OnePlus One hands-on and first impressions

Surprisingly high-quality build and subtle design choices with an industry-leading price point have us intrigued

We've just wrapped up an event here in San Francisco with CyanogenMod and OnePlus, where we finally have our hands on the much-awaited OnePlus One. This much-hyped device has drawn a good number of followers (and critics) over the past few months with an interesting marketing campaign, and now we have the hardware (and software) to look at for ourselves and see how things stack up.

Be sure to hit the break for an extensive gallery of the OnePlus One hardware, along with a few comparisons of other devices and our first impressions, after the break. We've got more on the software and its new version of CyanogenMod as well.

Naturally, we'll be bringing more in-depth coverage of the OnePlus One as we spend more quality time with it.

The phone looks and feels great, and for once it seems the press images didn't have our expectations set too high for the quality of the phone when it's actually in our hands. The solid back cover rightfully adorned with "CyanogenMod" branding tapers off to the edges perfectly, has a great feel and makes you think that this phone costs far more than $300. While we wouldn't mind if the chrome rim around the screen was left behind, the material choices leading to the bezel and around the screen are top notch, without a gap or piece out of place.

Blistering internal specs, including a Snapdragon 805 processor and 3GB of RAM, push along the latest build of CyanogenMod 11 without a hitch though we're going to reserve total judgement until we spend our daily lives with the phone. After a few hours of moving through the interface and holding this 5.5-inch flagship in our hands, we can say we're pleasantly surprised about the OnePlus One. But whether or not it truly lives up to the NeverSettle hypebeast will take more time to evaluate.

OnePlus One hardware specifications

Category	Features
Color	Silk White/Sandstone Black
Dimensions	152.9 x 75.9 x 8.9 mm
Weight	5.71 ounces (162g)
Operating System	CyanogenMod 11S based on Android 4.4
CPU	Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor with 2.5GHz Quad-core CPUs
GPU	Adreno 330, 578MHz
RAM	3 GB LP-DDR3 @1866MHz
Storage	16/64 GB eMMC 5.0, available capacity varies
Sensors	Accelerometer, Gyroscope, Proximity and Ambient Light
Battery Capacity	Embedded rechargeable 3100 mAh LiPo battery
Display	5.5 inch JDI 1080p Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels), 401 PPI LTPS IPS with TOL Corning Gorilla Glass 3
Cameras	13 Megapixel - Sony Exmor IMX 214 6 lenses to avoid distortion and color aberration Dual-LED Flash f/2.0 aperture 5 Megapixel "Distortion Free" front-facing camera 4K resolution video with stereo recording Slow Motion: 720p video at 120fps
Cell. Frequencies	GSM: 850, 900, 1800, 1900MHz WCDMA: Bands: 1/2/4/5/8 LTE: Bands: 1/3/4/7/17/38/40
Wifi	Dual-band Wi-Fi (2.4G/5G) 802.11 b/g/n/ac
Bluetooth	Bluetooth 4.1
NFC	65T (software card emulation, payment methods and multi-tag support)
Positioning	Internal GPS antenna + GLONASS, Digital Compass
Speakers	Built-in Stereo Speakers
Microphone	Tri-microphone with noise cancellation
Ports	Data & Charging: Micro USB 2.0, Audio: Jack 3.5mm
Buttons	Power Button, Volume Rockers, Capacitive / On-screen buttons
SIM	1 slot - Micro SIM
Indicators	1 LED notification light (multicolored)
Audio supported formats	Playback: MP3, AAC, AMR, OGG, M4A, MID, WMA, FLAC, APE, AAC, WAV; Recording: AAC, M4A
Video supported formats	Playback: MP4, H.263, H.264, RMBB, FLV720P; Recording: MP4
Image supported formats	Playback: JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP; Output: JPEG, RAW
In the Box	1x OnePlus One; 1x Wall Charger; 1x USB Cable

Via: OnePlus One hands-on and first impressions