OnePlus 5: the Best Bargain in Tech

OnePlus is a Chinese smartphone manufacturer that creates some of the best flagship phones on the market using the best current hardware at a very affordable price. Their latest model, the OnePlus 5 is their best phone yet and is one of the best phones of 2017. The best flagship phone competition is no longer between iPhone and Galaxy S. 

Design

The most interesting feature of this phone is the dual-camera setup on the back. Like the iPhone 7, this dual-camera setup enables you to take some of the best photos imaginable. The all-metal unibody is sleek and is crafted from a single piece of space-grade aluminum. Available in 'Midnight Black' and 'Slate Gray', this elegant phone fits amazingly in your hand thanks to the curved back.

The screen is a beautiful Gorilla Glass 5, AMOLED 5.5-inch which covers the DCI-P3 color range, similar to the iPhone 7 and Galaxy S8. Unfortunately, the native resolution is only 1080p.

The front of the devices is almost identical to their previous OnePlue 3. A continuous hard line wraps around the edge giving the phone a distinct and subtle look. The phone is only 7.25mm thick with its beautiful and sleek profile that offers 20% improvements on battery life over the OnePlus 3.

Alas, there is no water resistant body, like with the iPhone 7 and Galaxy S8, but this is not a deal-breaker.

Performance

This phone is ridiculously fast. With up to 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM you will be able to open more apps instantly. Battery life is improved and tasks and functions are snappier than ever. Complementing the RAM is a decent amount of storage, up to 128GB. This coupled with their dual-lane technology makes performance even faster.

Their exclusive technology intelligently learns and analyzes your usage patterns to launch important apps faster while also keeping detrimental performance/battery drain to a minimum.

Built around Android, OxygenOS is the refined, smooth, and minimalist OS for the OnePlus 5 that optimizes performance on this elegant device. Reading mode is sure to impress as the ubiquity of your smartphone meets the comfort of an e-reader. By filtering blue light and gray-scale mapping this mode is easy on the eye and can be toggled in any app or even be the default mode.

Features

Dual-lane technology, 34 global network bands, Fingerprint scanner, 3 different customizable profiles out of the box, this phone is loaded with cool goodies right out of the box. The OnePlus 5 features the highest resolution dual-camera on the planet. The photos are sublime thanks to the intelligent technology like Fast AF for intelligent autofocus, and lossless zoom and the improved shutter speed and larger f/1.7 aperture allow for beautiful photos, very similar to the iPhone 7 Plus. 4K video is supported and the 16MP front-facing camera is also very good

Powered by a Snapdragon 835 SoC, this phone is efficient and speedy so it is great for any use-case from gaming to photos. The fingerprint sensor is fast and accurate, like everything else the phone does.

Dash Charging is a great feature for that allows for very quick charges, as the name implies. It is smart and sexy and along with an already efficient OS and a great battery, this phone will not let you down even under heavy usage.

Universal Flash Storage (UFS) is a new storage technology standard and the OnePlus 5 uses the latest UFS 2.1. This means the OnePlus 5 has dual lanes for data reading and writing. This means faster storage and better performance because of how UFS communicates with the hardware. Replacing the old e.MMC standard, UFS is great for future-proofing your device because new technologies like VR, AR, and 360-degree media are sure to make use of this standard.

Verdict

Not as cheap as previous OnePlus versions, but for $479 this is undeniably one of the best bargains in the world; consider that this is half as expensive as the iPhone 7 or Galaxy S8 despite having comparable if not better specs.

The Wi-Fi connectivity is not the best, there is no microSD support, and the audio quality is not the best but the OnePlus 5 features everything other flagship phones have at a very low price. This phone can do everything well, is very attractive aesthetically, and has one of the best camera setups in a phone. 

In the US this phone is not available through a carrier but can the unlocked model can be purchased. 

We at PC TEC RESCUERS recommend this phone, it is a great tech bargain. For all your tech needs, consider us. We excel at diagnosing and fixing any PC/Mac or phone and our expert techs are very friendly and available to assist you 24/7!