Hot Specs, Cool Price: OnePlus Looks To Upset Mobile Industry With “One” Smartphone
Details of the OnePlus One smartphone are here. The phone boasts terrific specifications and features while keeping the cost in check--there are two handsets, actually, a 16GB white one for $299 and a 64GB black model for $349--and they’ll be available in Q2 2014.
There’s no compromise on hardware here. The One runs on a quad-core Snapdragon 801 (2.5GHz) chip with an Adreno 330 (578MHz) GPU, 3GB of LP-DDR3-1866MHz RAM, and the aforementioned 16GB or 64GB of storage.
The 5.5-inch display is 1080p Full HD, and the rear camera is a 13MP Sony Exmor IMX 214 affair with 6 lenses and dual LED flash that can capture 4K video while the front-facing camera is a not-too-shabby 5MP. The 3100 mAh LiPo battery is embedded. There are built-in stereo speakers and a tri-microphone with noise cancellation. The handset is 8.9mm thick, but the tapered edge (for easy gripping) is a mere 4.6mm.
On the connectivity side, in addition to dual-band WiFi 802.11b/g/n/ac and Bluetooth 4.0, the One offers GSM, WCDMA, and LTE. There’s also NFC, GPS+GLONASS, and a digital compass.
What really sets this smartphone apart, though, is the fact that it runs CyanogenMod 11S, based on Android 4.4, as an OS. OnePlus says that you can mix and match thousands of themes, and the Advanced Camera and Gallery apps offer powerful ways to edit and share your memories.
Finally, the OS offers SMS encryption “between your One and CyanogenMod or TextSecure-compatible device”, and Privacy Guard lets you control how apps use your data.
The One seems like a heck of phone, and all things considered, the price is incredible.
There’s no compromise on hardware here. The One runs on a quad-core Snapdragon 801 (2.5GHz) chip with an Adreno 330 (578MHz) GPU, 3GB of LP-DDR3-1866MHz RAM, and the aforementioned 16GB or 64GB of storage.
The 5.5-inch display is 1080p Full HD, and the rear camera is a 13MP Sony Exmor IMX 214 affair with 6 lenses and dual LED flash that can capture 4K video while the front-facing camera is a not-too-shabby 5MP. The 3100 mAh LiPo battery is embedded. There are built-in stereo speakers and a tri-microphone with noise cancellation. The handset is 8.9mm thick, but the tapered edge (for easy gripping) is a mere 4.6mm.
On the connectivity side, in addition to dual-band WiFi 802.11b/g/n/ac and Bluetooth 4.0, the One offers GSM, WCDMA, and LTE. There’s also NFC, GPS+GLONASS, and a digital compass.
What really sets this smartphone apart, though, is the fact that it runs CyanogenMod 11S, based on Android 4.4, as an OS. OnePlus says that you can mix and match thousands of themes, and the Advanced Camera and Gallery apps offer powerful ways to edit and share your memories.
Finally, the OS offers SMS encryption “between your One and CyanogenMod or TextSecure-compatible device”, and Privacy Guard lets you control how apps use your data.
The One seems like a heck of phone, and all things considered, the price is incredible.
