OnePlus seemingly specialise in two things. One is producing handsets at a comparable specification to the big name competition at a discount and the other is in creating one form or other of controversy and in polarising opinions. OnePlus’ latest model, the OnePlus 3, has continued in the same vein. The OnePlus 3 has a retail price of just under $400 and for the money, customers benefit from a 5.5-inch, 1080p FHD AMOLED display panel, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 chipset and 6 GB of RAM with 64 GB of internal storage. The device also comes with a decent pair of cameras, dual SIMs including support for LTE, high speed Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and NFC. Whilst the device specification is impressive for the money, OnePlus’ decision to use a 1080p resolution display rather than a QHD or 1440p display (as we see with most other flagship devices) generated many negative comments. The device was also criticized for how it handles its 6 GB of RAM, with OnePlus appearing to optimise the operating system’s memory management for power efficiency rather than multitasking. The third main criticism is how inaccurate the OnePlus’ AMOLED display panel is when the device launched.
When considering these points of discussion, two things spring to mind. One is that the OnePlus is an Android-based device, as Oxygen OS is based on the Android platform. This means that the software may be adjusted and tweaked to suit customer preferences. The second is that arguably some customers do not believe they should need to customize the software on the device. With regard to the screen color calibration, some users are simply not bothered that a device appears to be bluer or yellower than another when comparing the white, and indeed it’s often only an issue when two devices are put side by side. Nevertheless, after AnandTech’s scathing remarks about the OnePlus 3’s colour accuracy, the company promised that they would fix the color calibration with a software update. This update is arriving soon but has been previewed by AnandTech and the results show a significant improvement. OnePlus enabled a sRGB display mode, which customers will find in Developer Settings, which is now close to a considered industry perfect color calibration.
It’s reassuring that OnePlus have listened to feedback and implemented a fix to the color calibration of the device; OnePlus’ Oxygen OS adopts an “Android plus” approach, this being that the interface is very similar to stock Android but with the addition of many new features. The jury is still out as to how quickly OnePlus can keep their third flagship model up to date with updates to Android, but early results are encouraging.