OnePlus Announces OnePlus 2 'Flagship Killer' Android Phone With OxygenOS

MojoKid writes: The OnePlus 2 was officially unveiled [Monday] evening and it has been announced that the smartphone will start at an competitively low $329, unlocked and contract free. The entry level price nets you a 5.5" 1080p display, a cooler-running 1.8GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 v2.1 SoC paired with 3GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, a 13MP rear camera (with OIS, laser focusing and two-tone flash), 5MP selfie camera, and dual nano SIM slots. If you don't mind handing over an extra $60, you'll receive 4GB of RAM to back the processor and 64GB of internal storage. Besides beefing up the internal specs, OnePlus has also paid some attention to the exterior of the device, giving it a nice aluminum frame and a textured backplate. There are a number of optional materials that you can choose from including wood and Kevlar. Reader dkatana links to InformationWeek's coverage, which puts a bit more emphasis on what the phone doesn't come with: NFC. Apparently, people just don't use it as much as anticipated.

Comments

Re:No Compromises

[gstoddart]

I actually want a real, physical keyboard but I know that's simply not in the cards.

I figure by the time you have a fairly large touch screen an physical keyboard is just bulk ... and can probably be done with Bluetooth anyway.

I've actually found the Google keyboard which lets you type by dragging your finger over a virtual keyboard is almost as fast as a real keyboard

They're doing it to force consumers to buy new phones in a couple of years

Or they're trying to keep costs down and cover "most" of the market instead of all of it.

Re:No Compromises

[atfrase]

I am also firmly in the physical keyboard camp, and I constantly hear that argument that screens are so big now, to which I always reply: that's exactly the point. The screen is nice and big and beautiful, and I would like to use it to display *content*, not interface. When more than half the screen is wasted on drawing 26 letters and other assorted UI, then suddenly the amount of screen that can actually be used to compose your message, and display the context of that message, is tiny.

A physical slide-out keyboard allows me to use the entire screen for its actual ideal purpose: displaying things that change. A mostly static keyboard interface is a poor use of that space, and I absolutely do not mind the extra weight and bulk of the keyboard, because when composing long messages or working in a remote terminal shell it is absolutely worth it to me.

Re:SD Card?

[amicusNYCL]

They don't want you storing videos, pictures, music, and audio books on SD card; they want you to pay over 3x as much for that same SD card.

Right, that's why they're selling an unlocked top-shelf phone for $329, because they're all about making as much profit as possible and they really want to control exactly how you use the device. That's why the OnePlus One shipped immediately also, because they had massive inventory.

Wait, sorry, that didn't happen. People needed to get invites to even purchase the OnePlus One and then wait a while for delivery because their profit margins are so thin that they cannot afford to manufacture inventory that isn't going to be sold, and then they ended up selling 10 times what they estimated and had to ramp production up mid-run.

And you think they didn't include a removable SD card because of some profit motive. I bet its the other way, I bet they're trying to keep costs down. I bet it's the same reason they didn't include NFC: because the majority of people don't use it.