The OnePlus One Review
by Joshua Ho on November 19, 2014 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Android
- Mobile
- OnePlus
Display
Within the past few years, smartphone displays have improved immensely. Color rendition, peak brightness, contrast, resolution, viewing angles, and power draw have all improved since the first modern smartphones that appeared in 2007. Of course, while it was once possible to judge relative quality in displays by subjective comparison, most smartphones no longer have TN displays or poor maximum brightness. In order to better test displays, we turn to SpectraCal’s CalMAN 5 with a custom workflow.
In the basics, we see that the OnePlus One has a reasonably bright display and acceptable display contrast, although there's room to improve in both. OnePlus has also done a good job of making sure that their display gets dim enough for night time reading, as minimum brightness is around 4.2 nits. Viewing angles are also great. While contrast with viewing angle changes isn't as good as AMOLED panels, I don't see any color shifting with viewing angle changes. This seems to remain an advantage of IPS panels for now.
In grayscale, we see that the white balance is just a bit blue, but there really isn’t a big issue there. The OnePlus One sets a record for grayscale accuracy. I would like to see a bit better color balance at the higher scales, but it's really just nitpicking. Specifically, red needs to be bumped up to be in line with green and blue. It's understandable why this is done though, as the display's backlight will be the weakest in red in general.
In the saturation sweep, OnePlus has done a great job to make sure that colors are as accurate as possible. The only issue here is that the red, magenta, and blue is a bit weaker than it should be. Some extra saturation would definitely tighten up the accuracy here in addition to making the display more appealing than it is now. However, the display is still incredibly well-calibrated, and will be more than accurate enough for general use.
The strong showing in the saturation sweep helps carry the OnePlus One through to do well in the ColorChecker. For the most part, we see that much of the error comes from the issues previously discussed with grayscale. The display overall is great, and while it isn’t perfect, it’s really just nitpicking at this point. The OnePlus One manages to display colors more accurate than almost everything on the market. The only real issue I've noticed with this display is that there's a bit more IPS glow than I'd like when shifting viewing angles.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
148 Comments
View All Comments
AnnonymousCoward - Saturday, November 22, 2014 - link
How bout a Samsung Alpha review? The >5" space doesn't suit me.MDX - Sunday, November 23, 2014 - link
So, in summary, you liked the phone but cyanogen had too many options? I'm pretty sure this phone is targeting those who enjoy the additional privacy and options provided by Cyanogen. Anandtech as a whole seems to conveniently ignore the privacy issue as a whole (very disappointing, btw) but to do that for this review is to completely ignore one of the main reasons why this phone has become so popular. Yes, one can put cyanogenmod on most any android device, but not everyone has the will or the know-how to do so.madwolfa - Monday, November 24, 2014 - link
"..the first to kill the concept of a 650 USD"... but what about Nexus??Narg - Monday, November 24, 2014 - link
They should have used Windows Phone for the OS, then it would have been 100% polished and virus free...Rashkae - Monday, November 24, 2014 - link
So, why not review the Sony Z3 as well?Chostakovitch - Wednesday, November 26, 2014 - link
Here si an invite which have 12 hours left: GLVT-FMIA-VRIY-JQHG.I am a happy customer of this product since 3 weeks. I planned to buy the Nexus 6 but changed my mind because the hefty price tag.
I am an AnandTech reader since the 440BX days.
I don't agree reviewer point about software. For example, I am so happy to be able to block by default all the intrusive apps request to personal stuff as localization, address book, journal logs, photos and so on. CyanogenMod is a must.
It is sad that OnePlus plan to use their colorOS for their next flagship killer.
Finally, this is true that the device height is a bit too big for me but since it is a bit less than iPhone 6 plus, this is acceptable. Anyways, I bet everyone will follow the band wagon and change their small iPhone 4/5 for phablet within the next two years.
nasqb112 - Wednesday, December 10, 2014 - link
I should have posted this earlier, but I was able to purchase the 1+1shortly after it was released. After having used it for a while, I can confidently say this is one of the best phones I have ever used. It feels like a very premium device and the grey, fine-sandpaper textured back does wonders for grip. At first I felt it was a little too big (I feel 4.7 - 5.0 is the sweet spot) but I quickly got used to it. The screen quality is great as well as the sound (obviously not as good as HTC One). As a fairly heavy user, the battery is up to task. It last all day and I come home with a solid amount of battery left (around 40%). To get an idea of my typical day: GPS high accuracy is always on and I use the phone for emails, texts, google maps/yelp, Uber/Lyft, watching movies/shows and reading kindle books during commute to and from work.In terms of the software, Cyanogen Mod is highly customizable and response time for launching apps and switching screens is fast. I have recently (over the past 2 weeks) had a couple of glitches but these were minimal such as the lock screen being unresponsive until I pressed the power button down again to wake it up.
I live in NYC and have used the phone on both T-Mo and AT&T. It was as simple as popping in a SIM card and the phone worked right away. I was impressed as I expected to have to switch up a lot of settings. Call quality is good, especially on AT&T. I wish there was a version of this phone that supported VZ bands!
If you have the opportunity to purchase this phone, I say pull the trigger! Paying $350 for 64gb is a great deal considering this is a premium device from a new company with great support. The forums are very active so you can get help quite quickly if you need it. As a guy who switches his phone around once per year (awesome corporate phone policy!), the 1+1 was awesome enough to keep me from switching to an iPhone 6+ as well as the Nexus 6 so it is a great device. I highly recommend it!
Dark._.Knight - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
PLEASE HELP ME!!!My phone One Plus One charge to 100% took time 5\6 hour. Why? First charge took8/9hours. Now 5/6 hours? It happen to all one plus one phone user?