Gadgetory

we are merely days away from the official launch of the oneplus 2 and though we're all excited to finally see in action we thought it would be good to revisit the oneplus one especially since it was my daily driver for a time when this one was first released it was considered and called the flagship killer but that was then and this is the oneplus one now much of what made the oneplus one so appealing when it first came out was its price for high-end specifications and 64 gigabytes of storage $350 was considered an absolute steal when the one was first announced and for the most part it continues to be the many units we see out in the wild attest to this as the oneplus one became the phone for the savvy Internet user mind you not always the phone geek but mainly the people who at least knew how to seek out the best bang for buck in the market the invite system was of course a big source of frustration for users as the barrier of entry was pretty stacked either you want an invite or we're lucky enough to have a friend who was lucky enough to have a few to spare this isn't an issue anymore with the one now available for a discounted price and for immediate purchase sure it can be argued that both of these otherwise positive moves are too little too late in the eve of the new oneplus device but at now 299 dollars we do think that the one remains one of the most compelling inexpensive offerings available now now my personal device which was bought not long after the full review was released has held up pretty well there are some scuffs on the sides because I dropped it a couple of times but really nothing too drastic has happened to it and while sandstone black was a great material choice and really differentiated the device I just couldn't resist when the bamboo backing was made available and the bamboo backing was made available for a pretty nominal price but it still required invites in order to get one now it might be a running joke with oneplus these days to talk about invites and sort of laugh about it but it really did become kind of tiresome especially for us normally users but that said the refresh in look for my oneplus one was very welcomed and the story has actually been kind of similar for all the parts underneath everything from the display to the performance has been solid providing exactly what a high-end smartphone of 2014 was expected to I still play some intensive games enjoy plenty of media on the 5.5 1080p display and get some good shots with the 13 megapixel camera though the performance and viewing experience don't fall behind by much it's in the camera that I found myself wanting a bit more and the current new flagships have brought a sort of great revolution in this regard so the one definitely feels a little bit dated especially here but one of the biggest gripes of today's high-end market is pretty much blown away by the oneplus that's 64 gigabytes of storage that you get for such an easy price makes up for most of the shortcomings that this phone might actually have and the software by cyanogen has since been updated to 12s based on lollipop and it's a worthwhile upgrade that brings all that sandwich and mod fans Pyne over some real customization tools the same gestures as before and every little feature originally afforded the one with material design making it all look better oxygen OS though was born from the ashes of oneplus his relationship with cyanogen and it was an alternative that turned into a necessity and it got off to a pretty decent start but not only is it based on an earlier version of lollipop it is also about as stock and Android build as it can get which is both a good and bad thing because stock is always great but oxygen still feels like it has a way to go to really differentiate itself from the pack which kind of brings me into what I think makes the oneplus one still relevant even until today the Snapdragon 801 that's found in here is obviously not going to be as fast as the 808 or the a-10 that we're going to see in future devices but I would argue that back when this one first came out it provided a benchmark to what an inexpensive device should feel like and now today we have a bunch of those whether or not they're powered by the Snapdragon 615 or they have a lot of software optimizations you can get a pretty reliable device for some $400 sometimes even sub $300 and I would argue that to be oneplus one while they did not start this trend definitely shined a bright light upon it and now because the oneplus one specifications pale in comparison to this year's new high-end flagships considering the one as part of the inexpensive but reliable smartphone tier feels best and there's always a market for these kinds of phones the oneplus one won't win any contest against the Samsung Galaxy s6 or the LG g4 but that's the job of the 1+2 whose new oxygen OS and supposedly different but still disheartening somewhat invite system will undoubtedly pose some challenges for it instead the oneplus one can be best considered the phone you get when you need to save some money but you can be certain still that the phone you get will perform to a daily standard sure it has had its share of controversy but when taken in a vacuum the oneplus one mostly continues to succeed at what it was meant to providing a great smartphone experience without breaking the bank so you might be able to snag one right now and I would almost recommend that you do so if you've waited until now because we never know what's going to happen to this phone once the oneplus 2 comes into existence for all we know the oneplus one might fade into obscurity but we certainly hope that it won't because even if it's not the flagship killer anymore at the very least it can stick around and become the affordable phone killer instead as always thank you guys very much for watching I hope you enjoyed this look at the oneplus one now I still think it's a very compelling device especially at its current price point and the fact that you don't need invites to get it anymore if the oneplus 2 is going to dominate the high-end market like it hopes to then the oneplus one can probably dominate everywhere else because it can come out on top over the other inexpensive phones that might still come at a higher price point than the 299 that you need just to get the one and even then the specifications on here are even better than some of those somewhat more expensive budget devices so it's kind of a no-brainer when you think about it the oneplus one is also a phone that I bought for people in my life because the entry point into a good Android experience has been very low and oneplus is the company that has pioneered that but we are still excited for the oneplus 2 and we're only days away from its launch so make sure you keep it to two Android authority for all of the best coverage including the coverage I will have of the oneplus 2 when it finally came up makes it into my hands and then even more after that because we are your source for all things Android