OnePlus
Latest
OnePlus kills its unique swappable covers before they had the chance to live
Although more people have been able to get their hands the OnePlus One than ever before, new handset owners won't be able to accessorize them as thoroughly as was first thought. After two months of teasing its bamboo, silk white and sandstone black "StyleSwap" covers, the company has been forced to kill its custom backplates before they got the chance to go on sale. According to a company blog post, "technical difficulties" during mass production meant that covers suffered from creaks or became slightly loose, risking damage to the non-removable battery that it was meant to protect.
OnePlus pulls sexist selfie contest (update: regrets 'misguided effort' to involve more women)
When you're looking to celebrate a milestone for your company's forums, what's the best way to do so? How about a sexist photo contest where the entrant that nabs the most likes gets a the chance to buy a phone? Sounds like a terrible idea. Well, that's just what OnePlus did to commemorate 200K registered message board users. In order to be eligible, ladies (no boys allowed) had to draw the outfit's logo on a piece of paper or on their body, take a picture of themselves and post it in the contest thread. The top 50 "most well-liked" women would earn a t-shirt, and if there were at least 500 entries, OnePlus promised an invite to purchase it's One smartphones to "our favorite photo." So yes, the winner still had to pay for the device they "won." As you might've guessed, folks around the internet expressed their rage almost immediately and links to the contest thread are dead several hours later. We've reached out to see if the promotion has officially been pulled and what OnePlus has to say about it, but it looks like the masses have prevailed. Update: OnePlus has provided a statement in response to our query, and is apologetic about a "misguided" effort to reach out to women. The company says it's "thrilled to have a small but growing number of women active in our online community," and deeply regrets any offense caused. You can read the statement in full after the break.
OnePlus One camera update helps you take sharper, noise-free photos
The 13-megapixel camera on the OnePlus One is fine for the money, but not spectacular; it frequently captures soft, noisy snapshots if the lighting conditions aren't ideal. Don't worry, though, as the fledgling phone maker has rolled out a camera update that can (sometimes) give you the photo quality you've been missing. Much like what you saw in the Oppo Find 7, the One's new Clear Image feature takes a burst of 10 photos and stitches them together into a cleaner, higher-resolution picture. You can see the results for yourself below -- a muddy, grainy photo of a wall clock (shown on the left) suddenly becomes clear. OnePlus is even promising reasonable file sizes, so you won't immediately regret buying the 16GB One instead of its 64GB counterpart.
Give your OnePlus One a bamboo back for $49
The OnePlus One's a handsome little devil as is, but there's always room to accessorize. Though you're probably still waiting on the actual handset to turn up, OnePlus has announced the phone's first "SwapStyle" cover will arrive at the end of August, and it's made from bamboo (the material's all the rage, you know). The standard white and black polycarbonate shells that come with different variants of the phone will also be available online soon for $29, €25 or around £20, while the flashier bamboo version will retail for $49, €39 or £32. Other SwapStyle covers should cost about the same, though we could be persuaded to pay a little more for the one that makes double-denim acceptable again. We wouldn't say a bamboo phone cover needs its own two-minute promo video, but who are we to kill OnePlus' buzz?
Engadget giveaway: win a OnePlus One and custom skins courtesy of dbrand!
We had a chance to test the OnePlus One a couple of months ago and it was one sweet piece of tech. The only downside, really, has been the incredibly limited supply. That's what makes this week's giveaway a bit of a standout. The folks at dbrand happened to have one on hand and they've passed it along so that one lucky Engadget reader can break away from the everyday smartphone crowd. The company has also included 16 of its custom OnePlus One skins to make it even more unique. You can even use the company's interactive preview tools to help personalize a variety of smartphones, tablets and game consoles with dbrand's selection of custom skins. As for the phone, the One boasts a 13-megapixel camera, 64GB of storage and runs CyanogenMod, letting users customize the OS almost as much as the exterior. This is an unlocked global version (supporting LTE, GSM and WCMDA) so users on T-Mobile, AT&T and various other carriers should be good to go. Just head on down to the Rafflecopter widget below for up to three chances at winning this OnePlus One and dbrand skins. Winner: congratulations to Daryl J. of Hudson, OH.
iFixit: OnePlus One equals five for repairability
Like the proverbial internet pony of lore, you may want the OnePlus One smartphone's highly desirable specs and cheap $300 price, but you can't have it -- yet. Somehow the iFixit screwdriver brigade got one though, and recently disemboweled it for your pleasure (see the video below). Sure enough, all the bits are there: 3GB of Samsung-based RAM, 5.5-inch 1080p screen, Snapdragon 801 CPU and a goodly 3,100mAH battery, all inside an 8.9mm thick body. That's pretty slim for a phablet, and therein lies the problem: squeezing all that in required a hard-to-budge (and pricey to replace) fused screen, hidden connectors and adhesives. All that adds up to a repairability score of five out of ten -- far from the worst we've seen, but if you ever manage to nab one, you may want to insure it.
OnePlus One gets delayed over 'security issues'
OnePlus One equals more than the number of units of this $300 smartphone that have so far been shipped to paying customers. The high-spec, low-cost Android handset was meant to launch back in May, but the manufacturer has now admitted that it's "perfecting some final issues," which means it can no longer be certain when the phone will be ready. In terms of what these problems are, some helpful clarification has been posted to Reddit by OnePlus's software partner, Cyanogen.
OnePlus One review: a $300 smartphone has never looked so good
Look at your phone. If you can honestly admit that you love every single thing about it, I have good news: You can stop reading this review, since it won't have an impact on your happiness. But if there's even one thing you wish your smartphone could do better, it means you had to make compromises when you bought it. Everybody wants a perfect phone, but such a thing simply doesn't exist. So, we settle on a phone that has only 95 percent of the features we want, and that... kinda sucks. OnePlus believes it doesn't have to be this way. Its motto, "Never Settle," represents the fledgling Chinese company's mission to build and sell the perfect smartphone. Its first attempt is the One, a premium-looking device that has customizable firmware and top-shelf specs. Oh, and it'll sell for $299 unlocked and free of contract, which is even less expensive than Google's Nexus 5. Seems a little over-ambitious for a small startup with no official track record, doesn't it? Let's find out if the One is too good to be true.
Daily Roundup: Samsung's love of plastic, Siri for Apple TV and more!
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Meet the One, OnePlus' $299 Nexus killer
Rarely do we see a tech startup spending five months actively hyping up an unborn product; and when we do, most of them end up being vaporware. Luckily, that's not the case with OnePlus. Today, the Shenzhen-based company has finally unveiled its first smartphone, the One (not to be confused with the HTC One). While the device's impressive specs have already been listed in detail beforehand, OnePlus had remained tight-lipped about the actual prices (unsubsidized) until today: $299/£229/€269 for the 16GB model, and $349/£269/€299 for the 64GB flavor; both due mid to late May. This aggressive pricing is obviously going right after the Nexus 5 ($349 for 16GB, $399 for 32GB), but is this too good to be true?
OnePlus One phone and its swappable covers leak out in new pictures
Former Oppo exec Pete Lau announced his plans to make "the perfect smartphone" a few months ago, and now the OnePlus One is almost here. Its launch is scheduled for April 23rd, but Android Authority points out these pictures posted on a forum that claim to show press renders of the device itself and "StyleSwap" covers that will let owners customize its looks. Not-so-shockingly, what we're seeing looks a lot like the Oppo Find 5, although the only question left is whether they're authentic or just a fan's creation. We've already gotten a sneak peek at the CyanogenMod software it will run, and we know how much it costs, but official word on everything else will have to wait until Wednesday.
OnePlus One will cost under $400, £290 / €350 in US, UK and Europe (updated)
It's just seven days until OnePlus launches its first Android flagship, but that hasn't stopped the company drip-feeding news about the device. Surprisingly, the outfit promises that the unit will cost under £290 in the UK, €350 in Europe and $3,000 HKD in Hong Kong -- which we're taking to mean £289, €349 and $2,999, respectively. By way of comparison, that's £10 less than you'd pay for a Nexus 5 and £20 more than you'd need for a Lumia 1320. Now, given that the handset is shipping with a Snapdragon 801, 3GB RAM, 5.5-inch 1080p display and a 3,100mAh battery, what is OnePlus likely to scrimp on in order to get it down to that price? Why not dive in over at the forums and speculate with us. Update: No sooner had we begun to shoot the breeze concerning the rest-of-the-world pricing when the company announces that the OnePlus One will also land in the US, where it'll retail for "under" $400.
This is what the new CyanogenMod OS looks like on the OnePlus One
OnePlus has been constantly dishing out teasers for its upcoming One smartphone since December, but little is known about its UI until we received these two screenshots today, courtesy of a reliable tipster. First of all, this Android KitKat-based OS is dubbed "CyanogenMod 11S," and given how the lock screen on the left looks nothing like the one in the original CyanogenMod, we assume the "S" indicates that this flavor carries OnePlus' customizations. This cleaner lock screen lacks the usual unlock slider, but it still shows the clock, date, weather, battery level and text messages over a solid-color background. Here's hoping that we can also toggle specific apps from the lock screen using swipe gestures.
OnePlus confirms April 23rd launch date for its first smartphone
One One may occupy all of today's headlines, but there's another One that wants some of your attention. OnePlus, the outfit founded by former Oppo VP Pete Lau, has announced that it'll whip the covers from its "perfect" Android smartphone on April 23rd. Even at this late stage, however, the company is tweaking the spec list for the device -- swapping in a Snapdragon 801 for just a little bit extra power. Naturally, we'll be at the shindig, and will share our impressions as soon as we get our hands on one.
OnePlus dripfeeds more specs for its 'perfect' One smartphone
Let's face it: "One" isn't the most creative name for a smartphone, even if OnePlus couldn't resist the wordplay. We wouldn't call the company headed by ex-Oppo exec Pete Lau unoriginal though, as we can't claim to have seen another smartphone developed with such transparency. OnePlus has been systematically posting info about "the perfect smartphone" to its announcement forum, seemingly as it's decided upon. We still don't have any clue as to what it'll look like, other than its dimensions are smaller than those of Sony's Xperia Z1, but we do know it'll sport a 5.5-inch 1080p display on the outside, with a 2.3GHz Snapdragon 800 and 3,100mAh battery within. The company's also been working with partner CyanogenMod on "mystery tech" to optimize battery performance, and most recently, has teased an always-on voice recognition feature, while also polling suggestions on what phrase should trigger it. Probably the most interesting number thus far is the One's sub-$400 price tag, however, and although there's much left to learn about the device, we're most certainly listening.
OnePlus One will see international availability next quarter, feature '2014 flagship specs'
The puzzle pieces are slowly but surely coming together on the OnePlus One, the mysterious new device currently in development by the company founded by Ex-Oppo exec Pete Lau. In a series of new Facebook posts today, the company has revealed that the CyanogenMod-running smartphone will be available internationally in the second quarter of this year and will come with only "2014 flagship specs, both inside and outside." The latter part shouldn't come as much of a surprise to those who have been following the new company since its recent birth, as Lau specifically mentioned that his new venture would spare no expense to build the perfect smartphone. OnePlus isn't getting specific on where we'll see the One show up internationally, but it at least mentioned that it will come with nine-band LTE support (for bands 1/3/4/7/17/38/39/40/41). These frequencies will ensure high-speed coverage for many parts of Asia (including healthy support for China), Europe, Africa and North America, but there's no guarantee that this means mobile operators will carry the device directly. We expect OnePlus to continue feeding us bits and pieces about its dream phone as we continue to get closer to its launch.
Cyanogen will partner with OnePlus on its debut phone, the 'OnePlus One'
Ex-Oppo exec Pete Lau has just announced that his new company OnePlus will partner with Cyanogen on its first smartphone, which will be called the "OnePlus One." He and Cyanogen's Steve Kondik announced that the upcoming handset would run on a custom version of CyanogenMod's Android OS with "special features and tweaks." OnePlus already said that its mission is to build the perfect smartphone, and plans to launch it during the first half of this year -- with Oppo reportedly on tap to build it, no less. That means OnePlus may have a chance of meeting its ambitious goals, since Oppo has some experience with CyanogenMod, and apparently some pull with Google.
Ex-Oppo exec reveals new company OnePlus, plans to make 'the perfect smartphone'
When Pete Lau resigned as VP of Chinese electronics maker Oppo, it was accompanied by rumors that he was going to build his own tech company. Well, whoever spread those rumors spoke the truth, because Lau has just announced a new venture called OnePlus that promises "to spare no expense" to build "the perfect smartphone." The exec reveals very little on his announcement post other than his desire to make the "best possible product for users worldwide" -- it didn't even mention CyanogenMod, which is reportedly developing a phone with him. Our sources have told us, however, that Oppo will manufacture the company's first device, signifying that Lau never burned bridges when he left. We'll update you when we hear more details, but for now, you can let OnePlus know what you think makes a great phone on its forum.
Oppo's VP resigns amid rumors of building an online brand with Cyanogen Inc.
Recent years saw the birth of many new online brands in China, with Xiaomi being the most notable one with its complete ecosystem on top of aggressive pricing. And at last, it looks like local competitor Oppo wants a share of that pie as well. According to a rumor from just before the weekend, the company's VP Pete Lau (pictured above) will be developing a new online brand from scratch, and its first product will feature top hardware specs along with CyanogenMod -- the same renowned Android ROM that's headed to Oppo's flagship N1 and Find 5. More interestingly, Lau has just announced that today's his last day at Oppo.
