Rebel phone-maker OnePlus is scheduled to debut its sophomore effort later today, and the OnePlus 2 (equals 3?) will offer specs that might make even the most fanatical iPhone user take a second look.
OnePlus has confirmed that the OnePlus 2 will sport a Snapdragon 810 processor, with 4GB of RAM, a fingerprint sensor that’s reportedly faster than the iPhone’s, and 3,300mAh battery. That battery, which has a greater capacity than LG’s current flagship handset, the G4, leads many observers to believe the 2 will be one of the few flagship handsets not to have battery life concerns.
While the 64-bit Snapdragon 810 processor has been surrounded with some controversy, receiving bad press due to its tendency to overheat when using all four of its faster cores for too long, Android Central notes that OnePlus has taken pains to point out that their new device will use the “cool running” variant of the chip. This suggests the new handset wont perform processor intensive tasks much better than its older sibling.
One point of excitement for OnePlus’ target audience of cutting-edge users is the inclusion of a USB-C port on the Phone, This makes the OnePlus 2 the first consumer phone in the U.S. to include the port.
Another spec surrounded by much anticipation is the OnePlus 2’s camera. While it has been rumored that the new handset will boast a 16-megapixel shooter, Forbes notes that metadata embedded in sample images from OnePlus indicate that photos are 3120 x 4160 pixels in size, or 13-megapixels, for a 3:4 aspect ratio, with a lens aperture of f/2. In comparison, the Samsung Galaxy S6 takes pictures up to 16 megapixels in size with a 16:9 format, using wider f/1.9 lens.
While the original OnePlus handset used Cyanogen OS, which was created as a branded effort through the popular community project CyanogenMod, the new handset will use a custom version of Android that OnePlus developed in-house dubbed Oxygen OS. The new OS is designed to be a clean, fast user interface, combining a lightweight version of Android built to scream on the powerful hardware included in the new handset.
The OnePlus 2 will likely be a modder’s dream straight out of the box, although the new OxygenOS may be exactly what such folks look for in a device, so there may not be a great demand for mods immediately following the new device’s release
A starting price tag of under $450, and a larger numbers of units promised to be available at launch has increased demand over that of the first version of the handset, with 282,127 on the reservation list as of this posting.
The OnePlus debuts later today, so we’ll see exactly what the “2016 Flagship Killer” looks and performs like then. How about it iPhone users, are these specs enough to make you consider leaving the Apple nest?
