Netizen

Friday, May 23, 2014

Sunday, May 18, 2014

As interesting as the phone is the company itself. It is a new company coming out of nowhere. It is Chinese origin. Something like this is known to happen more in software than in hardware. You come out of nowhere to bring the top product in the market. This is quite telling.

When Jack Ma of Alibaba has become the new Jack Welch, and China is about to overtake America to become the number one economy in the world, it is quite a statement that this Chinese hardware startup is putting this phone in our hands. And it is following Google’s Nexus business model. The idea is to make no money in the beginning. Google can afford that, but how can a hardware startup? That also is how software companies launch. They make money much later.

The direct sell model is what Dell did for PCs decades ago. That should be even more possible for smartphones. They are physically smaller.

This is also a window into the future of manufacturing, not just smartphones but pretty much everything. Smart manufacturing is where consumers are involved in more and more aspects of the process in intelligent, engaged ways. The result is greater satisfaction.

Smart manufacturing adds a whole new dimension to manufacturing, just like green/clean manufacturing does.

From Oppo to OnePlus: a new company wants to build the next great smartphone
New OnePlus One mobile promises to topple Samsung, HTC and company

For those prices you'd be forgiven for assuming that the One will be a mid-range device, however, OnePlus is putting the One out there as a "2014 Flagship Killer." In short, it's taking aim at devices like the Samsung Galaxy S5 and the HTC One M8 – and its specs list appears to back up all the big talk..... The first OnePlus One handsets will be available from Friday, with the first 100 applicants able to buy a device for $1 in return for smashing their current handset(!).

Revelation that OnePlus is Oppo’s sister company causes uproar – is it deserved?

For a company that’s not even six-months old, OnePlus has done pretty well so far. Portraying itself as an ambitious startup eager to disrupt the status quo with an affordable, no-compromise device, OnePlus managed to create a huge amount of hype around the OnePlus One. In terms of publicity and engagement, the launch of the phone was a smashing success...... But OnePlus has also been shrouded in controversy for the past weeks. From calling out competitors before releasing an actual device, to building hype to dangerous levels, to holding an unclear and, some think, wasteful and dangerous contest, the company offered lots of ammo to its critics...... OnePlus Technology, one of the companies set up to make and sell the OnePlus One, is fully owned by Oppo Electronic, which also owns Oppo Mobile, the company that effectively makes Oppo phones. Another company, OnePlus Trading Corporation is fully owned by OnePlus CEO Pete Lau, but this company can only sell devices and has no R&D or manufacturing activities. ...... On Reddit, in two threads (1, 2) that ballooned over the weekend, some users complain that OnePlus was misleading about its status as an Oppo sister/daughter company, and that in portraying itself as a feisty startup, the company lied to its fans........ Others don’t seem to care at all, focusing on what an amazing proposition the $299 One is.

OnePlus: The little smartphone company taking on Samsung, HTC and co

A new company called OnePlus would work with fan-favourites CynogenMod on the new no-compromise device ..... On paper it will take on Samsung and HTC’s new smartphones spec-for-spec. Rarely do we come across a no-name company that has piqued the intrigue of customers so rampantly. ...... OnePlus claims the 3100 milliamp-hour battery will power the One for a whole day in spite of its top-end specs. ...... US$299 for the white 16GB and US$349 for the black 64GB model, will be released in 15 markets commencing from the 25th of April.

OnePlus One: China Rolls Out a Full HD Phone

The handset's striking feature the CyanogenMod 11S version based on Android 4.4 KitKat, which shows it is going to tap some of the smartphone categories like Nexus.

OnePlus One: A high-end device that may kill Nexus 5, iPhone 5S

OnePlus, a phone company founded last year in China, on Wednesday announced its first Android phone called OnePlus One, a flagship device that will be sold at a price of just $299. Despite its price, which is lower than even the price of Google Nexus 5, on paper OnePlus One looks every bit like a flagship device with good design and powerful hardware. ..... OnePlus was founded by Pete Lau in December 2013. Lau was earlier vice president at Oppo, a phone company that has made a name for itself in China by selling attractive and high-end phones at affordable prices. ..... For OnePlus One, the firm has tied up with Qualcomm for the core hardware. For software, it has tied up with Cyanogen Inc, a group that modifies Android to make it more suitable for older devices as well as to make it more feature rich. ..... OnePlus One is powered by Snapdragon 801 quad-core processor running at 2.5GHz. It has 3GB RAM, option of 16GB to 64GB internal storage, 5.5-inch screen with 1080P resolution, 13MP camera with F2.0 aperture and Sony image sensor, 5MP front camera, 3100 mAh battery, NFC and stereo speakers. The device weighs 162 grams and has a thickness of 8.9mm. While the shell of the phone is made using plastic, OnePlus says that wood, Kevlar and denim backcovers will be available as accessories. ...... The phone runs a custom version of CyanogenMod based on Android 4.4. ..... the price is the real appeal of OnePlus One. The other flagship phones like iPhone 5S and Galaxy S5 cost over $600.

Chinese smartphone startup OnePlus aims at developed markets

a venture backed by the people behind OPPO, a Chinese consumer electronics brand where the core team of OnePlus is from. Pete Lau, founder of OnePlus, was VP at OPPO in charge of Blue-ray DVD players. OnePlus will take advantage of OPPO's smartphone manufacturing capability. ...... OPPO is a spinoff from BBK, one of the most famous consumer electronics makers in China in the late 1990's and early 2000's. BBK's VCD player was one of the most popular back then. The establishment of OPPO itself several years ago was for international expansion. ..... The OPPO smartphone, positioned as a premium brand for women, is one of the most profitable smartphone makers (including Xiaomi ) in China. Different from Xiaomi, OPPO has a whole supply chain, from factories to R&D. The company promises to use the highest quality components and the best hardware available. It's a smartphone brand that has been trying to be creative. OPPO Finder, launched in mid-2012, claims it's the thinnest smartphone around the world No. 1, the latest flagship model released in September 2013, has a touch panel on the back, a rotating camera, and an accompanying accessoire. ....... OPPO phones, according to Mr. Lau, have sold well in Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia. But the OPPO Blue-ray DVD player turned out to be a more successful product line as an international brand. OPPO's are sold well in high-end DVD and Blue-ray player markets in the US and Europe....... To design good quality Blue-ray players for international markets, Pete Lau invited designers from various countries. This time he has already had employees from 12 countries. He doesn't think there is too big a difference between producing an international Blue-ray player brand and one for smartphone and other mobile gadgets.

Newcomer OnePlus aims to disrupt the smartphone industry with ‘truly outstanding’ devices

Culprit: Kitkat

I have been reading around. Looks like the culprit for the newly lousy battery life on my phone in the new Android 4.4, or Kitkat. Hmmm.

Five settings that increase battery life on Android 4.4 KitKat

OnePlus One Launch Keynote

OnePlus One

OnePlus One Launch Keynote

I am still with my Nexus 4. The Nexus 5 has not felt like a major upgrade. And the Moto brand has less appeal after Google got rid of the company it bought. Moto E looks like a good budget phone, but I am not paying less for less memory space and a similar size battery.

My biggest gripe with my Nexus 4 is its battery. I managed to replace the battery at a phone store in Queens. But funny things are known to happen in Queens. My "new" battery still drains pretty fast. So I am in the market for a new phone.

I went back to the store wanting to know if maybe they did not put in a new battery, and they said it is your phone, not the battery! Go figure.

My next phone might be the OnePlus One. Actually I am pretty sure it will be. It comes with 50% more battery power. And that is the top attraction. But I also want more memory space. My Nexus 4 has 8 gigs, and now I want 16, perhaps more. I want my phone to be able to hold more pictures, more videos.

The OnePlus One is being touted as the "Nexus killer" and I think they might have a point.

I might go for the $349 model and get myself 64 gigs of space.

After battery, I am looking at its bigger screen size. I do not make that many calls on my phone. My phone is primarily a small portable computer. 5.5 inches are a phablet. And I am ready for one.

Then I am looking at the camera. 13 megapixels is a step-up from the 5 on Nexus 4, although I have not had major complaints at 5.

I am still a little superstitious about moving away from the stock Android experience, but a larger battery is a huge attraction. Currently I am used to carrying an External Battery that is the same shape but bigger and heavier than my phone. One guy told me at least I was not carrying with me a generator that someone else he knew was seen carrying.

OnePlus One (Unlocked)

$299 ...... Call quality, unfortunately, was one of the biggest sore spots for the OnePlus One. Volume in the earpiece is frustratingly weak and made callers on the other end sound muted, distant, and difficult to hear over even the most innocuous of ambient noise. Transmissions through the mic fared better, coming through more clearly, but still on the low side for volume. The headphone jack works fine for music, unlike in our initial hands on, but the OnePlus One couldn't route calls through a wired headset.

Google Nexus 5 review: You can't beat the Nexus 5 at this price point

We do wish that the rumors about the 3,000mAh battery life were true. One thing we love about the Nexus 5's distant cousin - the LG G2 - is that big battery and long life...... Our two biggest gripes with the Nexus 5 are its battery life and camera. Both can be hit or miss ..... Battery life struggled on some occasions, too. After a full week with the Nexus 5, we can confidently say that we can never be sure when it will last a full day, or when we should bring our chargers and battery packs with us. As you'd imagine, we tend to err on the side of caution, though we really wish we didn't have to.

OnePlus One: Sales start in May, wider availability expected in late June (Updated)

OnePlus, a company which only made itself public in December last year, has launched its first smartphone, the OnePlus One. On paper, it’s more powerful than a Galaxy S5 or HTC One M8, but at $300, it will cost less than half their price. The device was unveiled at an event in Beijing, and the proceedings live tweeted through the company’s official Twitter account. We’re excited about the OnePlus One ..... the initial run of 64GB black phones in early June. We’re told to expect increased availability in late June, at which time invitations will have become widespread...... OnePlus calls the phone “amazingly elegant.” It has decided not to slap its name or logo on the front panel, leaving it very understated. The screen sits in a slightly recessed bezel – just 0.07mm according to OnePlus – and the edges have been machined down to give a contoured finish...... slightly larger than the Galaxy S5 ..... the lightest 5.5-inch smartphone out there .... a brand new Snapdragon 801 processor will power the phone, just like the new Xperia Z2 and the Galaxy S5. It’ll be backed up by 3GB of RAM, and a 3100mAh battery will be inside the device. Lau says the decision to make it non-removable means it can have a higher capacity, while keeping the device suitably slim. OnePlus’ phone will run Android, but it’ll be a custom version of CyanogenMod...... the camera, which uses a 13-megapixel, six-element, f/2.0 Sony Exmor IMX214 sensor. Image stabilization and slow-motion recording at 720p will be standard, and a fast 0.3s shutter speed is promised. The camera also shoots video in 4K (Ultra HD), and selfie fans will welcome a 5-megapixel front camera fitted above the screen...... the phone is the world’s first to feature down-firing stereo speakers, something which other manufacturers avoid, due to the complexities with fitting them inside the phone. OnePlus has partnered up with JBL to ensure they sound great. ...... the software has a flat, minimalistic style. Although CyanogenMod is designed to be endlessly modified, OnePlus will include various themes and wallpapers to make personalization a little easier.

A $300 smartphone has never looked so good

It doesn't make sense that the OnePlus One should be this inexpensive. It looks elegant, feels solid and performs smoothly, and it doesn't show any signs that it's a first-generation product from an unknown company. Regardless of how well it sells, the industry will see this as a benchmark for what an affordable phone really can be. All told, it outperforms Google's Nexus 5 in nearly every way -- and it does so at an even lower price. Heck, it's better than many flagship phones that sell for twice as much. ........ The OnePlus One doesn't look like a $299 phone. Its arched back, polycarbonate build, elegant chassis and top-of-the-line spec sheet could easily fool someone into thinking you paid $600 for it. ..... I actually enjoy the One's display more than most flagship smartphones, and it's leaps and bounds better than the Nexus 5. Because it uses an IPS panel, the One's viewing angles are among the best in the industry, keeping pace with the One M8 and absolutely destroying the GS5. ........ the colors are natural, making them more satisfying to stare at than the saturated GS5 and overblown Nexus 5. ........ What exactly is CyanogenMod? It's custom firmware based on the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) and gives the user more freedom to fiddle around with settings, icons, themes and... well, nearly every aspect of the Android experience. Cyanogen's one of the most popular pieces of third-party firmware in the Android universe and can be installed a wide variety of devices, but the experience is even better on the One because it was built into the phone; since CyanogenMod could work with the hardware early in its development, it was able to add a bunch of optimizations that you won't find on other phones. ........ At first, it doesn't appear that different from stock Android, save for a few style changes (think: icons and buttons). But don't let its understated facade fool you: There's a lot of power behind the scenes, and it becomes more evident as you continue to poke around. There are several new features, with tweakable settings thrown in everywhere. Many of you are simply looking for an inexpensive phone and don't care about making dozens of tiny adjustments to your Android setup, and the beauty of CM is that it can fit your style just as easily as it can fit the preferences of power users -- it's completely customizable, and it's fantastic. ....... one of the One's best features: always-listening voice recognition .... The Nexus 5 has a lot of endearing traits, but the camera isn't one of them. Sure, it has its moments of greatness, but I can't help think this is a case of settling. The OnePlus One, on the other hand, uses a 13-megapixel rear camera with a Sony sensor, six-element lens setup and f/2.0 aperture for lower-light shots. Additionally, the front-facing camera tops out at 5MP -- a sizable improvement over the 1.3-megapixel sensor on the N5. ...... Video recording here is solid ..... It's hard to believe that a $300 device like the One has as much muscle underneath the hood as the Galaxy S5 and Oppo Find 7. In fact, you technically can't get any faster, since the phone sports a 2.45GHz quad-core Snapdragon 801 (MSM8974-AC), a 578MHz Adreno 330 GPU and 3GB of RAM. Until the Snapdragon 805 comes out later this year, this is the absolute best silicon that Qualcomm has to offer. But what does it mean to you? Smooth everything, fast everything and no lag as far as the eye can see. ....... CyanogenMod's firmware gives you the option to change your performance profile to one of three modes, ranging from power conservation to battery sucker. .... soft audio output, both on the external speakers and in the earpiece. All of my conversations were much quieter than they should have been, and I could barely hear music blaring at full volume. .. Fortunately, none of this was a problem when I used headphones; in fact, I often had to turn down the volume to make my ears feel comfortable. In addition, the One has an equalizer app called AudioFX, which lets you fine-tune the audio. ...... The One has a 3,100mAh non-removable cell that's just a tad smaller than the battery inside the Note 3. What's more, it's actually larger than what you'll find in the GS5 and One M8. On most days, I made it to the end of the evening with around 5-10 percent life remaining. (On average, this constituted 14-15 hours of solid use, and roughly four hours of screen-on time.) These were days full of emails, calls, travel, social networking and a little bit of gaming. All told, our standard video rundown test yielded 10 hours of life. This isn't the best I've seen, but I'd consider it well above average for a smartphone -- and I'm hard-pressed to ask for more from a $300 device. ...... the $349 64GB model, offered in black, starts shipping in early June. For the rest of you still waiting for an invite, OnePlus is hoping to send one your way by the end of June.