OnePlus today unveiled its much-anticipated 2017 flagship: the OnePlus 5. While much of the handset was already leaked or revealed by the company itself, OnePlus still had a few surprises up its sleeve at the live launch event of the device.
In terms of design, there is no denying that the OnePlus 5 looks very similar to the iPhone 7 Plus from the rear. It now features curved corners and edges to make it more ergonomic friendly. The handset is slimmer than its predecessor with a waistline of 7.25mm. Sadly, the handset is not water-resistant like many other flagship smartphones launched this year. The placement of the dual camera setup and the antenna lines at the rear of the device is what makes the OnePlus 5 look similar to the iPhone 7 Plus. From the front, the handset still looks similar to the OnePlus 3, with the capacitive home button located right below the 5.5-inch display. While the OnePlus 5 continues to make use of a 5.5-inch Optic AMOLED, it now supports the DCI-P3 color gamut. As for the internals, the OnePlus 5 comes with a Snapdragon 835 chipset clocked at 2.45GHz, 6/8GB LPDDR4X RAM, 64/128GB UFS 2.1 storage, USB-C port, 3.5mm jack, and a 3300mAh battery with Dash Charge support. The handset also supports LTE networks all across the world, NFC, Wi-Fi b/g/n/ac, and Bluetooth 5.0.
The highlight of the OnePlus 5 is its dual-camera setup at the rear. The primary sensor is a 16MP f/1.7 Sony IMX398 sensor, with the secondary telephoto lens featuring a 20MP f/2.6 Sony sensor. OnePlus says that the autofocus speed has improved by over 40 percent, with the new De-noise feature in the camera reducing noise from low-light photos.
The dual camera setup at the rear also allows the OnePlus 5 to offer a Portrait mode similar to what is found on the iPhone 7 Plus. The mode allows the phone to capture photos with a DSLR-like bokeh effect. At the front, the phone features a 16MP selfie shooter. On the software front, the OnePlus 5 runs on OxygenOS based on Android 7.1.2 Nougat. The latest version of OxygenOS comes with a Pro mode for the camera app, Shelf, theme support, App Priority which automatically loads your frequently used apps in the background for a better experience, a Kindle-like Reader mode, and Expanded Screenshots. OnePlus 5 will be available in Midnight Black and Slate Gray colors. The handset will retail for $479 in the US and for €499 in Europe. Pre-orders for the handset start from June 21st, with shipping slated to begin from June 27th.
