OnePlus One review: When opportunity strikes

Introduction
From zero to flagship killer in less than 6 months. That's the life story of OnePlus Tech - a big chunk of
which went in explanation mode. First it was their relation to Oppo, then the reasons why their debut
smartphone got delayed - over and over. Social media hype and an elaborate invite system sent demand
soaring through the roof and it's only now that OnePlus finally looks capable of catching up on pre-orders.
It's time too for the full review to take off.
If Oppo wasn't clue enough, the OnePlus One isn't exactly trying to hide its resemblance to the Oppo Find
7 pair, particularly the 7a. The One looks like a chip off the not-so-old block with similarities running more
than skin-deep. For starters, the displays have the same size and resolution (Find 7a), there's 3GB of
RAM, 5MP front cams and 13MP main camera with UHD video.

OnePlus One official photos

Aside from the shared DNA with Oppo's Find series, the OnePlus One promises a Nexus feel and
performance while beating the Nexus price. If it sounds like we're drunk, you don't know the OnePlus
One. It costs just $350/300 for the 64 gig version and it comes with top notch hardware to match the
ample storage. The flipside is it's still quite hard to get.
OnePlus wants you to Never Settle and the One resonates with that - it doesn't skimp on hardware to
offer the very best money can buy. The screen is big, bright and high-res, the chipset is top-notch, the
camera is capable and even offers cinematic DCI 4k video, the battery and storage sound more than
adequate and, to top it off, it comes with pure Android on steroids in the shape of CyanogenMod 11s. The
3GB of RAM will be cheered by heavy multitaskers.

Key features

5.5" 16M-color 1080 x 1920px IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen of 401ppi

Android OS 4.4.2 KitKat CyanogenMod 11s OS
Quad-core 2.5GHz Krait 400 CPU, 3GB of RAM, Adreno 330 GPU; Qualcomm Snapdragon 801
chipset
13MP autofocus camera, dual-LED flash
2160p@30fps video, 2160p(DCI)@24fps, 1080@30fps, slow motion recording at 1080p@60fps and
720p@120fps
Dual speakers (not stereo)
16GB and 64GB storage options
3,100mAh battery
Active noise cancellation with a tri-mi setup
Aggressive pricing
Swappable back panels (including wooden ones)

Main disadvantages

Limited availability, slow to meet pre-orders, invitation-based purchasing

No headphones in the retail package
No 60fps normal speed videos (60fps videos are all slowed down)
No FM Radio
No IR port
Non-expandable storage (no microSD card slot)
The dual speaker setup is mono only

So what are the downsides to an otherwise tempting package? For starters there's no FM Radio. Are we
done? No. Okay. The OnePlus One is bulky and heavy to an extent that it can enter a fist fight with the
Samsung Galaxy Note 3. There's no such thing as one size fits all but OnePlus has gotten a little carried
away - most people like a clear line drawn between phones and phablets.
Another issue is it's so hard to get, so you may have to pay extra to jump the queue. But with a little bit of
patience and big hands you might really enjoy the OnePlus One. Opening the retail box of the OnePlus
One will put a grin on your face - this device is cheap but doesn't look it, nor do the other box contents.
And past the boot screen, a fast, streamlined interface awaits - one that's very close to what you'll find on
a Nexus phone.
The screen is big and bright and fills the front from edge to edge pushing the bezels to the brink. And if
you're still not sold, one look at the video settings will dispel any doubt - the UHD option is stuff only
premium devices get these days.

OnePlus One live photos

But before we declare the OnePlus One the bargain of the year it will have more than a few points to
prove. The next stop is the hardware checkup where we'll see what the One is made of, look closer at the
screen and test the battery backup.

Minimalist retail package

The OnePlus One's packaging looks simple and yet, tasteful. It follows the OnePlus color scheme of
white and red accents and has two separate boxes - one for the phone, microUSB cable and another for
the A/C adapter.

Retail package

The microUSB cable is the most stylish accessory in the retail package. The flat cable is bright red and
the USB plug (the one that connects to a host) is flat with exposed pins. The microUSB port looks as
usual.
Finally, you get the proprietary pin for ejecting the SIM card tray. The pin has its own rubber vest that
doubles as a keychain pendant.

Accessories

The OnePlus One is a big handset but overall size is reasonable, considering the screen is 5.5". The One
isn't that much bigger than a Sony Xperia Z2 - which has dual speakers each side of a 5.2" screen. On
the other hand, a Note 3 is a tad shorter and slimmer, with a 5.7" display diagonal.
The One's screen has minimal side bezels and the space top and bottom has been used with
consideration. The OnePlus One has good ergonomics for a device with capacitive keys under the
display. These can be disabled and you can opt for on-screen navigation buttons instead.
That said, the OnePlus One is well into phablet territory. At 152.9 x 75.9 x 8.9mm it's very tall and very
wide - it's a little taller and thicker than a Samsung Galaxy Note 3 (that has a 0.2" bigger display) and a
good 6.6mm taller than the LG G3, which fits the same screen diagonal in a smaller frame.
The OnePlus One is a little lighter than the Galaxy Note 3, a lot lighter than the Oppo Find 7 and a lot
heavier than the LG G3. It weighs 162g, which isn't intolerable but definitely something you'll feel.

Design and build quality

The design of the OnePlus One is very subtle with no flashy accents or excessive decoration. The front is
clean and simple, even the three capacitive buttons under the screen are invisible when off and barely
visible when on.
There's a silver, aluminum-like frame running around the front and sides of the OnePlus One that acts as
a foundation for the screen, which sits slightly elevated over it, reminding us of the design of the Oppo
Find 5, which too is a distant relative - and the first 1080p smartphone in the world.

OnePlus One design

Although built like a unibody smartphone the OnePlus One has a removable back cover. You'd need to
eject the SIM tray first and then pry the cover off. You can put on any of the optional rear covers,
including ones that look like wood or denim (for real!).
The cover of our review unit is very interesting - the finish is something we've never seen on a
smartphone. It's matte and has plenty of grip, the texture looks a little like sand paper.
OnePlus has etched-out a logo on the back, under the camera lens and LED flash, the Cyanogen logo at
the bottom.

OnePlus One around back

The edges of the One are very sharp, the sides flat, the overall shape quite reminiscent of the Oppo Find
5. The corners are subtly rounded and the back gently curved for a more comfortable feel in the palm.
The buttons of the OnePlus One are also thin and sharp - all adding up to the minimalist look and feel of
the device. And while this is strictly the hardware chapter of the review we feel compelled to say that the
software, right out of the box, complements the sharp, flat exterior of the One.

Controls and handling

Above the huge touchscreen are the earpiece in the center, a 5MP front-facing camera, proximity and
ambient light sensors.
Under the display, three capacitive keys serve menu, home and back. The keys have very subdued
backlighting, almost invisible under bright light, but they're sufficiently spaced and easy to hit without
looking. You can also disable them in favor of on-screen buttons, a la stock Android.

Above and under the screen

On the left side, the OnePlus One has a volume rocker and the microSIM card tray above. The right side,
at around thumb-height, has the power button and nothing else.

On the sides

The 3.5mm headphone jack sits at the top next to the noise-cancelling microphone. At the bottom we
have the main microphone, the microUSB port and two speaker grilles that actually have speakers under
them. The speakers don't offer stereo sound and we would have preferred them to be placed further
apart, on different sides perhaps, even if not front mounted like on a Sony Xperia Z2 or an HTC One.

Top and bottom

Moving on to the back cover, the 13MP camera lens and a dual-LED flash share a metal plate dead
center at the top. The plate has black matte finish, the actual glass covering the LEDs and lens slightly
recessed to make it less vulnerable to scratches.
Interestingly there's a third microphone next to the camera lens - OnePlus is very proud of its tri-mic
noise-cancelling setup.

On the back

Handling the OnePlus One is comfortable enough but you better have bigger hands, there's just no
getting around that. OnePlus has done what it can to make the device feel nice in the palm, softening the
corners a little. The flat sides favor a more secure hold but are harder to wrap your hand around.
The peculiar finish of the back cover offers almost unparalleled grip - almost completely ruling out
accidental drops.

Handling the OnePlus One

The OnePlus One sits better in the hand than most devices with a display of this size, except the LG G3.
That's saying a lot and we have to say OnePlus did a good job there. But at a certain point beyond the 5inch barrier, you have to accept that a phone is just big.

A large, 5.5" 1080p display

The OnePlus One comes with a Japan Display-made 5.5" screen of 1080 x 1920 resolution for a pixel density of
401ppi which is pleasingly sharp, even at this diagonal. QHD would've made a difference in web pages or optimized
apps, but 1080p is fine.
The display is an LTPS unit, a low temperature polysilicone LCD, meaning it shouldn't heat up too much even with
the brightness cranked up for long periods of time. The LCD is also an IPS unit, which should favor wider viewing
angles. Finally, the screen is covered by Gorilla Glass 3 for extra protection.

The display

The OnePlus One's LCD has a standard RGB (red, green, blue) matrix with equally-sized sub-pixels of each color.

Looking at the numbers the OnePlus One's display is good but certainly far from the best. On the positive side, it's
good really wide side viewing angles and it's also very bright at it maximum. But the contrast ratio is not really good
as the black levels are pretty high.
When you crank the brightness all the way up, the OnePlus One outputs almost 600 nits, which is respectably bright.
Unfortunately, the blacks aren't very deep neither at 50% brightness, nor at 100% and that affects the effective
contrast ratio negatively.
In layman's terms the display has only an okay contrast due to the poor blacks, which aren't very pronounced.
Brightness is quite good though.
50% brightness
Display test

100% brightness

Black,
cd/m2

White,
cd/m2

Contrast
ratio

Black,
cd/m2

White,
cd/m2

Contrast
ratio

OnePlus One

0.39

317

805

0.75

598

799

Oppo Find 7

0.22

248

1135

0.40

448

1123

LG G3

0.14

109

763

0.72

570

789

Sony Xperia Z2

0.41

488

1195

Sony Xperia Z1

0.38

580

1513

Sony Xperia Z

0.70

492

705

Oppo Find 7a

0.33

280

842

0.68

580

852

Samsung Galaxy S5

274

529

Samsung Galaxy S4

201

404

HTC One (M8)

0.20

245

1219

0.46

577

1256

LG G2

0.10

149

1522

0.45

667

1495

HTC Butterfly S

0.15

165

1117

0.43

451

1044

Apple iPhone 5

0.13

200

1490

0.48

640

1320

The next test reveals how the contrast of the screen does in outside conditions. This test is mainly dependent on the
maximum brightness output and the reflectivity of the glass on top of the display. Here the OnePlus One gets a good
result but again far from the best in this class.

Sunlight contrast ratio

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Expand

Nokia 808 PureView4.698

Oppo Find 52.088
BlackBerry Z102.051
Apple iPhone 42.016
HTC One mini2.003
LG G21.976
OnePlus One1.961
Sony Ericsson Xperia ray1.955
Sony Xperia Z21.944
Samsung Galaxy Camera1.938
LG G Pro 21.922
HTC Butterfly1.873
Samsung Galaxy mini 21.114

Battery life
With a 3,100Ah battery, the OnePlus One sounds well covered in the battery life department, but the real-world
results fail to truly excel.
While it managed almost 20 hours of call time, close to 10 hours of browsing and 11 hours of video playback, the
One was let down by its power management in stand-by as compared to other devices. Indeed, despite that
shortcoming, the OnePlus One scored a respectable overall rating of 66 hours - the expected time between charges if
you use the device for an hour each of calls, browsing and video playback a day.

That's by no means a bad result, meaning you can reasonably expect a full day or more of heavy use - after all,
there's a big and quite bright display to consider.

Connectivity
The OnePlus One offers a great connectivity package out of the box with the only noteworthy exception being an IR
blaster.
With quad-band GSM, penta-band HSPA and hexa-band LTE on its resume, the One is a true globetrotter. There's a
full set of a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi standards on both 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot and DLNA sharing of
media with supported devices like TVs and PCs.
NFC is supported and there's stereo Bluetooth 4.1, as well as microUSB 2.0 with On-the-go support.

CyanogenMod 11S on top of Android KitKat 4.4.2

The OnePlus One comes with a custom build of CyanogenMod, labeled 11S and it sits on top of Android
4.4.2 KitKat with a confirmed update to Android L when it launches commercially.

The CyanogenMod 11S looks more or less the same as CyanogenMod 11 on other rooted, supported devices, but it
adds some features, which are exclusive to the OnePlus One. For starters, it has a custom lockscreen that, although
nothing special functionality-wise, looks nice. It blurs the wallpaper underneath it and displays notifications on a
navy blue-colored canvas below it. A swipe downward will unlock the device, while a swipe to the left will open up
the camera.

OnePlus One lockscreen

You can completely disable the custom lockscreen in favor of the standard one. You can also assign button actions
to each of the One's buttons. For instance, holding the home button while on the lockscreen, will open up the
flashlight app.

Lockscreen options

The homescreen is a standard affair if you've ever seen stock Android. The only thing that may catch your attention
are the rounded icons, which come as default on the One. While they are rather cool on their own, the icons clash
with the stock Android icons as they're all square and give the UI an awkward look when you have a myriad of icons
in different shapes.
The dock is customizable and features two shortcut icons on either side of the app drawer key. You can move icons
around, including the drawer shortcut. There's no Google Now homescreen to the left, though.

Homescreen

You can customize the homescreen the usual way - by adding widgets, folders, homescreens and shortcuts. The
widgets are no longer part of the app drawer. You can access the widget list only by a tap and hold on an empty
space on the homescreen and selecting the dedicated Widgets shortcut. Most of the widgets are resizable in all
directions in order to fit into any tight space.
You can also change the wallpaper, make a screen the default one and even choose from a long list of available
transition effects for when you're swiping through homescreens.

Managing the homescreen

The notification area has been improved a bit in CyanogenMod 11S. The notifications appear as they do on any
stock Android device - notifications can be expanded and collapsed with a downwards swipe, and the top one is
expanded by default (if the app that put up the notification supports it, of course) - but you have the quick toggles on
the top and also accessible through their own, neighboring, page. The latter is accessible through the top-right
shortcut in the notification area, a two-finger swipe down from the status bar or through a swipe from the edge of the
screen.
Your name and photo are displayed in the toggle area as well, but only after you've logged in to Google+ account or
after you've manually set them yourself. The quick toggles can be reordered and you can add new one and remove
old ones.

Notification area Quick toggles

The Recent Apps list has remained virtually unchanged. Since this is CyanogenMod you have a kill all shortcut at
the top right.

App switcher

The app drawer of OnePlus One consists of 5 rows of icons on side-scrollable pages.

App drawer

The settings menu also looks unchanged from stock Android but there are additional options you won't find there.
For one CyanogenMod 11S adds a Themes submenu, which allows you to choose different themes, styles, icons,
fonts and even boot animations.

Settings menu

You can see a preview of the themes and icon packs included but there's only one boot animation.

Theme, icons, boot animations

The Theme showcase app allows you to hand-pick a number of third-party looks for your UI. Some of them are paid
but there are also quality free ones.

Theme showcase

As part of the moddable CyanogenMod package you can customize many things about the UI, just as you would on
the regular ROM version. The options fall under the Interface submenu and you can customize the status bar, quick
settings panel, notification drawer and add gesture shortcuts. The customizations run deep - for instance you can
choose whether the battery status icon is a circle, an icon, plain text or even hide it.

CyanogenMod customizations

You can also choose whether to use the capacitive touch keys below the screen for menu, home and back or enable
traditional virtual on-screen buttons for back, home and recent apps. The latter option conveniently disables the
capacitive touch keys and their relatively dim backlight.

On-screen buttons On Off

Quiet hours is another integral part of the CyanogenMod package. It's essentially a Do Not Disturb mode and can be
set to work in a specified period of hours and be set to mute various aspects of the notifications. You can mute calls
from anyone or allow specific people or groups to get through, mute notifications and system sounds and works like
a charm.

Quiet hours

Another part of the CyanogenMod package is the Secure Messaging and Privacy Guard. The former allows for
encrypted messaging between CM 11 devices, while the latter will let you choose which information on your device
an app can access.
Since this is CyanogenMod, many would be wondering if its stable enough for a daily driver. We can attest that it
almost never had hiccups and after a software update hasn't shown any hiccups whatsoever. If pure Android is your
cup of tea, the OnePlus One is a great option to have. Coupled with the powerful CyanogenMod it's even more
functional than Google's own version and adds great and well-needed features.

Synthetic benchmark performance

The OnePlus One boasts the name 2014 Flagship Killer on OnePlus' site and it has the hardware
platform to show for it. For starters, it runs the current top-class Snapdragon 801 chipset with a quad-core
2.5 GHz Krait 400 CPU and Adreno 330 GPU. It also has 3 GB of RAM to handle heavy tasks and GPU
only needs to 1080p resolution to the screen (as opposed to 1440p or QHD).
It matches the likes of the Oppo Find 7 or Korean LG G3 blow for blow and surpasses the international
LG G3, Samsung Galaxy S5 and HTC One (M8) by having more RAM. So the numbers should point to a
winner but let's not forget that software plays an important role in benchmarks as well. Stock, or in this
case modded pure Android, hasn't shown the best synthetic performance - we've seen the Nexus 5 and
Nexus 4 before it sport class-leading hardware but fall behind in the tests - just keep an eye out for that.
GeekBench 3 and AnTuTu 4 are all-round benchmarks that test the entirety of the hardware build. In the
first test - GeekBench 3 - the OnePlus One scores a middling result just between the LG G3's Korean
version and International version and far from the top occupied by the Oppo Find 7.

GeekBench 3
Higher is better

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Oppo Find 73178

Oppo Find 7a3093
Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)3011
Sony Xperia Z22856
LG G3 32GB (3GB RAM, Korean)2687
OnePlus One2663
LG G3 16GB (2GB RAM, int'l)2563
LG Nexus 52453
HTC One (M8)2367
AnTuTu 4 tests the CPU, GPU, RAM and storage - here the OnePlus One has the second highest score,
ranking behind the Oppo Find 7 and a fraction in front of the HTC One (M8).

AnTuTu 4
Higher is better

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Oppo Find 738484

OnePlus One37469
HTC One (M8)37009
Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)36018
Oppo Find 7a33344
Sony Xperia Z233182
LG G3 16GB (2GB RAM, int'l)32780
LG G3 32GB (3GB RAM, Korean)30482
LG Nexus 525097
When it comes to CPU performance we use Basemark OS II to see what's what. The first score shows
the overall score and it shows a very good score for the OnePlus One, again second only to the Oppo
Find 7. The single-core breakdown isn't as favorable, though, placing the One in next to last place. Multicore saves the day with a solid score and a third spot, behind the Oppo 7 and 7a.

Basemark OS II
Higher is better

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Oppo Find 71212

OnePlus One1196
HTC One (M8)1126
LG G3 16GB (2GB RAM, int'l)1126
Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)1082
Sony Xperia Z21080
Oppo Find 7a1057
LG G3 32GB (3GB RAM, Korean)945

Basemark OS II (single-core)
Higher is better

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Oppo Find 72606

Oppo Find 7a2580
HTC One (M8)2428
Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)2415
Sony Xperia Z22253
LG G3 16GB (2GB RAM, int'l)2213
OnePlus One2213
LG G3 32GB (3GB RAM, Korean)1787

Basemark OS II (multi-core)
Higher is better

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Oppo Find 710391

Oppo Find 7a10256
OnePlus One10234
Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)10063
Sony Xperia Z210044
HTC One (M8)9860
LG G3 16GB (2GB RAM, int'l)9611
LG G3 32GB (3GB RAM, Korean)8337

Next up we'll be looking at the Adreno 330 performance. Since this is the MSM8974AC variant of the
Snapdragon 801 (also found in the Samsung Galaxy S5, Oppo Find 7, etc.), and not the
MSM8974AB(also found in the HTC One (M8), Sony Xperia Z2, Oppo Find 7a, etc.), the Adreno GPU
has a clock speed up to 578 MHz (versus the up to 550 MHz of the AB chipset) and it should, potentially,
score higher.

First off, we have the GFXBench's 2.7 T-Rex test, which shows the framerate performance at 1080p offscreen and on-screen - read the smoothness of the playback, anything rendered below 30 fps will be
stuttery.
Compared to its peers, the OnePlus One scores a good score on both and is very close to the constant
30 fps mark in the off-screen test.

GFX 2.7 T-Rex (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

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HTC One (M8)28.4

Oppo Find 7a28.4
OnePlus One28.3
Oppo Find 728
Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)27.8
LG G3 32GB (3GB RAM, Korean)27.6
Sony Xperia Z227.2
LG G3 16GB (2GB RAM, int'l)27.2
LG Nexus 523

GFX 2.7 T-Rex (onscreen)

Higher is better

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HTC One (M8)30.1

OnePlus One30
Oppo Find 7a28.8
Sony Xperia Z228.7
Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)28.1
LG Nexus 524
LG G3 32GB (3GB RAM, Korean)20.6
LG G3 16GB (2GB RAM, int'l)20.5
Oppo Find 719.9

Manhattan also tests 1080p on and off-screen but has more intense graphics scene for rendering. Here
the OnePlus One tops the charts with more than 12 fps but looking at the numbers will reveal that all
current-gen smartphone flagships will output a rather similar performance.

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

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OnePlus One12.1
LG G3 32GB (3GB RAM, Korean)11.9
Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)11.8
Sony Xperia Z211.7
Oppo Find 7a11.4
LG G3 16GB (2GB RAM, int'l)11.4
HTC One (M8)11.1
Oppo Find 711.1

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

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OnePlus One12.9
Sony Xperia Z212.2
HTC One (M8)11.9
Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)11.7
Oppo Find 7a11.4
LG G3 32GB (3GB RAM, Korean)7.4
LG G3 16GB (2GB RAM, int'l)7.2
Oppo Find 76.7
And finally, it's time to assess the browsing performance of the OnePlus One. To do so we're looking at
Rightware's BrowserMark 2.1 and Mozilla's Kraken 1.1. The former looks at HTML 5 performance with the
latter focusing on JavaScript. The OnePlus One doesn't win any titles here but proves it's a capable
browsing machine.

BrowserMark 2.1
Higher is better

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LG G3 16GB (2GB RAM, int'l)1474

Oppo Find 71452
Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)1398
OnePlus One1339
Oppo Find 7a1327
LG Nexus 51286
LG G3 32GB (3GB RAM, Korean)1254
Sony Xperia Z21224
HTC One (M8)1069

Kraken 1.1
Lower is better

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Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)6043

Oppo Find 76363
Oppo Find 7a6660
LG G3 16GB (2GB RAM, int'l)6987
OnePlus One7008
Sony Xperia Z27041
LG Nexus 57148
LG G3 32GB (3GB RAM, Korean)7610
HTC One (M8)10296

The following has become more or less the standard disclaimer we feature in almost every high-end
smartphone's performance review but it's correct nonetheless. The OnePlus One handles Android
beautifully and runs without any hiccups. This can be attributed to two reasons - the excellent hardware
platform of the smartphone and Google's superb job with Android optimizations. Since Android 4.1 Jelly
Bean premiered Project Butter Google has been constantly improving the responsiveness of its OS and
now that we're several releases into this process, the OnePlus feels and moves like a well-oiled machine.

Contact management and telephony

The phonebook is the stock Android app People and mirrors what you'd find on a Nexus 5, for instance.
The main view of the app has a search field at the top which searches through your contacts as well as
through local businesses. So you can type pizza and instantly get Google's POI information for a local
pizza restaurant.
A tap on the bottom left will bring up the call log, the middle the dialpad with smart search and the options
with the right context menu. The quick contacts feature triggers on tapping a contact image to bring up a
tabbed popup window. The tabs are phone and email with a list of the available numbers or addresses.
These tabs can be navigated with side swipes as well.

People app

The single contact view displays the contact's details along with various options.

Contact options

The in-call screen is the same as default Android. Quality of the calls was excellent with the OnePlus
One. The earpiece is loud and crisp. The phone also didn't have issues with holding on to a signal.

In-call screen

We ran our traditional loudspeaker test on the OnePlus One, eager to see how its bottom-mounted dual
speakers fare. While we're not fans of the placement - both on the bottom, next to each other - we do like
the volume. Everything came out loud and clear with the only exception being bass. It's doesn't seem
reasonable to expect deep bass from such small speakers but the HTC One series has spoiled us.
Still the OnePlus One was among the loudest devices we've ever tested, receiving the highest score
possible - Excellent. It goes without saying it is way louder than the HTC One series and matches the LG
G3 with its 1W speaker for loudness.
Speakerphone test

Voice, dB

Pink noise/ Music, dB

Ringing phone, dB

Overall score

Sony Xperia Z2

66.7

64.6

75.7

Average

Samsung Galaxy S5

66.9

66.6

75.7

Good

HTC One (M8)

65.8

64.7

75.7

Average

Samsung Galaxy Note 3

70.5

66.6

78.0

Good

LG G3

70.2

66.6

80.2

Good

Oppo Find 7

69.8

70.3

75.8

Good

Oppo Find 7a

71.3

72.5

75.7

Very Good

OnePlus One

74.8

73.5

80.2

Excellent

Messaging and email

Although Google Hangouts is present it isn't the default app for messaging. That is the Messenger app,
which looks just like the original app from stock Android.
It divides conversations by threads but will have different threads for each of the numbers of the same
contact, unlike Hangouts which unifies all conversations with the same person.

Messenger

Moving on to email, the Gmail app and the new generic Email app are now almost identical in both looks
and functionality. They feature color coded sender images, based on the first letter of the sender's name.
Both apps support multiple accounts, but the Unified Inbox is available only on the default Email client.

Gmail

There's also a standard email app that allows you to setup other email accounts, aside from Gmail. It
works and looks almost exactly like Gmail and supports more than one account.

Email

The Google keyboard has always been a pleasure to use and is one of the most preferred Android
keyboards out there. On this screen the keys are comfortably large in both portrait and landscape mode.

Gesture typing is available as usual - it works in a manner very similar to Swype -- you just swipe your
finger over the letters one after the other, lifting your finger after each word is complete. Naturally, the
Gesture Typing feature benefits from the already existing Android word prediction, so you can just click
on the words the keyboard suggests.

Google keyboard

A tap on the text area will reveal a "handle" attached to the text cursor - it's easy and more accurate,
which makes correcting mistakes easier. A double tap will bring up the select options - Select word and
Select All - with two handles to adjust the start and end of the selection.
If a word has a typo, it will be underlined in red and when you tap it, the phone will offer a number of
suggested corrections along with options to add the word to the phone's dictionary or just delete it.
Voice input is available as well and it works great too. It doesn't even require internet connection if you
download the specific language file and make it available for offline usage.

CyanogenMod gallery
The OnePlus One comes with the CyanogenMod gallery, which looks similar to CyanogenMod's Gallery
Next, a gallery app that's still in beta testing.
By default launching the app will reveal album view - each album cover consists of thumbnails from said
album. A swipe to the right reveals the menu slider, which allows you to look at your images by moments,
dividing you images by the day it were taken on and media, giving you the long list of each and every
image or video file you have on your OnePlus One.
You can also view multimedia from different devices supporting DLNA sharing or add albums from online
sources such as Goolge+, Flickr, Facebook and Dropbox.

Gallery

Viewing an image is great on the OnePlus' quality, ample display. When viewing a photo you have a
swipe-up menu that gives you brief information like file name, when it was taken and where it resides on
the phone memory. Additional EXIF information isn't listed in the gallery, though.

Viewing an image

The CyanogenMod 11S gallery also has editing options. It uses Google Photos' editing.

Simple video player

The video player of the OnePlus One is pretty simple. It's embedded into the gallery app and has only a
timeline scrubber and play/pause controls. When viewing with headphones on you have the option to add
audio effects - bass boos and 3D effect with adjustable strength.

Watching a video

There are no subtitle settings available, sadly. On the upside the OnePlus One managed to play each
and every file we threw at it - MKV, DivX, XviD, MP4, AVI, WMV including those with AC3 and DTS audio.
That's a rare sight. Very impressive, indeed!

Google Play Music

The OnePlus One comes with one music player - Google Play Music. It has a simple, thumbed interface
with album art and a side-swipable menu that will take you to your playlists, your library, the settings page
and the New Listen Now feature, which tries to determine what you like and the sequence of your trackchanging so that it can start offering you music you might like to play next.
Google Play Music also gives you the option to upload music onto the Google-branded cloud and stream
it on your device via Wi-Fi or mobile data. There's also the nifty option of downloading the content onto
the device if you want to have there for connection-less times.
The Now Playing screen uses the song album art and gives you a quick shortcut to the rest of the artist's
songs along with the play controls.

Google Play Music

While the player is working, half of the lockscreen features the album art and track info for the current
song along with dedicated playback controls. The notification area also lets you control the playback via
an expandable notification.
Choosing to go to the equalizer settings through Google Play Music you end up in a separate app
designed by Cyanogen called AudioFX. It allows you to customize the sound coming from either the
speaker, headset, USB, Bluetooth and Wireless, which is convenient by allowing you to have different
settings for different occasions.

AudioFX

The equalizer is a 5 band one and you have additional options for bass boost and surround sound with an
individual setting for the type of room experience you're looking for - from large hall to small room.

Solid audio output

With the OnePlus One we were somewhat worried that audio quality might be one of the corners the
company has cut to achieve its lower-than-expected price tag. The first part of our test (the one where the
phone is connected to an active external amplifier strongly suggest otherwise, though.
The smartphone impressed us with very high volume levels and excellent readings in every part of the
test.
It's not all roses though - plugging in a pair of headphones caused quite a lot of degradation. Its volume
levels plummeted to only average levels, the frequency response started missing the mark now and then,
while the IMD and the stereo crosstalk increased too. It's a decent performance here, particularly given
the market segment, but not quite the audiophile experience that the first part of the test was.

Test

Frequency
response

Noise
level

Dynamic
range

THD

IMD +
Noise

Stereo
crosstalk

OnePlus One

+0.02, -0.07

-94.1

93.8

0.0064

0.011

-94.3

Oppo Find 7 (headphones)

+0.77, -0.05

-91.4

89.7

0.019

0.485

-53.7

Oppo Find 7

+0.04, -0.10

-93.8

93.1

0.0053

0.177

-94.4

Oppo Find 7 (headphones)

+0.70, -0.20

-93.7

91.5

0.013

0.446

-52.6

Oppo Find 7a

+0.03, -0.16

-92.7

92.6

0.0057

0.072

-92.0

Oppo Find 7a (headphones)

+0.05, -0.07

-91.5

92.7

0.0042

0.054

-15.7

Samsung Galaxy S5

+0.02, -0.08

-96.3

93.3

0.0017

0.0089

-95.2

Samsung Galaxy S5 (headphones)

+0.01, -0.08

-96.3

93.3

0.0095

0.018

-61.9

LG G3

+0.02, -0.08

-99.4

98.9

0.0016

0.035

-100.0

LG G3 (headphones attached)

+0.02, -0.09

-93.7

93.3

0.0060

0.032

-78.5

Sony Xperia Z2

+0.02, -0.08

-88.2

90.1

0.0063

0.013

-88.9

Sony Xperia Z2 (headphones attached)

+0.08, -0.04

-84.7

87.6

0.120

0.066

-60.2

HTC One (M8)

+0.04, -0.10

-95.4

93.4

0.0012

0.010

-93.2

HTC One (M8) (headphones)

+0.04, -0.08

-94.9

93.9

0.0014

0.018

-79.7

OnePlus One frequency response

Excellent 13MP camera

The OnePlus One comes with a 13MP snapper on the back coupled with a dual-LED flash to aid in low-light
photography. On the front there's a 5MP snapper for selfies.
The OnePlus One shares the Sony-made Exmor IMX 214 1/3.06" CMOS sensor found in the Oppo Find 7 series
with a bright f/2.0 aperture but lacks the 50 MP interpolation, the RAW shooting and the long shutter speed shooting
modes. It does have HDR and Panorama, though.
The interface is CyanogenMod-made and features a large virtual shutter for stills, video and panorama as well as
controls for switching the cameras, flash modes and shooting modes. There you'll find a long list of modes including
Auto, HDR, Smart Scene and Beauty mode.

OnePlus One camera

Snapping photos is quick and easy and the One is fast to store them and move on to the next shot. More importantly,
the quality of the images is amazing.

Looking at the samples we can see that the camera sensor isn't the only thing borrowed from the Oppo Find 7. The
processing is also quite the same - it's laid back and looking all natural at the expense of slightly higher noise levels
than we would normally see.
White balance tends to be spot on while colors are slightly more saturated than in real life but we like the effect. The
contrast is also very impressive and images tend to look sharp edge to edge with very little softening and some
geometric distortion in the extreme corners.

OnePlus One camera samples

The dynamic range is good but in some images it isn't great - the OnePlus One tends to leave the shadows
underexposed while the highlights have sufficient exposure. It's hard to frown at OnePlus on the dynamic range as it
seems the only real issue. There is some noise in the images, more so than we see with other flagship cameraphones
but it comes at with the benefit of having higher resolved detail.
That's where the processing comes in. It seems OnePlus has left the noise reduction to a minimum in favor of detail
preservation. While this leaves images slightly noisier than what we'd come to expect to see from smartphones in
good light these days, images don't have that phone-like, overprocessed look at 1:1 magnification.

OnePlus One camera samples

So far so good - a great first impression by the OnePlus One. But here comes the first real complaint we have and it
still has something to do with dynamic range. The HDR mode of the One does a good job of opening up the
otherwise dark, underexposed areas of the image but it also bumps up the saturation or vividness of the colors to a
ridiculous extent. Sound familiar? It does to us, we observed the same effect on the Oppo Find 7.

OnePlus One HDR Off On

Greens and blues tend to be affected the most. Still the HDR samples have an interesting effect and may be seen as
great for some HDR extremists, not us though.

OnePlus One HDR Off On

As for the other shooting modes, there's also Macro mode, which allows you to get a little bit closer to your subject
with the OnePlus One and helps resolve a good amount of detail. We were able to get as close as 10cm, which in
turn helps get some separation from target to background resulting in a pleasant background blur.

OnePlus One marco

Panorama mode isn't very good on the One. It allows for very low-resolution panoramas and the detail is just very
low. This is something we've seen with the built-in Android camera app - it can't produce good results as it maxes
out at a very low resolution. You could do better if you go for a third party app, like Google's own Camera app.

OnePlus One panorama

And finally, here's sample from the front-facing 5 MP snapper. Compared to a regular 5MP sample, it may not blow
you away with its quality, but we certainly find it much better than a lot of the alternatives on the market. We
would've preferred if it were wider-angle so as to capture more of the frame, but anyways, it will do the job for
selfies.

Front-facing 5 MP sample

We've included the OnePlus One samples in our photo quality comparison tool, you can pit the device against any
rival in our database.

OnePlus One in our photo compare test

Overall, the OnePlus One produces very good images. The 13 MP resolution is high enough and the detail level
leaves almost nothing to be desired. There is a little bit of noise but that's the consequence of the relatively small
sensor and high resolution. We definitely like the laid back approach to processing that OnePlus has implemented as
well.

4K DCI video is a first

The OnePlus One squeezes the most performance it can from the Sony sensor and the Qualcomm processor and
offers 2160p (3840 x 2160px) video at 30 fps, as well as the so-called DCI 2160p (4096 x 2160p), which has a wider
aspect, higher resolution and runs at cinematic 24 fps. As far as we know, this is also the first appearance of this
popular 4K standard on a smartphone.
The usual capturing options are also here - there's 1080p at 30 fps as well as slow motion video at either
720p@120fps or 1080p@60fps - both slowed down with the latter slightly less so.
The camcorder interface is built into the camera one - this is what it looks like during recording.

Camcorder

The footage that comes from the OnePlus One is stunning. It produces incredible detail in good light and looks to be
as good if not even better than Samsung and Sony's capture, overtaking LG's 4K-capable flagships easily.

The dynamic range is again only average with some shadow areas under-exposed. But otherwise things run very
smooth and look incredibly detailed.
Here's a sample of the 2160p@30fps video. It has a very high bitrate of 57 Mbps (higher than the Samsung Galaxy
Note 3's 50 Mbps) and runs at a constant 29 fps. Audio is recorded in stereo (2 channels) at a high 189 Kbps bitrate
and 48 kHz sampling rate.
If you have the chops for video capture, the available DCI 4K recording mode should really come in handy.
Here goes a sample. It runs the numbers at an incredibly high (for a phone) 63 Mbps bitrate with a framerate around
23 constant fps. Audio has a higher bitrate of 190 Kbps and the same sampling rate of 48 kHz.
FullHD videos at 30 fps aren't all that impressive when it comes to detail but are still good. They have a 19 Mbps
bitrate which is good, 30 constant fps throughout the video, a 191 Kbps stereo sound recording at a 48 kHz sampling
rate.
And finally here's a 720p video at 120 fps - slow motion. The phone captures the footage at 120 fps but then renders
it in-house to 30 fps so it's perfectly viewable on your TV, PC or any other screen. We uploaded one to YouTube so
you can see the quality. The 720p detail isn't very impressive and we'd even say it looks like it's shot at a lower
resolution.
Also if you want to check out uncompressed videos you can download the 2160p@30fps (11s, 79.9 MB)sample
along with the DCI2160p@24fps (10s, 81.2 MB) video and finally a 1080p@30fps (10s, 25.4 MB)sample. We
found that the YouTube compression on 4K videos isn't as severe as we're seeing with 1080p footage but still.
Naturally, we've enrolled the OnePlus One in our video quality comparison tool. The first comparison has the 2160p
footage from the OnePlus One.

OnePlus One 2160p in our Video quality comparison tool

And the other compares 1080p samples. In low light conditions the OnePlus One has a yellowish tint to its videos
but still manages to output good detail.

OnePlus One 1080p in our Video quality comparison tool

The OnePlus One may be the best video-capturing smartphone on the market today and that's not only because of
the DCI capture mode at cinema-like 24 fps and a higher resolution but because of the amazing overall quality. The
bitrates are very high for 4K videos and the framerates are enough so that stutter isn't an issue.

Chrome browser
The OnePlus One comes with Google Chrome as its preinstalled browser. The interface is the same as
on any other Android smartphone - clean and minimalist.
Opening the tabs area reveals a list of tabs which can be closed again with a left or right swipe. Incognito
tabs are supported too.
Of course, one of Chrome's strengths is its ability to seamlessly sync with its desktop version, using
nothing but your Google account. This allows you to open an article on your PC and finish reading it on
your mobile phone or simply sending an article from your PC to your device (but you'd need the separate
Chrome to Phone app on both devices). It also syncs your bookmarks and favorite sites.

Google Chrome

Google Chrome is generous on customizable settings as well. You can control almost every aspect of
your web browsing by choosing what content you want to allow to load like JavaScript, images, cookies
and pop-ups.
The only downside we found is the continuing lack of a much requested feature. Google Chrome lacks
any sort of a Reading Mode, which, as seen on other platforms, makes reading longer articles more
enjoyable by stripping web pages of all ads and clutter and leaving the text front and center in an easy to
read font size.

Other apps
The OnePlus One comes with the CyanogenMod File Manager. It isn't the most useful we've seen around
- it allows you basic copying, pasting and moving of files and folders but the whole operation involves a lot
of taps and menu buttons. You'd probably be better off going for a suitable Google Play store
replacement that's easier to operate.

File Manager

The Torch app is very simple and turns your dual LED into a flashlight. The nice thing about it is that
unlike most of its competitors it will keep the LED on even if you lock the device.

Torch app

The good old calculator is here too - it has big, easily thumbable keys and you can swipe to the left to
bring up the advanced functions (trigonometry, square root, brackets, etc.).
The OnePlus One also comes with a pre-installed voice recorder app.

Voice recorder Calculator

Opening the Clock app brings you to your local time giving you the ability to add as many additional world
capital cities as you'd like (they will also be visible on your lockscreen widget upon expanding).

The Google Calendar app is here as well. It has four view modes - Daily, Weekly, Monthly and Agenda.
The app can easily handle several online calendars as well as the local calendar. You can add multiple
reminders for each event and search through all events. Recently, Google added color-coding to events,
which helps with organizing tasks.

Clock Calendar

The OnePlus One features Screencast - it allows you to record videos of using the device, complete with
your recorded comments. The videos are then exported into your gallery with the option to upload them to
YouTube, share them or just watch them later.
Google Now, accessed by swiping up from any of the navigation buttons or by a press and hold on the
capacitive home button, integrates with your Google account and can access your daily routine, internet
searches, email, etc. and give you information relevant to your interests and daily needs.
It provides traffic information to your work or home, parking location, it knows the scores of the sports
teams you follow and gives you the weather forecast for your location. It's great for at-a-glance info, but
can handle voice Google searches as well. It also has a dedicated homescreen/lockscreen widget.

Google Now

Satellite Navigation on the OnePlus One is handled by Google's own Maps app. It plays nicely with the
OnePlus One's built-in GPS/GLONASS chip. Google Maps offers free voice-guided navigation. There's
traffic and public transit information where Maps supports it.

Google Maps

Maps show alternative routes and you can see alerts if there are any potential holdbacks along your route
like construction zones, traffic jams and so on. Google's involvement with the live traffic info crowdsourcing app - Waze - seems to be paying off.
The app also supports the Street View mode, allowing you to see the landmarks you're looking for before
you set off. That makes them much easier to find when you arrive.
The rest of the app package on the OnePlus One includes Google Play - Google's app store. It hasn't
seen any changes and has all the apps for your needs - both paid and free.

Final words
Devices that excel at everything usually fetch a hefty price but occasionally users will have a tougher
riddle to solve. The OnePlus One is a great device with an even better price tag. You probably want it but
can't get it. Bummer. This flagship killer's biggest problem is there may not be flagships left to kill by the
time it's done handing out the invites.
Yet, the One is your kind of phone if you like surprises - and believe in delaying pleasure. It's the phone
for Android purists and modders, running the highly customizable CyanogenMod with over the air
updates.
If that's Android how you like it and phablet size isn't a deal-breaker, the One also comes with flagshipgrade hardware at the price of a mini, at most. For $350/300 you get Snapdragon 801, 3GB of RAM, 4K
video recording, a FullHD 1080p display and a whopping 64 gigs of storage - that's a respectable list by
any standard.

Beyond the mechanical sum of specs, the OnePlus One truly handles well - the UI is buttery smooth,
expected from a blend of pure Android and CyanogenMod, the screen is nice and sharp, the battery does
well, the camera is excellent, the speakers are extra loud and the hardware costs more than they charge.
Here's a list of our other key test findings for the OnePlus One:

The display is good and quite bright, but the poor blacks cause an only average contrast ratio
Battery life is solid, especially call times
It benchmarks like a champ
The still camera is excellent and resolves plenty of detail
Video recording is second to none, and we don't say that only because of the great DCI 4K footage
Speakers are among the loudest we've tested (despite not being stereo)
Managed to play every video format we threw at it, including those with DTS and AC3 audio tracks

What it all comes down to is availability, which is actually an issue for most phones launching globally
from China. OnePlus obviously cannot match the manufacturing capacity of bigger brands. The way they
promote the phone is a double-edged sword - with a marketing budget of zero (the only way to sustain
that asking price) they have managed to make this one of the most wanted phones. But it's uncertain how
many of those queueing up will have the patience.
Then of course, there are the issues surrounding any potential warranty claims that you may have down
the road. Without a network of service centers around, you'd have to send the phone back to China if
there are any issues down the road. You'd have to factor in that risk and the potential hassle, too.
So let's look at what else you can get, not necessarily for the same amount of cash. Probably the only
one that will fit into budget is the 16GB LG-made Nexus 5. It has the slightly less-powerful Snapdragon
800 chip, 2GB of RAM, a 5" 1080p display and stock Android with fast-track updates by Google.

The Nexus 5 will feel just as fast and responsive as the OnePlus One but will let you down in the imaging
and battery department. The smaller screen might or not be held to its advantage.

LG Nexus 5

Next up we have the obvious rivals from Oppo. The OnePlus One's stepbrother, the Find 7a, has almost
the same display, cameras and chipset. It does have a gig of RAM less and opts for Oppo's ColorOS
instead of CyanogenMod. The Find 7 matches the OnePlus One on chipset and RAM, has the same
camera setup and overall feel but the display resolution is higher at QHD. Each in that pair is more
expensive though.

Oppo Find 7 Oppo Find 7a

It's getting way more serious with the LG G3 at near double price. For that you get a 5.5" display of QHD
resolution, an OIS-equipped 13MP camera with hybrid auto focus and a feature-rich custom skin.

LG G3

The Samsung Galaxy S5 is more compact than the OnePlus One, and way more expensive as well. Its
screen is smaller but matches the resolution and offers outstanding colors and contrast - that Super
AMOLED unit is probably the best screen in the market. The water-resistant S5 has a fingerprint scanner
and perhaps the longest list of software features around.

Samsung Galaxy S5

The Sony Xperia Z2 probably comes closest of the current flagships to the OnePlus One's asking price,
but still not close enough. It has a 1080p display, but it's smaller, and it is powered by the less powerful
Snapdragon 801 variety. The aluminum-and-glass build, water resistance, 3GB of RAM and stereo
speakers are its key assets.

Sony Xperia Z2

The OnePlus One is a package that's really hard to resist - almost stock Android with premium specs at a
price that's near impossible to beat. It's not what true believers will call a leap of faith but even some of
them are probably thinking it.
Oppo's involvement - or lack thereof (OnePlus at one point denied being owned by Oppo, but there's
plenty of evidence leading that way) - will actually help boost the startup's credentials. But still, it's the first
phone of a company with no track record. And it's a company that is having trouble meeting pre-orders
nonetheless.
A leap of faith it may be, yet so far the One looks like it's worth it. Cyanogen is onboard and that kinda
guarantees regular updates, Android L already confirmed. The build is great, the hardware is top-notch,
you get solid still imaging and great video, adequate battery backup and CyanogenMod.
By our books, that's good enough for a self-professed flagship killer. At that price though - one can
already smell flagship fear. Now or whenever that invite comes through.