OnePlus 5 Review

 

Highlights

• The OnePlus 5 features dual rear cameras with EIS
  
• Performance is blazing fast and ergonomics have improved too
  
• The OnePlus 5 starts at Rs. 32,999 for the 6GB version

OnePlus
has come a long way from its humble beginnings as a startup with its
frustrating invite system to being one of the most sought-after
enthusiast brands. All of its smartphones have stood for one thing –
delivering leading specifications at aggressive prices, which is what
has earned them the nickname "flagship killer". With each generation so
far this has proven true, and the OnePlus 3 was a big leap forward over its predecessor when it launched.

The company officially unveiled its 2017 model, the OnePlus 5
on Tuesday, and it has already been launched in India. The OnePlus hype
machine has been doing a good job of keeping the buzz alive, and there
is huge pressure on the company to deliver yet another standout product.
The OnePlus 5 has already garnered massive response back on its home turf, and was also teased in the final match of a recently concluded cricket tournament last Sunday.

So,
is the OnePlus 5 everything it’s made out to be? And can it also earn
the title of 'flagship killer'? We aim to answer these two burning
questions in our OnePlus 5 review.

OnePlus 5 design and build quality

Now
before we get started, we need to address the elephant in the room –
design. From the front, this phone looks very similar to the OnePlus 3T (Review),
but with more rounded corners and slight curves on the top and bottom.
Given a fleeting glance, it would be hard to tell the two apart. The
edges of the back have been shaved too, making the device more rounded
overall. Antenna lines now wrap around the top and bottom of the rear to
make space for the dual-camera module and LED flash. We have to admit,
our first thought when we saw this was that it looks very much like an iPhone 7 Plus (Review), which is a common reaction because the style is definitely familiar.

This
caused an uproar in our office, much like it did on the Internet when
photos of the rear first leaked. Copying Apple’s designs is nothing new
for many Chinese smartphone makers, but we guess most OnePlus fans
expected something original. Once the initial surprise wears off, it’s
not that big a deal. Build quality is still excellent thanks to the
aluminium unibody, which is now slimmer at 7.25mm and lighter at 153
grams.



OnePlus
has shaved off quite a bit of the side borders, and the glass curves
along its edges, which makes the phone feel great when you hold it. It
is a bit slippery without a cover as the sides are a lot thinner than on
the OnePlus 3T, so that’s something to keep in mind. Luckily, the
OnePlus 5 handles drops pretty well, and the couple of time we did
accidentally drop it from waist height, we were left with only minor
bumps and scuffs along the edges.

The 5.5-inch AMOLED panel really
brings out deep blacks and rich colour saturation in content. Perhaps
the best part here is that OnePlus has fixed the OnePlus 3T's annoying
touch latency issue. The display supports the DCI-P3 colour profile,
which is also used by the iPhone 7.
This offers a wider gamut compared to sRGB. The colour tone simply
feels more natural and is much easier on the eyes. Sadly, OnePlus is
sticking to full-HD as the screen resolution, which is one of the few
compromises it had to make to keep the cost down - all other flagships
are now pushing QHD or even 4K.



The
screen tends to wash out pretty easily under direct sunlight. It's
worse if you use the ‘Dark’ theme, but even with the default appearance
settings, things aren't exactly great. The OnePlus 5 ships with a
pre-applied screen protector, which we think is unnecessary due to the
use of Gorilla Glass 5. The protector doesn't cover the entire glass
surface, so its edges rub against your fingers when you swipe from the
sides of the phone, and lint accumulates at the edges.

In terms of
physical connectors, we have a USB Type-C (USB 2.0 speed) port at the
bottom along with a 3.5mm headphones socket and a speaker grille. Button
placement remains the same as on previous models, with the power button
on the left and the volume rocker plus an Alert Slider on the right.
The Dual-SIM tray accepts two Nano-SIMs, and 4G is supported with VoLTE.



The
OnePlus 5 does pack some new aesthetic touches such as the bevelled
edges of the speaker grille and USB port being painted black. However,
the paint around the camera bump on our Space Gray unit started chipping
after just a day’s usage. When we questioned OnePlus, it told us that
this was an isolated incident with our review unit since it was from an
early batch. The Midnight Black unit we received didn't get damaged as
easily, and although it wasn't as apparent, we did notice that small
portions of the finish had faded after a week of usage.

In the
box, you get a USB Type-C cable and a pretty chunky power adapter, which
is the same as the one we got with the OnePlus 3T Midnight Black
Edition. There aren’t any headphones or a cover bundled in the box.
Overall, the OnePlus 5 feels a lot more ergonomic and comfortable to use
than its predecessor due to its slimmer and lighter body. This phone is
best used with a cover to avoid accidental slips (and possibly prevent
undesired paint chipping around the camera bump). Between the two colour
options, we think that black will be more popular.

OnePlus 5 specifications and features

OnePlus
earned its reputation to begin with by offering top-end specifications,
and the company hasn’t skimped here at all. The SoC of choice is
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835, which has eight CPU cores capable of running
at up to 2.45GHz. There are two variants, Slate Gray with 6GB of RAM and
64GB of storage, and Midnight Black with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of
storage. OnePlus is also making a big deal about the type of RAM and
storage it has used for the OnePlus 5 - LPDDR4X and UFS 2.1
respectively, with a two-lane ROM which is said to double bandwidth for
faster app install speeds and loading times.

In benchmarks, the
OnePlus 5 put on a very good show compared to its peers, although it's
best to take these number with a pinch of salt if you go by XDA
Developers' report of how the OnePlus 5 potentially manipulates benchmarks
for higher numbers. We initially ran tests that didn't require an
Internet connection and also compared results to the scores we got after
the Oxygen 4.5.1 update, which rolled out right after the global
keynote. The scores did dip a little when compared to our earlier
readings, which shows that OnePlus might have corrected whatever was
going on with the original firmware. However, the Random Write test on
the 128GB version of the 3T still trumps everyone else.

	OnePlus 5 (6GB)	OnePlus 5 (8GB)	OnePlus 3T	Samsung Galaxy S8+
AnTuTu	180,748	180,929	159,242	171,342
PCMark (Work2.0)	6,761	6,662	6,123	5,202
3DMark (Slingshot Extreme)	3,238	3,115	2,623	3,315
Geekbench
Single	1,972	1,951	1,878	1,997
Multi	6,696	6,676	4,471	6,712
Androbench (MB/s)
Sequential Read	744	738	406	792
Sequential Write	193	222	164	204
Random Read	140	138	128	125
Random Write	18.9	24	72	15

Note: Benchmarks were run on OxygenOS 4.5.1 for the OnePlus 5.

Other
specifications include NFC, Bluetooth 5.0 with aptX and aptX HD
support, dual-band Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac with 2x2 MIMO antennas, GPS, and
USB-OTG. The fingerprint sensor is integrated into the home button. It's
very quick at authentication and we rarely ever had a misread. You can
use it to access locked apps and your Secure Folder in the File Manager
app. You also get the usual suite of sensors along with a gyroscope.
Certain features like FM radio and wireless charging are missing.

Apart
from the OnePlus 5's brand new hardware, another big change is the
slick new OxygenOS 4.5.0. It’s built on Android 7.1.1 Nougat and feels a
bit more refined than before, with slightly smaller icons and text for
the menus. There’s no app drawer button now as you simply swipe up to
expand the dock, à la the Google Pixel. Swiping right takes you to
Shelf, which lets you customise widgets for the weather, set reminders,
see your recent apps, and monitor cellular data and storage usage. This
can be disabled if needed. Long-pressing the icons of compatible apps
brings up Nougat’s shortcuts to commonly used features.

The
Settings app is where you’ll find most of the OnePlus 5's
customisations. You can change the behaviour of the Alert Slider for its
three settings – Ring, DnD and Silent. However, you still cannot set
DnD to kick in automatically at a designated time. Doing this manually a
huge chore, but it's something you have to get used to. The functions
of the capacitive buttons can be swapped if needed, and you can enable
on-screen buttons too. You can also assign functions to long- and
double-presses of the Home and capacitive keys as per your needs. Screen
gestures include a double-tap to wake, three-finger screenshot capture,
and the ability to launch apps or a function by tracing letter shapes
when the screen is of.



OxygenOS
also has other cool features like Reading Mode, which turns the display
monochrome, making it easier to read text. It also goes a step further
and adjusts the white balance to the ambient light around you, so
depending on the light, you’ll have anything from a pale white to pale
yellow. You can select which apps need to run in Reading Mode, so it
kicks in automatically when you launch them, or you can manually engage
it for the entire OS. Expanded Screenshots essentially let you take
scrolling screenshots of webpages; Night Mode can now be engaged
automatically based on time; there are five vibration patterns for
incoming calls; and Gaming DnD mode lets you disable the capacitive
buttons and block notifications in apps of your choosing.

For
the Indian market, OnePlus has added a shortcut to launch the Paytm app
by simply long-pressing the Home button. It works with the screen off
as well as on. This doesn’t actually let you make a payment via Paytm,
but simply launches the app's QR code scanning page. Currently, only
Paytm is supported. In terms of pre-installed apps, you get Amazon's
shopping, Prime Video and Kindle apps since this is Amazon exclusive, as
well as Google’s suite of apps and a OnePlus Community app which lets
you keep track of announcements and participate in the OnePlus forum.

OnePlus 5 performance, camera, and battery life

With
Qualcomm’s speedy processor and the slick new OxygenOS, system and app
performance is excellent. The phone uses the ample RAM onboard to ensure
things run smoothly. On average, we found around 3.9GB being used,
leaving us with about 1.7GB on the 6GB model. Flicking through the apps
in the app drawer and switching between them doesn’t put any stress on
the phone, and the transitions are buttery smooth - dare we say
Pixel-smooth. Call quality is very good and we never faced any audio
issues during a call. The speaker is also pretty loud for conference
calls.The ambient light sensor can be a bit too aggressive in low light,
and we needed to override it manually at times to make the display brighter.



The
OnePLus 5 excels at gaming and media playback. We went through
extensive sessions of Asphalt 8 and GTA: Vice City and the phone easily
held its own. We noticed a few dropped frames in Asphalt 8 in some
levels but other than this, we had smooth framerates throughout. The
best part is that the phone doesn’t overheat even when we used outdoors
in our humid climate. The back gets a bit warm but nothing that would
make you have to stop to let it cool down. The display produces very
good colours and deep blacks, thanks to the AMOLED panel.

High-resolution
videos played with ease, and the mono speaker belted out pretty high
volumes. The phone also supports Dirac HD audio enhancements with
earphones. This helps a bit, but we didn’t find the in-built DAC to be
anything exceptional.

More than the design and powerful
components, the biggest change that the OnePlus 5 ushers in is its dual
rear cameras. The similarities with the iPhone 7 Plus extend well beyond
just physical design, as even the camera app is pretty much identical.
The app has a simple layout and it's easy to find what you’re looking
for. Shooting modes are hidden in the hamburger menu in one of the
corners.

The primary camera has a 16-megapixel sensor (Sony IMX
398) with a large f/1.7 aperture and electronic stabilisation (EIS). The
focal length here is 24mm (35mm equivalent). The lack of optical
stabilisation (OIS) is a big disappointment given that the OnePlus 3T
had it. While we couldn’t get any official response from OnePlus as to
why this decision was made, we think it could be due to the slimmer
profile of the phone and perhaps done to keep the overall cost within
control.

Tap to see full-sized OnePlus 5 camera samples

The
second sensor has a 32mm focal length (35mm equivalent), 20-megapixel
resolution and an aperture of f/2.6, but lacks EIS. To switch between
the two sensors, you just have to hit the 2x button on the screen.
According to OnePlus, optical zoom actually only goes up to 1.6x, and
the rest is software but still "lossless". You can then zoom in all the
way up to 8x (digital zoom). However, we noticed that the phone only
actually switches to the second sensor when you’re in Photo mode and
when there’s good lighting. If the light is anything less than ideal,
the phone sticks to the primary camera and basically does a digital zoom
instead. What would have been ideal is if the second sensor also had a
decently large aperture, like at least f/2.0, which would have made it
usable in low light too.

Portrait mode on the OnePlus 5 (Tap to see full size)

There’s
a Portrait Mode, just like on the iPhone 7 Plus, which uses the
20-megapixel sensor to gauge depth. Other than zoomed-in shots and
Portrait Mode, the second sensor doesn’t seem to do anything else. We
tried 2x mode in video, Pro, time-lapse and slow-motion modes, and in
all of them, we would only get a digitally zoomed-in view from the
primary sensor rather the software switching to the second sensor.

Image
quality from the primary camera is very good. Landscapes and macro
shots are very nicely detailed with accurate colours. Textures on
objects are also very well-defined in close-up shots. There is some
shutter lag, especially in low light, so if you need to get some action
shots, your best bet is the burst mode. In low-light, the OnePlus 5 does
a good job with details and noise is handled well. The telephoto sensor
isn't very good at handling colours, which often look exaggerated.

Portrait
mode can be accessed by swiping left on the viewfinder. The effect is
similar to what the iPhone 7 Plus can deliver, and is useful when you
need very shallow depth of field. The effect is good as long as the
subject is in one focal plane, otherwise edges around your subject
sometimes get blurred while parts of the background stay in focus. It
also has trouble assessing finer details such as flowing hair, which it
often gets wrong. Simulating bokeh effect for strands of hair is
incredibly tough, and the iPhone 7 Plus struggles with it too. Pro mode
lets you manually adjust basic exposure parameters (except the
aperture), shows you a histogram in real time, lets your save RAW files,
and even lets you define three custom presets.

Video quality is
good and the choice of resolutions ranges from 720p to 4K (limited to 10
minutes at a time), with 1080p at 60fps also available. EIS works well
at 1080p and 720p, but every now and then, there’s a "shimmering" effect
in the scene, which is not very pleasant. There’s no option to turn it
off. There’s no stabilisation at 4K, which is a shame since you end up
with pretty shaky video clips if you move about. Since this is now
software-based, we hope EIS is added in a future update. Overall, video
quality is good in daylight and isn't too bad in low-light too.

The
front 16-megapixel sensor features a f/2.0 aperture which captures very
sharp and detailed images in good lighting. It’s not too bad in low
light either, as the new app adds a screen flash. You also get Auto HDR
and a Beauty mode.

The 3300mAh battery capacity is 100mAh lower
than that of the OnePlus 3T, but we still managed to get good results.
Our HD video loop test ran for 16 hours and 9 minutes. With regular use,
the phone would just about last an entire day. While real-world usage
could have better, the Dash Charging feature makes up for this. The
bundled 20W charger works very rapidly and there’s a cool animation on
the lockscreen when it kicks in. You’ll also get warning messages in the
notification shade if any running app is draining the battery faster
than it should (we got alerts for Uber and Apple Music a few times).

Verdict

Loyal
OnePlus fans and enthusiasts alike have been hoping that the OnePlus 5
would be yet another breakthrough product, especially since the company
skipped the number 4. As it turns out, the new model is more of an
iterative update to the OnePlus 3T, and after reviewing this phone, it
feels a bit like it was rushed out in order to meet a deadline. On one
hand, we have some notable changes like the more comfortable design and a
better primary camera, and the improved specifications result in a
significant boost in performance, but there's nothing about this phone
that renders its predecessor obsolete.

We
would have liked a better display, in terms of a higher resolution and
better sunlight legibility. There's no wireless charging or
waterproofing either, which is now common across today's flagships. The
dual camera implementation doesn’t seem to be very well thought out, as
not all the features work as they should right now. The lack of
stabilisation at 4K is a big letdown, and EIS is step down from what was
offered with the 3T. OnePlus could refine some rough edges with future
software updates, but there might also be a mid-year OnePlus 5T with a bumped up SoC (hey, you never know).

If
you currently own a OnePlus 3T, upgrading to the OnePlus 5 won’t change
your life in any significant way. If you’ve been on the fence about
upgrading from an older phone, we recommend getting the 6GB version of
the OnePlus 5 as it offers very good value. The 128GB option feels a bit
too expensive at its current price of Rs. 37,999. Once stocks of the
OnePlus 3T diminish, we hope that the 6GB OnePlus 5 will take the 3T’s
current spot at Rs. 29,999, bringing the 8GB version down to a more
attractive price as well.

OnePlus' focus for the OnePlus 5 seems
to be refining a winning formula rather than slaying flagships. It's
still a great smartphone for the price, but if you were hoping for
refinements and features that Samsung and Apple offer today in their
flagships, then you might be disappointed.



source:360gadgets.com