OnePlus Two Launch: Not for Me
After their successful launch of the One, OnePlus launched their OnePlus Two using an Virtual Reality App. They even sent out cardboard to fans in advance. I installed the application to view how it was without cardboard. While it was cool and very similar to a first-person video game, it was neck straining... It would have been better to be on a swivel chair... Or allowed some controls within the app. The VR seemed sort of pointless as the focal point of the conversation and video could have been shown in one view... It was definitely a novelty.
But on to the OnePlus Two device:
The most significant selling point of the device: Price. $389 for 64GB and $329 for 16GB. This is by far the cheapest phone you'll get with these specifications.
OnePlus is once again being pompous and called their new phone, the "2016 Flagship Killer". This is certainly pre-mature and quite unlikely.
The size is the same as the OnePlus One (with a brighter screen) and comes with the second generation SnapDragon 810 which seems to have fixed the thermal issues. The Two adds the fingerprint reader which has proven to be the most used feature on my Galaxy S6 (though it is not an actual button like one the S6 or iPhone). It's definitely going to be extremely difficult to pull me away from phones with fingerprint readers, particularly for mobile payments and increased accessibility.
It is the first phone to use the USB-C port. It's nice to have a reversible port but it does NOT support QuickCharge. So, it'll take 3-4 hours to fully charge. Coming from a S6, that is disappointing as the QuickCharge has been one of the most useful features. But it would certainly be more advantageous to have a phone that lasts longer. There is also no wireless charging but that's not a dealbreaker for me (yet...).
Speaking about most useful features, you can customize the capacitive buttons including the double tap of the home/fingerprint button to open the camera (one of the best shortcuts I've seen on any phone). The Oxygen OS looks like pure Android with increased customized similar to CyanogenMod (but not as low level customizations).
The OnePlus Two adds a mode slider switch similar to the iPhone but with three settings. Notifications on, Priority, and notifications off. I can see the added convenience of the slider; though not high on the necessity list for a quality phone.
Now, it's time to suffer through more ridiculous OnePlus promotions and invite contests and such.
Update: I will not be getting this phone due to the lack of NFC Support. For me, that is a dealbreaker and it will definitely be hard to be the "2016 Flagship Killer" without NFC technology for mobile payments. I find the decision not to add NFC support completely ridiculous.