Hello all,
I was one of the lucky ones to get an invite during the Storm of Invites promo back in late June, so I thought I'd do a review/show pics of this phone.
For those who are not familiar with this phone, I have included the specs below.
Snapdragon 801 processor
3GB of DDR3 ram
16GB or 64GB storage
5.5" screen
5MP front camera
13MP rear camera that can do 120FPS video @ 720p resolution.
The rear camera can also record in 4k resolution.
Overall the specs of this phone are amazing, just slightly better than the Nexus 5 in terms of hardware.
For more information on this phone visit their website
The invite was for the 64GB Black Sandstone version which is priced at $349 USD. With shipping, taxes, and conversion rate, the phone ended up costing around $450 CAD
First, some pictures!
As you can see, it comes in a pretty nice package, the box on the left is the phone + accessories, and the other is a charger.
The box slides out, and you open the flap to reveal the phone in all it's glory.
Shots of it still being in the box.
Lifting the upper insert (where the phone sits) reviews two accessories, the usb cable, and the sim card popping tool thing...
Some close ups of the accessories.
The red sleeve for the tool is made of silicon, so you can get access to the tool with ease.
Some shots of the phone.
The tool is used to push out the micro sim tray, similar to how it's done on a iphone.
Some comparison shots between the One Plus One and my old Galaxy Nexus.
The OPO is definitely larger, but the thickness of the phone is roughly the same compared to the GNexus. The GNexus looks thicker at the bottom due to the phone being slightly curved.
Picture of the screen when it's on
Some shots of the usb charger
And finally a picture of it in my hand.
Overall, I like the phone, it meets my needs and it's very very fast. The battery life is decent, and as long as you're not playing games for very long periods of time, the phone will last you well into the night.
The back of the phone is very nice, the texture makes it feel like I'm rubbing sandstone (I guess that's why they called it sandstone black).
Call quality is pretty good, and I've had no problems with making and receiving calls.
As for the camera, it's nice. Being able to record at 120FPS or 4K resolution is neat (always reminds me of that Sony Z2 commercial). The focus speed on the camera is a bit on the slow side, and as long as you're not trying to snipe a photo very fast, then you should be alright.
I haven't had the chance to try the front facing camera, as I don't care enough to take selfie, but maybe later I'll give it a try and see how it is.
The only caveats I have with the phone are:
1) Non removable battery
Can't upgrade to a larger battery if you wanted, or if you wanted a spare you can't swap it out.
2) Swapped back and menu buttons
The first thing that I realized when I started to use the phone was the hardware buttons for the back and menu buttons were reversed, this was a bit discomforting at first, since I'm use to the back button being on the left instead of the right, but I got use to it after using it for a while. You could if you wanted to, is switch to software keys which will disable the hardware keys, but then you lose a bit of screen real estate.
3) Yellow tint at the bottom
This has been a huge problem for the One Plus One, many (including me) have the yellow tint problem with their screens.
The yellow tinting at the bottom is due to the glue not fully curing yet, I guess they were in a hurry to get these units out that they didn't fully QC this.
There is another yellow tint problem as well but that apparently is due to software where Cyanogen selected a warm color scheme for the display.
I haven't gotten any invites back after buying the phone (they're apparently pretty backlogged on orders right now based on forums post on their website), but if I get any extras I'll give them out to people that want one.
That's it for me, if you have any questions or want more details/pics just let me know.