new phone sports some very forward-thinking features while coming in at a pretty respectable price point but is it all worth the hype this is Joshua Vergara from Android authority what's going on everybody and this is the oneplus 2 a metal frame adorned with the number of new features updates the oneplus formula 2 pretty good effect metallic material automatically makes for a more premium looking and feeling device over the original oneplus one and despite the same size in the screen from before the oneplus 2 has a slightly smaller overall footprint that makes it feel that little bit better in the handling department but the buttons get updated as well with the power button on the right under the volume rockers this change was to accommodate the new input on the left the alert slider the front of the device is still 5.5 inches in the display but now has a divot on the bottom that is for the capacitive home key and the fingerprint sensor this is a press type that is always firing and will go over the fingerprint reading in a little bit the capacitive keys here are all lines at the bottom but are designated with lines now which is a nice touch the backing of the oneplus 2 retains the sandstone black material which we liked in the original because it really established oneplus is style it still feels a little bit like sandpaper but still provides a good grip some might not take to this material but at least it is easy to replace the back cover pops off and can be replaced by any of the available style swap covers and finally the USB type-c port on the bottom is flanked by speaker grilles we will get more into this in the hardware section as well but having a reversible plug in port here has already proven to be a subtle but still welcome change overall this is a really premium feeling device especially when compared to its predecessor up against the rest of the competition oneplus has done a pretty great job of really keeping their design language unique and distinct there have been really no problems in handling which is a big plus for this 5.5 inch display a 5.5 inch display keeps the oneplus 2 within current smartphone standards but in reality standard is probably the best word used to describe the two after all the 1080p resolution screen doesn't quite live up to the quad HD performers of flagships from other companies but that isn't to say that the oneplus 2 doesn't do well in fact it is a great display writer overall and sporting a somewhat higher color saturation it really looks great in pretty much any situation the IPS brightness might have been bumped up that little bit too much though as colors start to get a little blown out when turned up all the way this isn't something we did often though and the boost does help in broad daylight viewing that said the 1+2 display managed to be every bit as good as we hoped it would be though the quad HD resolution could have further put this phone in the realm of flagship killer this display is every bit as good if not better then the rest of the full HD displays out there the real upgrade in the two happens under the hood and after the phone powers up the Snapdragon 810 returns again in the oneplus 2 it really brings the power octa-core power is backed up by the audrina 434 graphics and 4 gigabytes of RAM for the 64 gigabyte version of the phone just about everything about this spec sheet screams power and the 4 gigabytes of RAM really helped make the Spartan oxygen OS fly so for the most part that was definitely the case the power of the processor is hardly in question as oxygen OS is seemingly more to blame for a number of bugs and a few crashes that have occurred in our usage still everything from browsing to work to gaming has been a treat with a highlight being minimal slowdown and basically any game that we threw at it but overall speed through daily tasks was never in question and with oxygen continually getting the updates that it will need we're sure that it will be every bit as stable as it is pretty fast in hardware it's all about new features and there are a few main ones to mention here let's start with the one we already talked about the fingerprint reader and the capacitive home button underneath now setting up the reader is a pretty familiar procedure and after that it's possible to just rest a finger on the reader even when the screen is off and the always firing sensor will unlock the phone in no time it's a great way to use a fingerprint reader when it works now my issue with it was hitting the actual area properly though I definitely don't think this is a problem with the phone itself I did have some trouble triggering the fingerprint reader and even the home button underneath consistently the best way for me to do it was to cover the whole area with my thumb and press down fairly hard until I finally felt that short vibration now moving to the sides the alert slider is the new easy way of basically silencing the phone the textured feel of the slider is easy to feel for when the phone is on a table or in the pocket those sliding up on the phone silences it which feels a little bit odd doing so it takes really no effort popping off the back cover reveals a dual SIM card tray which is somewhat four into Western users while it is possible to cater calls texts and/or data to either card inserted this feature might be best used for travel to round out the hardware editions we have the new USB charging port which means a whole new cord the new standard will always take a little bit of time to get used to but thankfully oneplus is making this flat red cable available at a very low price so if nothing else oneplus is helping to make USB type-c a real reality but their implementation comes with some sacrifices mainly in fast charging the battery in the oneplus 2 is of a good capacity 3300 milliamp hours and with the right low brightness settings and some due diligence I actually got some of the best screen on time I've seen in a while but when it came to plugging in 1 + missed the mark a little bit charging time took around 2 hours to go from 0 to 200 which isn't terrible but simply pales in comparison to any fast charging solutions out there and without wireless charging plugging in feels a little bit like a chore now despite the Snapdragon 810 having fast charging capabilities they simply aren't taken advantage of in the oneplus 2 and it really could have been a poster child for the future of this new standard and then of course there's the part that all of you have talked about already the lack of NFC in the oneplus 2 now this is a big deal not just because the oneplus 2 won't be able to take advantage of any of the pay services that are coming out it's also a big bummer because any of us who use NFC enabled audio peripherals just simply won't be able to use this phone with them speaking of audio the speaker set up on the bottom of the device just gets the job done attempting to go the extra mile with the Mac's audio enhancements when using the built-in speakers any changes in the application basically just make it louder but not too much body getting added in even when blasting the low ends the enhancements are better felt with headphones as the different modes for music movie and game can be used appropriately it seems that game blasts the audio movie goes for a lower volume or trying to emphasize higher ends for dialogue and music can be somewhere in the middle depending on your settings personally I just pumped the bass and be done with it so obviously the section with the most to talk about in the 1+2 is hardware and while all these new features are surely welcomed and in a lot of ways forward-thinking their actual execution can be somewhat uneven and now the camera one of the most important aspects for the oneplus 2 to really try and need flagship standards the 13 megapixel shooter from before returns here backed by a 5 megapixel front facing units the main additions are to the back camera however which now has laser autofocus and optical image stabilization the app is really simple which is par for the course in oxygen OS but future updates will bring manual controls and further control over the settings but nonetheless modes include panorama 4k video recording slow motion at 720p resolution and even a time-lapse function somewhat similar to the iOS iteration my main gripe with it was in changing modes swiping up and down on the viewfinder worked fine until getting to panorama which always goes to portrait orientation and the need to change position was something I never really got used to and to that point the speed of the app itself is kind of average getting shots off wasn't a problem in the beginning but slowly we notice the amount of time the oneplus 2 needed to create the JPEG and to that end the picture quality is decent maybe sometimes above-average but mainly bogged down by again uneven execution in the new features the laser auto focus needs to be triggered better by the app which doesn't get proper focus upon launch spot focusing and metering are always required right off the bat rather than an automatic focus on a subject that could plainly just be in the middle oh yes is always a welcome addition but it can really only do so much the camera app ops for really slow shutter speeds in lower light situations and when those speeds are slow enough all the stabilization in the world won't be able to deal with that movement just like with the oneplus one really steady hands are required just about all the time when all the pieces really come together though pictures do have a pretty good level of saturation without looking doctored and details are captured really well what we did like was HDR which did a good job of really making photos pop sure it might look a little bit like a filter on the picture but even exposure and a bump up in saturation can often be pleasing to the eye you just have to be diligent with the spot focusing and to ensure you actually have the right levels in both definitely a place that oneplus needs to improve on in futuro TAS wherever possible now I don't think the oneplus 2 is a bad camera companion to have on the daily but it feels to really kill flagships due to an app that doesn't fully leverage all of the tools it has available and finally in software we have oxygen OS a very Spartan version of Android really much of what you see on the surface will look very familiar this is basically a Google now launcher with some customization built in and more to play with when you dig deeper so aside from the notification drop-down in quick settings that can be moved around the new software features are found within the settings there's the dark mode which is a mode that makes all brighter portions of the interface dark it sounds simple but it is actually a pretty great tweak to use when in lower light environments like in bed it actually is quite nice though so we wouldn't fault anyone for keeping it on especially after picking a custom accent color for a further customized look app permissions come to oxygen before the new Android M release and the lower majority of users might not dive into this page the ability to see what certain applications have access to what and then possibly be able to turn them off won't please anyone that wants that extra peace of mind aside from that there are features we've seen before on screen nav buttons are still available and gestures on the turned off screen can still be used to access the camera flashlight or the phone itself now the most obvious addition to this otherwise very stock version of Android is the shelf which essentially replaces Google now on the left of the home screens though at first glance it looks like an HTC Sense home widget with frequent apps frequent contacts and a user-defined cover up top this page can actually house any and all widgets for safekeeping my personal setup put productivity widgets here which was actually pretty great and freed up the home screens now all of the widgets will be put in cards however so there might be a lot of free space around any widgets that aren't 4 cells wide or at least a few cells high perhaps in future versions oxygen will look more different than just take on a stock Android look until then it's a somewhat customizable OS that feels more familiar than anything else yes the oneplus 2 requires an invite to purchase which will always sour most people but at least the company has been taking measures to ensure their stock will meet the demand and that said the demand is even higher for this phone compared to the original and the price for a premium feeling device with a slew of new features can explain that 16 gigabyte models come in at 3:29 while the 64 gigabyte version will be at 389 and with all that we've experienced with the oneplus 2 we've come to one simple conclusion this is a flagship device through and through but it will be killing any other really high-end devices anytime soon we can't fault oneplus for keeping the features in line with the price points but calling the oneplus 2 a flagship killer feels like a stretch this year the oneplus one was born of a different era when quad HD and overachieving cameras were yet to become reality now when the current high-end market oneplus has simply to meet the standard and hope it remains the viral power it was last year whether or not it truly succeeds depends on your needs but we will say this the oneplus 2 is an incredibly solid device that is marred by inconsistent execution in the areas that are really needed to succeed it just missed the mark mainly in camera and bugs in the operating system but supposedly these can be helped by future updates that oneplus has already promised to roll out nonetheless we do think the oneplus 2 deserves to be among the best even if its impact is not quite as huge as it was last year as always thank you guys very much for watching and I hope you enjoyed this review of the oneplus 2 it's basically like the oneplus one got a real premium upgrade think about cars for a second think of the oneplus one as the stock car and then after that you put a sport and performance package on this thing and that's pretty much what you get in the oneplus 2 that's kind of the best way to describe it because even though it does deserve to be called a flagship it's not really killing any other flagships in the market that being said however it is a great device and you just might find that the oneplus 2 is one of the better choices for you especially with its better unlocked price point than many of the other ones that being said however keep it tuned to you for all of the best coverage from Android Authority make sure to check out some other content from my brothers and sister 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