At this price point? Those specs are fantastic. If I was looking for a phone right now I'd buy one of these as soon as they come out. Heck, I might get one for my Mother for Christmas.
Too expensive, given how you can get similar performance for 30% lower price from (other) Chinese OEMs. And it's easy to import these days, too. Xiaomi's Mi 4c comes to mind. But there are others.
Apparently this phone is less than ideal for US users, with TMobile and ATT's channels 7 and 12 not being supported, or so I read in an article on another site.
right, how on earth can you call MIUI slow? what phone did u use before? (owned mi2s and mi3)
Miui is both easy on layout and lots of performance. the only reason i switched to oneplus recently was the fact that the worldwide version of MI4 is very limited in colors and cache. And there price now is higher then oneplus with less specs.
Slight mistake in the specs section. Its Adreno 330 and not 320 (unless QCom have downgraded the GPU to the one used in the SD 600!)
The 801 is probably the best soc in terms of performance, battery and general thermal characteristics. It can run anything out there in the android universe with ease and more.
Too bad its considered as 'outdated' because it is not 64 bit. It performs a hell lot better than the range of midrange phones with the SD 615.
Is there a problem with the SD 805? That SoC doesn't get much love. I mean, Adreno 420 is still better than the 418 you find on everyone's favorite SoC, the 808.
An 801 is still very capable, but the GPU is just outdated. But hey, at least it's not an octa-core 600-series.
The 805 probably costs a lot more than the 801.. A cost decision i think.
Plus the 805 did have a tendency to run hot, although nowhere as bad as the 810 or 615. In a 5 inch form factor, the thermal load will be more than what the chassis is able to dissipate.
And the Adreno 330 is far from outdated. It beats the gpu in the helio x10 (narrowly though) and is reasonably competent in handling a 2k screen. I believe it can handle 99% percent of games on playstore at high settings. Haventr come across a game that lags on my Find 7a so far.
The adreno 405 on the other hand is ill equipped for 1080p screens. Even the Adreno 320 (snapdragon 600) performs better than it. My 3 year old lg g pro is better able to handle heavy games and apps compared to my wifes X play!!
I would love it if more manufacturers used 800/801 on their mid range models rather than the underwhelming SD 615. It doesnt even have a dual channel memory!
Another possibly great option for mid rangers is the Mtk 6595. It destroys the likes of 615 and mt 6752 (cortex a53 based) in performance. The A17 cores work very well and are less power hungry than the A15... Anyway, i digress!
I dunno, the 420 was a pretty big jump from the 330. But as you said, the 801 is still a great performer in the real world. It just doesn't quite please the spec junkie in me.
It's still a pretty phone (taking cues from Sony) and a 5" 1080p AMOLED screen is exactly what I'm looking for (I love watching anime/videos on pixel dense screens). That's enough for me to accept the 801. But then there's the top-mounted 3.5mm jack, which a big nuisance for me as I put my phone on my pocket upside down (the "ergonomic" way).
Samsung Galaxy Note 4 in North America uses the SD805 SoC. It's a 5.7" phone, though, so it will have a bit more thermal headroom than a 5" phone. The wife picked one up used a month ago, and it's running quite nicely. Doesn't get hot in the hand for her uses, but she doesn't game on it.
I read an article that showed how the 805 has much less thermal throttling than the 801, which in turn is more stable than the 800. This was due to higher thermal limits, which made it run pretty hot.
Just a little amazed you came out with the price in the clear instead of quoting a 24 payments of..., or a bogus 2 year contract number like your other articles.
This is worth the price. I'm surprised myself that this uses the AB version if the 801, but given that its qualcomms finest chipset, this phone will definitely perform well.
Makes me think that the UK price is going to be £289!
Seriously, if these non-Apple-non-Samsung guys want to get any love in the rest of the world, they need to stop treating it like a second class citizen. $249 = £163 and even allowing for VAT at 20% that means it should be priced at £196 - hey let's be generous and call it £200.
For that price, this is an attractive handset and I'd even be tempted to pick on up to upgrade the wife's Gen1 Moto G. Any more and I'm just not interested.
Exactly Jesse. I honestly can't believe it is. And frankly if they're shipping everything from China to the US only to then reship it to Europe… well, then that's just silly and they should rethink it!
Kudos to them for launching the device with SD801. That just makes so much more sense for a mid-range device than the quad core/8 core Cortex A53s that others are putting into their midrange phones (I'm looking at you HTC A9 and Moto X Play).
It would have been great if it was actually SD805 (from a GPU point of view), but as I said, SD801 is still a lot better than what everyone else is using.
They are almost the same IPC as A53s but can be clocked way higher. Also, IPC is just one metric and useless without context.
Try using a MT 6752 based phone clocked at 1.7, the same frequency as a Krait 300 in the SD 600. Then use an SD 600 based phone to do the same tasks. You'll find that the SD 600 phone is quite faster in almost every workload, including games.
You can try the same experiment with a SD615 based phone clocked at 1.7 for the big cluster, you'll find that the performance is inferior even though the clock speeds are the same.
An SD 800/801/805 is in another league all together.
I have a Xperia Z3 with the 801, and it works great for me. It uses the 1200 band for Tmobile, and the same Adreno ( I think ) and streams and loads extremely fast in my area. I paid 315 new and otd on Ebay, and I thought i got a good deal. Midrange phones that work well are a great value in my book.
@SantaAna12 You mean 700MHz Band-12 support for T-Mobile.
Yes, the Z3 is probably the top choice for an affordable used phone for T-Mobile, especially with that 20Mp sensor.
Having said that, for people who want a new phone with warranty, this OnePlus X is a smart value. The choice to go with an SD-801 was a smart product choice for a mid-range phone. Kudos to their product manager. <rant>About the screen size;why are so many manufacturers refusing to combine top specs with a compact form factor?</rant>
Typo? Should "The rear-facing camera gets a bump in resolution from 5MP to 8MP, and uses an Omnivision OV8858 sensor." be "The front-facing camera gets a bump in resolution from 5MP to 8MP, and uses an Omnivision OV8858 sensor." Emphasis on change to front-facing.
And like every one plus device it will have teething issue, small but there none the less and the stupid invite system and non existent aftersales service. Yes the price is low but it is for a reason.
"and instead aims for a design made of aluminum and glass"
I don't care whether the industry has for some reason declared glass as a "premium" material. I will not use a phone that uses glass for anything other than the screen or camera optics.
I don't quite understand the "issue" with the SOC. All reviews of the 808 mentioned that it is a fairly underwhelming improvement over the 801, while the 810 has been bashed over and over as a power hog which does not noticeably improve performance (a 20% gain over the 801). I think it's great SOC for a $300 phone, or even more, especially if paired with a 1080p screen which is not enormous, a decent battery and SC card. This is a great spec'd phone, and a looker too. I was thinking of getting a Nexus 5X, but this has stolen the candle for now.
Your basically getting a Samsung Galaxy S5, for half the price of a Samsung S5. Same GPU, Same chip, etc..Actually, I think its slightly better then S5 hardware wise. Not sure what people are talking about, that it only works in China. I Don't see anything to indicate that it wouldn't work on US networks. Supports that same protocols/networks
This smartphone looks great for the price. If nobody has seen it in hands here's a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKdJaWFYVBU Looks like you can buy it without an invite?
Will you be reviewing this phone, I have a Nexus 5 and probably going to get a Nexus 5x but the One Plus x is very tempting The price is not important but I love the presentation Would it be a step down to buy it
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53 Comments
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aakash_sin - Thursday, October 29, 2015 - link
Pretty mild offering from Oneplus.Stylex - Thursday, October 29, 2015 - link
I think that's the pointFlunk - Friday, October 30, 2015 - link
At this price point? Those specs are fantastic. If I was looking for a phone right now I'd buy one of these as soon as they come out. Heck, I might get one for my Mother for Christmas.Mondozai - Thursday, October 29, 2015 - link
Too expensive, given how you can get similar performance for 30% lower price from (other) Chinese OEMs. And it's easy to import these days, too. Xiaomi's Mi 4c comes to mind. But there are others.erikiksaz - Thursday, October 29, 2015 - link
Which would only be relevant if they had global radios.amdwilliam1985 - Thursday, October 29, 2015 - link
radio, build quality and software is important to many of us.(just a personal preference, I don't like MIUI after spending sometime with it)
Taristin - Friday, October 30, 2015 - link
Apparently this phone is less than ideal for US users, with TMobile and ATT's channels 7 and 12 not being supported, or so I read in an article on another site.cuex - Friday, October 30, 2015 - link
Enjoy your disaster MIUI. I have a Mi 4i and REGRET buying it due to MIUI being so heavy and slow, and going to sell it soon...Maxpower2727 - Sunday, November 1, 2015 - link
You're literally the first person I've ever seen describe MIUI as "slow."duploxxx - Monday, November 2, 2015 - link
right, how on earth can you call MIUI slow? what phone did u use before? (owned mi2s and mi3)Miui is both easy on layout and lots of performance. the only reason i switched to oneplus recently was the fact that the worldwide version of MI4 is very limited in colors and cache. And there price now is higher then oneplus with less specs.
Flunk - Friday, October 30, 2015 - link
Once you pay to get the Xiaomi imported, the cost is pretty similar and you're stuck with a phone that's not supported anywhere but China.LiverpoolFC5903 - Thursday, October 29, 2015 - link
Slight mistake in the specs section. Its Adreno 330 and not 320 (unless QCom have downgraded the GPU to the one used in the SD 600!)The 801 is probably the best soc in terms of performance, battery and general thermal characteristics. It can run anything out there in the android universe with ease and more.
Too bad its considered as 'outdated' because it is not 64 bit. It performs a hell lot better than the range of midrange phones with the SD 615.
Ryan Smith - Thursday, October 29, 2015 - link
"Slight mistake in the specs section. Its Adreno 330 and not 320 (unless QCom have downgraded the GPU to the one used in the SD 600!)"Right you are. Thanks!
Allan_Hundeboll - Thursday, October 29, 2015 - link
Maybe the 5" amoled screen can make up for the smaller battery compared to the original oneplus one with 5.5" IPS screen?Spectrophobic - Thursday, October 29, 2015 - link
Is there a problem with the SD 805? That SoC doesn't get much love. I mean, Adreno 420 is still better than the 418 you find on everyone's favorite SoC, the 808.An 801 is still very capable, but the GPU is just outdated. But hey, at least it's not an octa-core 600-series.
LiverpoolFC5903 - Thursday, October 29, 2015 - link
The 805 probably costs a lot more than the 801.. A cost decision i think.Plus the 805 did have a tendency to run hot, although nowhere as bad as the 810 or 615. In a 5 inch form factor, the thermal load will be more than what the chassis is able to dissipate.
And the Adreno 330 is far from outdated. It beats the gpu in the helio x10 (narrowly though) and is reasonably competent in handling a 2k screen. I believe it can handle 99% percent of games on playstore at high settings. Haventr come across a game that lags on my Find 7a so far.
The adreno 405 on the other hand is ill equipped for 1080p screens. Even the Adreno 320 (snapdragon 600) performs better than it. My 3 year old lg g pro is better able to handle heavy games and apps compared to my wifes X play!!
I would love it if more manufacturers used 800/801 on their mid range models rather than the underwhelming SD 615. It doesnt even have a dual channel memory!
Another possibly great option for mid rangers is the Mtk 6595. It destroys the likes of 615 and mt 6752 (cortex a53 based) in performance. The A17 cores work very well and are less power hungry than the A15...
Anyway, i digress!
Spectrophobic - Thursday, October 29, 2015 - link
I dunno, the 420 was a pretty big jump from the 330. But as you said, the 801 is still a great performer in the real world. It just doesn't quite please the spec junkie in me.It's still a pretty phone (taking cues from Sony) and a 5" 1080p AMOLED screen is exactly what I'm looking for (I love watching anime/videos on pixel dense screens). That's enough for me to accept the 801. But then there's the top-mounted 3.5mm jack, which a big nuisance for me as I put my phone on my pocket upside down (the "ergonomic" way).
phoenix_rizzen - Friday, October 30, 2015 - link
Samsung Galaxy Note 4 in North America uses the SD805 SoC. It's a 5.7" phone, though, so it will have a bit more thermal headroom than a 5" phone. The wife picked one up used a month ago, and it's running quite nicely. Doesn't get hot in the hand for her uses, but she doesn't game on it.nikaldro - Thursday, October 29, 2015 - link
I read an article that showed how the 805 has much less thermal throttling than the 801, which in turn is more stable than the 800. This was due to higher thermal limits, which made it run pretty hot.LiverpoolFC5903 - Friday, October 30, 2015 - link
That makes more sense. It does run hot but does not slow down due to thermal limits kicking in.CodeGlitch - Thursday, October 29, 2015 - link
still waiting for a wordy successor to my nexus 5...mayankleoboy1 - Thursday, October 29, 2015 - link
" and it's interesting that only OnePlus has decided to utilize it despite the issues with Qualcomm's Snapdragon 808 and 810 SoCs"What is wrong with SD808 ? AFAIK, it has no heating issues.
nikaldro - Thursday, October 29, 2015 - link
It still gets pretty hot. The CPU alone is, like, 4-5W.Brandon Chester - Friday, October 30, 2015 - link
Yes, it does.Aravindan - Thursday, October 29, 2015 - link
My only concern is the 2nd sim slot doubling up as MicroSD slot. This is a deal-breaker. We need both! :-(Mikemk - Thursday, October 29, 2015 - link
The majority of people don't use 2 SIM cardsGunbuster - Thursday, October 29, 2015 - link
Just a little amazed you came out with the price in the clear instead of quoting a 24 payments of..., or a bogus 2 year contract number like your other articles.teldar - Thursday, October 29, 2015 - link
I'll handle this one. This is from the manufacturer at a particular price. Phones from carriers are not usually quoted as a list price.Drumsticks - Thursday, October 29, 2015 - link
Like the guy above me said. Verizon was quoting the droid turbo specifically as a monthly installment, which is why they quoted it as that.bznotins - Thursday, October 29, 2015 - link
When can we expect a Nexus 5X/6P review?Der2 - Thursday, October 29, 2015 - link
This is worth the price. I'm surprised myself that this uses the AB version if the 801, but given that its qualcomms finest chipset, this phone will definitely perform well.[-Stash-] - Thursday, October 29, 2015 - link
$249 != €269€269 = $295!
Makes me think that the UK price is going to be £289!
Seriously, if these non-Apple-non-Samsung guys want to get any love in the rest of the world, they need to stop treating it like a second class citizen. $249 = £163 and even allowing for VAT at 20% that means it should be priced at £196 - hey let's be generous and call it £200.
For that price, this is an attractive handset and I'd even be tempted to pick on up to upgrade the wife's Gen1 Moto G. Any more and I'm just not interested.
Mikemk - Thursday, October 29, 2015 - link
How about international shipping from a small company?JesseKramer - Thursday, October 29, 2015 - link
Is it more expensive to ship to Europe than to the US? Like an extra $45 per device more expensive?[-Stash-] - Friday, October 30, 2015 - link
Exactly Jesse. I honestly can't believe it is. And frankly if they're shipping everything from China to the US only to then reship it to Europe… well, then that's just silly and they should rethink it!Penti - Thursday, October 29, 2015 - link
Sales tax/VAT[-Stash-] - Friday, October 30, 2015 - link
I've covered the price of VAT in my original post.aryonoco - Thursday, October 29, 2015 - link
Kudos to them for launching the device with SD801. That just makes so much more sense for a mid-range device than the quad core/8 core Cortex A53s that others are putting into their midrange phones (I'm looking at you HTC A9 and Moto X Play).It would have been great if it was actually SD805 (from a GPU point of view), but as I said, SD801 is still a lot better than what everyone else is using.
nikaldro - Thursday, October 29, 2015 - link
A53 cores have almost the same IPC as krait 400, and drink less power. They're not bad at all. Much better than the A7 junk.LiverpoolFC5903 - Thursday, October 29, 2015 - link
They are almost the same IPC as A53s but can be clocked way higher. Also, IPC is just one metric and useless without context.Try using a MT 6752 based phone clocked at 1.7, the same frequency as a Krait 300 in the SD 600. Then use an SD 600 based phone to do the same tasks. You'll find that the SD 600 phone is quite faster in almost every workload, including games.
You can try the same experiment with a SD615 based phone clocked at 1.7 for the big cluster, you'll find that the performance is inferior even though the clock speeds are the same.
An SD 800/801/805 is in another league all together.
SantaAna12 - Thursday, October 29, 2015 - link
I have a Xperia Z3 with the 801, and it works great for me. It uses the 1200 band for Tmobile, and the same Adreno ( I think ) and streams and loads extremely fast in my area. I paid 315 new and otd on Ebay, and I thought i got a good deal.Midrange phones that work well are a great value in my book.
kchilaka - Thursday, October 29, 2015 - link
@SantaAna12You mean 700MHz Band-12 support for T-Mobile.
Yes, the Z3 is probably the top choice for an affordable used phone for T-Mobile, especially with that 20Mp sensor.
Having said that, for people who want a new phone with warranty, this OnePlus X is a smart value. The choice to go with an SD-801 was a smart product choice for a mid-range phone. Kudos to their product manager.
<rant>About the screen size;why are so many manufacturers refusing to combine top specs with a compact form factor?</rant>
SantaAna12 - Thursday, October 29, 2015 - link
Thanks on the band.....your right. I am with you on the ff rant....right on the money.The Z3 was new, with limited warranty.
A longer warranty would be nice though.
brozono - Thursday, October 29, 2015 - link
Typo? Should "The rear-facing camera gets a bump in resolution from 5MP to 8MP, and uses an Omnivision OV8858 sensor." be "The front-facing camera gets a bump in resolution from 5MP to 8MP, and uses an Omnivision OV8858 sensor." Emphasis on change to front-facing.Lavkesh - Thursday, October 29, 2015 - link
And like every one plus device it will have teething issue, small but there none the less and the stupid invite system and non existent aftersales service. Yes the price is low but it is for a reason.Gigaplex - Friday, October 30, 2015 - link
"and instead aims for a design made of aluminum and glass"I don't care whether the industry has for some reason declared glass as a "premium" material. I will not use a phone that uses glass for anything other than the screen or camera optics.
yankeeDDL - Saturday, October 31, 2015 - link
I don't quite understand the "issue" with the SOC. All reviews of the 808 mentioned that it is a fairly underwhelming improvement over the 801, while the 810 has been bashed over and over as a power hog which does not noticeably improve performance (a 20% gain over the 801).I think it's great SOC for a $300 phone, or even more, especially if paired with a 1080p screen which is not enormous, a decent battery and SC card.
This is a great spec'd phone, and a looker too. I was thinking of getting a Nexus 5X, but this has stolen the candle for now.
HideOut - Saturday, October 31, 2015 - link
This is essentially a low budget samsung S5 isnt it? I mean obviously different company but the specs are very similar.jknox - Sunday, November 1, 2015 - link
Your basically getting a Samsung Galaxy S5, for half the price of a Samsung S5. Same GPU, Same chip, etc..Actually, I think its slightly better then S5 hardware wise. Not sure what people are talking about, that it only works in China. I Don't see anything to indicate that it wouldn't work on US networks. Supports that same protocols/networksfumij - Tuesday, November 3, 2015 - link
wow, i got $9 coupon code : OPXOFFER from Geekbuying blog.can you make the comparison review between oneplus x and xiaomi mi4c?
Pete Scoffield - Wednesday, November 4, 2015 - link
This smartphone looks great for the price. If nobody has seen it in hands here's a video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKdJaWFYVBU
Looks like you can buy it without an invite?
joaomscosta - Thursday, November 5, 2015 - link
Can you confirm if that is the Snapdragon 801 MSM8974AB, or the Snapdragon 801 MSM8974 AA ? Just because there is a difference in Max. GPU SpeedPalm Hill Villa - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link
Will you be reviewing this phone, I have a Nexus 5 and probably going to get a Nexus 5x but the One Plus x is very tempting The price is not important but I love the presentation Would it be a step down to buy it