 If you know who OnePlus is, you probably know a lot about OnePlus phones. You probably know that they come loaded with high end specs and premium build quality. You probably know that they're sold online for pretty aggressive prices. And you probably also know that they give the best phones from Samsung, Apple, and Google a good run for their money. What you might not know about is OnePlus' newest phone, the OnePlus 5. The 5 carries a lot of the same traits as its predecessor, the 3T. It's got an all aluminum premium quality build, the fastest processor you can get from Qualcomm, and the most RAM you can get inside of a smartphone. But it's also got a couple of new tricks, like a new dual lens camera, and it does have a new price that's a little bit higher than before. Let's start with the basics. The OnePlus 5 costs $479 for the 64GB model, or $539 for the 128GB version. That's $40 to $100 more than the 3T, and it's priced a lot closer to the premium flagships from those other companies. That means that the OnePlus 5 has to do a little more to stand out. It has the same 5.5 inch, 16 by 9 1080p AMOLED display as last year. The display is fine, it's bright and sharp and colorful, and you can see it outdoors, which is good. But it's not nearly as impressive as those edge to edge screens that we see on Samsung's Galaxy S8 or LG's G6. The design of the OnePlus 5 is more rounded and curved than the square's 3T was, and it's going to be instantly recognizable to most people. It's basically a slightly smaller iPhone 7 Plus. The dual camera is in the exact same spot as the iPhones, and so are these curved antenna lines. It also has a super fast fingerprint scanner right on the front below the screen. But it does have some unique OnePlus touches, like this ringer switch which makes it really easy to turn the ringer on and off. Inside, the OnePlus 5 has either 6GB or 8GB of RAM, depending on whether you choose the 64GB model or the 128GB version. Now, I've been using the 8GB model, and it's super fast. Everything opens really quickly, everything happens very quickly, and even app installs, which always seem to take forever on Android, happen really fast on this phone. Now I have noticed a little bit of jelly-like scrolling from time to time, but it's not always apparent, and for most of the time the OnePlus 5 is really whip fast. But here's the thing about being fast, it's not always better. The OnePlus 5 is faster than the Galaxy S8, for example, because it doesn't have the S8's animations or fluidity. It kind of feels like the OnePlus 5 is running on fast forward, which isn't always the best experience. Inside is also a 3300 mAh battery, which in my experience is enough to last a full day with medium to heavy use. I'm typically able to get about 4 hours of screen time using it, which is good, but a little bit better than average, not mind blowing. For software, the OnePlus 5 runs Android 7.1.1 Nougat, with OnePlus's modifications on top of it. Now the OnePlus 5's software is really light and easy, it's basically like the same thing that Google ships on the Pixel phones, and it's very easy to use. Now they did add a couple of things, one of them is a new reading mode, which tunes the screen to a grayscale and makes it almost look like you're reading on a Kindle, which is really easy on the eyes. If you do a lot of reading on your phone, you're probably going to appreciate this. So the OnePlus 5 has a faster f1.7 lens, a more capable sensor, and a new camera that's right next to it that has a longer focal distance. This lets you do a couple of things, you can zoom in closer to your subject, or you can do unique blurring effects like a DSLR might be able to do. But unfortunately, all of that new camera tech doesn't produce amazing images. The 16 megapixel camera doesn't have optical stabilization, which leads to softer images in low light, and the 20 megapixel camera with a longer lens has smaller pixels and not as bright of a lens. All of this adds up to lower quality images in low light, especially compared to what you can get from an S8, a Pixel, an HTC U11, or even an iPhone. To make matters worse, the portrait mode that's supposed to mimic a DSLR is more mist than hit. Far too often it blurs too aggressively, or it doesn't blur all of the areas that a real camera would. Most of the time it looks pretty fake. Then there are other disappointing things about the OnePlus 5, such as its complete lack of water resistance, or if you're in the US, the fact that you still can't use it on Verizon or Sprint. So this is the OnePlus 5, it's faster and better looking than ever, but it's got a failed camera gimmick and a less attractive price tag. That pricing really makes this calculus change. For just a little bit more, you can get a phone with waterproofing, a better camera, and more forward looking designs. Now that isn't to say the OnePlus 5 is a bad phone. Most people will be able to look right past its iPhone-like design and mediocre camera and just enjoy its speed and responsiveness. But it does mean that the OnePlus 5 is a little less impressive than before. And that's it.
 If you know who OnePlus is, you probably know a lot about OnePlus phones.
 You probably know that they come loaded with high end specs and premium build quality.
 You probably know that they're sold online for pretty aggressive prices.
 And you probably also know that they give the best phones from Samsung, Apple, and Google
 a good run for their money.
 What you might not know about is OnePlus' newest phone, the OnePlus 5.
 The 5 carries a lot of the same traits as its predecessor, the 3T.
 It's got an all aluminum premium quality build, the fastest processor you can get from
 Qualcomm, and the most RAM you can get inside of a smartphone.
 But it's also got a couple of new tricks, like a new dual lens camera, and it does have
 a new price that's a little bit higher than before.
 Let's start with the basics.
 The OnePlus 5 costs $479 for the 64GB model, or $539 for the 128GB version.
 That's $40 to $100 more than the 3T, and it's priced a lot closer to the premium flagships
 from those other companies.
 That means that the OnePlus 5 has to do a little more to stand out.
 It has the same 5.5 inch, 16 by 9 1080p AMOLED display as last year.
 The display is fine, it's bright and sharp and colorful, and you can see it outdoors,
 which is good.
 But it's not nearly as impressive as those edge to edge screens that we see on Samsung's
 Galaxy S8 or LG's G6.
 The design of the OnePlus 5 is more rounded and curved than the square's 3T was, and
 it's going to be instantly recognizable to most people.
 It's basically a slightly smaller iPhone 7 Plus.
 The dual camera is in the exact same spot as the iPhones, and so are these curved antenna
 lines.
 It also has a super fast fingerprint scanner right on the front below the screen.
 But it does have some unique OnePlus touches, like this ringer switch which makes it really
 easy to turn the ringer on and off.
 Inside, the OnePlus 5 has either 6GB or 8GB of RAM, depending on whether you choose the
 64GB model or the 128GB version.
 Now, I've been using the 8GB model, and it's super fast.
 Everything opens really quickly, everything happens very quickly, and even app installs,
 which always seem to take forever on Android, happen really fast on this phone.
 Now I have noticed a little bit of jelly-like scrolling from time to time, but it's not
 always apparent, and for most of the time the OnePlus 5 is really whip fast.
 But here's the thing about being fast, it's not always better.
 The OnePlus 5 is faster than the Galaxy S8, for example, because it doesn't have the
 S8's animations or fluidity.
 It kind of feels like the OnePlus 5 is running on fast forward, which isn't always the best
 experience.
 Inside is also a 3300 mAh battery, which in my experience is enough to last a full day
 with medium to heavy use.
 I'm typically able to get about 4 hours of screen time using it, which is good, but a
 little bit better than average, not mind blowing.
 For software, the OnePlus 5 runs Android 7.1.1 Nougat, with OnePlus's modifications on top
 of it.
 Now the OnePlus 5's software is really light and easy, it's basically like the same thing
 that Google ships on the Pixel phones, and it's very easy to use.
 Now they did add a couple of things, one of them is a new reading mode, which tunes the
 screen to a grayscale and makes it almost look like you're reading on a Kindle, which
 is really easy on the eyes.
 If you do a lot of reading on your phone, you're probably going to appreciate this.
 So the OnePlus 5 has a faster f1.7 lens, a more capable sensor, and a new camera that's
 right next to it that has a longer focal distance.
 This lets you do a couple of things, you can zoom in closer to your subject, or you can
 do unique blurring effects like a DSLR might be able to do.
 But unfortunately, all of that new camera tech doesn't produce amazing images.
 The 16 megapixel camera doesn't have optical stabilization, which leads to softer images
 in low light, and the 20 megapixel camera with a longer lens has smaller pixels and
 not as bright of a lens.
 All of this adds up to lower quality images in low light, especially compared to what
 you can get from an S8, a Pixel, an HTC U11, or even an iPhone.
 To make matters worse, the portrait mode that's supposed to mimic a DSLR is more mist than
 hit.
 Far too often it blurs too aggressively, or it doesn't blur all of the areas that a
 real camera would.
 Most of the time it looks pretty fake.
 Then there are other disappointing things about the OnePlus 5, such as its complete
 lack of water resistance, or if you're in the US, the fact that you still can't use
 it on Verizon or Sprint.
 So this is the OnePlus 5, it's faster and better looking than ever, but it's got a
 failed camera gimmick and a less attractive price tag.
 That pricing really makes this calculus change.
 For just a little bit more, you can get a phone with waterproofing, a better camera,
 and more forward looking designs.
 Now that isn't to say the OnePlus 5 is a bad phone.
 Most people will be able to look right past its iPhone-like design and mediocre camera
 and just enjoy its speed and responsiveness.
 But it does mean that the OnePlus 5 is a little less impressive than before.
 And that's it.