OnePlus X: Good looks, decent performer

You need not have expertise to master something new. That's what OnePlus has proved over the years. Its first smartphone was a flagship killer with all the high-end specifications and superb performance at less than half the price.

This year, the company came up with the successor, the OnePlus 2, which received mixed reviews. I liked the OnePlus 2 but its Oxygen OS was a bit of a letdown. OnePlus has now rolled out a new leaf - the OnePlus X. Can this mid-segment smartphone with premium looks and design change the game for the Chinese player yet again?

Design: I wasn't really impressed with the design when I first held the OnePlus X at the launch event. But my perception changed with the review unit. As I unboxed the smartphone, I had in front of me a smartphone that would fit perfectly in my hand. While many were comparing it with the looks of the iPhone 4, I would say that most smartphones these days look alike. But what impressed me is the design, the curved edges, glass at the front and the back and obviously the build quality of the OnePlus X. It is 6.9 mm think and has a metal bezel running across the sides. The 5-inch full HD AMOLED display is excellent. It has pixel density of 441 ppi, which makes everything appear crisp and sharp. The colour reproduction was great and it offers good viewing angles too.  However, the three capacitive touch displays below the display are not backlit, and are difficult to access.

Performance: OnePlus X runs on the company's own Oxygen OS 2.1.2, which looks identical to stock Android with a few tweaks. It allows you to set app permissions and turn on ambient display functions for notifications. It handled most of the operations smoothly but I felt a slight lag while using the keyboard and the Chrome browser froze with multiple tabs. The network reception and call clarity was pretty decent. It streamed full HD videos and games with ease. For OnePlus X, the company has packed in a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 chipset and is paired with 3 GB of RAM.

Camera: Camera has been the strong point on both the OnePlus devices and OnePlus X is equipped with a 13-MP rear camera and an 8-MP front facing camera. The rear camera does a good job in bright daylight and produces clear, detailed images. But the overall camera app is a bit slow. It takes time to lock the focus and capture an image. The low light imaging isn't that great and has visible noise.

Battery: The 2525-mAh battery onboard struggled to last me a day with two push email accounts, Whatsapp, Facebook, Twitter, calling and web browsing with full brightness. Turn off vibration alerts and lower the brightness, and the battery will last slightly longer.

Bag it or Junk it: Has good looks and is a decent performer at this price.

Price: Rs 16,999

Rating: 4.5/5

Plus: Design, Display

Minus: Battery