(Update: live now) OnePlus is allowing anyone to buy the One for two hours tomorrow

Update: the shopping window is now open. Get your OnePlus One here.

Original post:

With its high-end specs and low-priced cost, not to mention CyanogenMod pre-installed, the OnePlus One managed to earn its fair share of attention last year when it launched. Ironically, the so-called flagship killer also managed to accumulate a large amount of bad press as well, given the company’s questionable marketing tactics and the fact that outside its native country of China, it’s strictly an invitation-only affair.

OnePlus is offering a very limited window, once again, for all those interested, to buy the phone freely (but not for free, of course). A countdown page is currently displaying the hours until the event begins on January 20th. For those in North America, your call time will be 7PM-9PM EST, for Europe, 19-21 GMT, and for Asia, 19-21 HKT. And yes, that is correct; the phone will be available for two hours, thus ironically ensuring that even when anyone can buy the device, it’s still not without caveats. The phone starts at $299 for the 16GB version and $349 for the 64GB version.

It will be interesting to see what OnePlus decides to do with the One after the presumed launch of an upcoming “OnePlus Two” device: will the original still be offered in sparse doses for the general public, or will it become more akin to the Google Glass Explorer program (well, prior to this month at least). It’s also worth noting that, in China, the phone is freely available to anyone at anytime, sans CyanogenMod however.