I am a OnePlus fan, no lie. The company came in with a bang with the OnePlus One, the two was rather controversial, the OnePlus 3/3T were some of the best devices of 2016 but when leaks of the OnePlus 5 started streaming in, I, together with many others, weren’t so sure about the device.
The doubt was based on the design of the phone, as we felt cheated by the company, but things have gotten worse since the device was announced exactly a month ago.
Over the past month, OnePlus 5 users have been complaining of “features” that they do not appreciate on the device. Seeing that the device is already on sale in Kenya through avechi.com ang Jumia, it is only prudent if we at least let you know of the possible issues you could run into.
Jelly scrolling effect
It took me a while to understand what exactly this was but it is quite simple. Users have reported that the OnePlus 5 screen has drag effect while scrolling vertically. The effect looked like the OnePlus 5 has some lag in the screen’s refresh rate but upon closer inspection, it was discovered that the phone’s screen had been inverted inorder for the company to attain the exterior design of the phone.
The issue is not consistent on all units, some users have reported that they have not experienced such a “feature”. However, when questioned about it, OnePlus support had this to say in a tweet:
A statement that was deemed disrespectful to customers. Phone Arena explained that persistence of vision tricks should not be perceived on a slow-motion video and thus dismissing OnePlus’ claims that the jelly effect is caused by the user’ eyes persistence of vision.
BGR reports that OnePlus reached out to them and distanced themselves from the tweet, saying that the comment posted on the official OnePlus Support Twitter account is not endorsed by the company and has been deleted. However, the company still still describes the jelly effect as a ‘natural’ occurrence.
Inverted Audio Recording
This is an actual bug and not a “feature”. Users have reported that when the device is held in landscape mode (bottom of the phone to your right), audio is recorded in stereo as it should, but if you spin it counterclockwise from portrait mode, that is, the bottom of the phone is on your left side, then the stereo recording is reversed (it doesn’t flip with the screen orientation).
The good news with this one is, OnePlus can fix the issue with a software update. “We are aware of this issue and we will be fixing it in an upcoming OTA,” OnePlus said in a statement.
‘No Snitching’ feature
Ok, it’s not a feature but a bug. Quite a number of OnePlus 5 users have reported that the device reboots whenever they dial 911 or 999. According to Reddit, the fault appears to be at the point of connection between the handset and the emergency services. This is the point where many smartphones will provide additional data (such as location) to the dispatch desk.
Facebook user Nick Morrelli has uploaded a video of his experience in calling 911:
https://www.facebook.com/nick.morrelli/videos/10155621873214602/
OnePlus has released an update to fix this issue, “We have begun rolling out the software update. Timing may vary by region.”
Cheating on benchmark tests
This is not a serious issue but OnePlus has been accused of cheating on benchmarks. It was reported that OnePlus 5’s firmware was recognizing benchmark testing and switching the handset into a high-performance mode.
OnePlus responded, “We have set the OnePlus 5 to run benchmarks at a high-performance level that is both natural and sustainable for all devices, media and consumer, so that users can see the true potential of the device, when running resource intensive apps and games. At no point do we overclock the CPU, nor do we set a CPU frequency floor. We are confident our approach best displays the true performance capabilities of the OnePlus 5.”
Despite these hurdles, the OnePlus 5 is still a great phone and I’d still buy one because I’m a fan boy like that.
