The latest technology is never cheap and you would hesitate to spend 200 dollars on a phone with a two-year contract and to be tied by the mobile network provider, not being able to jump to another when its services are more convenient. Luckily, with phone like Nexus 5 and OnePlus One, the price isn’t a problem.
The Nexus 5 will soon operate on Android L, and their experience will change to 180 degrees. Meanwhile, the OnePlus One has its own skin called CyanogenMod 11S which allows you to customize it they way you want it.
Regarding the design, the Nexus 5 has a compact body and it’s available in red, black and white. The OnePlus One has a durable build and replaceable shells with three different patterns: denim, wood and Kevlar.
Nexus 5
Display, design and sizes
This phone is fitted with a 4.9inches True HD IPS+ display which is able to support a resolution of 1080x1920pixels and 445ppi. LG’s G2 has a 5.2inches screen with 424ppi, so it’s pretty amazing, not to mention that the direct sunlight doesn’t affect the viewing experience. You’ll find a layer of Corning Gorilla Glass 3 glass on top of the display as a protection against scratches. The dimensions of this device are 137.9×69.2×8.6mm and the weight is average – 130grams. The back panel is made of polycarbonate material covered in glass and it looks very nice in nice and white shades.
One thing we liked particularly about the Nexus 5 – the hidden LED notification light, which is under the display. The wireless charging was also a big step for LG.
Hardware and OS
This beast hides under its hood a 2.3GHz Snapdragon 800 processor, an Adreno 330 GPU, 2GB of RAM and 16 or 32GB of internal storage. The phone comes loaded with Android 4.4 (KitKat), but in the mean time, it received the 4.4.4 (KitKat) update. This phone has some cool features which differentiate it from other smartphones. The Android 4.4 KitKat includes upgrades such as email app, faster multitasking, secure app sandboxes, music or movie seeking in lock screen., chrome web view, Bluetooth MAP support etc.
Camera
The 8MP camera on the back made a good impression. It comes with autofocus, LED flash, optical image stabilization, touch focus, geo tagging, face detection etc. and it records videos at 1080p@30fps. For video calls you can use the 1.3MP camera on the front.
Battery
It’s very small, 2300mAh and non removable, which is a drawback.
Price
The 16GB variant is priced at 383 dollars, while the 32GB variant costs 480 dollars.
OnePlus One
Display, design and sizes
Lately, many companies did some experiments with the rear shells, using different materials to obtain the perfect combination. The OnePlus uses plastic, but the white variant has a premium touch, it’s not prone to fingerprints and it doesn’t leave grease marks. The black variant is simply amazing, being created from a material that mimics find sandpaper. On the right side of the phone you’ll see the power button and the volume rocker is on the left. The headphone jack sits on the top and the microUSB charger, along with the dual speakers are found at the bottom.
The screen is LTPS LCD sized at 5.5inches, which supports a resolution of 1080x1920pixels and 401ppi. Also, it’s protected with Corning Gorilla Glass 3. The dimensions of the phone are 152.9×75.9×8.9mm and it weights 162grams.
Hardware and OS
The device is big and powerful, being powered by a quad core 2.5GHz Krait 400 processor and has the newest Qualcomm MSM8974AC Snapdragon 801 chipset. The GPU is the same, but the RAM capacity is bigger – 3GB. The internal memory is fixed at 16/64 GB and the operating system is Android 4.4.2 (KitKat), but you can choose to upgrade it to v4.4.4 (KitKat). This phone comes with the CyanogenMod 11S interface which improves the Android experience. Here are two cool things you can do on the OnePlus One: to wake up the screen, knock twice on the status bar; draw a circle and you’ll launch the camera; draw a V and turn on the flash.
Camera
The rear camera is 13MP with autofocus, dual-LED flash and other useful features such as face detection, HDR, panorama, touch focus and geo tagging. The secondary camera is 5MP.
Battery
The OnePlus One has a giant non-removable Li-Po 3100mAh battery.
Prices
The 16GB variant costs 300 dollars and the 64GB variant is priced at 349 dollars.
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