OnePlus X Review

Lisa Gade reviews the OnePlus X, the $250 Android smartphone that looks like a high end phone. The OnePlus X is clad front and back with glass (there’s a more expensive limited release ceramic version too) and it has straight metal sides, for a very iPhone 5 look. The X is available via the OnePlus invite system in the US and the EU, but we look at the Hong Kong/China import model available from exporters like GearBest who provided our review unit: http://www.gearbest.com/cell-phones/pp_260030.html . It’s more readily available, but the drawback is you won’t get US LTE 4G bands. For the version OnePlus sells direct via their website, you will get 4G LTE, though bands aren’t comprehensive. This is an unlocked GSM phone with 2 SIM card slots and a microSD card slot, all in one pop-out carrier. In terms of specs, it’s basically the older OnePlus One in a smaller casing with a few tweaks. It runs OxygenOS based on Android 5.1.1 Lollipop on the quad core Snapdragon 801 with Adreno 330 graphics. It has 3 gigs of RAM and 16 gigs of storage. The phone has a pleasing full HD 1920 x 1080 AMOLED display, single band WiFi, Bluetooth and a GPS. It has a 13MP rear camera with f/2.2 lens and a front 8MP camera. The phone has a 2525 mAh battery that’s sealed inside and in our tests easily lasted a day on a charge (4 hours actual screen on time).