Review: OnePlus 5

I have two phones. Before, it was a Nexus 6P and a Nexus 5X—one on China Mobile, one on China Unicom. Right now the Unicom one is Sony’s XZP, so for the Mobile line I picked the OnePlus 5.

OnePlus 5:

• OxygenOS leans stock.
• Snapdragon 835—honestly, at this point if it’s not a Snapdragon 835 I don’t even want to use it.
• Chinese full-network support, plus warranty. Supposedly the warranty service is good.
• Build quality is solid. I watched that foreigner’s bend test video—the OnePlus 5’s materials are impressive. Then again, OnePlus has always been a spec-stacking factory.

The OnePlus 5 still meets my few requirements for a phone—except the screen… but since it’s a secondary phone I don’t care about the screen. So I bought it.

A small hiccup: during the flash sale, the official site’s captcha screwed me over. The first time there were no instructions—turns out you only enter the letters from the captcha. Damn…

The second time I bought it straight from JD. Seems like this phone is “really on flash sale”—let’s not call it monkey business just yet.

After getting it, here are my impressions.

1. It looks like an iPhone 7. That’s true, but not a big deal—I mainly use the phone for the system.

2. First thing I did was flash OxygenOS. Truly stock—even lighter than stock. Half the Google apps are gone. Count that as a good thing? You can reinstall what you need.

3. The default OxygenOS launcher completely copies Pixel Launcher—actually, it’s a bit better than the Pixel one.

4. Snapdragon 835: performance explodes, battery life explodes. Playing Honor of Kings, I can see 60 fps, zero heat, long battery life, screen-on time up to 6 hours. Strong. Unbeatable.

5. The screen is 1080p—the legendary “eye-burning screen.” Is it actually eye-burning? Bullshit. People who say that are just following the crowd and definitely haven’t used a Moto X screen. Default colors lean blue; after adjusting the Apple DCP or whatever color gamut, it’s completely proper under a colorimeter. No problem.

6. The screen has a jelly effect. But I only noticed after someone pointed it out—wouldn’t have found it otherwise. And the iPad has it too. Enjoy, Apple fans.

7. Photos are way better than Sony’s. The built-in HQ mode is a notch above Sony. Sony’s smearing looks like shit—photos from the OnePlus 5 are much clearer.

8. 1080p AMOLED—finer detail than Sony’s 4K. Sony’s is 4K, sure, but you can still see grain. I don’t know why ?. Maybe not enough faith?

9. There’s an official silicone case imitating Apple’s—recommended, better than the one in the default bundle. Red and black colorway, flashy, unbeatable.

10. Personally I suggest the 64+6GB model. You don’t need 128+8GB, really.

11. 2999 yuan isn’t expensive. Just the Snapdragon 835 makes it worth buying. As for Xiaomi? You like MIUI? Or are you willing to pay more? Some say OnePlus’s system is crippled—sorry, stock Android is a plus for me, the biggest buying factor. I dislike anything non-stock.

12. The OnePlus 5’s system has a stock feel but adds some very delightful small features: double-tap the fingerprint button to lock the screen, draw a circle on the screen to launch an app, game mode, battery saver, etc. After using them, they’re really good.

13. Fingerprint recognition is fast—never failed once.

A sample shot:

So finally: 2999 yuan, Snapdragon 835, stock as a Google phone, 6GB RAM, great in the hand, top-tier performance, strong battery life, a screen that’s fine, and a camera at least better than Sony’s. This should be the most worthwhile phone to buy.