OnePlus 2 unboxing and first impressions

OnePlus took the wraps off of its latest “flagship killer” a couple of weeks ago, and the latest iteration continues to offer what we loved about the original, with some refinements and useful additions along the way, while also maintaining its biggest selling point, an unbeatable price tag. Before diving into the full review, we take a quick look at the unboxing, and give you our first impressions, about the OnePlus 2!

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Unboxing

While the packaging still features the signature red color that OnePlus uses, it is not quite as unique as the box was for the OnePlus One. Opening the top reveals the OnePlus 2 in all its glory, and what is nice to see is that the plastic cover that is around the phone marks out the position of the various buttons and ports around the display, such as the volume rocker, the power button, and the headphone jack, with the new additions to this phone being the alert slider and the fingerprint scanner up front, that is integrated into the home button below the display.

The box includes the different documentation that we usually see, such as the Quick Start guide, the user manual, and the warranty information. Another unique feature of the OnePlus 2 is the USB Type-C port, making it one of the first smartphones to adopt it, and in the box is the AC adapter and the cable that is compatible with this new standard. The flat cable is similar to what was seen with its predecessor, and helps keep things tangle free, with of course, the fact that the port is now different. You do only get the bare essentials in the box, but even that manages to be unique with the introduction of the reversible USB Type-C cable.

First impressions

Taking the OnePlus 2 out of its plastic cover, the first thing you’ll notice is how substantial the phone feels in your hand. Even if it isn’t particularly heavy, the metal frame makes the device feel very solid, and not something you would generally expect from a smartphone available at its affordable price point. While retaining a lot of the design elements of the original, a few noticeable changes is the lowering of the camera optics on the back, as well as the inclusion of a home button up front, that houses the fingerprint sensor. On the left side is the new alert slider, that lets you silence the phone, or set it to allow only priority notifications, quickly and easily. On the other side is the volume rocker found above the power button, placed ideally to be within comfortable reach.

This review unit is of the sandstone black variety, but the back cover is now very easy to remove and doesn’t require any additional tools, making it very simple to switch out the back cover for the various other color and material options that OnePlus has available under its StyleSwap covers series. We got to get a look at the different cover options during our first hands-on with the device, which you can check out here.

Powering on the device gives you the first introduction to the latest version of the Oxygen OS, based on Android 5.1.1 Lollipop. Of course, the presence of the Oxygen OS is because of the falling out between OnePlus and CyanogenMod, and we will find out during the comprehensive review whether this OS version proves to be a worthy replacement. You may have noticed at the top right corner the presence of two SIM card icons, indicating that the OnePlus 2 comes with dual-SIM capabilities.

Jumping into the setup, it’s great to see the device allow you to pick and choose which features you want to use. You have the option to pick between hardware or software navigation buttons, with our choice being the former, allowing us to take advantage of the full real estate that this 5.5-inch display has to offer. You can also pick a choose between the various gestures you want activated, which the options available including double to wake, drawing an O to launch the camera, drawing a V to toggle the flashlight, and drawing two vertical lines to control your music.

Testing the gestures showed everything to work quickly and easily. The final choice available to users out of the box is with regards to the default keyboard, with the options including Swiftkey or the Google keyboard. You can also enable Shelf during this setup process, which is essentially two widgets, with one housing the most frequently used apps, and the other listing your favorite contacts.

So there you have it for this quick look at the unboxing of the OnePlus 2! Stay tuned with Android Authority for more great OnePlus 2 coverage, including the in-depth review, a camera shootout, and a few comparisons to see whether this latest “flagship killer” from OnePlus manages to stand up to its claim.