3 Things That OnePlus Needs To Improve In The OnePlus 5

OnePlus 5 Rear Camera

The OnePlus 5 has been in the market for more than a month now and has set the cash registers ringing for OnePlus. While they are happy about it, there are key things that they need to improve about the device. Here I will tell you three important things that OnePlus needs to definitely improve in the OnePlus 5

OnePlus 5 Rear Camera

Design

I am fully expecting a OnePlus 5T or another such variant to come soon from the OnePlus stables and these suggested changes are for that device. And like always, let us get the elephant out of the room first, they need to do something about the design. I am not saying that the phone should look like something from the future, all I am saying is that the phone has to have some unique feel to it. OnePlus 3/3T were radically different from other OnePlus devices and that worked wonders for them as a brand. What has happened with the OnePlus 5 is that there are far too many similarities in design to far too many devices, starting right from an iPhone to an OPPO R11. They need to get their heads together and get something going. It may be something that is as simple as a flush back for the dual camera, but there needs to be something that will make them stand out. Most of the bad buzz that the device has got so far is around the design hence this is the first thing they need to change

Dual Camera

The dual camera setup is the USP of the phone and in some cases it has proved to be the Achilles Heel of the OnePlus 5. The company went overboard and promised the sky in the pre-launch buzz leading up to this model. When the phone came, it was a bit of a hit and a miss. The most important feature that any dual camera phone brings to the user is the ability to take pictures with good “bokeh” effect, or in other words, the artistic blurring of the background while giving sharp clarity to the subject. In the OnePlus 5 it is a smart combination hardware and software that does this. While the device is brilliant at doing this with human subjects, when you are trying the bokeh with inanimate or non-living things it is a tad bit disappointing. The borders where the blurring starts or ends are dicey. The company has tried constantly to fix this with a series of updates but it is still very much a hit and a miss. There needs to be focused fixing to this and if they are coming up with a new device to refresh the lineup, it would be nice to see a concerted hardware plus software fix to address this.

Updates

This is an India specific rant or cry. While OnePlus is known to be very frequent with updates and fixes for issues, more often than not, these updates arrive very late to the India region. For a zone that has around one-third of their global sales, it really is a problem that is serious. I for one am tired of setting up a VPN client and pretending that I am in Canada or Germany to get the updates on time. And even when I do that, the rest of my friends are still waiting for it. This has to change and change fast. India really is not a zone that OnePlus want to treat like this for long. They will do well to remember that India is also part of the globe when it comes to updates.

These are the three things that I would like OnePlus to look at in the successor to the OnePlus 5, what are your pet peeves? Let me know.

About Shakthi

I am a Tech Blogger, Disability Activist, Keynote Speaker, Startup Mentor and Digital Branding Consultant. Also a McKinsey Executive Panel Member. Also known as @v_shakthi on twitter. Been around Tech for two decades now.

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