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OnePlus 5 Review - It surely is the "Ferrari" of premium flagship smartphones

OnePlus has just launched its highly anticipated, highly speculated and highly rumored flagship smartphone, the OnePlus 5 globally as well as in India. The phone comes in 2 variants, one in Slate Gray color with 6 GB RAM and 64 GB internal storage and the other in Midnight Black color with 8 GB RAM and 128 GB internal storage. The price in India for these 2 variants is Rs. 32999 and Rs. 37999 respectively. We have been using the 8 GB OnePlus 5 for a little while and here's what we think about the phone.

I am sure that in the run up to the phone's launch, you would have read about the phone's reminiscence to iPhone 7 Plus design. Or you might even have seen some pictures of the OnePlus 5 yourself and felt that it did look like the iPhone. Sure it does, but that's just a very tiny part of it. Only the dual rear camera along with the integrated flash has some similarity to the iPhone in the way it looks, but that's it. Moreover, if you'll remove the two phones out of their cases and check the dual camera design, you'll notice a major difference in the housing around the 2 cameras. So, it would be more appropriate to say that the design stands inspired but calling it a point blank copy does not seem comprehensible. 

And again, the other design elements of the OnePlus 5 shine out drastically and outdo the 3 year old design of iPhone 7 Plus completely. The minuscule side bezels on the front as well as the tapered edges on the back emanate a feeling of sleekness to the device. Add to it the 7.25 mm thickness as well as its feather like weight of 153 grams and you'll have a feeling that you could lift this device whole day long with a single finger of yours. For the price that you are paying, its a design to die for. And with display embedded fingerprint sensors going to launch before the end of this year surely, we are already anticipating the next iteration of OnePlus 5 with abated breath.

The 5.5 inch Full HD display of OnePlus 5 is sharp, vivid and bright, while the user interface adds a dash of color to it. Pitch dark blacks and hues with natural saturation induce a feeling of oneness with the device. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor on board supported by Adreno 540 GPU coupled with seemingly overkill 8 GB RAM help the phone push the boundaries of performance to a whole new apex. You can throw whatever you want at the OnePlus 5 with all your might and it would come out squeaky clean in terms of raw performance. We are no fans of benchmarks and won't talk of them but we can surely tell you that using this device in your day to day life is a cinch. This phone removes the word lag from smartphone dictionaries forever. It does not get warm while playing games or charging either.

The zippy and peppy OxygenOS 4.5.1 operating system retains its closeness to stock Android but adds some new intuitive features and flavors to the smartphone. You can swap the recents and back buttons, opt between on screen buttons or physical buttons, display network speed on the status bar, set up a gaming do not disturb mode to stop notifications from irritating you while you are busy playing games and you can set up to 5 fingerprints to be used to unlock the device with its ceramic coated fingerprint sensor.

And did we just talk of the fingerprint sensor. The OnePlus 5 has arguably the fastest fingerprint sensor we have used on a smartphone. For sure, it does not let you think, so it basically removes the word lag from your mind too. OnePlus 5's rear camera has 2 lenses, one a normal sensor with 16 Megapixel resolution and the other a telephoto sensor with 20 Megapixel resolution. This helps the camera create a bokeh effect to blur the backgrounds and keep the subject in pin sharp focus through the Portrait mode. But yes, this time the OnePlus is not just inspired, it has actually gone ahead with blatant copying of the iPhone 7 Plus. They actually call it Depth effect inside the camera app and you can guess by now from where that term has come up. The super fast focusing rear camera clicks some great images with good saturation and high dynamic range. The portrait mode at times can go overboard though and blur the loosely hanging parts of your subject while at times make the image look absolutely weird. The 16 Megapixel selfie camera in front delivers decent images as well.

The 3300 mAh battery might just be the phone's biggest mistake. Though the processor is energy optimised, the phone lasts for just a little more than a day. The battery gets dwindled rather quickly in case you switch on the Wi-fi hotspot. We end up feeling the need for a bit more. But the need somewhat gets satiated with the Dash charge technology that can charge the device up to 90% in an hour and have it fully charged within 1.5 hours. 

Another issue we experienced was that the phone would leave an Internet connection intermittently while being connected to a Wi-Fi and there are no reachability features for easy usage of the phone with a single hand. Other than that, OnePlus 5 is a tremendous phone for all that it offers. It competes fiercely with iPhone 7 Plus, Samsung Galaxy S8+ and Google Pixel and is dramatically better at some aspects. If the company could have thrown in a slightly larger battery and added water resistance to the mix, we would have easily called it the best smartphone ever. But as of now, we are calling it the best smartphone for its price. The years coming ahead would be amazing as brands like OnePlus come up to intensify the glaring rivalry as well as boost up innovation. To end the review, let me just ask you, have you ever driven a Ferrari, I bet you'll say no. Using the OnePlus 5 comes as close to driving a Ferrari as it can, sadly only metaphorically. For all its beauty and speed, OnePlus 5 surely is the "Ferrari" of premium flagship smartphones.

You can buy OnePlus 5 with 8 GB RAM and 128 GB internal storage in Midnight Black color on Amazon India here.

You can buy OnePlus 5 with 6 GB RAM and 64 GB internal storage in Slate Gray color on Amazon India here. SIMILAR ARTICLES
Source: OnePlus 5 Review - It surely is the "Ferrari" of premium flagship smartphones

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