The best from One Plus!

Looking at the OnePlus 5, it’s hard to believe that the company that made it is less than four years old. This is a phone that manages to hold its own alongside flagship devices from companies that have enormous pots of money to spend on research, development and design, and a decade or more of experience making smartphones. Yet OnePlus has managed to make one of the best phones of 2017, and keep the price lower than most of the competition.

OnePlus has always made impressive phones at sub-flagship prices, but with this iteration the Chinese company has learned from previous mistakes, and built on its successes, to create an all-round fantastic phone.

The OnePlus 5 costs more than the OnePlus 3T. That’s the hard truth about this new phone, but it’s partly because OnePlus has decided to use more premium materials.

OnePlus has produced two versions of the OnePlus 5, with the base model coming with 64GB of internal storage and 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage and 8GB of RAM. If you’re looking to upgrade the OnePlus phone you bought this time last year, you’re going to be spending quite a bit more than you may have anticipated on the OnePlus 5.

Those who've watched the launch livestream will be able to buy it immediately online, using a code displayed on the screen. Otherwise you’ll have to wait until June 27 for the full online release.

Looking at the spec list for the OnePlus 5, you might think this is a rather limited upgrade, but there a few key features the company is pushing to make this the next phone you’ll want to buy, first and foremost of which is the new camera.

This is now a dual-lens setup that allows you to capture some attractive-looking shots with artfully blurred backgrounds, as well as boasting a 'lossless' zoom feature, which essentially means that zooming in on subjects will only result in a negligible reduction in image quality.

This feature works in a similar way to the shooter on the iPhone 7 Plus, but here you're getting it on a more affordable phone. The aperture on the main sensor here is also impressively wide, and it means you’ll be able to take some of the best smartphone photos possible right now.

The design of the new phone feels like a big step up for OnePlus. It's still using the same materials as the OnePlus 3T – the body is made of anodized aluminum – but this is the slimmest and most attractive OnePlus phone to date.

OnePlus also wants this to be the most powerful phone on the market – and the good news is has succeeded.

The OnePlus 5 is the best-looking device the company has made to date. When you pick this phone up you can tell right away that it’s made with premium-grade materials.

The new handset has a more rounded design than previous iterations, which means it sits comfortably in your palm. It’s also the thinnest phone yet from OnePlus at 7.25mm – almost as thin as the iPhone 7, which is 7.1mm.

It feels light in the hand – it weighs 153g to be precise – but not so light that you feel like it may blow away in a forceful gust of wind.

OnePlus is talking up the placement of the antenna bands here. According to a spokesperson the color has been specifically designed to try and hide the antenna bands for an unspoiled full-metal look, and when you do spot them they don't detract from the design of the phone.

On the right-hand edge of the phone sits the power button, with nothing else to interrupt the clean lines. The left edge features the toggle for silent mode, as well as the volume rocker.

The inclusion of the silent switch is an intriguing one. It's something OnePlus has included on every phone since the OnePlus 2, and it's still the only major Android phone player to do so. 

Apple is the only other manufacturer that has persisted with the silent switch, but its inclusion on the OnePlus 5 is welcome. It makes it super easy to make the handset cinema, meeting and bedtime ready.

There’s only one speaker driver, and that sits at the bottom of the phone, next to the USB-C port and 3.5mm headphone jack… yes, despite all the rumors OnePlus has decided to retain the legacy headphone technology for the OnePlus 5.

One shortcoming in terms of the design of the OnePlus 5 is that it’s not waterproof. The OnePlus 5 is only available in two colors, and these are tied to the storage/RAM options. The 64GB/6GB version comes in Slate Gray, while the more expensive 128GB/8GB model comes in Midnight Black. 

So if you’re fussy about the color you want then you can’t be fussy about the power and storage you get under the hood, and vice versa.

The big headline display-wise is that OnePlus hasn’t decided to upgrade to a QHD resolution screen for the OnePlus 5 at all.

That means you get the same 5.5-inch Full HD AMOLED display from the OnePlus 3T, and it is a little hard not to be disappointed by that considering the increase in price of the handset this year.

Of course, OnePlus needs to cut a couple of corners to keep its price tag competitively below its rivals, and to be fair the screen is one of the very few places where it's decided to make a saving.