After several weeks of teasing and leaks, OnePlus has today officially announced the OnePlus 5, its latest flagship smartphone. The company hopes to offer up a smartphone this year that not only offers the same raw power and solid software as previous OnePlus devices, but also the company’s strongest camera to date.
As previously leaked, the OnePlus 5’s design shares a strong resemblance to Apple’s iPhone 7 Plus, especially in the primary “Midnight Black” model. There are some minor differences such as the flat edges on the side and a more curved back, but it’s definitely not nearly as unique as OnePlus’ previous smartphones.
Under the hood, however, OnePlus has gone all out. The OnePlus 5 packs the latest Snapdragon 835 processor, 8GB of RAM, and up to 128GB of UFS 2.1 storage (with no expandable storage). Combined with Android 7.1.1 and the 1080p AMOLED display, that should provide an extremely quick and smooth experience as OnePlus says it aimed for.
The company also says that the use of 2-lane UFS storage which doubles bandwidth should keep the phone fluid during intensive games and app installs. The company says that it is also using a software feature called “app priority” to automatically learn what apps you use most and keep those loaded up as soon as you turn the phone on.
OnePlus also claims that it has finally fixed the input lag that plagued the OnePlus 3T using high-speed cameras to verify that things are “drastically improved.”
As far as software is concerned, the OnePlus 5 runs on top of Android 7.1.1 Nougat with OxygenOS. As per usual, OxygenOS doesn’t mess with Google’s formula all that much, just adding some tweaks to improve the device’s functionality.
For the OnePlus 5 the company has made some new additions to OxygenOS including a new reading mode that adjusts the display’s colors and brightness to filter out blue light. Further, the feature can be applied to specific apps or system-wide.
Along with that, OxygenOS on the OnePlus 5 includes scrolling screenshots, a new Pixel-like app drawer, new screen-off gestures, customizable notification vibrations, gaming do not disturb mode, and “Secure Box” which mimics Samsung’s “Secure Folder.”
As far as battery life is concerned, the OnePlus 5 has a 3,300 mAh battery powering the show which the company claims is capable of lasting 20% longer than the OnePlus 3T. Further, the phone is capable of pulling a day’s worth of power in just 30 minutes of charging thanks to Dash Charge.
The headlining feature of the OnePlus 5, however, is the camera array. Up front, there’s a 16MP shooter with a “screen flash” option for low light scenarios and HDR as well. On the rear, OnePlus delivers a dual-camera system comprised of a 16MP main, full-color sensor and a secondary 20MP monochrome sensor.
That primary sensor has an f/1.7 aperture which OnePlus says captures 34% more light than the OnePlus 3T as well as having better image stabilization. OnePlus takes advantage of the dual-camera with “Portrait Mode,” a feature that shares the name and functionality of the iPhone 7 Plus’ main camera feature, and enhanced optical zoom. Portrait Mode enhances the bokeh on photos of other people while the Dual Camera Zoom zooms in 2x optically and allows for magnification up to 8x digitally.
The phone also shoots 4K video with electronic image stabilization and noise-cancelling microphones. There’s also a Pro Mode for adjusting specific settings in stills and “Smart Capture” which will enhance your photos in the background.
OnePlus will open up online sales of the device on June 27th via its online store. For eager customers, the phone will be available on June 20th in pop-up stores in New York City, London, Berlin, and Paris while customers in Amsterdam, Helsinki, and Copenhagen will get their chance on June 21st.
The OnePlus 5 comes in Slate Gray and Midnight Black colors and starts at $479 (Rs. 30,958 approx.) / 499 Euros (Rs. 35,884 approx.) for the base 6GB RAM with 64GB version and the top-end 8GB RAM with 128GB storage version costs $539 (Rs. 34,849 approx.) / 559 Euros (Rs. 40,199 approx.) . It is now available for pre-order on OnePlus.net in the U.S. and Europe. Early Drop shipments will begin on June 21, 6 days before general sales begin on June 27th. It will launch in India on Thursday and will go on sale on the same day at 4:30PM exclusively on Amazon.in.
OnePlus 5 specifications
- 5.5-inch (1920×1080 pixels) Full HD Optic AMOLED 2.5D curved Corning Gorilla Glass 5 display, sRGB, DCI-P3 color coverage
- 2.45GHz Octa-Core Snapdragon 835 64-bit 10nm Mobile Platform with Adreno 540 GPU
- 6GB LPDDR4x RAM with 64GB storage (UFS 2.1 ), 8GB LPDDR4x RAM with 128GB (UFS 2.1) internal storage
- Android 7.1.1 (Nougat) with Oxygen OS
- Dual SIM (nano + nano)
- 16MP rear camera with dual LED Flash, Sony IMX398 sensor, f/1.7 aperture, 1.12μm pixel size, EIS, secondary 20MP camera with f/2.6 aperture, Sony IMX350 sensor, 1.0μm pixel size, 4K at 30fps, 1080p at 60 fps, 720p slow motion at 120fps
- 16MP front-facing camera with Sony IMX371 sensor, 1.0μm pixel size, f/2.0 aperture
- Fingerprint sensor
- 3.5mm audio jack, 3 microphones with noise cancellation, Dirac HD Sound
- Dimensions: 154.2×74.1×7.25mm; Weight: 153g
- 4G VoLTE, WiFi 802.11ac dual-band (2×2 MU-MIMO ), Bluetooth 5.0 aptX HD, GPS/GLONASS/Beidou, USB Type-C, NFC
- 3300mAh battery with Dash Charge (5V 4A)
