# REVIEW: Oneplus One 64gb Sandstone Black



## Jedi

*INTRODUCTION*

If you're a mobile enthusiast, then you've probably heard of the Oneplus One, the 2014 flagship killer that has come out of nowhere and is offering top spec performance for half the price of the established smartphones from the likes of Samsung, LG and Sony. If you're not a mobile enthusiast, I'll wind this whole review up by saying the battery doesn't last a week like your Nokia 5110 and you can move on.

Getting hold of a Oneplus One isn't the easiest of things to do - no high street shops offering subsidised contracts, no major mobile carriers offering deals, you can't even just buy one online. You have to be invited to buy a Oneplus One via their forum, and when you are, you have 24 hours to buy the phone. So when the opportunity came up to grab one of 30,000 invites, I jumped at the chance!

Once my invite email arrived, I headed over to the online store to choose my new phone - either the 16gb model in silk white for £229, or the 64gb model in sandstone black for £269. As the Oneplus One doesn't have a MicroSD slot, I chose the 64gb model as 16gb won't last long. Payment was made through PayPal, and was a simple and easy process.

Three days later, Royal Mail bought me a large padded jiffy bag, and that's when the good stuff really starts!

*TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS*

BASIC PARAMETERS
Color Silk White/Sandstone Black
Dimensions	152.9 x 75.9 x 8.9 mm
Weight 5.71 ounces (162 g)
OS Cyanogen 11S based on Android 4.4
CPU Qualcomm© Snapdragon™ 801 processor with 2.5GHz Quad-core CPUs
GPU Adreno 330, 578MHz
RAM 3 GB LP-DDR3, 1866MHz
Storage 16/64 GB eMMC 5.0, available capacity varies
Sensors Accelerometer, Gyroscope, Proximity and Ambient Light
Battery Embedded rechargeable 3100 mAh LiPo battery

CONNECTIVITY
Connectivity	
GSM: 850, 900, 1800, 1900MHz
WCDMA: Bands: 1/2/4/5/8
LTE: Bands: 1/3/4/7/17/38/40
Wi-Fi Dual-band Wi-Fi (2.4G/5G) 802.11 b/g/n/ac
Bluetooth	Bluetooth 4.0
NFC 65T (software card emulation, payment methods and multi-tag support)
Positioning	Internal GPS antenna + GLONASS
Digital Compass

PORTS, SLOTS, BUTTONS AND INDICATORS
Ports Data & Charging: Micro USB 2.0
Audio: Jack 3.5mm
Buttons Power Button
Volume Rockers
Capacitive / On-screen buttons
SIM 1 slot - Micro SIM
Indicators	1 LED notification light (multicolored)

DISPLAY
Size 5.5 inch JDI
Resolution	1080p Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels), 401 PPI
Type LTPS IPS with TOL
Protection	Corning© Gorilla© Glass 3
CAMERAS
Sensor 13 Megapixel - Sony Exmor IMX 214
Lenses 6 lenses to avoid distortion and color aberration
Flash Dual-LED
Aperture	f/2.0
Front Camera	5 Megapixel - Distortion free
Video 4K resolution video with stereo recording Slow Motion: 720p video at 120fps

AUDIO
Speakers	Bottom Facing Dual Speakers
Microphones	Tri-microphone with noise cancellation

MULTIMEDIA
Audio supported formats 
Playback: MP3, AAC, AMR, OGG, M4A, MID, WMA, FLAC, APE, AAC, WAV
Recording: AAC, M4A
Video supported formats	
Playback: MP4, H.263, H.264, RMVB, FLV720P
Recording: MP4
Image supported formats	
Playback: JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP
Output: JPEG, RAW

*UP CLOSE*

Inside the well padded jiffy bag I found two boxes and a small plastic bag. The bag contained a UK mains adapter that appears to support just about every type of mains plug used worldwide, but does not alter voltage.










The reason for this is clear when sliding open the smaller of the two boxes, as the charger included with the Oneplus One has a European power plug. It operates on any voltage between 100-220VAC and outputs 2,100MaH.

But what's in the big brown box??? Let's pull that little red tab (a lovely touch) to rip open the cardboard and find out…










It's… another box! And what appears to be a SIM card tray in a small plastic pouch - more on that in a moment. Now, let's slide this box open… tissues at the ready guys…










Ooosh!!! There it is!!! Good job I had those tissues ready, as I'm drooling like a xenomorph looming over a fresh colonist. First impressions: It's big! It's black! And I want it! And I bet you want it too! But I'm such a tease, I'm going to leave my new toy cradled in its formed plastic tray, and find out what else we get in the box…










It's a USB lead, and a keyring! A keyring??? Yes, a keyring. But wait - there's more to it than that! The keyring contains the SIM tray ejection pin, and seeing as there's already a SIM tray inserted into the phone, why not slip that shiny tool deep into its orifice and push it firmly home… oh I say. It's a tsunami of filth in here…










Ah, that's why we get a spare SIM tray! One is sized to take a micro SIM, the other takes a nano SIM. But if you still have one of the standard sized SIM card, then it's about time you joined the 21st century and sorted that out. Honestly, some people, I'm amazed you're not living in a cave eating raw meat.

Shall we get back to the handset, while the Neanderthal gulps down a bone marrow smoothie?










The front of the phone is very minimalist, with just a flush speaker grille and a front mounted camera lens breaking up the slab of black Gorilla glass that sits slightly proud of a chromed plastic bezel. There are capacitive buttons at the bottom - menu, home and back - that light up when needed.










The back is in a lovely textured black coating that Oneplus call Sandstone Black, and I can see why - it's almost like coarse sandpaper. Useful for rubbing down your bodywork.










At the top we have the six lens Sony Exmor 13 megapixel lens and a dual LED flash, with the whole assembly sitting slightly proud of the body. There's a matt black coating applied with cut-outs for the lens and flash. Next to it is one of the microphone holes - there are three microphones in total for active noise cancellation. Below that, the Oneplus logo is embossed into the coating and is gloss black.










Further down, the Cyanogen logo and product info is printed on top of the coating in mid grey ink.










The bottom of the handset has two speaker grilles, a microphone hole and a MicroUSB socket.










The top has a hole for the 3.5mm audio jack, and a microphone hole.










The left side has the volume rocker, which doesn't stick out very far at all. Still easy to use, though. It also has a slot where the SIM tray fits in, and a small hole for the SIM tray ejection pin.










The right side has the power button, which sticks out as far as the volume rocker. Again, easy to press.

Hey, what happens if I press it???

After holding the power button for a second, the phone buzzes and springs into life, showing me a couple of Cyanogen logos before running the usual set-up wizard familiar to any Android phone. Once completed, I was prompted to install the latest firmware update which was a very simple process to follow, all updates being delivered OTA (Over The Air) and installed without the use of a PC.










First impressions - the screen is lovely, really big and clear, and very typical of a good LCD screen. Blacks are a little grey, as expected, and only noticeable as my old phone - a Samsung Galaxy S4 - has an AMOLED screen that has truly black blacks and a lot more contrast. But this is still a very good screen with vibrant colours and crisp clear text - as any screen with full 1080p resolution and 401 pixels per inch would be. The handset sits well in my hand, and everything is within easy reach, even though it's considerably larger than my S4. Weight is nice, and that back coating is so grippy! Really liking this texture, but I can't help wondering how tough it is and how long it will last.

So now that's done, let's do some benchmarking!

*PERFORMANCE*

All tests are carried out with completely stock firmware running at stock speeds. All opened apps are closed before testing.

First up - Antutu.










An Antutu score of 44,803 puts it right at the top of the table for mobile performance, beating the Samsung Galaxy S5, The HTC M8t, and the Galaxy Note 3. Wow. Let's put that into perspective here - this is a £270 phone beating phones that cost twice as much to buy SIM free. Serious performance, helped by Cyanogens highly optimised version of CyanogenMod 11 developed specifically for this phones Snapdragon 801 processor.

Geekbench next:










Again, another crushing blow for more expensive handsets - The Oneplus One single core score of 971 is only six points behind the brand new Moto X, but surprisingly its multi core performance is on a par with the LG G3 and well below the Moto X score of 2916. Further optimisations of the software will be needed to close that gap.

And finally: Quadrant.










The Oneplus One scores 24,801 against the Galaxy S5 score of 25,041 - but beats everything else. This phone can seriously punch above its weight, when cost is factored in.

*CONCLUSION*

Whichever way you look at the Oneplus One, you just can not escape the fact that it offers incredible value for money. Looking on a certain High Street mobile retailers website who made their name selling phones for cars from a warehouse, SIM free phones of a similar price include the LG G2 Mini, the Nexus 5 16gb, and the Sony Xperia T3. The Oneplus One doesn't just beat them, it pounds them into a bloody pulp and daubs its body in their internal fluids while screaming defiance at the stars.

Up at the top end of the market, where the Samsung Galaxy S5, Motorola Moto X and LG G3 live in their high rise luxury apartments which smell of rich mahogany and have many leather bound books, that's where the Oneplus One hunts. And it trades blows with them all day every day and emerges unbloodied. These are phones that cost upwards of £600, and they are being hounded by an upstart from the wrong side of the tracks. They must absolutely bloody hate it.

So, the Oneplus One is a complete no brainer, everybody who wants a top end phone should go and buy one - right?

Hold on there, cowboy - it's a bit more complicated than that. Firstly, you can't just buy one. You've got to wait for a round of invites to be announced by either following Oneplus on social media or signing up to their forum, and when they do come around you've got to act fast - this is a handset in demand and if you snooze you lose. And don't forget here we're dealing with a very new company who don't have a huge track record of customer service like Samsung, Sony, LG et al - if something goes wrong with your new toy you can't just pop down to your local mobile phone store and walk out with a fresh replacement. While the hardware might be top notch, we don't know how long it will last. And the software is created by what effectively boils down to a bunch of enthusiastic amateurs. It's like taking a high powered kit car out for a fast lap of the track - it might be blowing the wheels off everything else out there, but it was built by a bloke called Derek in a shed and if a wheel comes off you're right up that famous creek with no paddle.

So - should you or shouldn't you?

If you want the latest phone, but want the safety net that comes with a proven track record of performance and quality and the reassurance of a solid customer service record, then you're going to be spending a lot of money with the big boys like Samsung, Sony, Motorola etc.

But if you want the latest phone, and don't want to spend your hard earned cash supporting a multi billion pound advertising budget, retail stores, and fat executive salaries - and are prepared to take a gamble that if it all goes wrong you might end up getting bitten on the **** - then the Oneplus One is right up your street. Let's face it - you could buy two of them and still have change from the price of a Galaxy Note 4.

The Oneplus One has to be the smartphone performance bargain of the year.

I hope you enjoyed my first review, and please feel free to ask any questions!


----------



## gatecrasher3

Nice review. I only learnt this phone existed today due to another DW thread and the more I see, the more I like.


----------



## stangalang

Really? There was one in cex last week for 350 notes? Only reason i you tubed it as it seemed a decent price for a nice looking unit


----------



## BigJimmyBovine

I've been keeping an eye on this phone for when my contract expires in December, it's nice to see a homemade review rather than a tech sites few days and onto the next phone. I've been using cyanogen mod on my Galaxy S3 and even on that its impressive, must be good on more modern hardware.

Could you update us in a few days to a weeks time with real world daily use please?

Also there has been talk that this month the oneplus site will be changing from invites to a pre order system. Once they have enough pre orders a new batch will be shipped/manufactured and only once the ohone is posted to you will your account be debited. They claim this cycle will be roughly monthly. Whether or not this will actually happen I don't know.


----------



## Nico1970

Cool...:thumb:

Great review BTW.


----------



## Cookies

There's something very cool about the way they're handling the demand and supply of their products. In fact I want one even though I've just got a HTC one....
Great review by the way!
Please keep us updated on reliability, stability and performance issues. 
Thanks
Cooks


----------



## NickTB

As good a review as I have read anywhere on the net.
Thanks,


----------



## Focusaddict

So how does the invite system work and how much do you have to pay if you do manage to get an invite.


----------



## Jedi

Thanks for all the positive comments guys, very much appreciated!

The invite system works via the Oneplus forum, you sign up and can either ask existing owners for an invite or wait for a forum post announcing new invites and submit your details via a secure form.

Prices are £229 for the silk white 16gb model and £269 for the sandstone black 64gb model. Carriage is £4.99 for regular Royal Mail 1st class recorded delivery, or £9.99 for Special Delivery. The phone ships from a UK warehouse.

It's early days yet, but so far I've not found a single fault with the phone. Not supporting O2 andVodafone 4G is a minor drawback especially since I've been used to the speed, H+ is acceptable but I'm really hoping that a future firmware update will unlock LTE band 20. If not, the modding community on sites like XDA will soon come up with a hack.

Speaking of hacks, Oneplus has a unique attitude towards unlocking and rooting your phone... basically, unlike most other manufacturers, unlocking the baseband and rooting the device does not void the manufacturers warranty. Only if you do something stupid, like overclock the CPU and burn it out, will the warranty be affected. Quite refreshing, especially coming from Samsung and their damn Knox warranty voiding trick.

So, of course, the first thing I did was unlock the bootloader using fastboot, flash TWRP recovery and root the firmware via flashing SuperSU. And yes, I realise that might as well be greek to some of us!

This weekend I'll be putting the camera through its paces, and will post up some photos and 4k video samples.


----------



## danwel

I really want one of these phones!!! Need to wangle an invite from somewhere now!!


----------



## Jedi

As a buyer, I will be receiving invites from Oneplus when further stock is available, I'll make them available to anyone on here.


----------



## danwel

Jedi said:


> As a buyer, I will be receiving invites from Oneplus when further stock is available, I'll make them available to anyone on here.


Awesome i will be up for that:thumb:


----------



## M4D YN

Thanks Jedi :thumb: i am following them on Facebook,but not sure what to look out for


----------



## danwel

M4D YN said:


> Thanks Jedi :thumb: i am following them on Facebook,but not sure what to look out for


No me either if i am honest lol


----------



## Focusaddict

Is the invite system a temp thing or is this going to carry on, I am still locked to my 5s so no can do but in future why not.


----------



## 182_Blue

Typical, just as I buy a new phone something else comes out I want LOL, nice review though.


----------



## M4D YN

danwel said:


> No me either if i am honest lol


:lol:


----------



## gatecrasher3

Any chance of a DW invites sharing community?

I am on the OPO forums to see if I can get one but they look a little hard to come by.


----------



## NickTB

If you can ignore the tomfoolery there's actually a pretty good review here


----------



## goRt

Jedi said:


> ...It's early days yet, but so far I've not found a single fault with the phone. Not supporting O2 andVodafone 4G is a minor drawback especially since I've been used to the speed, H+ is acceptable but I'm really hoping that a future firmware update will unlock LTE band 20. If not, the modding community on sites like XDA will soon come up with a hack.


Let's clear this up, LTE band 20 (800mhz) will also be used by three.
This is the band that has the greatest range and will be used by the networks in rural areas / fill in the gaps. It's significant.

Yes, you can enable the band in software / firmware BUT the aerial is not compatible with this frequency and therefore you won't get the signal - well documented on XDA and the first post in the related article was updated recently to reflect this.

Not the best phone for the UK / EMEA market.


----------



## Natalie

What's app compatibility like on these? Is it well supported?
Very tempted by one.


----------



## mteam

I've just received an invite for one of these if anybody wants it


----------



## slim_boy_fat

I'll have it if that's OK.


----------



## mteam

slim_boy_fat said:


> I'll have it if that's OK.


Pm me your email and I'll forward it to you I'm out at the moment I'll do it when I get home


----------



## slim_boy_fat

Sorted :thumb:

I appreciate the gesture. :wave:


----------



## slim_boy_fat

PM received and actioned. :thumb:


----------



## Focusaddict

Jedi said:


> As a buyer, I will be receiving invites from Oneplus when further stock is available, I'll make them available to anyone on here.


I would ask for an invite but since I am bound to my current contract it would be wasteful, but in future I might well be up for one.


----------



## BigJimmyBovine

This may be of use to some of you if there aren't enough invites. It's from Android and Me on Pulse newsreader.



> Last month, OnePlus kicked off its pre-order system for the One, allowing anyone to place an order for its low-cost smartphone. The whole process didn't exactly go smoothly, but thankfully OnePlus is holding another pre-order event later this month.
> 
> The next OnePlus One pre-order event will take place on November 17 at 16:00 GMT/8:00 am PT/11:00 am ET. Pre-orders will be available for one hour, and if there's OnePlus One stock available when you submit your order, your device will ship right away. If no stock is available, you'll be given a pre-order and your credit card will be charged when your unit ships.
> 
> OnePlus also plans to offer discounts on its accessories during this pre-order event. The company says that it'll have "steeply discounted prices" for folks that bundle accessories with their OnePlus One.
> 
> OnePlus's previous pre-order event had issues because the firm's servers couldn't handle all of the folks that tried to get a One. OnePlus says that "a lot has changed" behind the scenes, though, so hopefully it's beefed up its servers ahead of next week's event.
> 
> It's also worth noting that you can prepare your pre-order right now, including your cart, shipping and billing info, so you might want to do that if you plan on trying to buy a OnePlus One next week.


----------



## slim_boy_fat

Received an email this morning to say mine's been despatched via Royal Mail, along with the Tracking Number.

Happy Days!!


----------



## cupra-matt

Slim_boy_fat, can you send me an invitation please.


----------



## Fozzer

I tried to pre order and got stuck when the site crashed, i know there is another pre-order coming but if some has a invite to give away I would appreciate it.


----------



## gizzy_wizzy92

My brother received it on Friday


----------



## slim_boy_fat

cupra-matt said:


> Slim_boy_fat, can you send me an invitation please.


I'll keep you in mind, assuming I get one of course.


----------



## gatecrasher3

I received an invite yesterday via email at approx 16:30 which means that it is still valid but will need to be redeemed pretty sharpish. The text in the email states:

To use this invite, please follow this link to claim it as yours (you have less than 24h to do so): https://account.oneplus.net/invite/claim/****-****-****-****. If you haven't yet registered your account, no problem. Just follow this link: https://account.oneplus.net/sign-up

The invite will expire 24 hours from when we sent this email, not necessarily when you received it, please claim it as soon as possible as expired invites are not re-activated.

If anyone wants to have the invite and is able to pay for the phone *this afternoon via Paypal (that is the only payment method Oneplus accept)* let me know. If not I will share it on the Oneplus forum.

I'd be grateful if people would consider me should they receive an invite in the future.

I have just taken delivery of an HTC One M8 so am just getting to grips with that or I would have used this invite myself and may wish I had later on.


----------



## Starbuck88

If anybody has an invite, it'd be greatly received by myself.

My Galaxy S2 has finally thrown in the towel and won't charge. The port on the bottom is knackered.

Cheers


----------



## smegal

A random question. Will banking apps, e.g. Barclaycard work on this. Does it appear as a "rooted" phone?


----------



## Starbuck88

smegal said:


> A random question. Will banking apps, e.g. Barclaycard work on this. Does it appear as a "rooted" phone?


Don't see why it should appear as a rooted phone, as it's a genuine item. It's not a rip off of anything.

So should work alright.


----------



## smegal

asonda said:


> Don't see why it should appear as a rooted phone, as it's a genuine item. It's not a rip off of anything.
> 
> So should work alright.


Its more as to what user privileges the user has. This can upset banking apps. These look like amazing phones.


----------



## smegal

smegal said:


> Its more as to what user privileges the user has. This can upset banking apps. These look like amazing phones.


A quick Google has rooting guides, so it looks like it'll work.


----------



## gatecrasher3

Some apps that don't like you to have root access can be fooled into running by using the RootCloak module in the Xposed Framework.

Despite using this to hide the root access both the Barclays Mobile Banking and Sky Go apps still detect root and won't work. At least that was my experience on an HTC One M8.

Worth double checking on the OPO forums to see if it is the case with the Cyanogen OS.


----------



## smegal

I've done some research and it seems like they aren't rooted as standard. 

Has anyone *** an invite that they could spare please. It's about time I treated myself.


----------



## Kiashuma

smegal said:


> I've done some research and it seems like they aren't rooted as standard.
> 
> Has anyone *** an invite that they could spare please. It's about time I treated myself.


What is it with the *** today, you cant type ***! G O T!


----------



## Starbuck88

*** haha

Oi I was here first, invite please


----------



## smegal

danwel said:


> https://oneplus.net/uk
> 
> No invite needed to buy here


Credit to above


----------



## danwel

smegal said:


> Credit to above


Cheers I forgot to post it in here too:thumb:


----------



## Guest

10,000 are up for grabs tomorrow without invite if anyone wants one.

I have 2 and I am due a upgrade and nothing out there comes close to this awesome phone, do yourself a favour if you have the cash and like android phones treat yourself to one of these.


----------



## gizzy_wizzy92

Got an invite but I already own one  message me if you want it


----------



## ardenvxr

Pm sent


----------



## davies20

Ive decided i want one of these!

Question, it looks like it used a micro USB? My computer doesnt have one of these - does this mean im buggered?

Also does this take a micro sim like the Iphone 5s, or would i need to get a different SIM?

If anyone gets an invite, please PM me, would be appreciated!


----------



## Focusaddict

Cable on the phone end is micro but the PC end will be a full size usb plug.


----------



## davies20

Focusaddict said:


> Cable on the phone end is micro but the PC end will be a full size usb plug.


The phone end of the cable looked like 'lightening' like the new iPhone?


----------



## gizzy_wizzy92

Its micro USB and it also takes nano and micro sims with the various adapters supplied to accommodate.


----------



## davies20

gizzy_wizzy92 said:


> Its micro USB and it also takes nano and micro sims with the various adapters supplied to accommodate.


https://oneplus.net/uk/oneplus-one-data-cable

That is why I assumed? that defo looks like a iphone connection.

Glad it isn't anyway! :thumb:


----------



## davies20

Just ordered a 64gb Sandstone Black


----------



## slim_boy_fat

davies20 said:


> Just ordered a 64gb Sandstone Black


You'll not regret it. :thumb:


----------



## danwel

i keep flirting with ordering one and am yet to pull the trigger. My sister had donated to me her iphone 5 so am going to use that for now and see how i go as i just like how ios works plus i can facetime home as my wife has a 4s and ipads whilst i am at work.


----------



## davies20

slim_boy_fat said:


> You'll not regret it. :thumb:


I hope your right!

I'll be coming from a 5s. Which I've had enough of being restrictive and just plain boring!

Don't get me wrong, I will not use the oneplus one to its full potential, but I can basically sell my 5s for the price of a brand new 64gb 'One' - no brainer!


----------



## davies20

danwel said:


> i keep flirting with ordering one and am yet to pull the trigger. My sister had donated to me her iphone 5 so am going to use that for now and see how i go as i just like how ios works plus i can facetime home as my wife has a 4s and ipads whilst i am at work.


Not counter arguing with you here, but that issue can be simply overcome by downloading Skype. Just a thought that's all :thumb:


----------



## danwel

davies20 said:


> Not counter arguing with you here, but that issue can be simply overcome by downloading Skype. Just a thought that's all :thumb:


Yeah i know its not a deal breaker by any means i just like how imessage and Facetime work and having a number of ipads too i am just a bit reluctant to change at the moment i guess


----------



## davies20

danwel said:


> Yeah i know its not a deal breaker by any means i just like how imessage and Facetime work and having a number of ipads too i am just a bit reluctant to change at the moment i guess


totally agree, I'm on my 3rd iPhone, and the house is full on Apple products!

IMO - apples bubble is about to burst, back in the day with the 3gs etc it was ahead of its time - but nowadays, other companies have caught up & out spec the iphone hands down.

However, the ease of use of Apples IOS is untrue, my 4year old lad was navigating around our ipad from the age of 2!


----------



## danwel

davies20 said:


> totally agree, I'm on my 3rd iPhone, and the house is full on Apple products!
> 
> IMO - apples bubble is about to burst, back in the day with the 3gs etc it was ahead of its time - but nowadays, other companies have caught up & out spec the iphone hands down.
> 
> However, the ease of use of Apples IOS is untrue, my 4year old lad was navigating around our ipad from the age of 2!


Yeah both my boys 4 and 2 can navigate the ios. I may well change in the not too distant future but at the moment it just works for me


----------



## JJ0063

When these first came out I was really interested, read up for hours on them and had decided that when my iPhone 5 eventually knackers, I'd go for one.

How wrong could I have been? Luckily, and I mean luckily.. I had the chance to have a play with one a week or two back.

Huge phone, too big for a mans jeans pocket. Was like my mrs' iPad mini!

Feels delicate, and that's coming from an iPhone user. There doesn't feel like there's much strength to the structure. It gave me no confidence that this phone would last long at all.

The userface is fine, it's nothing different so is fine in that aspect & I don't argue the specs of the phone at all.

Overall a huge disappointment! Certainly won't be buying one, it looks nice & the specs make for good reading, but in reality & day to day use it feels like a cheap phone that won't last long.


----------



## gatecrasher3

I was toying with the idea of one of these for a while as a change from iOS. I got fed up of waiting for an invite and bought an HTC One M8.

I had the HTC for a couple of weeks and had a good play around with it, even rooting it and tweaking it to suit my needs.

What I realised was that when I thought I was bored of Apple, it was actually that iOS just works, is very intuitive and reliable. The HTC did make me see that a bigger screen is a bonus.

I sold the HTC and bought an iPhone 6 and am more than pleased with it.

Cool story eh?!


----------



## davies20

gatecrasher3 said:


> I was toying with the idea of one of these for a while as a change from iOS. I got fed up of waiting for an invite and bought an HTC One M8.
> 
> I had the HTC for a couple of weeks and had a good play around with it, even rooting it and tweaking it to suit my needs.
> 
> What I realised was that when I thought I was bored of Apple, it was actually *that iOS just works, is very intuitive and reliable*. The HTC did make me see that a bigger screen is a bonus.
> 
> I sold the HTC and bought an iPhone 6 and am more than pleased with it.
> 
> Cool story eh?!


See this is what I'm slightly worried about - although IOS is boring, does android need to much fiddling & customising before you feel a benefit from it.


----------



## shl-kelso

The restricted ecosystem that Apple provide make it much easier to manage the hardware/firmware/software but even then it can still get mucked up (IOS8.0/8.1 upgrades breaking devices). Android offers an immense amount of flexibility, but as there is no defined hardware spec and so many versions of the OS then it can be a lot harder making it work. For example I recently tried helping a friend with his new Samsung Galaxy Tab link it to his new Samsung Smart TV. After many hours and gnashing of teeth it became apparent that the Samsung Android App was not compatible with the new version of Android OS on his new Galaxy, and there were endless earlier versions of the App on the Play Store that would run but were incompatible with the new model of TV. I was able to go straight to the IOS store and download the App on my iPhone and had it working with his TV within a couple of minutes. So there is no outright winner in my view, but I do find Android makes me work harder especially when trying to help out friends and family remotely with such a wide variety of hardware and Android versions.


----------



## JJ0063

What a weird, weird coincidence!

I have just received an invite from OnePlus via email!


----------



## davies20

JJ0063 said:


> What a weird, weird coincidence!
> 
> I have just received an invite from OnePlus via email!


It's a sign - you must convert from Apple  lol


----------



## JJ0063

davies20 said:


> It's a sign - you must convert from Apple  lol


Tempted to buy it & stick it on ebay for £50 more, don't know if it's worth the hassle!


----------



## danwel

JJ0063 said:


> Tempted to buy it & stick it on ebay for £50 more, don't know if it's worth the hassle!


Surely not worth the hassle as by time you've taken off 10% to ebay and 4 % to paypal less postage then the idiot buyers you've got a lot of hassle for a bout 20 quid


----------



## JJ0063

danwel said:


> Surely not worth the hassle as by time you've taken off 10% to ebay and 4 % to paypal less postage then the idiot buyers you've got a lot of hassle for a bout 20 quid


Exactly my thoughts, got a few hours left to decide..


----------



## danwel

JJ0063 said:


> Exactly my thoughts, got a few hours left to decide..


Not for me but obviously your decision.


----------



## ardenvxr

Got mine today,love it!so much to do and change,much better than my lumia


----------



## davies20

Mine came but i was out at Autosport!


----------



## ardenvxr

davies20 said:


> Mine came but i was out at Autosport!


Had a chance to use it yet?


----------



## CLS500Benz

Was tempted by one of these just to have a powerful android for the things you cannot do on the iPhone such as show box, file management, SD card storage etc.. But was put off for some reason i can't recall why.. Something to do with WiFi signal & warranty with faulty issues not 100% sure..

Anyways...About 3 weeks ago i saw an offer for a Samsung S5 for £279 on HUKD (Vodafone shop website also in-store) so went for that works really nicely especially with my Samsung TV, Although i still prefer my iPhone 6 Plus display and overall use (it just works as they say) but the S5 for films/videos & is perfect as a second phone for what i want it for


----------



## davies20

Just picked mine up from the sorting office 

First thoughts are good:

Packaging was superb, a real experience!

Phone size is good, the back of it reminds me of a 'flocked' dash, really nice!

I'll update later with more thoughts as at the moment its a big change from IOS! But so far so good


----------



## Rizzo

I managed to get an invite for one of these, now just awaiting the arrival of it


----------



## davies20

ardenvxr said:


> Had a chance to use it yet?


Had it for 2 days now and starting to get used to it.

Massive change from 5 years of IOS but I'm adapting quickly.

Prefer the bigger screen even though I thought I wouldn't, makes the iPhone 5s look tiny now.

Its pretty quick at switching from app to app etc and fluid. However I find it takes longer to download apps than the iPhone did. Might just be mind over matter but it does seem slower.

Other than that really happy with it - just a case of getting used to how android prefers to be used. :thumb:


----------



## smegal

LJust received an invite, but have got my spare money ready for another purchase.

First come first served:

https://account.oneplus.net/invite/claim/GL6R-NCY6-4ZC0-FWYP


----------



## Rizzo

Im very impressed with phone.

Feels great to touch, battery life is excellent and the camera is superb.

The extra settings that you can chnage abover normal android are great. Cyanogen have made some great extras especially the small things like touch gestures.

Overall Im very happy.


----------



## slim_boy_fat

^^ I'm loving mine :thumb:


----------



## ardenvxr

Battery life is great,I get asked all the time is ita an iPhone,no it's bloody not!!


----------



## davies20

This might be of interest!

No invite needed tomorrow you lucky people!

https://oneplus.net/uk/jan20


----------



## smegal

Invite available.

https://account.oneplus.net/invite/claim/GL5A-BB9T-IBDA-TU6L


----------



## RP84

Anyone got an invite.. A friend is after one

64gb

Thanks


----------



## RP84

No longer needed.


----------

