Sleek is the first word that comes to our mind when we take the OnePlus 5 in our hands. That’s not a new thing since the OnePlus 3T was a super slim device as well. But the OP5 takes things a bit further by slicing down the thickness to 7.3mm. To improve the ergonomics, the new flagship is curvier than its predecessor and this results in a better hands on feel.
While the phone does feel good in our hands, we can’t deny its striking resemblance to the iPhone 7 Plus. Taking inspiration from Apple isn’t usually a bad thing, considering how the Cupertino giant excels in product designs, but we would have hoped the resemblance was less evident. Still, if you can ignore this iPhone-esque design, the OnePlus 5 is a solid smartphone by all means and looks quite premium. Coming in two colors, at least for now (we probably have a mint gold color option coming according to a TENAA listing), Midnight Black and Slate Gray. We have got both the models with us today, and personally, I prefer the slate gray color because it looks distinct, unlike the black color option which we have seen in a few models already. But that’s just a personal preference.
The front of the phone is pretty much the same as the OnePlus 3T, only a tad bit longer. The placement of the front camera, earpiece, and even the physical home button is the same as the 3T. So, you’ll be forgiven if you mistake this for its predecessor. We even know that the company has used the same Optic AMOLED display panel as the earlier model, with 1080p resolution. Well, OnePlus probably thought — don’t fix something that ain’t broken. Still, I personally would have preferred some kind of change in the front design to distinguish the OnePlus 5 from its predecessor. But that’s just me.
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Coming to the back, don’t worry, you will never mistake the OnePlus 5 for the OnePlus 3T. But you may mistake it for the iPhone 7 Plus. The dual camera and flash arrangement are identical to the Apple flagship, but the +1 logo at the center will establish its identity.
Like the OnePlus 3T, the power button is on the right side of the phone, while the left side houses the volume buttons and the alert slider. I personally find the alert slider extremely useful to switch user profiles and it’s good to see the slider on the OnePlus 5 as well. The top of the phone is clean while the bottom features all the important components like the USB Type-C, speaker grill as well as 3.5mm headphone jack. But what the phone lacks is IP67 certification, which most flagships seem to boast in 2017. Ingress protection can seriously prolong the life of a flagship and it’s disappointing to see that OnePlus skipped on this.
Hardware is one area where the company didn’t cut any corners, equipping the phone with the highest configuration in a smartphone today. So you get the super fast Snapdragon 835 chip, 6GB / 8GB RAM options and dual cameras at the back. The dual cameras are also of the highest resolution in today’s market, but the real performance depends a lot on software optimizations. OnePlus seems to have done a good job in this regard, but we haven’t tested the camera in detail yet, and we’ll have to wait and see how it does in real life.
But the UI is super snappy, one of the fastest performances that we have seen on a smartphone. Apps load in an instant and the near-stock Android gives you a feeling that the phone is on steroids. So, kudos to OnePlus for making the phone super fast.
We’ll soon test the dual cameras at the back as well as compare it with other flagship phones of 2017. So stay tuned to Gizmochina for more updates.
Meanwhile, let us know which color do you prefer on the OnePlus 5?
Also, check out a basic OnePlus 5 hands on of the device in the video below. We’ll soon be bringing a comparison video of OnePlus 5 vs OPPO R11.
