I have been using the OnePlus 5 for a month now. There is a popular myth that any phone after a month starts getting slower and performs a tad bit under the weather, so I decided to do a one month review of my OnePlus 5 and see how it fares now. This will be a one month old user review so it will be different from the usual new device reviews. Read on to find out more
There was a big hue and cry about how it looks and feels like some other phones when the OP5 was launched. That brigade is still going strong and trying their best. But here is what I feel, there are only so many ways you can put in things when you are dealing with a rectangular form factor and have dual cameras mounted on the back. After a month, the device still feels good to the grip and the anodized aluminium gives that premium look and feel to it. There has not been even a single case where the device slipped from my hand yet. So the fears that it was curved and slippery turned out to be just that, fears, no reality to them. The other good thing about the device that has made this one month really good for me is the fact that single handed use is quite literally a walk in the park given the dimensions and crafting of the phone.
The dual camera setup has stood me in good stead this one month and I am finding it really difficult to live with other devices. There have been a series of updates that OnePlus has pushed OTA that have made a lot of good and subtle enhancements to the whole camera and imaging experience. The pictures that the phone churns out are consistently good and of professional quality. The screen flash for the selfies is a good plus and helps a lot when I need to take selfies at night or in slightly dark rooms. This feature is probably one of the most under-reported good features of the OP5. Getting to the elephant in the room, bokeh is actually as good as a DSLR and I am yet to find a reason to say otherwise. People who compare this phone with others that have differently implemented dual cameras are actually not being fair to both the devices. I am very happy with the dual camera and have absolutely zero issues with it.
The FHD display serves its purpose very well and I have not been able to find any faults with it. I am yet to notice any stutter or frame drop when gaming with the phone. The other benefit in having the FHD display running with the Snapdragon 835 processor powering the whole phone is the fact that it results in blazing fast performance. I have tried having more than 10 resource intensive apps running in parallel and switching rapidly between them, I have not noticed even a single stutter in this one month with the phone. The fingerprint scanner also still is very fast and never misses an unlock at any time. I am also yet to find anything challenging to throw at the phone that will make it sweat from a performance angle, anything I come up with, the phone just swallows up and winks at me. No wonder OnePlus is saying that the OP5 is their best selling device to-date. I wouldn’t doubt that
Oxygen Os has been consistently getting a lot of updates and every one of them has added to the fact the OOS is one of the stablest and minimal UI shells that exist on Android. The OS is there and working hard for you under the hood, but it is never ever in your face. There is zero bloatware and it runs smooth and steady. If you are a member of the OP community, you will know that issues are listened to and actually collated and fixed properly in subsequent updates to the OS that OnePlus pushes OTA.
In summary, after a month – The OnePlus 5 is still going great guns and still delivering superlative performance. In my books, still the best android experience available on a smartphone today. Let me know what you think.
