A Comprehensive Review of the One Plus X

ONEPLUS X REVIEW
In bold continuity to its redefining adventure in the smartphone market, OnePlus has come back with its cheapest phone yet. Here, JustNaira embarks on a full and in-depth OnePlus X review, which is also known as the OnePlus mini.

ONEPLUS X REVIEW: PRICE AND COMPETITION

OnePlus has carved a reputation for itself by presenting the smartphone market with phones as far lower prices than you would honestly anticipate if you really consider the spec sheet and images of the device itself. The theme maintains its path with the OnePlus X, which is practically the firm’s cheapest smartphone to date.

I would say the OnePlus 2 is almost a freebie at just £239, but then the affordability of the OnePlus X is even much more rasping; coming at just £199. The reality is it fills in the place of a supposed OnePlus 2 mini, if you so choose. Everyone who has come across the OnePlus X is truly surprised to find out the distinctly low cost of the smartphone after digesting the sophistication of the phone.

I suppose the reality is there is no much competition below the £200 mark in the smartphone market but then the OnePlus X does have some fierce contenders. The Motorola Moto G (3rd gen) most preeminently jumps to consideration, offering commendably decent specs for juts £159 as standard, though it is not proper to say it offers the same level of design and build; an addition to this is that if you use the Moto Maker to customise it, it can really come at a larger cost than the X.

A Nexus device would naturally promise rivalry for best value smartphone but this year’s Nexus 5X, as engrossing as it’s sensation, comes at more than 50 percent increased cost at £339 for the entry-level model.

At this price, it is possible it is already stamped in your mind that you could be getting your hands on the OnePlus X, but this is where we encounter a small problem. Like previous phones, an invite is a big requirement to buy this one, which is quite a stumbling block to this seeming technological resort of a smartphone.

Let us not forget that third-party vendors offer to sell the OnePlus X (as well as its white edition) in the absence of the supposed needed invite, but then OnePlus does not encourage or support the move for people making purchases of its products by channel of unofficial third party vendors.

ONEPLUS X REVIEW: DESIGN AND BUILD QUALITY

With the tiny bit of introduction I have put in earlier, I suppose you could have caught the hint that the OnePlus X doesn’t have the customary type of design and build which you’re supposedly used to with a phone dancing under £200. I must admit the cost of this phone quite unsettled me as it was really cheap for what it offered.

The firm has really racked their brains for an extended period of time and hard as well pertaining to the look and feel of the X; and has done a pretty applaudable job. The metal frame comes with its almost nano- sized ridges and dark glass front and back presents a bevelled edge bringing in an extra touch of style and comfort.

It fetches easily the cool memories of the lovable Sony Ericsson C902 way back and there’s almost no deficiency the OnePlus X suffers in this area. It is light and thin which is a big positive leap on the pretty brick-like OnePlus 2 – just 6.9mm ad 138g.

That button you come across on the left side of the phone (above) is known as the Alert Slider and its purpose there is that you can easily switch between three different notification profiles. Really helpful when you want to at pace, make sure your phone remains quiet or doesn’t with the least of effort you could muster.

We say almost for the fact that the glass back does usher in a slippery sensation, whether it be moving gradually across a flat surface when you’re trying to scroll or sliding off the arm of your sofa – you get the concept. Something which contributes here this is OnePlus’ range of cases for the X which comes in handsome variety of options which does well to include the StyleSwap backs for the OnePlus 2 at a cost of £24. I will still say here that some are yet a little slippy but nothing can take the deserved position of the glass – I guess you rather choose the Sandstone cover if you have your mind set on maximum grip.

Bringing the X into comparison with the Moto G there’s no waterproofing here so the emphasis here is about style and we’re fine with that.
We peeked a look at the Onyx black glass model but there then is also a limited edition ceramic version if you pretty cool with paying more and accept the reality of an increased weight of 160g. We’re not too worried about this really.

ONEPLUS X REVIEW: HARDWARE AND SPECS

Taking the OnePlus X as the fitting mini version of the 2, there are a number of downgrades and that really seem reasonable owing to the fact that the X is a cheaper option.
A big deviation here is that the screen comes at a reduced size and we find it commending that the firm has adopted the approach to give its user base a device boasting more compactness than its contemporaries. We must accept the reality that getting a heavy 5.5in handset wouldn’t be everyone’s choice after all.

The resolution keeps its place at Full HD though so it’s really attained an increased pixel density. Making use of the AMOLED technology, I think I owe the company some cheers with the deep blacks of the display, impressive viewing angles and then the brightness on offer – I discovered that I could use it on the least possible setting without much inconvenience.

A 2.3GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor looks to reduce the cost therein since the chip is now pretty outdated. Well included in the package is the 3GB of RAM and although this combination doesn’t really increase the excitement of reading, I think I would be harsh to condemn the performance. I would rather say that the principal concern here is that the chip isn’t 64-bit.

I feel I should add at this point that the OnePlus X does really develop some heat during basic use which could include web browsing. The temperature of the back rises near the top but not to the extent of introducing solid discomfort.

OnePlus has fitted a 2525mAh battery inside the X and a benchmark results of four hours and 57 minutes as well as a score of 2656 isn’t the most impressive if I must say. It pretty corresponds with the Sony Xperia Z5 Compact and in practical life situations, you’re likely required to plug it in every night.

You would have 16GB of internal storage available here – and you certainly will get your hands on say 11 to play with following the pre-installed software. Most fortunately however, there is the relieving availability of a Micro-SD card slot available so you could add up to like 128GB more.

In face of this, it is necessary to add in the reminder here that the OnePlus X is dual-SIM and putting a memory card in fills up one of those slots, as such you can’t have all three in at the same time.

At this price, there has to be slices somewhere if we drag it against the OnePlus 2, the X doesn’t really have the option of a fingerprint scanner or the reversible USB Type-C. It also doesn’t boast the functionality of 11ac Wi-Fi and NFC which is a big let down and humiliating disappointment for anyone with the intents of processing payment systems or other related benefits.

Moving over to the cameras, I found that the OnePlus X has a 13Mp camera at the rear with an LED flash. By default, it shoots in a 4:3 aspect ratio (same with the front camera), which is novel, and the app is really easy to use. I suppose it doesn’t have the optical image stabilisation but then it had the phase detection auto focus. The results are good but I wouldn’t say they were absorbingly great and I humbly think I have come across much improved 13Mp cameras. When I looked at the front, I saw an 8Mp camera, which is alright but then not very sharp and details-catching as we usually could have found at this resolution.

ONEPLUS X REVIEW: SOFTWARE AND APPS

Moving on and software is a pride for the OnePlus X as the phone is running the firm’s own Oxygen OS which has its operation built around the Android 5.1 Lollipop. Though I think I would have been better with the most recent 6.0 Marshmallow but then this is no big damp on the phone, part of this because OnePlus has added similar features anyway.

Although it might have the look of a thoroughly modified user experience, it couldn’t be at a great distance from reality. Oxygen OS has a deep resemblance of the Android look and feel. The essence of this is that you get pretty much all the same sensation if put against getting a Nexus device with the inclusion of the notification bar as well as recent apps.

Motorola brings on a little more stock experience with Google Now a swipe away from the homescreen. Oxygen OS on its end however has Shelf, which has its means of getting access to the user’s most used apps and contacts. If you’re really engrossed with Shelf, we wouldn’t question you as it is your choice.

Another added benefit in this category is the helpful inadequacy of suffocating bloatware so you easily grab Google’s range of apps and not much more, helping you to an impressive blank canvas to begin with.

You can make your choice as regards on-screen navigation buttons, the normal Android ones, but it’s probably deserving to opt against this in the process of the setup. The X offers touch sensitive buttons located below the screen which can be made use of, even if they are hardly visible in the absence of backlight. Each one can also be assigned a long press- and double tap action which is really appreciated.

i have said that you get Marshmallow features with the OnePlus X so you could possibly alter individual app permissions to your preferences and you can re-arrange the quick settings tiles.

You could as well locate particularly skillful features like gestures (double tap to wake the screen, draw an O to open the camera etc) as well as customisation which includes the accent colour of the interface and the LED notification light.

OUR VERDICT

The OnePlus is a worthy contender for the best value smartphone of the year. I am particularly in love with the premium design in a smaller form factor to the firm’s other phones. Software is a big point here and you get a wonderful screen. Nonetheless, cuts had to be done somewhere and the X is really malnourished of features such as NFC, 11ac and Wi-Fi. It is also in lack of the fingerprint scanner and USB Type-C port found on the OnePlus 2. Battery life isn’t really outstanding and cameras wouldn’t be said to be best in class but then it doesn’t take off the truth that this is a wonderful phone for the price.