OnePlus X First Impression – Bucket Loads Of Black

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OnePlus has finally launched OnePlus X, another smartphone powered by Snapdragon 801 for not so budget price of 17K. Many were instantly apathetic about its existence, since it share more than its price with the yesteryear OnePlus One, but OnePlus insist that it can supplant the One.

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As far as technology goes, a certain panache has always been associated with owning the latest and greatest, even if it matters squat to your user experience, and thus it is bold of OnePlus to launch a new smartphone with a 32Bit chip, especially when benefits of 64bit have finally begun to show up (Encryption in Marshmallow). So, we had a good look at OnePlus X trying to experience and feel what OnePlus is trying to accomplish here, and here are our views.

Also Read – All You Need To Know About Encryption In Marshmallow

This or the OnePlus One? – Specs Comparison 

Model OnePlus X OnePlus One
Display 5 Inch Full HD 5.5 Inch Full HD
Processor 2.3 GHz Octa Core Snapdragon 801 Soc 2.5 GHz Octa Core Snapdragon 801 Soc
RAM 3GB 3GB
Internal Storage 16GB, expandable up to 128GB 64GB
Software Android 5.1 Lollipop based OxygenOS Android 5.1 Lollipop based OxygenOS
Primary Camera 13MP Isocell sensor, F2.2 lens, LED flash, 1080p Videos 13MP, 2160P Video Recording
Secondary Camera 8MP 5MP
Dimensions and weight 6.9 mm thick, 138 Grams for onyx/ 160 Grams 152.9 x 75.9 x 8.9 mm, 162 Grams
Battery 2525mAh, Non removable 3100, Non removable
Price  16,999 INR (Onyx)/ 22,999 INR (Ceremic) 18,000 INR Approx

Also Read – OnePlus One vs OnePlus X

Not everyone likes Phablets

Believe it or not, 5.5 Inch phones can be a tad bit overwhelming for MANY people. These days manufacturers are doing a great job of trimming down the bezels and fitting the ‘5.5-Inch display’ in what is almost close to ‘5-inch display phone’ casing, but let’s face it, OnePlus One didn’t made much effort for comfortable One hand opertation.

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The OnePlus X distinguishes itself by being ultra-compact. The footprint is even lesser than most 5-Inch display devices. Its Slim and compact which makes it easily manageable. The entire phone celebrates black. On the rear side, you will find glass (which feels a bit plastic-ky). On the front side you will again find 2.5D glass which gently bends around the corners and merges with the grooved, metallic side edges.

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The grooves are finer and denser compared to Galaxy Note 3, and add a nice touch to the device. The power-button is aptly placed and easily within reach. A fingerprint sensor from OnePlus 2 didn’t make the cut, which is unfortunate, but the dedicated ‘Alert Slider’, to toggle into silent or priority mode on the fly, stays. Speaker grills are present on the bottom edge for uninterrupted audio experience. This is also the first OnePlus phone to include FM radio and MicroSD card slot. 

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The one on the right is the ceramic variant

There is a limited addition ceramic variant too, which feels almost similar in-doors, but will supposedly have a mirror like feel in sunlight.

The dark theme underlines AMOLED strength

All demo units at the OnePlus event were running dark theme. The OnePlus X Onyx variant was overloaded with black – black on front, black on the rear, Black theme, Black settings menu, black wallpaper- to an extent, that we are not really sure how well whites would be, even though we tried the white theme. Even the capacitive keys were not backlit and all you can see below the display is black strip (you can also turn on software buttons, but since it is an AMOLED display, that could result in burn-in impressions over a period of time).

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For those new to tech jargon, AMOLED panels don’t have a backlight like LCDs and each pixel is powered separately. Which means, Black is attained by completely turning off pixels. Thus, Black on AMOLED panels are super awesome and will also help you save some battery juice. However, this also means whites are less than awesome.

Blacks in settings menu and the black wallpaper on the 5 Inch full HD AMOLED display were completely flush with the black side bezels. You can also change accent color for the rest of the theme (This option was available only for Dark theme). The OnePlus X display felt like most mid-range AMOLED displays that we have seen.

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Next To OnePlus 2

The OxygenOS is very close to stock Android, and the hands-on unit didn’t have much bloat-ware either.

Camera seemed pretty good

IMG_4950OnePlus is using a 13MP Isocell 3M2 CMOS Sensor for the rear camera with F/2.2 lens and an 8MP front camera with F/2.4 lens for selfies. OnePlus claims this is their fastest camera, which could be true. In our initial testing, the images clicked from both shooters looked pretty good on OnePlus X display without much effort from our side. Of course we are nowhere close to giving our final verdict yet.

32Bit in a 64Bit world?

When Apple abruptly transitioned to 64-Bit computing, all Android OEMs and Chipset makers felt a colossal, compelling pressure to adopt 64 Bit and the race began. This resulted in everyone hastily lifting ARM architecture off the shelves without proper customizations, and thus most 64 Bit chips are plagued with one issue or another.

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OnePlus could have used a Snapdragon 615 or Helio X10 for the mid-ranger but the last gen star Snapdragon 801 isn’t any inferior and should result in better user experience for most practical purposes. The 801 used isn’t the same one as in One, the company has used a secondary under-clocked variant here.

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Since it has already been launched with Lollipop, there are good chances that it will be exempted from full device encryption (which is much better with 64 Bit chips thanks to ARMv8) when Marshmallow update arrives.

Expectations

We love compact phones as daily drivers, and thus are very intrigued by the OnePlus X. There are several unknown factors and we can’t resolve the OnePlus X equation just yet, but after our initial hands on time we are optimistic. All said and done, OnePlus X looks beautiful and could be an easy recommendation in its budget.

Deepak SinghDeepak Singh
Deepak has more than 8 years of experience in covering technology for several eminent publications in India. He currently leads an enthusiastic team of young writers at Smartprix and tries to uphold the highest quality standards.

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