OnePlus is known to hype its products before launch and the company has managed to successfully get the attention of millions of fans worldwide for most of its recent launches. This year, OnePlus decided to show a good glimpse of the OnePlus 5 well before launch. This was actually a surprising move given that most companies try to guard the official design until the release date. But to be honest, the rumors about the OnePlus 5 were flying around like crazy in the past few days and it was probably a good move to put rest to those rumors, especially about the rear camera arrangement, by releasing an official teaser image.
But apparently it did more harm than good as seeing the dual camera arrangement similar to the iPhone 7 Plus, many fans were not happy and resorted to social media to express their disappointment over the final design. This could be seen on Twitter as well as China’s Weibo.
And when a company’s product is criticized even before it’s officially unveiled, a company like OnePlus won’t just sit back and relax. Recently, OnePlus’ Product Manager responded to a question on Zhihu (which is very similar to Quora) about the OnePlus 5′ final design. He defended the design of the phone with multiple points. Even OnePlus’ CEO Liu Zuohu forwarded the manager’s answer on his official Weibo page earlier today.
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OnePlus’ manager states that one cannot judge the design and build of a smartphone just on the basis of its images. The flat images don’t do justice to the curves and handling of the phone or even the feel of the built quality. He mentioned OnePlus 3T and the criticism it received initially after images of the phone cropped up via TENAA before launch. Fans were quick to call OP3T’s design as ugly and boring. But once they saw and touched the real smartphone, they were impressed with the design.
He states that the images that you see of the OnePlus 5 right now don’t portray the quality of the phone or its workmanship. Only after you touch and play around with the phone can you differentiate the curves and the intricate design attributes from other similar looking phones.
As for the dual camera setup protruding from the overall design, he defended it by stating that it was a choice of whether to cut down the camera components (sacrificing quality) or increasing the thickness of the setup. The company decided to go with the former choice and hence the bulge. He added that initially, people called the bulge on the iPhone 7 Plus as ugly, but once they saw the phone, they started praising it.
End of the day, what he urges fans to do is play around with the OnePlus 5, feel its built quality and only then make a judgment about its design.
Well, he might be right about the built and quality of workmanship of the OnePlus 5. In fact, it may even feel a bit different than phones like OPPO R11 and the iPhone 7 Plus. But it doesn’t change the fact that the basic design (especially the way the dual cameras are arranged) is a copy of the iPhone 7 Plus.
Despite the initial impressions of the design based on the images available right now, it’s probably wise to wait for the phone to launch and see its design in reality before we start criticizing it heavily.
So, what are your thoughts about the points made by him?
