OnePlus One

[virtuo]

Anyone else seen these? Stonking specification at Nexus prices. I know it'd fixed battery and no SD, but you can get a 3100mah 64GB phone for £270 with the latest Cyanogen preloaded.

Definitely on my shortlist for my next upgrade. In fact, it's at the top of the list.


http://oneplus.net

[kalniel]

Yeah been following it a while, but I'm really put off by campaigns encouraging you to smash your old mobile - thoroughly irresponsible and a waste of resources. Also, it's a bit on the large side.

[virtuo]

I've got an old (still working) N96 lying around, I'd just smash that if necessary..

I agree the marketing is a bit childish, I'm still sporting a GS2, which was 'huge' when it came out, I think I'm willing to accept a larger phone now. 90% of the time my phone is on my desk or the sofa arm, so having that large screen area isn't too much of a concern for me (and I generally have big pockets).

I'm amazed that they have got top-level tech for such a low price - very few compromises (Sony camera sensor, top-end snapdragon CPU, 3GB). Not sure what the screen quality is going to be like, but I'm actually optimistic that it'll be better than tolerable

[pp05]

I saw their website, have these smaller OEM reached the level of HTC etc in terms of reliability?

[Biscuit]

I've got an old (still working) N96 lying around, I'd just smash that if necessary..

I agree the marketing is a bit childish, I'm still sporting a GS2, which was 'huge' when it came out, I think I'm willing to accept a larger phone now. 90% of the time my phone is on my desk or the sofa arm, so having that large screen area isn't too much of a concern for me (and I generally have big pockets).

I'm amazed that they have got top-level tech for such a low price - very few compromises (Sony camera sensor, top-end snapdragon CPU, 3GB). Not sure what the screen quality is going to be like, but I'm actually optimistic that it'll be better than tolerable

Its a very specific set of phones that they are asking people to smash, you cant just smash an old cheapo phone.

[virtuo]

Its a very specific set of phones that they are asking people to smash, you cant just smash an old cheapo phone.

Yeah, saw that. I just picked the cheapest from the list, so will pick up a battered S3 off eBay in the extremely unlikely event I win

[Saracen]

I've seen them and it's an interesting product, and concept. There's a lot to like.

Personally, there's a few things to not like, too. First, no SD slot is a red line for me. Second, I don't like buying that kind of thing online. Third, no way would I buy it sight-unseen. Last, no matter how good the spec is for the money, it's still significantly more than I see myself paying for any phone.

So, not for me, then. But I can see the appeal.

[kalniel]

Motorola have just announced an upgrade to the Moto G - now with 4G and micro SD slot - for £150. Might be more up Saracen's (and my) street.

[virtuo]

I've seen them and it's an interesting product, and concept. There's a lot to like.

Personally, there's a few things to not like, too. First, no SD slot is a red line for me. Second, I don't like buying that kind of thing online. Third, no way would I buy it sight-unseen. Last, no matter how good the spec is for the money, it's still significantly more than I see myself paying for any phone.

So, not for me, then. But I can see the appeal.

I have an 8Gb phone, with an 8Gb card that has never been removed - in 3 years. Unless someone was hoarding their entire music collection and a load of HD films (that they are unlikely to watch every day), I don't really see the need for removable SD on 16/32Gb+ devices. I stream my music from my home server and will backup the device (photos etc) weekly, removing stuff I don't want or use.

It is actually more than I'd want to pay for a phone as well. I'd NEVER pay the £450+ sim-free prices of today, but it's interesting to see that they can be done cheaply. If I had a disposable £270, and pending favourable reviews and having a "go" on one, I think I'd be happy with the purchase.

[Saracen]

I have an 8Gb phone, with an 8Gb card that has never been removed - in 3 years. Unless someone was hoarding their entire music collection and a load of HD films (that they are unlikely to watch every day), I don't really see the need for removable SD on 16/32Gb+ devices. I stream my music from my home server and will backup the device (photos etc) weekly, removing stuff I don't want or use.

It is actually more than I'd want to pay for a phone as well. I'd NEVER pay the £450+ sim-free prices of today, but it's interesting to see that they can be done cheaply. If I had a disposable £270, and pending favourable reviews and having a "go" on one, I think I'd be happy with the purchase.

It all comes down to what you'd use it for. For me, part of the point would be to carry a phone (if it had a decent audio output) rather than an MP3 player when away from home. And, as the copyright law is about to change, I can put my entire CD collection on such a device. So, if I can, I want to, as it would be PART of the reason for me being willing to spend that sort of money on a phone. But second, and more important, I have quite a large set of reference material I need with me at certain times. Right now, it's in a laptop. In PDF form. This might present an alternative to carrying the laptop, at least some of the time.

I'm not particularly interested in this, or any other smartphone, as a phone. As a portable data device, however, provided I'm comfortable with privacy and security, it could be very useful.

So here's the crunch.

In regard to those reference files, even if they fitted in your current 8GB phone (and they wouldn't) once on the phone, they're on it unless you take them off. Lose the phone, lose the files. With an SD card, however, the files would be on the card, kept securely on my person, and only on the device when I'm using them. While that does present another challenge (not losing the card) I already have that sussed, and it limits any online threat (hacking, etc) to the relatively limited period the files are on the phone, instead of whenever it's powered up.

In other words, I have a very specific criteria set, and this device being a phone is very low down on them. Frankly, if my old iPaq hadn't died a little while back, I'd probably carry on using that. And that had dual card slots, including CF cards. The card slot is a "red line" for me because of what I'd use the device for. For most people .... you may well be right. But my needs from a 'phone' are definitely atypical.

[Nezbert]

What do people think about the invite system for this phone?

It looks superb in terms of spec and build quality for the price and should sell like hot cakes but they've reduced sales to an 'invite only' system if you want it cheap: you can only get an invite from someone who already owns one.

Is this a clever marketing technique to make it exclusive and desirable before they open the floodgates once the brand is established?

Looks excellent but I'm just curious as to why they're selling them in this way.

[GreenPiggy]

While I see it can be annoying, it is a very very smart way of exactly matching manufacturing capacity to demand, and considering the fact that they are a startup and their capacity fluctuates according to the whims of OPPO, you can see why they did it this way.
With regards to the phone itself, it is absolutely brilliant(I got mine 4 weeks ago) and compares favourably with any of the current flagships.
But when you consider that those phones would cost you 2-3 times the price of this, it's an insanely good deal.

[GreenPiggy]

In theory I should have *some* shareable invites coming soon, so if anyone fancies it then let me know

[virtuo]

In theory I should have *some* shareable invites coming soon, so if anyone fancies it then let me know

I think I'd be interested in one of those invites - the jumping through hoops social media game just to get the chance of buying one has left me cold.

Out of interest, how did you get the chance to buy/win one?

[GreenPiggy]

I was ~70,000th forum member on there(with a few posts to keep myself active)
I think they'd sent out invites to the first 100k or so by the end of August.

One thing to be aware of if you're buying it - it's not going to work on 4G for the majority of UK carriers - this wasn't a concern for me since I don't expect 4G for my carrier in Cardiff until way into 2015(by which point i'll probably buy another new phone) but just something to be aware of before getting invites.

[virtuo]

I'm on Three, which I think depending on how close to a city you are on will decide if they are spouting 4G on 1800Mhz or 800Mhz, only one is supported by the OPO.

I don't really have a use for 4G anyway, so not too worried about that. Thanks for the heads-up