OnePlus 2 – Flagship Phone for Singapore $538 in Q4

OnePlus 2 – Flagship Phone for Singapore $538 in Q4

OnePlus announced its latest flagship product, the much anticipated OnePlus 2 will be coming to Singapore in Q4. Following the global success of last year’s OnePlus One, the latest offering reaffirms OnePlus’ commitment to the highest level of craftsmanship in the industry today. The OnePlus 2 boasts top of the line specs, a beautiful design and the adoption of state of the art technology. #NeverSettle ? That’s unfortunately not true though.

OnePlus 2 boasts flagship specs at a reasonable price

The OnePlus 2’s aluminum-magnesium alloy frame and jewelry-grade stainless steel accents encase a vibrant, full HD 5.5” IPS LCD In-Cell display. I quite like the grip and feel of the sandstone finish, but the bamboo case is a nice choice too. It’s just a little slippery. The front of the phone is rather non-descript, but you would notice the Samsung-esque home button which doubles up as a fingerprint sensor. Able to store up to 5 different fingerprints and quick recognition under half a second, it offers a secure and convenient way to unlock your device.

The phone feels well built, but a little hefty, at 175g. That being said, physical size wise, it’s actually slightly smaller than the OnePlus 1. A 3300mAh lithium-polymer battery powers the device throughout the day, and as a dual-sim device the OnePlus 2 simultaneously supports two Nano SIM cards with 4G LTE capability. It sports the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810, and paired with 4gb of LPDDR4 RAM for one of the fastest phone in the market. It runs on Oxygen OS (Android 5.1), which is basically the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) bar a few new features included. It’s minimalist, but does appear slightly slower, compared to a stock Nexus. It’s barely noticeable though.

OnePlus 2 Singapore Media Event (4)

OnePlus 2 Singapore Media Event (5)

OnePlus 2 Singapore Media Event (9)

New Camera

The 13 megapixel rear-facing camera boasts 6 physical lenses, powerful dual LED flash, and f/2.0 aperture. What’s interesting is that the sensor apparently uses 1.3 µm pixels, paired with an Optical Image Stabilization system, and rear mounted laser for quick 0.33 millisecond focus.

Here’s some photos from a pre-production OnePlus 2 unit taken at the event.

What’s Lacking

As above, the OnePlus 2 is quite the capable device, but here’s what is lacking. And this betrays the #NeverSettle slogan. To some, these features are not too crucial but other might miss the lack of support and would need to compromise in order to use the OnePlus 2. I personally think Quick Charging would be getting bigger this year, but the 3300 mAH battery does help to mitigate things somewhat. Lack of NFC may not be too important, since NFC payment systems such as Apple Pay and Android Pay are not here yet, but I personally hope it would be soon and that would not be good for the OnePlus 2.

  • NFC
  • Quick Charging
  • Removable Battery
  • Wireless Charging
  • microSD card support
  • USB 3.0

Pricing and Availability

The 64GB OnePlus 2 will be available within Southeast Asia and for the first time in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia starting in the fourth quarter at a recommended retail price of SGD $538 with invites. The 16Gb OnePlus 2 with 3GB LPPDR4 RAM is to be released later. Users in Singapore can tune in to OnePlus’ social media channels starting August 1st for a chance to get an invite. There will be an OnePlus 2 invite system for Singapore buyers, but specific details are not out yet. Do note that parallel imported sets from the US would operate on a different 4G LTE and would limit the network reach of your phone.

“We are pleased that OnePlus is expanding its online-only product launches exclusively with Lazada from a single market, Indonesia, to three countries including Malaysia and Singapore. Together, OnePlus and Lazada is making well-designed, smart technology accessible and affordable to millions of consumers eager for the latest in mobile experience. As the leading online shopping and selling destination in Southeast Asia, Lazada has become the clear choice one-stop gateway for international brands like OnePlus to enter and grow in the region,” said Maximilian Bittner, CEO, Lazada Group.

In addition, OnePlus shared that they are also working with the telcos to offer carrier-friendly plans for the OnePlus and that could be another convenient way to score a OnePlus 2 in Q4.