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What exactly makes this a killer? I'm having a hard time seeing it. It just looks liked any one of a dozen similar Android phones, with more power/memory/horsep

What exactly makes this a killer? I'm having a hard time seeing it. It just looks liked any one of a dozen similar Android phones, with more power/memory/horsepower? Calling something a killer by itself does not a killer make.

vidarh 13y ago
It's aiming to compete feature by feature with high-end Android phones and the iPhone, at a substantially lower price point. Not looked closely enough at it to know if it's likely to succeed at that. Their cheapest model is threading close to the mid-range cheap MTK based Android phones coming out of China.
- king_magic 13y ago
  Ah got it - that makes a lot more sense. I didn't get that impression from their site, so I couldn't understand what the fuss was about. I'm an iPhone user, so I'm probably not exactly their target market, but I sort of still am I suppose, and not being able to understand where a particular Android phone lies on The Grand Scale of Android Phones (without doing a ton of research) has always been one of my frustrations with the Android world.
frooxie 13y ago
Basically, you get 90% of the features of the best Android smartphones at half the price.
- samolang 13y ago
  The Nexus 5 is only $350. This phone is nominally cheaper, but I wouldn't say 'killer'. I will think about getting it next time I purchase a phone though (I use a Nexus 5 now).
  - higherpurpose 13y ago
    OnePlus has 64GB of storage for $350, Nexus 5 only 16GB. It also seems to have a significantly better camera and much faster, too (Rear: f/2.0 13 MP Sony Exmor IMX 214 sensor, w/4K video recording. Dual-LED flash. 0.3s shutter speed) It also has a 3100 mAh battery vs 2300 mAh for Nexus 5. The processor I don't care about since 801 is just a repackaged 800 anyway, like all of Qualcomm's new processors.
    - samolang 13y ago
      That stuff is nice, but this phone is significantly newer (as far as mobile phone go). It looks like the Nexus 6 is coming out in November. I would expect it to have similar specs.
    - XorNot 13y ago
      They're short shifting themselves here by not having a microSD slot. The biggest check against Nexus 5 I know of is no microSD, and that very small memory. 3G isn't as fast or as available as Google wants to believe.
      - frooxie 13y ago
        Personally, my main reasons for not buying a Nexus 5 were the battery, the camera, and that I wanted a slightly bigger phone. The OnePlus One seems to take care of all three (although I'm still waiting for in-depth reviews).
        slantyyz 13y ago
        Curious- do you know if Cyanogen-based phones have access to all the Google services like the Play Store, Maps, etc.?
        eyko 12y ago
        Yes, if you install the apps. edit: maybe not what most people are looking for, so I'll elaborate. To install google apps, you'll need to unlock the device and flash the gapps package. Some people don't want to go that route, so in that case there are two possibilities: a) You can't have google apps. b) If OnePlus gets Google CTS certified, then they can bundle the play store and other apps, signed, and bootloader locked. Oppo did so for the N1, so the N1 is a cyanogenmod phone with official google apps support.
  - rayiner 13y ago
    This has a much bigger battery than the N5, which addresses one of the N5's key weaknesses.
    - josu 13y ago
      I have a Sony Xperia Z1, which has a 3000mAh battery, and while the battery life is pretty good, it doesn't really last a whole day. So I don't know about that 3100mAh with the 5.5" screen.
      - gandalfu 13y ago
        I have a Sony Xperia Z1 as well and the battery lasts over 3 days. Make sure to enable the stamina mode http://developer.sonymobile.com/2013/11/26/power-management-explained-sony-xperia-z1-and-xperia-z-ultra/ http://developer.sonymobile.com/2013/11/26/power-management-... it actually works pretty well.
        josu 12y ago
        I have stamina mode activated most of the time but I will check out the tips. Thank you.
    - josu 13y ago
      I have a Sony Xperia Z1, which has a 3000mAh battery, and while the battery life is pretty good, it doesn't really last a whole day. So I don't know about that 3100mAh with the 5.5" screen.
    - samolang 13y ago
      I've read that the Nexus 6 is coming out around November and will have a 3,200 mAh battery.
- sliverstorm 13y ago
  Or there is always the Moto G. 90% of the features at a quarter the price.
higherpurpose 13y ago
My favorite feature of Cyanogen now is that they have Whisperpush enabled by default, which secures all text communications from a Cyanogen phone to another or to a TextSecure app. http://www.cyanogenmod.org/blog/whisperpush-secure-messaging-integration http://www.cyanogenmod.org/blog/whisperpush-secure-messaging... I hope they will be willing to integrate RedPhone by default in it, too, eventually. As someone who's more technical, I don't necessarily "need" Whisperpush, since I could just use TextSecure directly - however I think it's great that anyone who would be buying this phone would have secure communications by default (without even having to care about it - which is the brilliance of it), and the more people buy it the higher chance they will be communicating with a TextSecure user (or with another TextSecure federated client, since I think you can use the TextSecure protocol like you can with OTR).
- makomk 13y ago
  Last I heard, Whisperpush on CyanogenMod only actually worked if you had the GApps package installed which isn't entirely legal and certainly isn't something they could get away with including as standard.
  - PakG1 13y ago
    Maybe can't get away with including as standard, but is it really not entirely legal to install it? http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Google_Apps http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Google_Apps The best disclaimer sentence I've found here is: The Google Apps packages are NOT SUPPORTED in any way by Cyanogenmod. Not exactly a huge endorsement, but saying it's not entirely legal is something else entirely. Would like someone who has expertise to somehow reconcile the above comment to an article like this if possible: http://www.androidpolice.com/2013/12/19/the-oppo-n1-is-officially-the-first-google-cts-certified-cyanogenmod-phone-can-run-google-apps-suite-officially/ http://www.androidpolice.com/2013/12/19/the-oppo-n1-is-offic...
  - xamlhacker 13y ago
    It depends. If you are installing CyanogenMod on your phone, then installing GApps is not very legal. However, Cyanogen team has been working with Google to get devices like the OnePlus One certified by Google and preloading them with fully legal GApps package.

vidarh 13y ago

It's aiming to compete feature by feature with high-end Android phones and the iPhone, at a substantially lower price point. Not looked closely enough at it to know if it's likely to succeed at that. Their cheapest model is threading close to the mid-range cheap MTK based Android phones coming out of China.

king_magic 13y ago
Ah got it - that makes a lot more sense. I didn't get that impression from their site, so I couldn't understand what the fuss was about. I'm an iPhone user, so I'm probably not exactly their target market, but I sort of still am I suppose, and not being able to understand where a particular Android phone lies on The Grand Scale of Android Phones (without doing a ton of research) has always been one of my frustrations with the Android world.

frooxie 13y ago

Basically, you get 90% of the features of the best Android smartphones at half the price.

samolang 13y ago
The Nexus 5 is only $350. This phone is nominally cheaper, but I wouldn't say 'killer'. I will think about getting it next time I purchase a phone though (I use a Nexus 5 now).
- higherpurpose 13y ago
  OnePlus has 64GB of storage for $350, Nexus 5 only 16GB. It also seems to have a significantly better camera and much faster, too (Rear: f/2.0 13 MP Sony Exmor IMX 214 sensor, w/4K video recording. Dual-LED flash. 0.3s shutter speed) It also has a 3100 mAh battery vs 2300 mAh for Nexus 5. The processor I don't care about since 801 is just a repackaged 800 anyway, like all of Qualcomm's new processors.
  - samolang 13y ago
    That stuff is nice, but this phone is significantly newer (as far as mobile phone go). It looks like the Nexus 6 is coming out in November. I would expect it to have similar specs.
  - XorNot 13y ago
    They're short shifting themselves here by not having a microSD slot. The biggest check against Nexus 5 I know of is no microSD, and that very small memory. 3G isn't as fast or as available as Google wants to believe.
    - frooxie 13y ago
      Personally, my main reasons for not buying a Nexus 5 were the battery, the camera, and that I wanted a slightly bigger phone. The OnePlus One seems to take care of all three (although I'm still waiting for in-depth reviews).
      - slantyyz 13y ago
        Curious- do you know if Cyanogen-based phones have access to all the Google services like the Play Store, Maps, etc.?
        eyko 12y ago
        Yes, if you install the apps. edit: maybe not what most people are looking for, so I'll elaborate. To install google apps, you'll need to unlock the device and flash the gapps package. Some people don't want to go that route, so in that case there are two possibilities: a) You can't have google apps. b) If OnePlus gets Google CTS certified, then they can bundle the play store and other apps, signed, and bootloader locked. Oppo did so for the N1, so the N1 is a cyanogenmod phone with official google apps support.
- rayiner 13y ago
  This has a much bigger battery than the N5, which addresses one of the N5's key weaknesses.
  - josu 13y ago
    I have a Sony Xperia Z1, which has a 3000mAh battery, and while the battery life is pretty good, it doesn't really last a whole day. So I don't know about that 3100mAh with the 5.5" screen.
    - gandalfu 13y ago
      I have a Sony Xperia Z1 as well and the battery lasts over 3 days. Make sure to enable the stamina mode http://developer.sonymobile.com/2013/11/26/power-management-explained-sony-xperia-z1-and-xperia-z-ultra/ http://developer.sonymobile.com/2013/11/26/power-management-... it actually works pretty well.
      - josu 12y ago
        I have stamina mode activated most of the time but I will check out the tips. Thank you.
  - josu 13y ago
    I have a Sony Xperia Z1, which has a 3000mAh battery, and while the battery life is pretty good, it doesn't really last a whole day. So I don't know about that 3100mAh with the 5.5" screen.
  - samolang 13y ago
    I've read that the Nexus 6 is coming out around November and will have a 3,200 mAh battery.
sliverstorm 13y ago
Or there is always the Moto G. 90% of the features at a quarter the price.

higherpurpose 13y ago

My favorite feature of Cyanogen now is that they have Whisperpush enabled by default, which secures all text communications from a Cyanogen phone to another or to a TextSecure app. http://www.cyanogenmod.org/blog/whisperpush-secure-messaging-integration http://www.cyanogenmod.org/blog/whisperpush-secure-messaging... I hope they will be willing to integrate RedPhone by default in it, too, eventually. As someone who's more technical, I don't necessarily "need" Whisperpush, since I could just use TextSecure directly - however I think it's great that anyone who would be buying this phone would have secure communications by default (without even having to care about it - which is the brilliance of it), and the more people buy it the higher chance they will be communicating with a TextSecure user (or with another TextSecure federated client, since I think you can use the TextSecure protocol like you can with OTR).

makomk 13y ago
Last I heard, Whisperpush on CyanogenMod only actually worked if you had the GApps package installed which isn't entirely legal and certainly isn't something they could get away with including as standard.
- PakG1 13y ago
  Maybe can't get away with including as standard, but is it really not entirely legal to install it? http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Google_Apps http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Google_Apps The best disclaimer sentence I've found here is: The Google Apps packages are NOT SUPPORTED in any way by Cyanogenmod. Not exactly a huge endorsement, but saying it's not entirely legal is something else entirely. Would like someone who has expertise to somehow reconcile the above comment to an article like this if possible: http://www.androidpolice.com/2013/12/19/the-oppo-n1-is-officially-the-first-google-cts-certified-cyanogenmod-phone-can-run-google-apps-suite-officially/ http://www.androidpolice.com/2013/12/19/the-oppo-n1-is-offic...
- xamlhacker 13y ago
  It depends. If you are installing CyanogenMod on your phone, then installing GApps is not very legal. However, Cyanogen team has been working with Google to get devices like the OnePlus One certified by Google and preloading them with fully legal GApps package.