The internet has a way of flogging a dead horse. You can't turn two corners on the web without seeing the same meme twice on most days, and when it comes to social media the same issues can drag on for days from various sources. This is what happened for the first few days after information surfaced that Oppo might be the owner of OnePlus. When you look at the information provided, it stands to reason that Oppo does in fact own OnePlus and could be using it as a way to express themselves on a grander scale in more markets for a lesser cost. Oppo devices aren't typically the least expensive, and their brand presence isn't exactly worldwide. OnePlus on the other hand will be offering their very first phone in more markets at launch, than Oppo has with any of their devices to date. Then there's the matter of the employees. OnePlus CEO Pete Lau was a former executive of Oppo, and many of the other OnePlus staff were from the Oppo team as well. Finally, when you break it down to the product level and look at what Oppo and OnePlus each have to offer, OnePlus's first phone and the new Oppo Find 7 and Find 7a look near identical short of a few minor design differences.

After processing all of that information you'd almost be crazy to think that Oppo didn't have a hand in the creation of OnePlus much less own it. The thing is, it doesn't really matter if OnePlus is a completely separate entity or not. When you get back to the basics, they will still be offering a stellar device. In case you missed the specs, the OnePlus One has an impressive rapsheet. It comes packing the same 5.5-inch display as the Oppo Find 7a with 16m colors and 401 pixels per inch, and it's even packing the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 quad-core processor that clocks in at 2.5GHz that we see built into the Galaxy S5. When it comes to the camera, it shoots images with a 13MP sensor on the back(which the sample shots have proven to be formidable)and carries a 5MP sensor on the front, and comes with 3GB of RAM compared to the 2GB on most of the other high end flagship models available from other OEMs. Even the battery is bigger than competitors, with 3,100 mAh of juice to carry you throughout your day. This might not matter much to those with a device that sports the power saving mode, but for plenty of other individuals that won't be using either the Galaxy S5 or the new HTC One M8, that battery sounds like heaven on earth.


When it comes to design, the OnePlus is without a doubt one of the sleekest smartphones out there. Complete with the slimmest bezels of any competitor(and we all know how important people think slim bezels are because the complaints keep rolling in about the HTC M8's black bars), the OnePlus One also comes with protective Corning Gorilla Glass 3 so your screen can stay nice and pretty even if you do happen to drop it here and there. We can't say the same for the back though which could end up with some scuffs, so your best bet if you're clumsy is to just buy a case and do yourself a solid, or make sure to purchase a good number of the StyleSwap covers so you can just pop on a new one when you need to. It provides loads of other features like dual stereo speakers placed on the bottom rim, support for GSM, HSDPA, and LTE networks, Adreno 330 GPU, and two available size options giving the user the choice to pick from either a 16GB or 64 GB storage model. OnePlus was also able to do all of this for under $350, which is extremely impressive.

The OnePlus One does have a couple drawbacks to it that might shy away a few consumers, and that's the lack of a microSD card slot, the non-removable battery, the lack of dust and water resistance, and of course the limited availability until late June. To some these features will be important and for them, there will be no phone more enticing than one that has those traits to offer. Despite these lacking differences though, the OnePlus One is still poised to sell a boatload and offer a fantastic user experience to anyone who picks it up. Even the packaging looks sexy and while that doesn't really make or break someones decision in most cases, it shows that OnePlus was willing to assert a level of attention to detail that frankly, some other OEMs lack a little these days. So, does it matter that Oppo could quite possibly own OnePlus? Not in the slightest, because at the end of the day the phone still rocks some amazing specifications and it looks just as amazing. It has the style to flaunt and it has the hardware to back itself up. All things considered, the OnePlus One is quite possibly 2014's best phone for the price hands down (at least so far), and might even be better than some flagships this year if the price was the same. Thankfully for those of us that have been excited over the phone since it's announced existence, a friendly price tag isn't the only thing it has going for it.