OnePlus 5T mega150
Business Insider - Mobile
The new OnePlus 5T is an excellent smartphone, but thing about it stands out from the rest - its $500 price.
That amount is actually near the top of what OnePlus has charged for its past smartphones. But the price is hundreds of dollars cheaper than that of many other top-of-the-line devices. Indeed, many of the latest flagship smartphones, including Apple's iPhone X and Samsung's Galaxy Note 8, cost more than $900.
Given that, you could be forgiven for thinking OnePlus made some serious compromises with the 5T to get its price so comparatively low. But you would be wrong. While the 5T does pose some trade-offs, they aren't truly meaningful. And I'd recommend the new phone even if it cost as much as its rivals.
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But because of its low price, I'm willing to make an exception for the 5T.
For me, the two features an Android phone needs to have is that it should run an unmodified version of the operating system and it should be able to get the latest Android updates as soon as Google releases them.
Those requirements have always limited me to Google's own devices — first its Nexus line and now its Pixel phones. Good thing, then, that Google's devices were always among the best Android phones you could buy.
The 5T essentially meets my first requirement. Its version of Android is about 99% the same as what you'll find on the Pixel phones. The only notable thing missing is the Pixel Launcher, which is an extra layer of features that Google reserves for its phones.
But the 5T doesn't meet my second requirement; OnePlus devices generally don't get the latest versions of Android as soon as Google releases them. As a case in point, the 5T runs Android 7.1; Google's new Pixel 2 devices run Android 8.0.
However, for the 5T, I'm willing to bend my rules. It is just such a good smartphone for such a good price that I'm not going to rule it out just because it can't get the latest Android updates right away.
In fact, I'd go farther and say that if you're in the market for an Android phone, you should buy the 5T. There's little reason to get any other device, unless you absolutely have to have the latest Android updates immediately — or you simply enjoy spending more money than you need to.
There is one big caveat I should note, though. The 5T doesn't work on Verizon's network. So, if you're wedded to Verizon, like I am, you'll have to get a different phone.
The OnePlus 5T went on sale on Wednesday, and it's available from OnePlus' site.
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