Ron Amadeo

















Reviewing a device from OnePlus is always a strange proposition. We get the devices at Ars because we're privileged journalists, but most people can't just go out and buy a OnePlus device. The company insists on selling its devices through an "invite" system, which makes buying OnePlus devices a huge hassle. You can show up to OnePlus' website cash-in-hand (metaphorically), and you'll be turned away if you don't have a golden ticket.

The reason is that OnePlus just can't afford to sell a ton of phones at the listed MSRP. The upstart company freely admits it has "No plan to make any money for two years," and along with the limited release strategy, we're guessing it loses money (or, at best, breaks even) on every device it sells. OnePlus' current business strategy is unsustainable, so it feels a little dishonest to compare the company's devices to products from actual functioning businesses trying to make a profit. OnePlus seems to be more focused on generating hype than generating sales.

Still, the business model is not really the consumer's problem, so if you're interested in taking advantage of OnePlus' generosity, let us present to you the "OnePlus X," the company's latest bang-for-your-buck smartphone. The "X" takes what is basically a late-2013 or early-2014 flagship and sells it two years later for $249. Imagine a Nexus 5 or Galaxy S5 and you're in the right ballpark. You're getting a 5-inch, 1080p display powered by a 2.3GHz Snapdragon 801 SoC.

Design and Build quality

SPECS AT A GLANCE: ONEPLUS X SCREEN 1920×1080, 5-inch (441ppi) AMOLED OS Android 5.1.1 Lollipop with OxygenOS skin CPU 2.3GHz Quad-core Snapdragon 801 RAM 3GB GPU Adreno 330 STORAGE 16GB, plus micro SD expansion up to 128GB NETWORKING 2.4GHz 802.11 Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0 PORTS Micro USB, headphone jack CAMERA 13MP f/2.2 rear camera, 8MP f/2.4 selfie camera SIZE 140 × 69 × 6.9mm (5.5 × 2.7 × 0.27 inches) WEIGHT 138g (4.86 oz) BATTERY 2525mAh NETWORK BANDS GSM: 850, 900, 1800, 1900MHz; WCDMA (EU): bands 1/2/5/8; LTE bands: 1/2/4/5/8/38/40; WCDMA (US): bands 1/3/5/7/8/20; FDD-LTE: bands 1/2/4/5/7/8 OTHER PERKS FM radio, RGB notification LED, hardware notification mode switch PRICE $249 (€269, £199) for black Onyx version

It's the build quality that makes the OnePlus X stand out. The body is a finely crafted glass and metal sandwich that would be right at home on a $600 flagship. The glass front and back make the OnePlus X feel like a high-quality, solid object that's worth way more than the $250 asking price.

The extra glass panel will make it more fragile than your average smartphone, so this device isn't for people who drop their devices often. The glass back also has a tendency to "creep" off of a table, thanks to the perfectly smooth, slippery surface. You might think your table is perfectly flat, but if it isn't, the OnePlus will start slowly sliding away.

A flat, aluminum band wraps around the perimeter of the OnePlus X, and along with the front and back glass, it's very reminiscent of an iPhone 4 or 4S. OnePlus has tried to separate itself by darkening the band to a gunmetal color and engraving tiny ridges into it, but there is no hiding the X's ancestry. The ridges do give the side a very grippy texture, which is great since dropping an all-glass smartphone is probably a bad idea.

The excellent build quality continues all along the sides of the OnePlus X. The power and volume buttons are also metal and don't have an ounce of wiggle to them. The buttons have firm, clicky mechanisms that feel like they will last a while. Along the bottom of the metal band are milled speaker holes that form a pair of speaker ports, but only one actually has a speaker behind it. The good news is that the single speaker is quite loud and will work just fine for the usual ringtones, notifications, and the occasional YouTube video.

There are even a few extras on the device. The oddest addition, just like the OnePlus 2, is the notification priority switch on the side of the device. The three-position hardware switch changes Android's do-not-disturb mode between "No Interruptions," "Priority Interruptions Only," and "All Notifications." Unlike the OnePlus 2 implementation, the switch overrides all the other software and hardware buttons on the device. Put it in the "No Interruptions" position and there is no way to exit that mode unless you move the switch—volume buttons won't do it.

Also in the extras department: you get dual SIM cards or a single SIM card and a MicroSD slot. The SIM tray on the OnePlus has a crazy design that lets the second card slot fit either a second nano SIM or an SD card, and somehow the electronics work out internally to let this happen.

The price comes with some compromises











Getting down to that $250 price point did mean cutting a few corners. The specs line up with a flagship phone from late 2013 or early 2014, but given how little Qualcomm chips have improved in the last year, that's not a huge deal. The biggest deal for many (in the US, at least) will be the lack of LTE bands 12 and 17. Band 12 is T-Mobile's slice of the 700 MHz spectrum, which it plans to quickly expand to, while Band 17 is the primary transport for AT&T's LTE network. Depending on where you are, you might be able to pick up some AT&T LTE, but a big chunk of it will be unavailable to the OnePlus X. OnePlus sells a North American and EU version of the device, but even the NA version lacks these bands.

The other oddity—which we have to assume is a cost-cutting measure—is in the capacitive navigation buttons. They don't have a backlight. They are unlit all the time, which makes them difficult to see in a lot of lighting conditions. Like the OnePlus 2, the capacitive buttons on the OnePlus X can be customized and flipped around, and since you can't change the symbols on the buttons, OnePlus chose to again go with generic dash symbols.

We sort of get OnePlus' line of thinking. The buttons aren't usefully labeled, so why bother lighting them up? It's definitely strange to see them in action, though. We have the same complaints here that we had with the OnePlus 2: we really like our buttons to be clearly, accurately labeled, and now we'll add that we also like to see where exactly the touch targets are and have them light up. We could never get used to the odd button labels, and as a result it slowed down our use of the phone. The good news is that if you're like us and can't stand the dark, unlabeled buttons, there's also an option to enable the on-screen button bar with the standard Android navigation layout.

The OnePlus X also lacks NFC, so there will be no Android Pay shenanigans here. There also isn't USB Type-C—the OnePlus X sticks with the tried-and-true Micro USB 2.0 port. We're not at the point where we're demanding a Type C port on every new phone, it's just surprising given that the OnePlus 2 has a Type-C port.

The Wi-Fi support won't be what you're used to on a high-end phone, either. The X is missing both 5GHz support and 802.11ac—the fastest Wi-Fi is 2.4GHz 802.11n. Of course, on a person-by-person basis this only matters if you have a high-end router that pumps out the appropriate signals. 2.4GHz 802.11n is perfectly fine for browsing the Internet, provided your airwaves aren't too crowded.

Listing image by Ron Amadeo