OnePlus 2: A 2016 flagship killer?

Announced early August, the OnePlus 2 was introduced by the Chinese company as the 2016 flagship killer. It is a bold claim that the company has to prove and it looks like it’s going to hold water.

The OnePlus 2 packs some pretty good hardware configuration. It uses the latest chip and loads a lot of extra features that are normally only offered with flagship devices.

There are actually  two variants of the OnePlus Two — one with a 3GB RAM and 16GB storage while the other has 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage.

OnePlus 2 specs:

5.5-inch In-Cell full HD Display @ 1920×1080 pixels, 401ppi

Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 v2.1 64-bit octa-core processor

3GB / 4GB LPDDR4 RAM

16GB / 64GB internal storage

13MP rear camera w/ OIS, 1.3 micron pixels, Laser AF, dual-tone flash

Slow-mo video at 120fps, 4K video recording

5MP front camera

Dual-SIM, Dual-LTE (nano-SIM) 4G LTE, 3G HSPA+

WiFi 802.11 a/c

Bluetooth 4.1

GPS, A-GPS

FM Radio

Fingerprint sensor (up to 5 unique fingerprints)

USB Type-C

Alert Slider (hardware switch for notifications settings)

3,300mAh Li-Po battery

OxygenOS (Android 5.1.1 Lollipop)

151.8 x 74.9 x 9.85mm (dimensions)

175 grams (weight)

On paper, the OnePlus 2 looks like your typical flagship made by Samsung or LG so one would wonder why they are claiming to be flagship killers for 2016 when most high-end 2015 smartphones have similar configuration. Until you check the prices -- $329 (P15,000) for the entry-level model and $389 (P17,500) for the top-end model. At those prices, we agree that no other flagship can match those price points which is about half the price of other competitors.

We managed to get a review unit and played with the device for at least a week. True enough, this device has that premium feel with a unique design. You can actually pick the type of back cover you’d like with it -- Sandstone Black, Bamboo, Black Apricot, Rosewood, Kevlar. The only other brand that offers that wide variety of design option is Motorola with the Moto Maker.

The OnePlus 2 also comes with laser autofocus which allows for faster focusing time resulting to better image quality. The photos and videos are crisp and crisp which is almost as good as that of the Galaxy S6 or Note 5.

Popularized by Apple in the iPhone 5S, fingerprint sensors are becoming a standard nowadays with Samsung also implementing the same since the Galaxy S5 two years ago. The OnePlus 2 comes with the same accurate fingerprint sensor to provide password-less access to the user and doubles as a home button.

Perhaps the biggest advancement that the OnePlus 2 introduced is the use of the USB Type C charging and data cable. This allows for faster charging and much better data transfer rates (theoretically up to 10Gbps). Few other devices have these -- the new Apple Macbook 2015 and the latest Chromebooks from Asus.  It is ahead of its time but the problem is you’ll always have to bring the charger with you as USB Type C cables are expensive and hard to come by.

OnePlus has been developing their own custom OS, OxygenOS, which is based on Android 5.1 Lollipop. The advantage is that they are able to optimize the operating system with the device to get the best performance possible.

The OnePlus 2 is everything you’d expect from a flagship — nice design and solid build quality, high-end hardware configuration, impressive camera performance, good battery life all tucked into the latest operating system.
It’s not all good news though. The device is not readily available in the market. It is by invite-only so there are limited units to go around. OnePlus sends out limited invites which in turn allows the user to reserve and buy just one unit. Invites are gone in minutes but if you manage to grab one, it is well worth the wait.