OnePlus 2

One of the most hyped Android phones of the year has arrived. OnePlus, the Chinese startup behind the popular OnePlus One, has finally revealed its next flagship — and it doesn't disappoint.

With a refreshed set of flagship-worthy specs and a new operating system, the OnePlus 2 manages to build on all the best features of its predecessor while making significant hardware and software improvements for less than $400.

The company is billing the OnePlus 2 as 2016's "flagship killer" and the specs alone certainly put the OnePlus 2 squarely at the front of the pack in terms of its Android competitors.

The 5.5-inch phone is powered by a 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor with options for 4GB or 3GB of RAM (for the 64GB and 16GB capacity models, respectively). Like its predecessor, it lacks a microSD option for additional storage, but has dual-SIM slots. The display is 1,920 x 1,080 resolution (full HD) and comes with a fingerprint sensor that can store up to five prints. The 13-megapixel rear-facing camera is equipped with a dual-LED flash and f/2.0 aperture; it supports 4K resolution video and a slow motion mode that shoots at 720p.

More impressive, however, is the price: The unlocked OnePlus 2 will cost $329 for the 16GB model and $389 for 64GB. By comparison, Samsung's flagship Galaxy S6, with 64GB of storage and only 3GB of RAM, runs more than $800 without a carrier subsidy.

"Our goal is to just have enough margin to keep the company running and not make a profit," OnePlus cofounder Carl Pei tells Mashable. "When we launch a new product, we normally make nothing selling it," he says, adding that the company expects its margins to improve over time as it sells more devices and hardware costs go down.

A fresh take on a familiar look

For its second generation flagship, Pei says OnePlus made more than 100 changes from its first release in 2013. Most notably, the polycarbonate bezel of the original OnePlus One has been swapped for an all-metal one, which give the phone a more premium look and feel.

The OnePlus 2 ships with the company's signature "sandstone black" back cover. The textured cover manages to strike the right balance between providing a good grip and while not feeling (or looking) cheap as is often the case with textured covers employed by other manufacturers.

The "black sandstone" back cover that ships with OnePlus 2. Image: Karissa Bell/Mashable

OnePlus is also selling four optional back covers: black kevlar, bamboo, rosewood and black apricot. Each cover is made with the actual materials on a polycarbonate casing and each feels and looks like it belongs on a premium flagship. The covers are easily removable and, unlike the OnePlus One, the new covers don't have antennas embedded in them, which has helped bring the cost down to $26.99 each.

Pei says the company spent a lot of time improving the phone's camera, with an emphasis on improving its performance in low-light environments — one of the few weaknesses of the OnePlus One. To do this, the startup added a laser focus, optical image stabilization (OIS) to the hardware and hired a dedicated team to work on the camera's software.

We'll have to wait for our review to really put the camera through its paces but photos taken in our initial, brief hands-on were crisp with vivid colors. The shutter and focus were fast and responsive and Pei says the company will add a manual mode in a forthcoming update that will give people more control over the settings like ISO and white balance.

OxygenOS

Perhaps one of the biggest question marks heading into the OnePlus 2 release was the software. One of the elements that made the company's first flagship so appealing was its operating system. The handset ran CyanogenMod, a highly customizable version of Android and one of the most popular alternative flavors of Android.

OnePlus was forced to change things up with this release, following the OnePlus One's ban in India after a rival company received the exclusive rights to distribute Cyanogen in the country. The result is OxygenOS, OnePlus' own custom version on Android, based on Android 5.0 Lollipop.

The OnePlus 2 running the company's custom operating system: OxygenOS. Image: Mashable/Karissa Bell

Pei says the company wanted to take a more cautious approach in the design of OxygenOS to keep from alienating users and the operating system does look very close to the stock version of Android Lollipop, with a clear emphasis on Google's Material Design guidelines. The new operating system maintains some of the features from its Cyanogen roots, however, including on-screen gestures, which allows you to launch the camera or flashlight by drawing patterns on the screen, for example.

The company's software team has also managed to add a few tricks of their own to OxygenOS. A feature called Shelf, still in beta, brings up shortcuts to your contacts and the apps you use the most when you swipe right from the home screen. Small touches, like the ability to switch between physical or capacitive navigational buttons and to customize the color of the LED notification light, will also appeal to those who like the customization afforded by Cyanogen, even if OxygenOS doesn't go as far.

Future-proofing a flagship

As flagship specs become increasingly common, it's often the smaller features that add up to setting a handset apart from the competition. This point is not lost on OnePlus and Pei says the company went to great lengths to get the small details right and add new features not used by competitors.

"The reason why we even started this company was we felt there wan’t any Android phone that was good enough," he says. "There's no company that puts as much emphasis on the product itself as Apple does when it comes to smartphones. No one really cared about the product within Android."

The OnePlus 2 is one of the first flagship handsets to support USB Type-C. Image: Mashable/Karissa Bell

The OnePlus 2 comes with a new USB Type-C cable, making it one of the first companies to support the new standard on handsets (Apple's new Macbook and Google's Chromebook Pixel 2 also come with USB Type-C ports). The cable that ships with the OnePlus 2, which the company is also selling as a standalone, also has a reversible design on the type A side (the end that plugs into a standard USB port).

The phone also comes with a physical "Alert Slider" switch on the left side of the device that allows users to toggle between notification styles — either all notifications, no notifications or priority, which only surfaces those from a designated set of contacts.

Invites and availability

The $389 64GB OnePlus 2 model will be available in the United States in Europe beginning August 11, on the company's website. The $329 16GB mode will follow, though the company hasn't provided an exact time. As with the last release, the phone will only be available through OnePlus' online store and buyers will need an invitation before they are able to place an order.

The company has attempted to reduce much of the friction around the invitation process by making 30,000 to 50,000 invitations available at launch. OnePlus will also be offering prospective customers a hands-on experience with nine pop-up stores in the United States, Europe and Asia, where customers will be able to demo the device and secure an invitation. The pop-up stores will open in New York City, San Francisco, Berlin, Paris, Milan, London, New Delhi, Bangalore and Jakarta beginning July 31.