Tech

OnePlus just revealed an incredibly cheap but stunning new smartphone

Antonio Villas-Boas

2015-11-03T19:43:00Z

OnePlus on Thursday unveiled a new smartphone called the OnePlus X, and it looks stunning.

It's different from the OnePlus 2 in almost every way. It has a smaller screen, different materials, and different (slightly lesser) specs, too. But it also runs OnePlus' Android-based OxygenOS, and OnePlus fans will be happy to find the alert slider is still there, too.

And if you were worried that OnePlus ditched its signature sandstone back, don't worry. You can add a thin, lightweight snap-on case made by OnePlus with the sandstone texture.

OnePlus will be using its usual invitation system after it launches on November 19 in the US. Come December, the OnePlus X will be available to buy from the OnePlus site for one hour a week, but no one knows exactly when that will be yet. Let the hysteria begin.

Check out the new OnePlus X.

The OnePlus X looks gorgeous, and it costs a mere $249, which is an incredible bargain.

It has a 5-inch 1080p AMOLED display, which makes for inky blacks that makes the screen seamlessly blend with the rest of the phone (if your background in black).

There are actually two models. The Onyx model has a regular glass back, and a limited edition as a fire-baked Ceramic back, also covered in glass. The Ceramic model will only be available in Europe and India. Only 10,000 units of the Ceramic model will be made.

The Onyx is clearly more black than the limited edition Ceramic model, which has a slight gray/brown hue. The edges on the Ceramic model area also slightly more angled.

The OnePlus X can be seen as the smaller equivalent of the OnePlus 2, like the iPhone 6S is the smaller equivalent of the 6S Plus.

At the same time, they couldn't be more different. The OnePlus 2 has a more rounded back and textured materials for the back, not glass.

OnePlus will please anyone who wants to expand their phone's storage with a microSD card. The X's sim tray is also a microSD tray, which is very clever.

Consolidating the microSD tray with the SIM tray means the X's lines and aesthetics aren't interrupted by another tray.

Thankfully, OnePlus included the alert slider from the OnePlus 2, which lets you silence your notifications more easily, like you would on the iPhone. The metal edges have 17 ultra-fine grooves on the sides.

But unlike the OnePlus 2, the X doesn't use USB-C for charging or connecting to computers this time. It uses regular micro USB.

The OnePlus X has a 13-megapixel camera.

There are a bunch of snap-on cases that are ultra thin and lightweight with different textures available, including OnePlus' signature sandstone.

The OnePlus X runs the company's own Android-based Oxygen OS, which looks a lot like the pure version of Android you'd see on Google's Nexus phones. It runs on an older, but still excellent Snapdragon 801 processor with 3GB of RAM. It worked well from the few minutes we had with it.

Smartphones