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

No Compromises

[BradleyUffner]

Unless you want an SD Card, NFC, Wireless charging, front speakers, OIS camera, or removable battery.

Re:No Compromises

[BradleyUffner]

Unless you want an SD Card, NFC, Wireless charging, front speakers, OIS camera, or removable battery.

Apologies, I missed that it does indeed have OIS; one of the sites I read earlier reported that it did not.

Re:No Compromises

[Archangel Michael]

For all that, you can spend 290 dollars more!

On a side note, NFC hasn't been used much, but I see that changing. That is a huge disappointment.

Re:No Compromises

[gstoddart]

Well, 64GB of internal storage is a fair bit, but yes, it's cheap to add one ... I don't give a damn about Wireless charging ... the speakers I need enough to use it as a speakerphone, so I'm not sure ... I actively don't want any fscking NFC ... I have dedicated cameras for real work, and I'm meh about the battery (since I've never removed the battery from my current phone so it's not like I'd be missing anything).

I'm starting to be in the market for something to replace my aging phone, and really don't want to buy a carrier locked phone, especially since I don't want a data plan and carriers won't give you those phones without one. My phone needs to text and make calls, and use wifi from time to time.

The existence of (somewhat more) affordable phones not tied to a carrier sounds appealing.

For some of us, those missing features aren't that big of a deal. And since I have no intention of ever using my phone with a tap-to-pay, the absence of NFC is a bonus.

Will this phone cover the wishlist of everybody? Of course not. Will it suffice for a lot of people? Absolutely.

Re:No Compromises

[bluefoxlucid]

My OnePlus One has NFC, but the OnePlus 2 doesn't. I used NFC to transfer my Google account settings, which didn't really transfer much. From what I can find, NFC is incredibly difficult to configure and use--sending an MMC to transfer a picture or video is a lot faster and easier.

Wireless charging is also a waste. You have to be right up with it, and it uses 10 times as much power to provide as much charge to the phone. Likewise, quick charging, while nice, just doesn't make much sense when every car with bluetooth has a USB port, and every car add-on to connect a phone to a non-bluetooth radio has a charge port for your phone, and both have dash controls so your phone isn't hampered by being cabled. While I find it tough to actually get a 100% charge on my OnePlus One, I've had trouble getting it under 80% as well--even with just charging it for an hour to 90%-95% each night.

I'm not sure why front speakers are supposed to be any better than bottom speakers, although I see quite well why a bottom headphone jack is far superior to a top headphone jack. On the other hand, they could have gone hardware buttons or gone screen area for those bottom buttons, instead of hardware touch buttons.

The big drawbacks are really no slide-out keyboard and no SD slot.

Re:No Compromises

[TWX]

I think that's part of the point, lots of people want different things in their phones, but very few manufacturers are respecting those wants.

I want storage expansion and dual-SIM. I wouldn't mind front-mounted speakers. I actually want a real, physical keyboard but I know that's simply not in the cards. I want about double the battery capacity compared to most phones, with a removable battery. I want the LTE bands for my carrier in my area to all be supported. I want a camera capable of about 5MP pictures as I have a real camera that I use when I want ultra high quality photos.

It's really the removal of the memory expansion that upsets me. They're doing it to force consumers to buy new phones in a couple of years instead of simply adding more torage capacity to their existing phones.

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:No Compromises

[neminem]

I would mod you up, but I don't have any mod points at the moment, so this is a post in lieu of that: I am also firmly in the physical slideout keyboard camp. We're a dying breed, which always seems weird to me - why *wouldn't* you want a slideout keyboard? Apparently most people don't. I really hope manufacturers throw us weird people a bone every once in a while, and that it doesn't go the way of 16:10 laptop screen, RIP :(.

It's not even adding that much weight! A little more depth, but... so? (That said, I'm *not* personally in the phablet camp - the 4.3-inch standard is absolutely a fine screen size as far as I'm concerned. Slightly larger would be ok, phablet-size is too big for my purposes, though I'm happy enough that there's a wide range of choices available, since different people want different things, and it's best if they keep making options so everyone can get what they want. Like slideout keyboards, for instance.)

Re:No Compromises

[firewrought]

Micro-USB adapters follow a sort of buttered-toast physics for me: no matter which way I try to plug them in, it's the wrong way until I have sufficient light to see what I'm doing. It's a two-hand, lights-on operation every. single. time.

Re:No Compromises

[CastrTroy]

My only problem with slide out keyboards is that it's just something extra to break. I've had 5 or 6 phones in my lifetime, and all the ones with moving mechanisms like flip phones or slide out keypads have died a premature death in the connection in the moving part. The first phone that I had that lasted until I actually wanted to upgrade (not counting my first analog cell phone), was a device which only had a touch screen, power and volume inputs. Every other phone suffered from keys that stopped working. I'm sure it's possible to build a phone physical buttons that doesn't break down after a year or two, but from my point of view they are inherently prone to failure.

Re:No Compromises

[Austerity Empowers]

, NFC hasn't been used much, but I see that changing

It's a catch 22, if people don't want to use it and make noise for it, it won't be on phones. If it's not on phones vendors aren't going to justify replacing their POS equipment, or losing all the private information they're stealing from customer CC's, and will keep the status quo.

I really want NFC, Apple Pay works great in the 3 places I visit that accept it. But not enough people are complaining in the right places (i.e. publically, loudly) and so we're having to wait while competing chains try to agree on a standard to suitably steal private information from their customers, for another 10 years.

Re:No Compromises

[gstoddart]

What are you, some kind of masochist? Why would you want a smartphone that can only actually work as a smartphone when you have wifi? That would drive me crazy - and it almost has several times while traveling.

Honestly, because I don't use those features, and don't care about them.

For the overwhelming majority of the time, my phone is used minimally except for calls and texts. I'm not using it for conference calls and emails .. that's the last thing I want.

And, like my tablet, I only use internet features when I'm near wifi. I usually find what I need before I travel and keep it available offline.

Not all of us care about being constantly connected to the intertubes. I don't need to access the internet while I'm in the grocery store, and I don't care to have my phone telling advertisers everywhere I go.

I'm not a masochist, I'm just old enough to view the internet as something which I don't need constant access to, because it used to involve phones and modems.

Hell, when I download a game to my tablet, the first thing I do is turn off wifi and run the game ... if it bitches that it wants access to the internet, I delete it.

You would be amazed at how many people do not feel the need to be constantly checking their email and other stuff online.

You use it how you want to, and I'll do the same. For me, I don't see any pressing need in having an internet connected device at all times.

Re:No Compromises

[FictionPimp]

NFC is a huge deal breaker for me. I was super excited about this phone, especially with dual sim. But sadly, I"ll have to pass without NFC support.

Re:No Compromises

[FictionPimp]

There are a lot of things about phones that are not deal breakers. You might want front facing speakers, but that's probably not a deal breaker. Then there are deal breaker features.

For example, I can't stand phones bigger than 5.5". So those giant nexus 6's are a deal breaker. If you don't support my carrier of choice, that's a deal breaker. If it's not stock or nearly stock android, it's a deal breaker. This phone was on my must buy list though the entire launch event, until I found out it's missing NFC support. I use NFC too much, so that's a deal breaker.

Re:No Compromises

[arth1]

I use NFC for just one thing - powering on a bluetooth speaker. (For some reason, i can't use NFC to power it off.)

There really aren't any NFC capable stores anywhere, and the only one I know of requires you to show a physical ID, which defeats the purpose, as it's less hassle using a card.
For anything else, bluetooth proximity detection works fine.. No need to use the NFC tag in my car when the phone and car pair up automatically. No need to use it for the TV, as i have to use a remote anyhow.

My wish list for mobile phones include:

Dual-radio (both GSM family and CDMA family).
2.4 and 5 GHz WiFi.
Ability to turn off high-pass and low-pass filters.
Standard USB charging.
Transparent VoIP, i.e. not have to fiddle with other apps.
A distance from mic to speaker that matches the distance between mouth and ear.
Fits in a standard shirt pocket, without tearing it or falling out.
Transparent aluminum (also known as sapphire) screen.
True IPA that is readable at all angles and doesn't show patterning at close range.
Dual storage cards; one for backup.
As many hardware buttons as practical.
An option to have NO CAMERA, so I can use it in places where cameras are not allowed.

Re:No Compromises

[FictionPimp]

NFC works for me everywhere I go. My vending machines are NFC enabled, every single fast good joint I've been to. My grocery store is NFC enabled, my gas station is NFC enabled. Many chain restaurants are NFC enabled (if it has a pay terminal on the table like chili's). Lowe's, walmart, and Home depot are NFC enabled. It's reached a point I get frustrated when I have to use my card.

Re:No Compromises

[Overzeetop]

USB is the only two sided connector which requires a minimum of 3 tried orientations to successfully insert.

Re:No Compromises

[AmiMoJo]

If the battery is the same as the OnePlus One it is removable, or at least not glued in. You need to pry the back cover off the phone, which isn't as easy as some but isn't difficult either. Again, not glued, just clipped. In fact they well official replacement back covers so removing it is officially supported.

The lack of NFC is disappointing. I understand having to cut stuff, but why bother with a gimmick like the fingerprint sensor at the expense of something really useful? It's a deal-breaker for me.

Lack of wireless charging is also disappointing. It's the one thing I wish my OnePlus One had, so much so that I hacked it in. With wireless charging it would be the perfect phone.

Re:No Compromises

[AmiMoJo]

Out of interesting, what do you need more storage for? Taking the 64GB version, you could load up 6000 songs and not even half fill that. Double that many photos. So the only thing I can really think of needing more for is movies, and even with a 5.5" screen I don't really want to watch them on my phone.

To be SD cards mattered when 64GB was really expensive, but with phones like this it's pretty cheap so I don't care any more. Well, it's annoying to pay more and an equivalent card costs, but then again cheap SD cards tend to die quickly anyway in my experience.

Re:No Compromises

[DrXym]

Well you could always buy another handset which offers those things. It's not like you're held to ransom when you buy an android phone - if one manufacturer or phone model isn't in your price range or lacks the features you want, switch to another.

Re:No Compromises

[nine-times]

To be fair, it's not clear what you consider a "compromise", or even what features are desirable.

For example, I want a very thin, lightweight, but sturdy phone, and any additional hardware you pack in there runs the risk of adding weight, and any port or removable piece is a potential weakness in the structural integrity. If you give me a SD card port, I won't use it. If you let me remove the battery, I'll pretty much never do that unless the battery actually fails within 2 years. Front speakers? For what?

Now I'm not trying to argue here that these aren't good features or that you shouldn't want them. I'm just pointing out that when they say, "no compromises", it's inherently a claim without a specific meaning, and one man's "compromise" is another man's "that's exactly what I want".

Re:No Compromises

[DrXym]

I don't see it changing any time soon. NFC chips in phones have pretty limited application at this time. The main application would be to contactless payment but then you could pay with stuff with as much convenience using an NFC embedded in a credit card, or key fob (as happens in the UK).

Re:No Compromises

[j2.718ff]

Micro-USB adapters follow a sort of buttered-toast physics for me: no matter which way I try to plug them in, it's the wrong way until I have sufficient light to see what I'm doing. It's a two-hand, lights-on operation every. single. time.

If only someone would create a USB plug that can be plugged in either way. And if only such a plug was included with the new phone being discussed. Oh, wait, both of those things have happened!

Re:No Compromises

[steveg]

My first smartphone was a Motorola OG Droid with a side-out keyboard. it was one of the reasons I got that phone.

And then I discovered Swype and found that I never actually used the physical keyboard. Once I figured out that I could switch between the Hacker Keyboard for ssh sessions and Swype for everything else, the virtual keyboard became much less of a pain to deal with than the physical keyboard. Even with the tiny, low-res screen on the old Droid, the virtual keyboard was better. With newer phones that have better screens, the amount of screen real estate that gets covered by the virtual keyboard is not much of a problem.

Re:No Compromises

[DNS-and-BIND]

The argument against the physical keyboard is a designer's argument. We all know that today's design doesn't create more, it takes away, takes away, takes away. The physical keyboard annoyed these designers so they wanted to get rid of it entirely. This left only HTC as the last company to produce keyboards. Then, there was an internal power struggle in the company and the keyboard faction lost. And that's how we got to where we are today.

Re:No Compromises

[Blaskowicz]

OIS camera

Why use such obscure terms? I had to google it and it just means there is an optical stabilizer. "Optical stabilizer" is only a few characters longer than "OIS camera".

Re:No Compromises

[hairyfeet]

Have you looked at any of the BLU phones? I picked up one (the Studio Mini LTE) after a customer was raving about his and I have to say I'm VERY happy it it. Its a quad core with a GB of RAM, 4GB storage with a MicroSD slot, gets great battery life, easy to root, just a real sweetheart of a phone.

The nice thing is they have a ton to choose from so you can just pick the features and price point you want. Want Windows instead of Android? They got that. More storage? Octacore? yep. Hell they even have a $60 entry smartphone and a $20 dumbphone for those that don't want a lot of bells and whistles. The only downside is since they are a relatively new company there isn't any mods that I have been able to find yet, but considering its low price and easy of rooting I have no doubt they'll be coming. All in all I'm quite happy with my BLU...You're my boy BLU!

Re:No Compromises

[TheRaven64]

An increasing number of phones now come with mini-HDMI (or some kind of external HDMI adaptor). If you travel a lot, then being able to hook it up to a hotel room TV and watch a film can be quite nice.

Re:No Compromises

[atfrase]

Well, in the spirit of the incessant "I think I type faster with swype so your physical keyboard preference is invalid", let me just say that "I've never had a keyboard phone fail so your experience with your hardware is invalid."

;)

Re:No Compromises

[smaddox]

The trick is to feel for the little spikey latches on the male USB connector. Once you find them, point them towards the back of your phone.

Problem solved.

Re:No Compromises

[Blaskowicz]

With music if you need/want several genres, several artists you can easily go in the 10s of GB music (less if you trim down some of the boring things, but well).
8GB or 16GB fixed smartphone is unacceptable there (I mean, that computer is so powerful but we had more storage 15 years ago?)
64GB is adequate, if you don't mind having not much storage for non-music data..

Storage can also be used to carry data for use on a "real" computer.
That said, smartphones are too immature technology for me and as you said the flash memory cards you can buy as a user are garbage.

Re:No Compromises

[Stormwatch]

Out of interesting, what do you need more storage for?

A great use for a smartphone is a portable gaming / emulation device. For that, you need two things: a fuckton of storage, and a bluetooth gamepad.

Re:No Compromises

[Blaskowicz]

How is it easier to use a big general purpose computer (your smartphone) rather than a small, special purpose one? (the card)

I am asking that question, naively. I've used chip-and-pin debit card for 12 years. They added an " electronic cash" solution (store and pay small amounts without entering PIN) but no one used it, now there's an NFC-like feature that no one uses.
This is very country or region dependant.

I don't know how you use the "contactless" feature, and if NFC phones are compatible with it. Smartcards have been everywhere since 20 years ago, so we know how they're work and we know that they work everywhere (grocery, train, subway etc. etc.)

Re:No Compromises

[gstoddart]

Well, honestly, given that people make bluetooth keyboard cases this is fairly trivially solved if you care enough.

Maybe phone companies figure the accessories market can solve this problem?

I'm willing to bet it's a smaller amount of people who want a physical keyboard than those who don't. In which case, you're not a profitable enough segment for the companies who make phones, but an excellent niche market for people who make accessories.

It's not like you can't have what you want now, you just won't get it from the main companies selling phones.

Re:No Compromises

[ottothecow]

I dunno...my phone and my tablet have opposite orientations. I imagine other phones and other tablets similarly flip that around however it best fits in their circuit board design..

Re:No Compromises

[BradleyUffner]

With SD cards it isn't the storage space that really matters to me, it's the ability to remove it. If my phone won't boot I can still get to my data by putting the card in to a PC. On phones without SD slots the data is gone forever if the phone won't boot, won't charge, or otherwise misbehaves.

Re:No Compromises

[cayenne8]

The lack of NFC is disappointing.

If you're not planning to use your cell phone also as a Credit Card...then what other uses really are for NFC?

I'd not want any of my CC info on a phone that can be stolen and cracked into. And from the article, apparently not that many people out there are even using NFC functionality, so I'm guessing to many it is no great loss.

What all do you use NFC for so much that it is a deal breaker for you? Seriously curious.

Thanks!

Re:No Compromises

[BradleyUffner]

Why use such obscure terms? I had to google it and it just means there is an optical stabilizer. "Optical stabilizer" is only a few characters longer than "OIS camera".

That's just the way I've seen it listed in every article that mentions the feature. I've seen it so often, and I'm by no means a camera geek, that I figured it was pretty standard.

Re:No Compromises

[samwichse]

From what I understand, Google Wallet doesn't store the card info on the phone, and when you read it in (after putting in your pin), the transmitted card number is one-time use for the amount of the purchase. The potential for hacking seems to be the communication between Google and the Visa/MasterCard/AE people, but I trust them (not much :( ) more than I trust the individual vendor.

All in all, much safer than giving every vendor your card number, anyway.

Sam

Re:No Compromises

[FictionPimp]

It's very easy to use. I'm a wallet minimalist, so I hate carrying multiple cards. With NFC payment systems I can just tap the phone and pick the card I want to charge. It is also more secure in the US where pin and chip are not yet a standard. My phone is always at hand, my wallet not so much. If only we could get a digital drivers license I wouldn't even need a wallet any longer.

The biometric options are even nicer as I don't have to type in a pin. Just touch and press thumb.

Re:No Compromises

[unrtst]

There really aren't any NFC capable stores anywhere, and the only one I know of requires you to show a physical ID, which defeats the purpose, as it's less hassle using a card.

IMO, the marketing for NFC was completely botched. There are so many people that keep hearing "convenience" being associated with it, and anyone with half a brain can tell that is bullshit. I have to get my phone out, unlock it (hopefully nfc doesn't bypass that), possibly enable nfc (it chews battery and is a possible security risk to keep on 100% of the time), swipe it, probably click something on my phone then, then lock my phone again and put it back. Versus a magswipe credit card, where I take it out (possible out of the card slot in my phone wallet, or out of my wallet, or just out of my pocket), swipe, sign, put it away. The magswipe is also lighter, replaceable, and very cheap.

IE. the NFC conversation should avoid the "convenience" topic, not make it the focus (unless they're trying to kill it).

NFC has some very very very strong benefits over magstripe. Some implementations are better than others, and there are some trade offs (ex. apple pay versus the way google wallet did it versus chip-and-pin versus chip-and-signature). Finding out how these are implemented is difficult** and confusing. It should be the front and center selling point.

Examples of the "convenient/easy" push:

https://www.google.com/wallet/ : "An easier way to pay. Google Wallet makes it easy to pay - in stores, online or to anyone in the US with a Gmail address. It works with any debit or credit card, on every mobile carrier".

http://www.apple.com/apple-pay... : "Your wallet. Without the wallet. Paying in stores or within apps has never been easier. Gone are the days of searching for your wallet. The wasted moments finding the right card."

Come the fuck on. I've never had a problem finding my credit cards, and those "wasted moments" are less time than it takes me to unlock my phone. Even if the phone was faster somehow, it's just a minute amount of time that it's not the thing I need to be faster. It takes far longer for them to run the number (do the transaction). At restaurants (my most frequent use), I get a check and have plenty of time to ready my card before the waiter comes back, and then plenty more time before it's run. Finding my card is not the problem.

** yes, you can find the info, and a lmgtfy.com link won't suprise me, but it's not obvious or clear and no one is making it readily apparent when marketing their digital wallets. They just keep saying they are so convenient and easy.

Re:No Compromises

[TWX]

I've had more than 90GB of music for over a decade. Then there are pictures, and books, and if this thing is supposed to be a bit of my own personal entertainment while I'm away from a proper desktop computer or my own entertainment system, movies, TV shows, and all sorts of other things that I don't want to have to stream in order to use.

Re:No Compromises

[GNious]

Since it was in the summary, can we assume that /. is amongst the sites you _don't_ read?

Re:No Compromises

[AmiMoJo]

Well as payment, I use it to read data from an Omron sleep monitor and check the state of my Suica card (a stored value card handy for travelling in Japan).

Re:No Compromises

[alantus]

I share your feelings, I would never buy a phone without an integrated keyboard. I don't care if it adds 5mm to my phone. Unfortunately that limits my options quite a bit.

I also don't understand why phone makers are so obsessed with keeping them thin. I would gladly trade in a few mm for more battery life.

Re:No Compromises

[Hognoxious]

If you travel a lot, then being able to hook it up to a hotel room TV and watch a film can be quite nice.

Nudge nudge, wink wink, say no more.

Re:No Compromises

[Blaskowicz]

Oh, multiple cards for multiple purpose that get combined in one device, that sounds very useful indeed.

Re:No Compromises

[exomondo]

Well yes, there's no need to read too much into "No Compromises". We all know full well there is never going to be a device that is all things to all people.

Re:No Compromises

[exomondo]

The thing is a phone with the features you suggest will have to compromise somewhere else. This is the sort of market Project Ara is looking to address.

Re:No Compromises

[exomondo]

If you're not multi-lingual I can see why you might want a slide-out keyboard but physical keyboards are also prone to wear and breakage (sure, highquality ones like those on Blackberrys were far less susceptible) and don't allow for customization.

Re:No Compromises

[ncc74656]

I've never had a keyboard phone fail

A beer spilled on my Treo 650, killing a couple of keys. I was able to buy a replacement keyboard off a random eBay seller and swap it in without much trouble (after which the phone was as good as new), but it was an annoyance all the same.

I suspect a newer touchscreen phone would've been less vulnerable to that kind of failure. Can't say that I've tested the theory yet, even though I usually have a beer in one hand and my phone in the other (to log the beer) whenever a beerfest is on.

Re:No Compromises

[exomondo]

Outside of the US the contactless payment systems are very popular, I use it for pretty much all purchases $100. And it's easier to just use my card than it is to interact with my phone.

Re:No Compromises

[mjwx]

I am also firmly in the physical keyboard camp, and I constantly hear that argument that screens are so big now,

I'm also in the physical keyboard camp. Physical KB's have one huge advantage that cannot be negated by big screens. You can type on them without looking at the keys.

Sadly it's very difficult to find a phone that has a physical KB and even though larger screens have helped its not really the same as using a physical KB as I'm constantly having to watch what letters I press rather than the output on the screen. You simply cant touch type on an on screen keyboard.

Getting a physical USB KB for my Nexus 7 was one of the best $12 I've spent in recent years.

Re:No Compromises

[itsme1234]

Unless you have a Oneplus One (the predecessor of the phone discussed here) in which case you need to point the latches "in reverse".

The connector is also quite stiff, I can imagine they've got a lot of complains or maybe even broken connectors.

Re:No Compromises

[jabuzz]

Personally I use NFC so my phone automatically adjusts itself when placed in certain positions. Mostly when I put it in the holder in my car, it makes sure the Bluetooth is turned on and set to maximum volume. It turns the WiFi off because I don't need WiFi while driving and might as well save the battery (I don't have kids using tablets in the back so no need for it to be a WiFi hotspot).

That is the only use I have found. Apple Pay type solutions are for backwards countries that still don't chip and pin like the USA.

Re:No Compromises

[Archangel Michael]

https://www.google.com/wallet/ [google.com] : "An easier way to pay. Google Wallet makes it easy to pay - in stores, online or to anyone in the US with a Gmail address. It works with any debit or credit card, on every mobile carrier".

For Google Wallet, this is true. But NFC and Google Wallet are only tied together in certain Apps and for certain purchases. One of my favorite stores takes Google Wallet / NFC which would be great, except the damn store is a Faraday cage and I can't actually use it there.

Re:Crapdroid? No thanks.

[Anonymous Coward]

Buy an Android phone? LOLOLOLOLOLOL.

What's the alternative Crapple or Blackberry?

Re:SD Card?

[bluefoxlucid]

Cost of 160GB of SD card NAND: $48

Cost of 48GB of same NAND soldered to the board: $50

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.

Re:Comparing it to the Asus Zenfone 2...

[Severus Snape]

You get the same memory, a faster processor (by raw GHz - the Zenfone is Intel), for $299.

Why would I go with this phone instead?

Surely the people of /. at clever enough not to compare by raw GHz when two processors have the same architecture. Oh wait, they don't even have that.

Re:SD Card?

[14erCleaner]

No floppy disk support either. Lame.

:( No Cyanogenmod

[Kludge]

Too bad they dropped Cyanogenmod. With Cyanogenmod you know that you can get easily installable updates, particularly when something nasty like Stagefright vulnerabilities appear.
I doubt the customized OxygenOS will be updated regularly, like most vendor specific Android devices.

Re::( No Cyanogenmod

[BradleyUffner]

Odds are CM will still be available for it for users that want to install it on their own.

Re::( No Cyanogenmod

[DrXym]

It's too bad cyanogenmod's relationship soured with OnePlus. I'm using CM12.1 nightlies on my OnePlus and it's working well. I wasn't happy at all about jumping from CM to something they rolled themselves.

Re::( No Cyanogenmod

[amicusNYCL]

Oxygen might be worth a shot. I like having Cyanogenmod preinstalled on my OnePlus One, but it would be nice if the people who wrote the OS and apps actually used phones. For example, it would be fantastic if the default messaging app would send pictures at a resolution above the minimum, or at the very least if they added an option for that. The default messaging app has some cool features but I still need to install some crap like Hangouts or whatever else if I want to send pictures at higher than 461x615.

No NFC

[MarkRose]

That's bonkers! Or maybe not...

Re:No NFC

[jddj]

Interestingly, I had no use for NFC.

Until I got a set of bluetooth headphones last week that let me connect/disconnect by bumping them on the phone.

Do not want to live without it now.

Re:SD Card?

[Anonymous Coward]

Compare the IOPS between an SD card and on-board NAND. Not the same thing.

NFC is taking off!

[essbase_nerd]

"People just don't use it as much as anticipated"

That may be true of 2014, the future of mobile pay was shaky to say the least, with high profile retailers Best Buy and 7-Eleven pulling out (they're back in now), but with Apple pushing mobile payments, new tap to pay checkout devices are showing up on the counters of retailers every day, and I expect it to be the norm by the end of this year.

I currently use tap to pay 7+ times per week, and expect that to double by January. I love how fast it is, and that I don't have to hand my CC over.

I'm not worried about speaker placement, camera specs, removable battery (assuming the battery is of sufficient mah), or removable flash storage, but no NFC will makes this device a non-starter for me.

Re:NFC is taking off!

[vux984]

I love how fast it is, and that I don't have to hand my CC over.

I use tap to pay WITH my credit card. Its even more convenient and faster than getting out my phone. I can't even really imagine why I'd ever prefer to setup and use tap-to-pay with my phone.

Re:What about PRIVACY

[Paco103]

Yes it still has privacy controls similar to CM Privacy Guard. That was one of the points in their launch demo. The 1080p screen I'm actually ok with. It's plenty resolution for a 5" screen and better on the battery, though I'd also agree that it's not a major bragging point spec wise.

Re:Crapdroid? No thanks.

[Austerity Empowers]

Android runs fine IFF you get a Google Nexus phone, AND don't go through Verizon or AT&T and have their malware installed. I wouldn't buy anything else if they paid ME money, it's gotten that bad. But if you can get over the stickershock and buy a nexus and add a plan, then it's pretty good.

Re:Crapdroid? No thanks.

[Zalbik]

Android runs fine IFF you get a Google Nexus phone, AND don't go through Verizon or AT&T and have their malware installed.

Or if you buy any Android-compatible phone, root it and install your own OS on it. Seriously, I don't understand why anyone on Slashdot doesn't do this.

Is this not the 21st century?

[Overzeetop]

If you don't like wireless charging, you must not have a magnetic charging mount. I made one for my car - the phone snaps into place and charges without ever plugging it in. It's also easier to drop it on my nightstand.

I'll admit it's a minor convenience, but we're living in the 21st century. It should feel like it.

And a bottom headphone jack is (as the kids say) teh suck. Want to put your phone in a stand or tilt it up while listening - nope, can't do it. How about putting your phone right side up in your pocket so when you take it out you can see your program right side up. Nope. It's one of the least favorite "features" that came to my iPhone 5, and one of the ones I hated when Android phones followed suit.

Re:Is this not the 21st century?

[bluefoxlucid]

Wireless power is excessively inefficient. Current projections suggest cell phones use 10% of the world's energy per year; wireless power is 10% as efficient as direct contact charging, meaning the total worldwide energy draw required for wireless charging would be just about 100% of the world's current energy consumption.

How about putting your phone right side up in your pocket so when you take it out you can see your program right side up.

When reaching down into your pocket, your arm is oriented downward, wrist spatially above your hand. When you raise your hand up to your face, your wrist is spatially below your hand. Through the movement, you rotate the phone 180 degrees: the part of your phone at the bottom of your pocket is the part of your phone pointed upward when raised to view. This is largely because your hip is below your elbow and shoulder, while your face is above your elbow and shoulder.

I put my phone in my pocket while listening on headphones. Without a bottom jack, I must rotate it in my hand, then place it in my pocket; then, on retrieval, I must rotate it back. Each rotation is a complex free movement with an exceedingly high chance of dropping the phone, or a two-handed affair which carries a low but significant chance of dropping the phone. A bottom jack means the phone leaves and returns to my pocket with a firm grip upon it, due to already holding it firmly or being unable to remove it from my pocket without holding it firmly.

I suppose you could put a bulky, over-sized, insufficient case on your phone, making it 3 times thicker and more ungainly to handle--and still prone to damage when dropped.

Re:Is this not the 21st century?

[itsme1234]

cell phones use 10% of the world's energy per year

Slowly put down your slashdot badge and step away, that way nobody would get hurt!

Re:Is this not the 21st century?

[bluefoxlucid]

Should I mention that figure comes from an investigative report by Time magazine?

Re:Is this not the 21st century?

[itsme1234]

Was it published on the 1st of April by any chance?

It should be obvious for any slashdot member this can't be true, by some orders of magnitude.

If not, it is something too easy to find. Hint: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

Re: Is this not the 21st century?

[chill]

yeah, check out the compass on your phone. I've used a magnetic mount in my car for over a year now and found it magnetized my phone, totally screwing the compass up. Nexus 5.

back to clamp mounts for me.

Missed opportunities

[Overzeetop]

NFC and wireless charging really seems like they should have been no-brainers.
The removable backs would seem to really favor of uSD storage (they're already using the cover for access tot he dual sims) and replaceable battery.

It's a shame they went totally cosmetic with the backs. If it had included the back and side (wrap-around), that would have been fabulous. Something like the slim guard case for the LG G3 (that was, oddly, only available in S. Korea) would have been awesome. I know, you can always add a ridiculously bulky case that makes your phone twice as thick and half again as heavy, trapping stray sand between the case and back to produce wonderful swirly patterns on your OEM back, but something integral would have been a real bonus.

Re:SD Card?

[dj245]

Cost of 160GB of SD card NAND: $48 Cost of 48GB of same NAND soldered to the board: $50 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.

Compare the IOPS between an SD card and on-board NAND. Not the same thing.

Do you see a need for high IOPS for storing or viewing videos, pictures, music, or audiobooks? Because I don't. Even for loading apps that's a tough sell. I have a microSD card on a Windows 8 tablet and the only noticeable affect is that read/write speed is slower than the on-device storage. And that's because they used a cheap SD card controller- the card itself is more than capable. It isn't an issue with media consumption devices like phones and tablets.

I use NFC all the time

[DeathSquid]

I use NFC on my phone to check the balance on my Suica (train and bus) card regularly. It is really useful. With NFC mass transit payment systems becoming ubiquitous, it seems backwards looking to leave out this feature.

Re:SD Card?

[Blaskowicz]

Is that SD card even reliable?
For write once, read-many why not (e.g. music), although copying it from a real computer to the SD card will be infuriatingly slow.

If you do have some more write heavy use, I wonder how long it goes before you get corrupt sectors.
I would rather have a tablet with a 500GB or 1TB HDD, with about 100MB/s write speed and with that you write 4KB blocks to, not 128K blocks.

Yeah, but

[p51d007]

It DOES come with a serial port to connect a 56k dialup modem!

Re:SD Card?

[TheRaven64]

On the plus side, it does have more space than a Nomad.

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.

Re:SD Card?

[Anonymous Coward]

Well they might as well just fold up shop. The ones of sales they are losing to people like you must be devastating to them.

Re:SD Card?

[amicusNYCL]

Do you deny that the OnePlus One 64GB cost $50 more than its $16GB counterpart, while holding exactly the same specifications aside from an extra 48GB of NAND?

Sorry, are you asking me to confirm or deny facts?

even though we can clearly demonstrate that the hardware does indeed cost less than $50.

So, find the parts that OnePlus put in the One and show the cost that they paid for those parts.

Seriously, there's absolutely no point in you and I arguing about cost, profit, etc. If you have questions then contact OnePlus directly and ask them. They're not a major corporation, they're a small startup with actual people working there who will respond to you. Ask them what their profit margins are on both models, and ask them why the bigger one is $50 more. Assume they did some work and research in coming up with both their specifications and prices, don't just do some Google searches and assume you know their logic and motives.

Re:Crapdroid? No thanks.

[GuB-42]

Can you root a note 3? If you can, Reply w/ your location, I think there's about a 30k bounty out still. You might be getting paid.

The Note 3 is very easy to root, like almost all Samsung phones. Maybe you are talking about :
- Carrier locking : pay cash instead of subsidized and not only your phone won't be locked but you may even save money in the long run.
- KNOX warranty bit : when you root the "official" way, you permanently lose KNOX features (a secure framework designed for corporate use), you may also lose your warranty depending on your jurisdiction and goodwill of the repair center. Everything else works fine.

Re:SD Card?

[bluefoxlucid]

So, find the parts that OnePlus put in the One and show the cost that they paid for those parts.

OnePlus One with 16GB NAND: $300

OnePlus One with 64GB NAND: $350

Run the cost of NAND chips. 64GB MLC NAND chips fluctuate at a spot price between $1.60 and $4.34. Adding 64GB of NAND to a platform costs $4.34, much less switching from an expensive 16GB NAND platform to a 64GB platform. A 32GB chip fluctuates between $1.70 and $2.93--two of those would cost $3.40 to $5.86--and the next common size down is 4GB MLC NAND. Once the manufacture process is reliable, the sheer silicon wafer size is what counts: a wafer carrying 32GB of NAND costs exactly as much as a wafer carrying 64GB NAND if exactly half of the 64GB NAND chips are non-functional due to manufacture errors and 100% of the 32GB NAND wafers are in working order.

Of course bulk agreements mean we can slim profit margins down: if I were to buy a million chips from a supplier, that supplier would make a large order from his silicon supplier, who would make a large order from his material supplier, who would make a large order from fuel and energy suppliers, and so forth. Each could negotiate a large purchase contract by which a sizable profit is made on large volume and slim margin, at each step compounding the per-unit cost savings in the final product, delivering to me at substantially below-market price.

I don't pretend to know that OnePlus paid $4 or $1.60 or so per 64GB chip; I am fully aware they likely paid substantially below-market, and that the market price I cite assumes they went fully off-the-shelf for small batches (which may have happened) and so paid more than they otherwise would have. I can't very well conjecture about how much less they might have paid than the amount I cite; I've had to run this based on the most expensive component prices available on the market.

Ask them what their profit margins are on both models, and ask them why the bigger one is $50 more.

The profit margin is demonstrably larger on the one with bigger NAND. You can ask them, but things like profit margins in specific are strategic business information: advertising that you're gouging people for additional luxury is a good way to destroy consumer faith by arrogance and entitlement, and of course lead competitors to create a strategic opportunity by advertising that they don't gouge quite so hard when add extra NAND (the opportunity is to discredit your operations and to capture your market).

Small business or not, you'd be a fool to be that transparent.

/|\ Double degree economics & English. At DeV

[Hognoxious]

I'm willing to bet it's a smaller amount of people who want a physical keyboard than those who don't. In which case, you're not a profitable enough segment for the companies who make phones

You're saying that only the most popular option is profitable? I guess that explains why there isn't, and never has been, a manufacturer of absolutely anything at all that produces two different models.

P.S. People aren't sand. It's number with a countable noun, not amount .

Re:/|\ Double degree economics & English. At D

[gstoddart]

No, I'm saying companies are cheap and don't tend to make a lot of variations on models because it costs them more, unless they think it's worth it.

If they figure only 5-10% of the market would buy a phone with a physical keyboard, they might not be willing to chase that because it's not worth it. And if it poses a risk to make something until they know how many would be sold, they just might not do it.

Just because you want a feature doesn't mean the company making it gives a damn. If they did, they'd probably make it.

Re:No Compr0nises

[Hognoxious]

Yeah, call it music if you want. I suppose there's some chackawacka guitar and saxophone in the background...

Microsoft Android tax ..

[nickweller]

"The 5.5-inch OnePlus One was sold at £229 for 16GB of storage and £269 for 64GB respectively, and ran open source CyanogenMod software based on Google's Android" ref

Are they paying the Microsoft Android tax?

Re:SD Card?

[amicusNYCL]

The profit margin is demonstrably larger on the one with bigger NAND.

Right. Maybe, for example, the profit on the larger one was $30, while the smaller one was a loss of $20. Who knows? What I know is that OnePlus is making high-end phones and selling them for half the price of their competitors with comparable hardware, and that they have publicly stated multiple times that the reason for the shipping delays in the past was because they could only afford to manufacture stock that they know will actually sell (i.e., manufacture after they have the orders), that if they made any appreciable amount of product that could not be sold then it would bankrupt them. That's how slim their profit margins are, which is why I'm not raking them over the coals for pricing their ridiculously cheap phone $50 more than they priced their ludicrously cheap phone. And the fact that I have over 45GB free in my 64GB phone means that I'm also not bitching about the lack of an external SD slot. If that was a major problem for me then I would have taken my $350 and bought a phone with slower hardware that gave me an SD slot. My last phone had an SD slot, for example. I bought a top of the line 16GB card and never filled it up either. I don't need a media library in my pocket with anything I might like to watch, 64GB is plenty for me. If it's not enough for you then you are apparently not the target audience for that phone. I really don't know what else to say to you.

Re:SD Card?

[exomondo]

Well if you think it's a ripoff then don't buy it. You have listed the price for the raw chips, can you show me a phone manufacturer that prices its devices based on those numbers? Maybe it isn't as simple as that.

Re:SD Card?

[exomondo]

Do you deny that the OnePlus One 64GB cost $50 more than its $16GB counterpart, while holding exactly the same specifications aside from an extra 48GB of NAND?

Yes. According to the summary: "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.". So it is an extra GB of RAM and extra 48GB of internal storage.

Re:No Compr0nises

[TWX]

Yeah, because that straw-man attack sure has something to do with running out of storage space...

Re:Crapdroid? No thanks.

[mjwx]

Android runs fine IFF you get a Google Nexus phone, AND don't go through Verizon or AT&T and have their malware installed.

Or if you buy any Android-compatible phone, root it and install your own OS on it. Seriously, I don't understand why anyone on Slashdot doesn't do this.

Or you can buy an Android phone outright with the manufacturers image on it.

I know this concept may be foreign to many in the US, but it's quite a common occurrence to those of us in Europe, Australia, Asia... pretty much anywhere that isn't the US.

BTW, you shouldn't need to root the phone to get rid of carrier crapware, all you need is the signed base image from the manufacturer. I understand these aren't hard to find.

Re:No Compr0nises

[Hognoxious]

You're a total fucking idiot. Really.

Re:SD Card?

[bluefoxlucid]

Why would you ever price based on those numbers when the premium market by and large is willing to open their wallets quite a bit wider for a little more storage? Do you not like maximizing your profits? $30 this way or that won't sway people onto or away from your phone.

Re:SD Card?

[bluefoxlucid]

That's the OnePlus One. The OnePlus Two gives additional RAM on top of NAND; the One only gives 64GB or 16GB of storage as options, with the same amount of RAM. I was discussing Bacon.

Re:No Compr0nises

[TWX]

I've had a great teacher. Despite my best efforts I will never achieve your level of mastery though.

Re:SD Card?

[exomondo]

Probably because this isn't marketed at the premium price point, they seem to have gone to great lengths to bring the price down, compare it to other Android phones of similar specifications or to the iPhone for example.

$30 this way or that won't sway people onto or away from your phone.

Right, so even if that $30 is completely profit off the top thanks to peoples' willingness to pay it, what's your point? Who cares?

Re:SD Card?

[bluefoxlucid]

Probably because this isn't marketed at the premium price point

Your argument is: "premium shit costs like $500 and this costs $300, so their +$50 offer isn't a premium option."

The problem is they sell two options: the basic 16GB option and the premium 64GB option. The fact that their PREMIUM OPTION is cheaper than some Rolls Royce bullshit doesn't mean it's not a premium option.

Right, so even if that $30 is completely profit off the top thanks to peoples' willingness to pay it, what's your point? Who cares?

The original argument was that availability of SD card slots would suppress the market value of in-phone storage. This is a fairly complex concept.

First off, SD card readers in wide-spread use (in many base-model phones) would sway customers away from non-SD phones if storage space becomes a consideration. At the same time, a market where most phones do not have SD cards readers would capture very little market by putting an SD card reader in the phone, yet would drive its existing customers away from its premium, higher-storage version to its lower-storage version. Thus the market implications of putting an SD card reader in a particular model depends on the general phone market as well as what other models are available in the particular product line.

Second, price suppression isn't as simple as people going after the cheapest, lowest-storage phone. A 1GB phone will have trouble installing apps and overloading with data that can't go to the SD card; whereas a 16GB phone will be more than comfortable, and even more so if all videos, music, and photos go to the SD card. The availability of an SD card reader affects in-phone storage prices above some minimum which the user perceives as necessary: once users learn that phones with less than 4GB or 8GB of storage have trouble after the apps have had time to fill mandatory in-phone storage, they'll refuse to purchase phones with less storage; but they'll also more often refuse to buy additional storage at a premium when they can spend a tenth as much to add that same amount of additional storage.

The point was overall market effect. Why don't phones have SD storage? Why doesn't *this* phone have SD storage? You can argue that price gouging doesn't matter in this case, or whatever you want; that doesn't change the cost of components and the market effects I describe. These are the reasons phones don't generally carry SD storage: it's more lucrative to not offer it.

Re:SD Card?

[exomondo]

Your argument is: "premium shit costs like $500 and this costs $300, so their +$50 offer isn't a premium option."

No, if that is what you got from that then you obviously have some problem with basic English. What I said was:

"this isn't marketed at the premium price point"

And of course it isn't, it is substantially lower than the $600-$800 offerings at the top end.

The problem is they sell two options: the basic 16GB option and the premium 64GB option. The fact that their PREMIUM OPTION is cheaper than some Rolls Royce bullshit doesn't mean it's not a premium option.

Oh what a terrible problem! They sell two options, how awful!

The original argument was that availability of SD card slots would suppress the market value of in-phone storage.

Yes it's all a big conspiracy that all the phone makers - who are also competitors - are colluding on even though many of these phone makers offer phone models with and without SD card slots.

Why don't phones have SD storage?

Many of them do have SD storage, just not all of them. On some models they prefer not to have an exposed, mechanical and relatively bulky (if you're looking at the thinness of modern devices) mechanism for storage and instead use soldered memory to avoid these problems.

Re:SD Card?

[bluefoxlucid]

I said their premium model is +$50. You said it's not a premium phone. You just reiterated that it's not a premium phone. The fact of the matter is it's their premium offering.

Oh what a terrible problem! They sell two options, how awful!

The problem isn't with what they sell; the problem is with your argument. Your argument is they don't have a premium phone; the problem with your argument is they sell two options: the basic 16GB option and the premium 64GB option. The fact that their PREMIUM OPTION is cheaper than some Rolls Royce bullshit doesn't mean it's not a premium option.

Of course you can try to dance around words like a politician trying desperately not to let on that he thinks the audience is filled with retards, but I won't let you.

Yes it's all a big conspiracy that all the phone makers - who are also competitors - are colluding on

Ant theory. I've already explained that it's not lucrative to offer SD cards slots on mainline-model phones.

On some models they prefer not to have an exposed, mechanical and relatively bulky (if you're looking at the thinness of modern devices) mechanism for storage and instead use soldered memory to avoid these problems

"Some" being all modern mainline phones, which largely have exposed SIM card slots, exposed USB readers, exposed speakers, and exposed headphone jacks (not even the self-sealing type of jack that repels water).

The reader for my MicroSIM card is at least as large as a MicroSD reader. The MicroSIM is at least 70% thicker than a MicroSD, and itself sits in a plastic carriage that makes it even thicker; this may or may not mean the MicroSIM reader is thicker than a MicroSD reader, since you could certainly make a thick reader to hold a thin card if you really wanted to. You could also make an extremely thin reader, which most are.

None of your arguments actually have any merit.

Re:SD Card?

[exomondo]

I said their premium model is +$50. You said it's not a premium phone. You just reiterated that it's not a premium phone. The fact of the matter is it's their premium offering.

Go back and read it again: "this isn't marketed at the premium price point ".

Oh what a terrible problem! They sell two options, how awful!

The problem isn't with what they sell; the problem is with your argument.

Well no, you just said The problem is they sell two options. Maybe try and work out what you're trying to say before you type.

Your argument is they don't have a premium phone

No, it isn't. Nowhere did I write or imply that.

I've already explained that it's not lucrative to offer SD cards slots on mainline-model phones.

Yet most of them do, it's only a few that don't. Your argument fails.

"Some" being all modern mainline phones

Wrong. Xperia Z3, Note 4, Note Edge, G Flex, HTC One, LG G4, ZenPhone. In fact the only mainstream ones that don't have them are the Galaxy S6, Nexus 6 and the iPhone.

Re:SD Card?

[bluefoxlucid]

Go back and read it again: "this isn't marketed at the premium price point ".

Listen you fallacy-of-equivocation prick, I said it's a PREMIUM OFFERING. It's their premium offering. It doesn't matter if it doesn't cost as much as an expensive-ass HTC phone; a Chevrolet Cobalt SS doesn't cost as much as a Mustang Cobra, but the Cobalt SS is a premium car (which costs $25k). Why? There's a base model, and a premium model.

No, it isn't. Nowhere did I write or imply that.

I said the 64GB model is their premium offering. You said it's "nuh-uh".

Re:SD Card?

[exomondo]

I said it's a PREMIUM OFFERING.

In response to me saying their phones arent targeted at the premium phone price point, whether it is their "premium offering" version is irrelevant, nobody cares about that.

No, it isn't. Nowhere did I write or imply that.

I said the 64GB model is their premium offering. You said it's "nuh-uh".

Wrong, you failed reading comprehension.