As the hype is now over the arguably cheapest flagship smartphone for the year 2017 is out, let's now take a look at the best and the worst parts of the OnePlus 5.

The Right

The combination of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC, 8GB or RAM and 128GB of internal storage are specifications that no other phone on the planet can deliver at the moment. Consider the fact that the Galaxy S8+ with 6GB RAM and 128GB internal storage, which is its closest competitor in terms of specs, costs more than a thousand dollars in China and India. The OnePlus 5 with 2 extra gigs of RAM and a brilliant dual camera setup costs about $539! Say what you will, no other phone can beat the OnePlus 5 in terms of price-to-performance value. Add all of this to the super smooth and ultra useful Oxygen OS and we have an instant winner on our hands.

The Wrong

It looks like an iPhone 7 Plus and that's not a good thing. In a world where a lot of people blame Android smartphones for copying Apple iPhones, the OnePlus 5 took a step backward by copying the iPhone 7 Plus in terms of the design and losing its own unique appeal in the process. Also, there was the initial false claim of 2X optical zoom (it's actually 1.6X as it was found later) and an AMOLED display that needed to be QHD this year.

Should You Buy it?

To be honest, nothing can match the feeling of actually using a Galaxy S8/S8+ and its curved QHD+ Super AMOLED display and bezel-less design, but then again those phones cost twice as much (unless you get it on a deal). Having said that, there is no smartphone in existence today that can match the experience offered by the OnePlus 5 at under $550. If that's your budget, you just cannot go wrong with this one.

Saikat Kar (tech-enthusiast)

After months of rumors and leaks, the OnePlus 5 has finally been unveiled and although you will still have to wait a while before the images are available, we have every specification and a few confirmed pre-release images for you. As it turns out, the budget flagship king of the smartphone world has not taken any risks this year at all.

The OnePlus 5 comes in with a flat 5.5-inch 1080p Optic AMOLED display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chip and 6GB/8GB of RAM. While the higher RAM variant does look impressive on paper, we are not sure how much more it will add to the device in terms of actual performance and multitasking. The battery is 3,300mAh as predicted by rumors and support's OnePlus's in-house world's fastest charging technology, Dash Charge. There's also Bluetooth v5, NFC, a ceramic fingerprint scanner, a 3.5mm headphone jack and the interesting 20mp + 16mp dual rear camera. OnePlus has upgraded the 64GB/128GB storage options to UFS 2.1.2 which will allow for faster boot time, faster app opening, faster file transfer, faster installation and an overall smoother experience.

What do I think about the OnePlus 5? It's a very safe device that unfortunately fails to bring anything new to the field. The slimmer profile and the interesting set of cameras will need to be tested first, but my guess is that they will both be significant upgrades over the OnePlus 3T. While all this makes it a solid offering, especially if the price is kept as low as OnePlus is famous for doing, it just doesn't seem like a huge upgrade over its predecessor at this point of time.

Saikat Kar (tech-enthusiast)

Although OnePlus isn't particularly keen on keeping secrets and have already teased the OnePlus 5 quite a few times officially, we have not yet been treated to everything that there is to see. The front mostly remains a mystery with some claiming that the smartphone will feature a QHD Super AMOLED display. The price itself is a very hot topic given that some sources are claiming that the phone will be priced significantly higher than the OnePlus 3T. However, a recent leak by True-Tech is indicating that may not be the case in India at least.

Make no mistake! The OnePlus 5 will still be higher priced than the OnePlus 3T, but that is to be expected really. Nevertheless, the Rs 32,999 ($512) price tag for the 6GB/64GB version is actually cheaper than the OnePlus 3T 6GB/128GB version, which is priced currently at 34,999 ($544). The 8GB/128GB version on the other hand will allegedly have a price tag of Rs 37,999 ($590) and that's roughly half the Rs 75,000 ($1165) price tag which the 6GB/128GB Galaxy S8+ is carrying in the country. If this does turn out to be true and the OnePlus 5 is priced similarly in other countries as well, that definitely qualifies as amazing pricing!

Saikat Kar (tech-enthusiast)

The OnePlus 5 is about to launch on June 20, according to the latest leak and although it's not confirmed news, I am pretty sure that it's not far from the actual date anyway. However, should that influence your decision to buy the Galaxy S8/S8+? Let's find out.

Similar but Not Same

The OnePlus 5 will feature the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC which is powering the Galaxy S8, but that's where the "sameness" ends in-between these two smartphones. The OnePlus 5 may sport a QHD AMOLED display as well, but it will most likely not be as good as the Super AMOLED QHD+ panels on the S8, because nothing really is at the moment! The OnePlus 5 may have an edge in the RAM department as it's rumoured to pack 8 gigs of RAM. We will have to wait on the camera quality though.

The Bottom Line

Yes, you should wait and the reason is not because I think that the OnePlus 5 will be better than the S8. The truth is that if you really like the Galaxy S8 for its screen, camera and design, the OnePlus 5 will probably not be able to deliver anything better than that. On the other hand, the OnePlus 5 will feature a better fingerprint scanner, a more responsive UI and most importantly, a price tag that will make the S8+ in particular, seem overpriced. The main reason I would suggest that you wait is because the OnePlus 5 will come out by the end of the month and since you have already held on for this long, why not a few more days?

Saikat Kar (tech-enthusiast)