OnePlus 5

The OnePlus 5’s design has been the subject of controversy ever since the first press render leaked online. And with good reason ­– the matte black (Midnight Black) finish, horizontally placed dual cameras and antenna lines at the extreme top and bottom could easily be mistaken for the iPhone 7 Plus (review).

Rumours were rife that the OnePlus 5 would feature a 2K display, but the brand has decided to stick with the same 5.5-inch full HD Optic AMOLED panel we saw on the 3T. After the hue and cry about the lack of an sRGB colour mode on the OP3 (this was later rectified through a software update), OnePlus has decided to be extra careful with the OP5. Apart from the default, highly saturated colour profile, there are also options to enable sRGB, DCI-P3 and a custom colour profile. Personally, I prefer the default screen calibration. It might not appease purists, but it makes colours look punchy, and is nicer if you use a lot of social media and watch videos on your phone. Despite the lack of 2K resolution, the screen is exceptionally clear and sharp, with text and icons sitting close to the screen. The use of Gorilla Glass 5 should protect it from untoward knocks and scratches too.

Like the design, the OnePlus 5 borrows its dual camera setup from the OPPO R11 as well. The main camera is a 16MP unit with a wide f/1.7 aperture, while the secondary 20MP telephoto lens features a narrower f/2.6 aperture. Thanks to the latter, the OnePlus 5 offers 2x lossless zoom (roughly 1.6x optical zoom), which can be easily enabled by tapping a button on the camera’s viewfinder. Images taken at 2x zoom are often grainy though, and we discovered that the telephoto lens only works in good lighting. In anything less than optimal lighting, the 16MP sensor kicks in, so what you get in that case is actually digital zoom. We also discovered that in the Pro mode, the telephoto lens is never used – even in good lighting. We'll investigate this issue more thoroughly over the next few days, and update you once we've contacted the company. 

The OnePlus 5 runs OxygenOS based on Android 7.1.1, which is pretty much a pure Android experience with a few extras. You get the standard Shelf to the left of the homescreen with shortcuts to your frequently used contacts and apps. The latest version of OxygenOS brings a few new additions, including the Reading Mode I mentioned earlier.

The OnePlus 5 is every spec geek’s wet dream on the performance front. Powered by a top-of-the-line Snapdragon 835 processor, it comes in 6GB and 8GB RAM configurations. There’s 64GB and 128GB of storage on board, respectively, but no microSD card slot for expansion. I reviewed the 8GB variant, and got about 111GB to use out of the box. The OnePlus 5 is also loaded on the connectivity front – you get dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11ac with 2x2 MIMO, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS with GLONASS, NFC and support for pretty much all GSM bands. It’s a dual SIM device, and of course, it supports VoLTE.