The OnePlus 5 was finally made official earlier this week, with the Chinese phone maker unveiling its newest Android flagship following months of rumors and anticipation. The phone will officially go on sale on Tuesday after a short pre-order period that already saw it become the fastest-selling device in the history of OnePlus, so the only question that remains is – is it worth it? With that in mind, below you’ll find the top ten best reasons to buy the OnePlus 5.
Camera Capabilities
The dual camera setup of the OnePlus 5 is certainly one of the main selling points of the device; comprised of a 16-megapixel primary sensor and a 20-megapixel telephoto lens — both of which were made by Sony — the camera module of the handset is both quick and capable of performing in a wide variety of scenarios. Coupled with support for 2x lossless zoom, natural bokeh effects, and a dual-LED (dual tone) flash unit, the imaging capabilities of the OnePlus 5 leave little to be desired.
Powerful Hardware
For a device boasting the latest and greatest hardware, OnePlus certainly didn’t spend a lot of time talking about internal specifications of the OnePlus 5 during its official announcement. Regardless, consumers who insist on only buying smartphones powered by the most cutting-edge internals can’t go wrong with a handset that boasts Qualcomm’s best system-on-chip (SoC) to date in the form of the Snapdragon 835, in addition to featuring up to 8GB of LPDDR4 RAM.
Software Experience
The end user experience still wins over raw power in everyday use and the OnePlus 5 isn’t lacking in this department, either; OyxygenOS is smooth, responsive, consistent, and will likely enable the new smartphone to dominate speed tests for months to come, much like its predecessor did.
Dash Charge
The 3,300mAh battery fueling the OnePlus 5 should allow for plenty of use on a single charge, but in case you’re prone to forgetting to charge your phone or are simply a power user who’s charging even the most durable devices multiple times per day, you’ll be pleased to know that the handset supports one of the fastest charging technologies out there – Dash Charge. Originally developed by OPPO Electronics, Dash Charge will allow your OnePlus 5 to come back from the dead to 50 percent in around half an hour, with its heat dissipation techniques ensuring that the device doesn’t get hot while charging, regardless of whether you’re using it or not.
It’s Carrier Unlocked
The OnePlus 5 is sold unlocked in all parts of the world, including the United States where it also ships with limited CDMA support. The latter part guarantees that the phone works on two out of three of Verizon’s LTE bands and all of Sprint’s LTE bands, though customers of Verizon and Sprint who often find themselves in areas with limited LTE coverage will still want to skip it. Consumers in other parts of the world have nothing to worry about and can rest assured that the handset isn’t locked to any particular network regardless of where they have bought it and works with all GSM bands.
Fingerprint Scanner
The OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T were already known for their speedy and reliable fingerprint sensors, so it isn’t surprising that their successor also boasts one of the swiftest such authentication methods on the market. While fingerprint scanners are generally becoming faster over the years, the Chinese company is still leading the pack in this regard and the OnePlus 5 will consequently unlock in a seemingly instantaneous manner as soon as you place your finger on its Home button.
It’s Great For Tinkering
All kernel sources and device trees for the OnePlus 5 have already been released on GitHub, and the developer community will soon be hard at work tinkering with the new handset and its capabilities, creating custom tools, apps, and ROMs, all with the OEM’s blessing. If you long for the days of Nexus devices and their openness in terms of software or simply want to root your next smartphone and unlock its bootloader without voiding your warranty, there aren’t a lot of options on the market and the OnePlus 5 is seemingly the best one.
The Alert Slider
The Alert Slider is possibly the most convenient method of putting a smartphone into a Do Not Disturb mode ever created, and the one featured on the OnePlus 5 even allows you to compromise and leave the switch in the middle position to quickly instruct your device that you only want to receive high-priority notifications. Choosing what those prompts are is up to you and if you don’t like the default functionality of the handset’s physical switch, refer to the point above and keep in mind that you can make the Alert Slider perform any action you want.
It Still Offers Good Value For Money
The BBK Electronics-owned phone maker was met with some vocal criticism when it increased the price of the OnePlus 5 compared to its predecessor but the fact remains that the OnePlus 5 still offers great value for money, boasting high-end specs for a price that’s lower to that of every other popular flagship released this year. The 6GB RAM / 64GB ROM variant starts at $479, while the one with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of internal flash memory is priced at $539, which isn’t cheap but is still an extremely attractive proposal compared to what you’re getting.
It Looks Good
This list may be ending on a somewhat controversial note given how there’s no denying that the OnePlus 5 strongly resembles the OPPO R11 and R11 Plus, which in turn look like they were heavily inspired by the Apple iPhone 7 Plus. The thing is, few will argue that these are bad-looking devices, boasting a slim, metal unibody design that’s easy to look at and even easier to hold. Putting its obvious inspirations aside, consumers who value aesthetics can hardly argue that the OnePlus 5 doesn’t deliver in that department, in addition to all of the others listed above.