The OnePlus One Review
by Joshua Ho on November 19, 2014 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Android
- Mobile
- OnePlus
GPU Performance
As always, it's important to test the performance of the GPU in order to better understand how a device will perform in workloads such as 3D gaming and similar situations. In the case of the OnePlus One and its Snapdragon 801 SoC, we're looking at an Adreno 330 GPU clocked at 578 MHz. While this is a known quantity by this point, it's still worth going over simply to verify that performance is in line with what we expect from this setup.
As one might be able to guess, the OnePlus One's graphics performance is where we expect it to be. At this point in the device lifecycle, the OnePlus One ends up behind the latest and greatest, but performance is more than acceptable as most of the GPU performance gains are spent on driving higher resolutions instead of better performance.
NAND Performance
In truth, storage performance tends to fall to the background on the long list of things that affect user experience. However, while it takes large improvements for a user to notice faster storage, poor storage performance is extremely obvious and painful to live with. To test this, we use Androbench with some custom settings to reduce variability in results. While Androbench seems to be an invalid test on Android 5.0, on Android 4.4 the test continues to work well for its purpose so we can disclose these results.
In this test, it's clear that OnePlus has kitted out the One with some extremely high-quality NAND (which appears to be a Toshiba solution) , but random I/O isn't quite as impressive. This may be due to the controller used. At any rate, one shouldn't have any problems with lag resulting from poor storage performance as the eMMC used in this device is incredibly high-end for a device of this price.
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martyh1 - Thursday, January 15, 2015 - link
I agree. But that's for me. Other users have different needs. For me, 64GB is way more than enough. And my Note 3 is not benefiting me by having an SD card slot when I have to take off the cover to get to it. For me, an SD card slot is most useful if you can insert/remove it extremely easily.tipoo - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
Yeah, that's my primary concern. Though the 32GB is reasonably priced, especially compared to other high end phones.tipoo - Friday, November 21, 2014 - link
Actually 64 for just 50 more, not 32... quite reasonable. That would be good enough for me.dawheat - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
Surprised there's no mention of touch issues. My OPO is decidedly my backup phone now, even on the newest firmware, b/c the touch response still isn't as good as other brand name phones. It's gotten much better but you still get missed swipes, zooming when you didn't mean to, etc. To me, it's a big negative to an otherwise excellent phone.ratbert1 - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
I was trying this phone out while I had my N5 on L preview. I have been trying to decide whether to keep my N5 or this. I love the display and the software works for me except for transition stuttering at times. I agree there are way to many customization options for me to become familiar with as far as themes. I do enjoy the battery life. Even in remote locations where my other two phones will be dead by late afternoon, this still has 30% left. In the end I can't get over the size. I keep my phone in my front pocket and this is too big. My hands are not big, so it is a two handed affair all of the time.Since getting and enjoying Lollipop on my N5, I will keep it and sell the One. I will definitely miss it though.
Jax Omen - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
Can we please get someone who isn't busy fellating Apple to review android phones? Seriously, so sick of this guy. I don't even have to know what the phone is to know how the review will end, every one of his android phone reviews ends with "it's not a bad phone, but there are better options in the market". EVERY. SINGLE. REVIEW. This one bafflingly adds "too much choice having decisions to make on my phone confuses me" just to further drive home the point that he's in a love affair with Apple.Master_Sigma - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
The author doesn't fellate Apple in this review at all. In fact he spends a lot of time praising its hardware (except for the camera) and overall design. Its only in the software that he feels it needs work and, as a OnePlus One owner, I completely agree with him. The software really does need a lot of polish before it can punch with the flagships. However, given the price ($350 for 64GB of onboard storage is insane) its very easy to overlook the software issues. That, and OnePlus has been very good so far with keeping this phone is updated. The last 2 updates alone fixed alot of issues that earlier reviewers like Marques Brownlee were having.mrex - Wednesday, November 26, 2014 - link
Polish what? The software is excellent already (44s).Phasenoise - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
I think you've got blinders on. The review was actually pretty positive and notes while not suitable for direct comparison to high-end smartphones (does not mean Apple), the price is good and the compromises may not bother you.tipoo - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
Did you just have that in your clipboard to post without reading the review? Apple hardly got any mention, and the review was pretty positive. Pointing out the negatives is a reviewers /job/, so I don't know why you'd knock that part...You know, unless you're fellating Oneplus.