OnePlus 2 vs One: What's New in Second Generation Smartphone?

On Monday (27 July), Chinese smartphone maker OnePlus unveiled the new OnePlus 2.

The second generation device comes with major upgrades in many aspects over its predecessor, such as the LPDDR4 series RAM, USB type C port, laser auto-focus, in-cell display technology and lot more.

To provide a better perspective between the two OnePlus smartphone siblings, we have done a quick specifications run down of the OnePlus 2 and One.

Design and Display:

The new OnePlus 2 smartphone is a little compact in structure compared to its predecessor. It measures 151.8 x 74.9 mm in dimension, whereas the OnePlus One measures 152.9 x 75.9 mm.

The generous use of metal in the OnePlus 2 has made the device bulkier. It is 9.85mm thick and weighs 175g, whereas the OnePlus One measures 8.62 mm in thickness and weighs 162 g.

The OnePlus 2 flaunts aluminum-magnesium alloy frame around its edges with steel accents. It not only gives a premium feel, but also provides a firm grip for hands and sturdy structure to the phone to withstand an accidental drop.

OnePlus One's core structure is also made of magnesium, but the use of metal is less compared to its successor.

In terms of screen resolution, both sport the same 5.5-inch full HD LCD screen, but the new phone boasts of advanced in-cell display technology, making the OnePlus 2's screen brighter and help produce richer colour output on display than its predecessor.

Processor, RAM and Storage capacity:

The OnePlus One houses a 2.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 series quad-core CPU backed by LPDDR 3 series 3GB RAM, whereas the new phone comes packed with 64-bit class Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 v2.1 series Octa-core SoC (System on Chip).

[Note: Over-heating issue which was found in Snapdragon 810 v1.0 has been found to be resolved in the second variant]

It has to be noted that the OnePlus 2 also boasts new generation LPDDR 4 series 4GB RAM.

What are the benefits of LPDDR4 over LPDDR3?

For starters, LPDDR4 RAM is much superior in many aspects to LPDDR3 series RAM found in the current crop of top-end smartphones. The former consumes less power while performing operations on smartphone.

It can also work with speed up to 32GB/s, which is double the speed of its predecessor that houses LPDDR3.

To sum things up, OnePlus 2 owners will be able enjoy faster app loading, quick swapping among multiple apps, smooth working conditions, less (or no) lag while playing high intensity games and a longer battery life.

Both the devices come with 16GB and 64GB storage variants.

[Note: OnePlus 2 also comes with 3GB RAM variant as well]

Camera:

The OnePlus One boasts a 13mp Sony IMX214 camera with 6 element lens and a 5mp camera on front.

The OnePlus 2 too houses a 13mp camera with f/2.0 aperture on the rear side, similar to the 2014 model. But the successor is still said to be a step up in terms of image processing. The main camera is supported with laser auto focus. This feature measures the distance between the subject and the camera using a laser beam, enabling good quality photos even under low-light conditions.

To further enrich the photography experience, OnePlus 2's camera has been incorporated with OIS (Optical Image Stabilizer), 0.3 second superfast auto-focus, auto-mode, HDR, clear-shot, beauty mode, panorama mode and 4k video recording ability.

Mobile Operating System:

Since the company has cut cords with Cyanogen, OnePlus 2 will not be running on the Cyanogen OS 12, instead it will ship with the proprietary community developed OxygenOS. It is based on the latest Android 5.1 Lollipop firmware.

Despite ties being severed, Cyanogen has promised to support OnePlus One with Cyanogen OS update for next few years.

[Note: OnePlus has also released OxygenOS to the first generation device also.]

Battery:

The OnePlus 2 houses a 3300 mAh battery, 200 mAh more than its predecessor. With 10% extra power, the new phone will be able to last longer.

Value-added features of OnePlus 2:

OnePlus 2 boasts an advanced finger-print sensor, which is said to be more secured and faster than Touch ID system seen in the latest Apple iPhones.

The OnePlus is the first flagship smartphone to boast latest Type C USB connector, which can be plugged to any device and users need not worry about orienting the port while plugging the device as its works in reverse as well.

It is also said to come with Dual-SIM slots and also feature a slider 'Alert Button' on the left side, which acts as a notification access switcher with options – 'none, priority and all'.

Read more: OnePlus 2 Official Release Date and Price Details

Key Specification of One Plus 2 and One: