We unbox the OnePlus 5!

OnePlus has always had a singular mission ever since they released their first phone back in 2014: make a smartphone that had comparable specs to the flagships of more established companies like Samsung, LG and Sony and sell it at a lower price point. That philosophy has been the driving force behind the company’s success, and it remains true with the release of their latest phone, the OnePlus 5. We’ve managed to get our hands on a review device of the OnePlus 5 thanks to Widget City, and today we’ll be unboxing the device for you.

OnePlus 5 specs

• 2.45GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 octa-core processor
• Adreno 540 GPU
• 6GB/8GB RAM LPDDR4X
• 64GB/128GB of UFS 2.1 storage
• 5.5-inch Optic AMOLED display, 1920 x 1080 resolution
• 16-megapixel f/1.7 Sony IMX398 primary rear camera, 20-megapixel f/2.6 telephoto secondary camera, LED flash
• 16-megapixel front-facing camera
• Dual SIM
• 3G, LTE
• Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC, GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, USB Type-C
• Fingerprint sensor
• 3300mAh battery, Dash Charge

Packaging and contents:

Despite offering flagship device that’s priced lower than its competitors, the OnePlus 5 comes in swanky packaging that makes the phone feel like a premium product. The white box has OnePlus’ red logo stamped on top, and there’s a subtle number 5 embossed on the front as well.

The interior of the box is in bright red, which is a huge contrast to the outside of the packaging. Inside you’ll see the phone, along with a personal note from the CEO of OnePlus, Pete Lau, in Chinese.

There’s a screen protector already pre-applied on the display of the phone, and inside the box is the fast charger and bright red USB Type-C cable for the device. Sadly, there’s no included headphones for the phone, though that’s not a big deal since the OnePlus 5 can use regular cans through its 3.5mm jack.

Design feels a little unoriginal, but it’s still solidly built

While OnePlus has always offered a solid design to go with powerful hardware, their latest phone feels a little lackluster. Sure, it’s quite thinner than the OnePlus 3T, coming in at a mere 7.25 mm thin, but it doesn’t feel as unique as the OnePlus 3T was.

The aggressive side taper, curved sides and reworked antenna lines make the phone look a little like Apple’s iPhone 7 Plus or OPPO’s newly announced R11.

Despite that unimpressive design, the OnePlus 5 feels solid and well built. And while other companies offer a dazzling array of colors for their devices, OnePlus only offers two – Slate Grey and Midnight Black. You get the former if you buy the 6GB/64GB version of the phone, while you get the latter if you cough up the cash for the 8GB/128GB variant.

OnePlus has jumped feet first on the dual-camera hype train, as the OnePlus 5 features a dual-camera setup akin to the one on the iPhone 7 Plus. The main sensor is a 16-megapixel deal with a f/1.7 aperture lens and EIS, while the secondary sensor has a higher resolution 20-megapixel telephoto lens with a smaller f/2.6 aperture without any kind of stabilization tech. The zoom lens combines both optical zoom and software to capture distant subjects up to 2x – the optical zoom part is 1.6x, while the remaining 0.4x is captured via OnePlus’ SmartCapture multiframe technology.

Going around the phone, you’ll see the power button on the right, as well as the slot for your SIM – sorry kids, no expandable storage here. On the left is the volume rocker, with the alert slider right on top of it. The bottom holds the USB Type-C connector, along with the speaker grille and the 3.5mm jack.

The alert slider is one of those things that you didn’t think you’d need on a phone until you use it. There’s three positions for it – on, do not disturb and alerts off. It’s an awesome little button that is useful when you’re going to bed or to the movies. You can do the same with most phones via the volume key of course, but having a dedicated button for it makes managing your alerts oh so easy.

Despite most flagship phones having QHD and even 4K panels on their devices, the OnePlus 5 still goes with a standard 5.5-inch, full HD AMOLED panel.

But don’t let that discourage you if you’re looking to buy the OnePlus 5 – the display looks great, and performs well even under direct sunlight. Since it’s an AMOLED panel, black levels are off the charts and colors are very vibrant. Take note though that there’s currently a bruhaha over supposed jelly-scrolling effect for some OnePlus 5 phones, though our review unit did not exhibit such a problem.

What’s a OnePlus phone without flagship specs, right? The OnePlus 5 continues the tradition of having beastly internals in a device that’s not so hard on the pocket – it packs Qualcomm’s latest flagship silicon, the Snapdragon 835, along with an Adreno 540 GPU and the choice of either 6GB/8GB RAM and 64GB/128GB of storage. Our review unit is obviously the 8GB/128GB version because of the color, and it is insanely fast. Apps opened quickly, and it demolishes any and all Android games currently out in the market today and the phone feels as fast (if not faster) than most other flagships that we tested previously. One worry we have is the 3300mAh battery may not be enough to last you a full day’s use if you’re a power user, though we’ll have to test the phone throughly to find that out.

OnePlus includes their OxygenOS based on Android 7.1.1 Nougat. OxygenOS gives users a hell of a lot of customization options to fully make their device their own without coming with a lot of bloatware, something that many manufacturers need to emulate.

That’s it for this unboxing! If you want to buy the OnePlus 5 right now, Widget City currently has them in stock and is asking Php 27,300 for the 6GB/64GB variant and Php 32,000 for the 8GB/128GB version.