GADGET
GIZMO REVIEW
OnePlus
X
Even
though this young company has only three phones in the market so far, you
probably know quite a bit about it.Such is the hype and word of mouth generated
by the unique invite system, that geeks everywhere line up in droves to buy it.
Unlike the first two phones which were designed to be flagship devices, the
OnePlus X is decidedly mid-range -but it still wants to offer flagship-like
design, feel and performance.
The
OnePlus X bucks the trend of larger phones. Instead, they've chosen a very
manageable 5-inch size with an attractive (albeit now fairly common) design:
dual glass panels and a metal frame. The frame is stainless steel, with `micro
ridges' that are great for grip. The alert slider is carried over from the
OnePlus 2 -you can change how the phone notifies you without looking. It also
uses a hybrid SIM tray: you can either use two SIM cards or one SIM and a micro
SD (up to 128GB).
The
screen is a pin-sharp (1080p @ 441 pixels per inch) amoled unit and as you
would expect, it offers high contrast, viewing angles and colours that pop. On
more than one occasion, the screen seemed too harsh (too bright and a colder colour
temperature). There is no way to adjust this apart from an imperfect thirdparty
app solution. They don't seem to have too much confidence in the durability
glass though -it comes with a factory-fitted screen guard. There's even a soft
back cover which will protect the back glass & keep the smudgesscratches
off.
Coming
to the interface, the X comes with Oxygen OS and it's better than ever.You
might even mistake it for stock Android, given that there is no bloatware and
it uses material design cues. That's not to say that options are limited. You
can have on-screen buttons or off. There's a dark theme and several dark
wallpapers: all designed to take advantage of the amoled screen (it'll consume
less power with more black areas on the screen).Screen off gestures are
available, there's a customisable LED notification light and accent colours.
And a great new feature is the ability to individually set app permissions.
As
for the camera app, it's fairly spartan.There's built in time lapse and slow
motion video plus a couple of extra modes like HDR, clear image and beauty .
You can adjust overall exposure but there are no advanced modes. The camera
starts fast and is very responsive -we got good photos with ample light.
There's plenty of detail but it struggles with noise. It also has a tendency to
oversaturate colours (which is pleasing sometimes). In terms of camera
performance, we'd still give the edge to the older OnePlus One. Video is 1080p
and is acceptable quality .
Obviously
, there are some cut corners. It has a Snapdragon 801 quad core (which is no
slouch) and it skips NFC, fast charging and fingerprint scanner. Battery life
is about a day . So there's a fair share of pros and cons but the X is a good
deal for someone who's looking for a premium device without spending too much.
Hitesh.Bhagat@timesgroup.com
ET25NOV15
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