OnePlus X: Review

After the launch of the original flagship killer OnePlus One in 2014, OnePlus again launched a 2015 flagship killer named the OnePlus Two with higher specs and more performance on board again at a reasonable price range. Getting good responses and sales, OnePlus now tried to deliver a mid-range phone that offers looks, performance, and value.

In October 2015, the ambitious Chinese manufacturer OnePlus came with their new midrange Android smartphone called OnePlus X.

OnePlus X Front Black

Out of the box:

A 5-inch AMOLED display with 1080×1920 screen resolution and 441 PPI pixel density. The phone weighs only 138 grams. Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection is there on the front side to save your screen! The phone comes in two options. One is a Ceramic limited edition version and the other is the simple glass back. We have seen such glass back varieties previously in Nexus 4, other Sony smartphones, and even last year Samsung gave it to the S6!



How does it feel in your hands?

As far as the size of the phone goes, it is very easy to handle it single-handedly unlike other monster-sized devices. With a 5” display, this mid-range device is a boon for those who have smaller palms and fingers. You can reach all the corners with your thumb. It has become a trend to deliver big display phones nowadays as now people are using their phones for various activities from movie watching to news feed reading and from texting to video calling! But the glass back makes it a difficult task to hold the device comfortably. However, you get a metal frame with grooves around the border that help you give some support.

On the left-hand side, there is a slider. Which works in three steps; silent, priority notifications only, and all alerts. It has a pattern, so it doesn’t feel slippery at all.

On the right-hand side, you can locate the power button and volume keys. Volume keys on the same side will take time to get used to it.

The headphone jack is on the top with the secondary microphone. At the bottom, in the center, there is a MicroUSB type 2.0 charging port and loudspeaker, with a primary microphone.

The phone comes with a simple presentation and no drama in unboxing the device. You get a simple wall charging brick with a charging cable, the device itself and sim card ejector tool. Nowadays companies have started giving hybrid sim slots, which will double up as a memory card holder too when you want. So, while traveling, you need a roaming sim and you can remove an external memory card and use it as a dual sim device. While in daily usage, it will serve you as an external memory card slot. So if you are looking for a dual sim device with extra storage look somewhere else.

Camera performance:

I must mention here that the quality of the camera is decent. Both the front and back sensors are pretty average in capturing stills. Low-light photography won’t make you go wondering, but outdoor photography will delight buyers. Though there is no drama here like the 4K recording, which was on offer with the OnePlus One and Two.

Performance:

OnePlus X is offered with the same processor and GPU offered on OnePlus One two years earlier. Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 chipset with Quad-core 2.3GHz Krait CPU and Adreno 330 GPU, this phone is now a mid-ranger, though the same performance was offered in flagship killer. As far as the performance of the phone goes, it is good! No major lag or glitches here. The phone runs Oxygen OS 2.0 based on Android Lollipop. OnePlus hasn’t pushed an OTA update yet for this phone.

OnePlus x screen

The overall performance of the OnePlus X is just slightly behind the original flagship killer OnePlus One. The processor on X is 200MHz low and that’s why what looks so thrilling on paper doesn’t excite you in real-world scenarios.

The screen has a 1080p AMOLED display, which has good display quality. The black parts of the images are deep. It has super viewing angles, even at the extreme viewing angle, the colors will remain the same.


Let’s talk about battery life! With a 2525mAh, non-removable battery, you don’t get a last-long backup. Though in moderate usage, the battery runs the whole day long. But for those guys, who love to do social media all day long and play instance games, the results are not quite good enough. The chipset is now aging, and that’s why, the battery doesn’t last as long as you expect in newer chipset versions. Other competitors provide batteries of more than 3000mAh nowadays, but with 5” display, this is okay for the OnePlus X.

Software observation:

OnePlus claims user interface is just next to the vanilla Android experience but with a few tricks it to enhance the user experience with the phone. The software I pretty stable and there are no major bugs or problems. All the apps run very decently, it’s not a flagship killer phone, so you can’t expect much in the performance department.

On the lock screen, you can draw V, <, >, etc. to toggle various tasks and apps. It offers an ambient display, which will show you notifications and missed tasks without opening the screen. It’s a major benefit of an AMOLED display. It offers a feature called Shelf, which shows your recent apps and other stuff.

Final verdict:

What works for you?

  1. Good-built quality at amazing pricing
  2. Amazing Full HD AMOLED display
  3. For a mid-range phone, performance is on the higher side
  4. Size of the phone, software, and features

What works against it?

  1. After-sales will always remain a secrete
  2. The invite system is not at all desirable for enthusiasts
  3. The camera could have been better