Return of the Flagship Killer? OnePlus 5 Review
10 min read
Front
OnePlus 5
RM 2388
Pros
- Great build quality
- Accurate and fast fingerprint scanner
- Great 5.5-inch AMOLED display
- Excellent rear camera
- Excellent performance
- Great battery life
- Dash Charge
- Clean and responsive OxygenOS skin
- Excellent value
Cons
- No IP-rated dust & water resistant
- No OIS
- Proprietary fast charge technology
Build Quality & Design
iPhone 7 Plus?
When OnePlus initially revealed the design of the 5, people of the web has been furiously talking about how OnePlus is ripping off the design from Apple iPhone 7 Plus. From my point of view, however, the OnePlus 5’s design is clearly a carbon copy of the OPPO R11. The curved edges along the back and the front sensor arrangements are exactly the same between the OP5 and R11.
Am I even surprised at this point? OnePlus is a subsidiary of OPPO, and OPPO has a track record of having cloned designed from the “fruity” company. For example, the OPPO R9s & R9s Plus we reviewed earlier is almost a clone of the iPhone 6/6s. Naturally, you can guess how OPPO got the inspiration for their R11’s design. One thing is certainly reassuring is that the 3.5mm audio port is still present.
At the end of the day, what matters is that they improve over the existing design to work better with our day to day usage.
Solid Build Quality
On the bright side, the build quality is solid and highly detailed. As the back panel has curved sides and rounded corners, the phone felt extremely comfortable to hold in the hands. Just that the fine sandblast surface finish is a little too slippery for dry hands like mine. I recommend checking out OnePlus’s official protective cover if you decide to purchase this phone.
OnePlus 5 comes in 2 different colours with different hardware configurations:
- Slate Gray with 6 GB RAM & 64 GB storage [as reviewed]
- Midnight Black with 8 GB RAM & 128 GB storage
Fingerprint Scanner
The front mounted fingerprint scanner is fast and accurate, not surprising. I mean, this is a flagship killer right? Apart from scanning your fingerprints, the capacitive button also works as the home button. It works alongside with the Back and Recent capacitive keys at the chin of the phone. Frankly speaking, the backlight is very dim and the capacitive sensor area on the both Recent and Back keys are way too small.
In case you prefer the Android’s default on-screen navigation bar, just toggle it in the Settings menu.
Alert Slider – Mute Switch
One thing I like about OnePlus’s design is the inclusion of the Alert Slider, or I personally call it the “Shut-up Slider”. Instead of having to press the volume key then press the mute button, a simple switch on the slider lets me easily choose whether to set the phone in Ring mode, Silent mode or Do not disturb mode. While this is nothing new, I felt that this feature is a missing element on most flagship phones today.
Why physical slider, you ask? Because I could conveniently toggle the phone silent while it is still in my pocket.
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