By 
Warning: Conspiracy theories ahead.
A little over four months ago OnePlus was founded. In that time they have taken the Android world by storm with their arrogant social marketing and lofty promises. Last week they finally announced their first device, the “One.” They call it the “flagship killer,” and by all accounts it could be everything they have said. However, promising something awesome and delivering it in such a short time only raises more questions.
How did a brand new start-up company pump out a high-end phone in less than six months? That’s the question that has been on everyone’s mind. Over the weekend some information was discovered that links OnePlus to fellow Chinese phone maker, Oppo. The CEO of OnePlus was previously the vice president of Oppo, and many of his employees are from there as well. The new information links OnePlus’ domain to Oppo contact details. Now it all makes sense.
November 18th, 2013 was Pete Lau’s last day at Oppo, at least that’s what he said in his farewell post on Google+. The timing of his departure seemed very odd. Oppo had just launched the N1 with CyanogenMod. It was an incredibly sleek and powerful device, and received good buzz for being the “Cyanogen Phone.” One of the things that Lau mentioned when leaving Oppo was making the latest technology available to everyone. Something Oppo has not been able to do.
The Strategy
Lau’s comment about making the latest technology available to everyone can be read a few different ways. Was he talking about making affordable devices, or bringing devices to new markets? Oppo has almost zero brand presence in the United States. It would take a marketing campaign the size of Samsung’s wallet to make people notice them. The best way to break into the U.S. market would be to rebrand the company, but then they would be sacrificing places where Oppo is a well-known name. Oppo’s solution was to simply start a new company.
OnePlus was created from the ground up to be Oppo’s hype machine. Even the name of the company sounds like it was built to entice the legions of Android fans on Google+. Calling themselves a “start-up” didn’t hurt either. Everybody roots for the little guy. From day one the team at OnePlus has been all about hyping their product and taking shots at the competition. Everyone from Samsung to Nokia was in OnePlus’ line of fire.
OnePlus’ over-confidence was another sign of something strange. You don’t just launch a brand new hardware company and start poking the big dogs. Not only did OnePlus not have a device to back up their trash talk, but they didn’t have history of making anything. So many questions needed to be answered. Where did they get funding? Who is making all of the parts? Why is the name of the phone a math equation? The one thing that wasn’t questioned was the excitement they were creating. An excitement that Oppo has never enjoyed.
With this cheap marketing trick Oppo is essentially launching the same phone twice. The device you know as the OnePlus One is called the “Find 7a” by Oppo. The Find 7a has almost identical specs to the OnePlus One. The big difference is the name on the back of the device. Which one will sell better? The device from that one company you hear about every so often, or the one from that exciting new start-up company that made fun of Samsung? The choice is obvious.
Will it work?
So far the plan seems to be working well for Oppo. The hardest thing they have to overcome is their own hype machine. Last week they finally announced the One, and it seems that they delivered on all of their promises. The only place thing they may have over-sold was the size of the phone. People are starting to realize the device is almost identical to the Find 7a, but they don’t seem to care.
This crazy situation brings up a good question. Are people more interested in a phone or a brand name? Samsung has proven in the last few years that brand name means more than product quality. HTC consistently makes better devices that don’t sell nearly as well. Oppo will be putting this to the ultimate test. Will people opt for the Find 7a that has some slightly better features, or the trendy OnePlus One?
Do you care?
The other factor that Oppo probably didn’t consider is if people found out about their plan. The OnePlus One is a great device, no matter what name is on the back. Still, it doesn’t look very good to lie to your customers. Some consumers will feel “played” and tricked into falling for the hype. People don’t like being pawns in some scheme they know nothing about. What do you think about all of this? Assuming it’s true, will you still buy a OnePlus One? Do you care who makes the phone?
Update from OnePlus:
“We understand the confusion as many people are just finding out about OnePlus. But as we’ve said from the beginning, OnePlus is a separately run company that does share common investors with OPPO.
One of those investors is OPPO Electronic. OPPO Electronic is an investment company and is not the same as OPPO Mobile. OnePlus is also in talks with other investors.”
I suspected this early on and especially after the first few pictures and specifications started to get released. They didn’t even try to make it look different!
The only thing I really have a problem with in regards to the Oneplus is that the device is much longer than they said it would be. Impractically so for me.
I am exactly the same. I don’t really want a phone with a larger than 5″ screen (and that assumes small bezels). The OnePlus One is massive.
I kind of already thought the OnePlus One was by Oppo (-_-). I assumed as much after looking at the 7a and the Oneplus One….I forgot about the startup entirely lol. As for the normal consumers, the device still has a cheap price, you’ll be getting (at least on the surface) a great phone for the price.
I don’t care.
I think it is actually probably a good thing for the consumer that the OnePlus One is being made by people with experience (from Oppo) at making smartphones. Lessens the likelihood of unpleasant manufacturing defects surprising us.
They are trying to break into the US market and yes I absolutely wasn’t interested in a no-name chinese company’s phone, not because I have anything against chinese companies but because it feels riskier buying a phone that is intended for a very different market with different expectations for quality and support (and software). OnePlus One on the other hand seems to want to focus on my market so they are instantly more appealing and the price is amazing.
I’m not even going to buy the phone (Nexus 5 is doing it for me) but I just don’t understand why you are so angry?
duh captain obvious
what can I do for you? :)
Haha
yeah but dont even bother mentioning how for a few extra features the oppo find 7a has a price tag of $200 more… If the opo was priced at $500 it would not even be getting 1/3 of the hype that is currently getting, the major selling point for the opo is that it has specs almost as good as the rest of the competition, but that it is also half the price
If you are putting on the tin foil hat, don’t forget to consider that the Chinese government may have built a backdoor into this device to allow for government and corporate espionage like Huawei.
The more conspiracies the better!
And this is worse than the front door the NSA comes in through via every web interaction you make.
NSA. Don’t mind us. Nothing to see here.
Aw crap, I forgot about that. The low price made me forget about potential espionage. But Cyanogen wouldn’t allow that tho… /hat on
Futurama and the Legion of Madfellows rule!
i care that the phone is coming in at a $299 price point.
I really don’t care….big companies use shady practices even worse than this all the time.
Difference now is WE get to benefit because its a excellent yet affordable device.
I like your profile picture.
I don’t get why people keep saying HTC makes such great phones and they’re surprised they’re not doing better. They made a GIGANTIC phone with only a so-so sized screen and a mediocre camera. I like the Note line but I won’t carry a Note sized phone with a regular phone sized screen. The phone is exceptionally zippy but those are just huge flaws. They dropped the ball on kid stuff. I’m bummed, too. If not for those issues I’d love to at least rock one for a while… but those mistakes are too big.
Exactly, HTC has lost the battle long ago. They make a fancy iPhone aluminum body that’s nice but Sense UI sucks and lack of SD card / removable battery is a deal breaker for many people including myself.
I thought the same thing when it was revealed. But I played with it for a bit and after buying one, don’t even notice the bezel. Having good speakers is AWESOME! The camera? Takes photos that look just great on my phone. I have had galaxy users impressed by the camera. Which goes to show the camera on the HTC One is just fine for your average user that takes pics to message people or post on social media.
Oppo and OnePlus are using different, and mutually exclusive distribution models. Selling directly to consumers isn’t going to gain them points with the cellular providers who appear to be more concerned with locking down devices than subsidizing them. This way they can still attempt to sell Oppo through conventional modes (though the Cyanogenmod option probably kills that option) while selling OnePlus direct.
Whether the motivation is based on contractual, identity or marketing criteria I think the question should be whether they are offering (and supporting) a competitive product at a competitive price and the early indications are “yes”. A resounding “yes”.
while you may be right, you may also be wrong!
What I post here, I found in the first 5 minutes after reading your article with simple Google searches
They are saying that they are a seperate company, see here: http://www.droid-life.com/2014/04/28/does-oppo-own-oneplus/
They have have the money for this device: http://www.droid-life.com/2013/12/19/cyanogenmod-raises-another-23-million-in-funding-looking-to-hire-squad-of-new-engineers/
Yeah, I very well may be wrong. I just like a good conspiracy.
Don’t cut yourself short. You’re definitely going in the right direction. They’re separate companies but they’re all owned by the same parent. I think OnePlus was designed to do what Oppo could not. Who doesn’t love a cheap phone? Xiaomi needs competition in China too. Why not cover the low end and the high end of the of price spectrum and compete on both fronts. Some people will buy the exact same phone at a higher price just because they feel higher is better.
Not sure what you mean by “over the weekend.” Seems to me that every single Engadget post ever written about OnePlus mentioned Pete Lau’s former role at Oppo. The only “new” news seems to have been that Oppo is a “manufacturing partner.”
I won’t buy one, but not for that reason. My Moto G is a better size for my needs… I’m not looking for a phablet. Still, it’s good to see more choices in the bang-for-the-buck category.
If you read the forums, they announced that Oppo was a manufacturing partner for at least a couple of months now. It wasn’t that big of a surprise to anyone following the phone since February.
As deceptive as it appears to be, this structure may give confidence to buyers to know that OnePlus is not a small start-up, but a company backed by very serious resources. From a service and support perspective, that certainly helps.
Exactly what I was thinking. Much better chance of getting support and updates for the next couple of years.
“Samsung has proven in the last few years that brand name means more than product quality. HTC consistently makes better devices that don’t sell nearly as well.”
Your fanboysism is showing.
Let’s look at this in a rational manner.
Galaxy S1 (2010) – Was outsold by the myriad of higher quality HTC devices (Desire and its variants, such as the Evo 4G, Incredible, etc.). The S1 was a clear iPhone copy as well.
Galaxy S2 (2011) – HTC’s best international competitor was the Sensation, which wasn’t adopted in the same manner in the US. HTC had a hodge-podge of US phones, and this is where the wheels started to fall off. The S2 was the first bonafide hit for Samsung. In addition, Samsung updated their S2 to Android 4.1.2, whereas the Sensation variants were left on 4.0.4 (at best), with some models stuck on 2.3.x. HTC was a mess.
Galaxy S3 (2012) – HTC’s competitor, the One X, pioneered the trend of “less is more” by removing features. I believe this was where they took away both the removable battery and MicroSD. HTC fanboys have championed this as being “better.” I consider it “limiting.” Also, this generation once again saw more software updates on Samsung’s end.
Galaxy S4 (2013) – The HTC One was a viable competitor to the S4 and clearly shows that HTC is on the rebound. Their poor financials are as a result of their prior missteps. The HTC One’s lack of MicroSD card was offset by offering 32/64GB configurations. Their lack of removable battery was offset by offering better efficiency (comparable battery life on a smaller battery) and a unique and appealing design. I wouldn’t say that the One was better than the S4, but if I had to choose between the two with no GPe versions, I’d take the One. HTC has also done an excellent job on software updates while promising two years of support.
Galaxy S5 (2014) – A bit of a mirror of last year. Both companies improved their phones in meaningful ways. HTC got rid of that side plastic (reminding me of Pontiac in the 90s) and added MicroSD support. Samsung added dust/water resistance.
Bottom line is that HTC isn’t suffering compared to Samsung due to lack of advertising (while offering superior devices). HTC offered a of barrage of inferior devices for a few years before finally getting their act together. I hope that it pays dividends. But HTC hasn’t had a clearly superior phone to the Galaxy line since 2010, and even then, the S1 fared better in long term support.
Call me a fanboy if you want, but my last few mobile devices have been made by LG, Asus, Nokia, and Microsoft.
I couldn’t care less about the stupid Samsung vs HTC battle. I’m just calling it like I see it.
Well that makes perfect sense. The fact that your “last few mobile devices have been made by LG, Asus, Nokia, and Microsoft,” explains precisely why you think “HTC consistently makes better devices” than Samsung.
I’m terribly sorry, didn’t know I was talking to the guy that knows everything. My bad.
Come on Joey, I’m a fan. I listen to you every week on The Mobile Roar Podcast, I expected better from you than that. I don’t know everything, and didn’t say I did, but I am saying having owned HTC and Samsung phones recently as daily drivers, I know more about them than someone who says they haven’t. Just as when I want an opinion on which of “LG, Asus, Nokia, and Microsoft,” makes superior devices, I would turn to you.
I don’t see what he said was so bad. He said HTC makes better devices than Samsung, and I’d have to agree in my opinion.
What he said wasn’t bad, if that’s his opinion. The problem is, how can he have a legitimate opinion on devices he doesn’t own and use. The answer is, you can not. If your last daily drivers were made by “LG, Asus, Nokia, and Microsoft,” it’s irresponsible for you to proclaim HTC phones better than Samsung. Those proclamations should be made by people with actual real world, long term experience with both.
And that’s why you got called out. You assumed that Samsung is selling more because of brand/marketing and not quality. HTC strips features while Samsung adds features. HTC sells a more streamlined device whereas Samsung sells a bloated device filled to the brim with features. When people makes their own personal checklists for a new phone, Samsung hits more of those features for more people. It comes down to, “Do I settle for the better, but less feature complete phone, or do I settle for the bloat to get my desired features?”
But to say that one CLEARLY had superior devices for the last few years? That’s blatant fanboyism.
And note, I didn’t say that you were a pro HTC fanboy. I was implying that you were an anti-Samsung fanboy, as many of your cohorts here are. And since your last few devices were “made by LG, Asus, Nokia, and Microsoft,” well, thanks for furthering my point.
You miss the entire point. You may compile a list of features to pick a phone. Someone else may prefer something simpler. We’re not all fanboys, we just all like different things.
Is this where you want me to say #HOLOYOLO? ;)
The point is that HTC doesn’t make better devices than Samsung yet suffer lower sales based in advertising. That’s where you wrong. Yes, some may prefer HTC but as you alluded to, it doesn’t mean they make better devices, just means they prefer HTC devices. I’ve owned a slew of HTC devices in the past but switched to Samsung devices for the last 2 iterations because they better fit my needs. Samsung makes a better device IMO, the near bezel free screen, replaceable battery and micro SD card support means more to me than anything HTC has to offer.
You were said “IMO” yet you are bashing him for his clearly titled “opinion piece.” Samsung makes great devices, and does offer a few things that HTC doesn’t, but if you check multiple review sites, you’ll see a number of people preferring HTC over the past 2 years. It’s not some one sided race, its splitting hairs, but yeah.
Pretty much my point.
And you, Joe Fedewa, would be wrong. The market disagrees with you as well.
so he is a fanboy because he disagrees with your fanboy views?
Yo dawg we heard you’re a fanboy…
I want a fanboy in my fanboy
Well put. I’ve owned many HTC and Samsung devices over the years but Samsung always wins my business because they make more solid devices in the long run. My HTC devices have been buggy, Sense UI has been more bloated than Touchwiz, and the lack of SD card and removable battery has been all negatives in my opinion, hence why I buy Samsung instead of the iPhone “me too” HTC phone.
your opinion seems to be in the minority or maybe just outdated because nearly every review site says otherwise.
Don’t care, awesome phone, insane price. Still getting it.
And you know this how? Since you don’t have it?
Because it’s being manufactured by Oppo along side the Find 7.
All it is right now are spec sheets and promises on an invite only device. And reports from some of the few sources who have actually seen one, saying the build quality is cheap.
I’ve only watch Android Authority’s review and it was all positive. Even compared it to Find 7A.
There have been quite a few reviews and they’re quite positive.
Who the hell cares? A $299 flagship phone is still a $299 flagship phone.
“Who is making all of the parts?” One Plus / Pete Lau said Oppo would be back when the company was first announced.
Anyways, this is all public knowledge. It just wasn’t touted from the heavens. I remember seeing it back a few months ago after we ran the story on their trademark as that’s the first time we saw the full company name. I checked out the domain whois to see if that name was on there too and I saw Oppo.
Besides, it’s all BBK Electronics. Oppo Electronics is a subsidiary of BBK Electronics. Oppo Mobile is owned by BBK Electronics.
You might have found this information “over the weekend” but most people that have been following the OnePlus One have known this since the beginning. The One is also manufactured at Oppo factories.
You may think you’re cool for finding out about things before Phandroid published an article about it, but you really aren’t.
I’m honestly not seeing the deception here. Maybe I’m the exception to the rule, but I saw this one coming a mile away. I never doubted that they were joined at the hip to Oppo.
But why is this such a big deal?! Yeah, it’s practically the same phone as the Find 7a, but with Cyanogenmod preinstalled and a price staying at just $299, aren’t we splitting hairs? It just seems like people are looking for things to complain about with this phone. I won’t be buying one because it’s too big for my tastes, but that’s about the only real flaw I can find with this phone.
The OnePlus One is like the Nexus Find 7/7A. Almost the same phone, slightly different looking, lower price, and missing some features (removable battery, SD card, MaxxAudio, 50MP pictures)
You’re forgetting 1+1 has CyanogenMod while Find 7A has Android with Oppo’s overlay.
… Just like the Nexus 5 vs. LG G2. Stock vs. OEM UI.
The OPO can take 50 MP stills as well. The camera tech is the same
I’m sure most cameras could do the 50MP stills trick with the right software. The One Plus uses the CM camera and is missing all the advanced Oppo camera features. Maybe it will get ported eventually but I might be harder than it sounds.
Don’t care, because the flagship-ish 1+ phone is an insane value relative to big brands, and I had already assumed that OnePlus was just trying to be a “cooler” spinoff of lesser-known Oppo. I didn’t feel “lied to” about the phone size, nor about the company association.
The only things I do care about are:
1) The 1+ reviews (specifically the display quality & camera) VS Note 3.
2) Availability.
3) T-Mobile LTE compatibility
4) No more “smash your phone” promos. That was pretty lame.
May or may not sidegrade from my Note 3, as losing SDCard and external battery would be a big bummer, especially since having CyanogenMod on my Note3 means it can workaround the KitKat neutering of the SDCard. However, CM on the 1+ will work 100% vs only about 95% on my Note3 (still no NFC, MHL output, some random reboots, etc).
Great specs with CyanogenMod, who care and who is surprised. This isn’t a surprise nor a shock. The only concern is how well supported will this phone be and how frequent will updates come. Does being related to Oppo mean frequent OS updates or not?
I’d honestly be interested to see what they could do as a OnePlus OneS or something. A more luxurious phone for $450-500 or so. I’d never buy in that price point, but if they can dish out something awesome like they did for $300, they could do something really awesome at $500. Maybe waterproof it and add a sweet camera and some other touches (please no stupid fingerprint scanner). I’m sure some people would buy it if they knew about it.
I love the line… “why is the name of the phone a math equation?”.
OnePlus One => O.P.O.
but really, who cares? you sound like you’re peeved that you didn’t ‘get it’ right away… they’re making waves, it doesn’t necessarily hurt you at all. instead, you get a cheaper phone.
i would buy an Oppo but they don’t have the right LTE bands.
is this misleading?? i guess depends on the person. some say it’s not. some say it is. it is just like the comment they made earlier on about fitting a 5.5″ screen into a 5″ phone (or something like that).
but they have set out to do what they said they would. good phone at a good price — ok, till they actually release and sell the phone, this one is still a “?”.
anyway, auto industry have been doing that… various brands under one parent company.
so, no surprise here. they do compliment each other, in a way. anyone not keen on one product from one company can just try out the other.
“need microSD slot, well, OPPO there has one.”
“want a cheaper phone and don’t need a microSD slot? why… OnePlus has something.”
I really don’t care who makes it. If I can buy a super high end specd device for that price it’s awesome for me and surly for the whole world. This new phone will change the market completely for years to come. I am sure many brand name companies have just gone back to the drawing board. Horraaay for one plus or Oppo! !!
Your conspiracy is obviously true, I noticed the exact match upon release with that huge size. There’s nothing premium about the Oppo device tho. The price on the 1+1 is what has me biting. I do have to go hold a few phablets before I decide.
LTE band support is why I’m waiting for the opo (T-Mobile)… And its close to HALF the price…
wow.
I would definitely be interested in One+ when it’s available. I love the specs and T-mobile LTE compatibility. That’s all i care about. Let’s not forget the great price for 64 GB device.
uhh, you do realize the SGS5 has better battery life, vastly better display (brighter, more brilliant, better contrast, it’s laughable when the screen quality disparity is now so huge in favor of the Galaxy S it even shows up obviously on every youtube video of the two phones, let alone real life), a removable battery, fingerprint sensor, more usable screen area due to not having both a huge bezel and onscreen buttons like HTC M8, is lighter, is water resistant unlike M8. M8 only wins speakers. SGS5 is objectively the better phone than HTC M8, it’s really not arguable. What’s sad is so many biased paid off sites like Phandroid claiming HTC is better for the shallow superficial reason of “premium feel” (never mind you can buy a great looking and feeling spigen case for SGS5 for 20 bucks). Imagine if an auto site was like “yeah, it’s clear this truck is worse than the other one, has worse gas mileage, less reliable, but we think it looks cooler so we give it a higher review”. Yet this happens almost without fail with HTC phones and nobody bats an eye.
This is why I dont trust reviews in almost any field. Just like any Sony exclusive automatically wins GOTY from paid off game sites. I would recommend using Adblock on obviously paid, corrupt sites like Phandroid.
And bashing the One Plus one just doubles my opinion. It looks MUCH nicer than the M8, yet these hypocrites who rate the M8 as the best phone and give the reason of “premium feel” now bash it? Maybe because it destroys the M8 in feel and build quality for half the price and now their joke is exposed? Where is your build quality now, Phandroid?
I admit I’m a bit skeptical of Chinese quality on the One Plus One, but the Oppo phones seem to get decent reviews, and for 299 with top of the line specs, well it doesn’t have to be perfect to be an awesome buy. Unless I guess, your site is paid by HTC and the One Plus is a threat to your already poor selling, inferior quality phone… I’m at least waiting to see on One Plus judging by Oppo being decent. Phone editors dont realize, real people actually have to pay for their own phones, they dont get them free along with a check from HTC. $299 is a big deal.
Edit: And I like how this idiot was like “will people buy the better Find 7 or the One Plus just because of marketing”
Oh yeah, the $200 price difference just DOESNT EXIST. Are you SERIOUS? Are you this dumb? Is HTC paying you THAT much, that $200 is nothing to you?
This guy should really stop writing about phones.
you really got some problems
He may have been ranting, that’s true. His take on a large part of the Android techie population being bigger fangirls about HTC and it’s “awesome metal build” than preteen girls at Justin Bieber’s early concerts is dead-on, though.
I like his “objectively better” and “not arguable”
…then I wonder why not just reviewers, but also most “normal” people find M8 just better than the S5… maybe it’s not just the hardware with M8, but also the software, which is actually more important for the “feel”, because we interact with it all the time.
anyway, I won’t rant about what is arguable/objective and what not, everybody knows what’s better for themselves, but I like shark’s anger
I dunno, you’re talking as if the majority of people out there will have heard of one company over another. The truth is, there’s little chance that most people will have heard of either company. Even if this is some conspiracy by Oppo, I don’t blame them. HTC has proven that it takes more than a great device to dethrone Samsung, the One and M8 are both amazing but don’t sell comparatively well compared to Samsung’s offerings. Even if the Find 7a or One+ are the best devices out there, it takes more than that to make them a success. Nobody can compete with the marketing budget of Samsung, so realistically what do you think they should do? Spawning another company specifically designed to use guerilla marketing against Samsung to push a flagship device is, if anything, actually pretty clever.
Ultimately, if brand matters to you then they did the right thing. If brand doesn’t matter to you, then you’re still going to go for what you think the best device is, regardless of manufacturer or who actually owns it.
I prefer gorilla tactics myself. Unfortunately Apple and Samsung are very good at Silverbacking the hell out of everyone else.
Uhm, hello?!… Great Phone, Great Price. I DO NOT CARE IF IT WAS MADE BY FUCKING PYGMIES FROM CONGO, I’M BUYING!!!
Too bad it is bigger than a pygmy from the congo.
get bigger pockets.
I would need bigger hands too.
If you can’t use a phone with one hand I am out.
@Durin123:disqus If you’re going to buy this phone, you can buy your own pants.
@h4rr4r:disqus actually I agree with you, right around 4″ screens are perfect. However, with the specs that are coming out, I don’t see many options for smaller screens. perhaps project Ara is right up your alley?
Give me some money for pants with bigger pockets.
As a pygmy from the Congo, I take offense
Oppo Elecronics: the financial backer of both OnePlus and Oppo Mobile, but they are not the same even though OnePlus uses all (ex) Oppo Staff ;)
Big “who cares?” from me. Also HTC consistently make better devices? Bullshit, just because your sold by the aluminium shell doesn’t make it a better phone.
Sick of the HTC bias on this website, how much are they paying you?
A website-wide HTC bias? I’d argue not. It seems the bias swings from one side to the other based entirely on who wrote the article.
People who think HTC devices are better than Samsung’s or other plastic devices are no better than the douchefags who believe the iPhone is better than every other device because it’s made of metal. They’re beating a horse that’s been dead for 18 months. Let it go.
(O)ne (P)lus (P)lus (O)ne – Just a thought?
=.O
I have a much more plausible explanation. Aliens!
If they can make one in a size smaller than a dinner plate I will be interested. My Nexus 5 is plenty big enough.
does it really matter. call it a marketing strategy that seems to be working. I am still in line for one
Lexus>Toyota
Infinity>Nissan
Companies do this all the time where high end and low end go through the same production lines. Kinda odd to keep it a secret though.
I’m sick of the opinion articles.
All of these articles about “deception” are so weird to me. What deception? I head about the phone a few months ago, there was mention of Oppo then. Are all of you mobile tech writers that unaware, still, of how this all works? Of course they are intimately funded by Oppo. This was no surprise at all and it really wasn’t even a secret. Perhaps the relationship wasn’t explicitly stated but that doesn’t mean they were lying.
I think the biggest problem with this one has nothing to do with specs or anything, because at this price this phone is a steal! The real issue is the availability. Invite only? Come on, what is this, a limited production Ferrari? Do you not want business? Both the smash your old phone campaign and invite only thing is making my facepalm. I’d definitely get this phone at this price, but there’s just no viable way to do so and I don’t even know when I would be able to get it either.
Still looks like some nice choices for us phandroids! I just purchased a blu life pure mini recently. This is an awesome little budget phone! I’ll b keeping an eye out for this so called m8 ace too! :-)
this is the most idiotic thing I’ve read on the internet this morning…and that’s saying a lot.
#firstworldproblems much?
“OMG. I was a ‘victim’ of advertising. I’m furious and I’m going to take to the internet to fight this injustice!”
ok…so wut?
Soo……. Brand management happen all the time. Toyota vs Lexus, Opel vs Vauxhall, Nissan vs Infiniti etc.
Besides neither Oppo nor OnePlus enjoy any brand regonition in North America anyway. As long as it is as good as it proclaim, it makes no different whether it is call Oppo Find 7a or OnePlus One.
Find 7 has 2 GB of ram, 1+1 has 3 GB -> Find 7 is not superior in every aspect.
Does Find 7 use stock android or CM? If stock, then 1+1 is worth buying for the software alone.
Not sure about the marketing trick, could be – thanks for the heads up, I will have to compare the two phones more in depth.
Find 7a runs on “ColorOS”, which is a variant of Jelly Bean. The OnePlus One does indeed feature an additional gigabyte of RAM (for a total of 3GB) and a polished variant of CM11 (i.e. a “stable” version, while many common hardware models do not have stable ROMs for CM11 yet), which is forked from Android KitKat 4.4.3 (which only started to roll out to Nexus devices at the beginning of April 2014).
Otherwise, the two phones are nearly identical. I wouldn’t write this off as a marketing ploy just yet, though. It doesn’t surprise me in the least that Oppo needed to back the new company for it to take off. It appears that Oppo has a sizable stake in the new company (which is why they let their VP take off and create it), but they don’t seem to have a controlling share – this is why OnePlus is courting other investors.
Could go either way, I suppose. Doesn’t change the fact that right this second, as of the release date of the OnePlus One, it’s the best damn phone on the market in terms of both hardware and software. Let’s not get too caught up in the story, shall we? ;-)
I don’t see why there is so Much hate. Seems like they are just mad they didn’t get the phones to keep. Honestly I don’t care if its all a trick by oppo for brand awareness since they are still giving me a powerful phone at just $300 with taxes. Nothing can beat that. Also its not the find 7 since of better specs.
I couldn’t care less who’s behind One Plus. They’ll be providing a true flagship model at less than half what Samsung charges. They’re like T-Mobile outing the industry for the rip-offs they are. There’s not truly competition until there’s price competition. Nexus has come close but always seemed lacking something.
Wow. Terrible article is terrible! Why does it matter? They ARE a startup! The guy LEFT his company to start another. Stuff like this happens ALL the time! And the fact that they work with Oppo? Why would they work with anyone but the people they’ve built their careers around? The guy had a vision he couldn’t live out at Oppo so he started his own company and set out to make his dream a reality. And he has. I’m not the only one who knew from day 1 Oppo would be a sister company to OnePlus. It’s not like it was a secret. And they’re not lying to anyone. They ARE a startup!!!! And why would a company need to completely rebrand itself to make its presence known in another market? Especially if it’s never sold devices there before? Did Apple have to rebrand itself to start selling phones in China? This is by FAR the worst article I’ve read all week if not all year. I understand you’re just trying to make stir the pot to get comments and hits, but really? It makes people hate the site that much more when you put out these terrible opinion articles. No consumer anywhere will feel “played” after having spent $300 on a device that would be selling for $600 of sold by any other company. Also the Find 7a is definitely different from the 1+1. It has fast charging, a removable battery and less Ram. The Find 7 is closer in spec but it has a QHD display. Such ignorance from this author. It’s sickening that some gullible people will read this article and believe it. And the Update at the bottom is icing on the cake. Almost a “everything I just said is false because ‘ ___ ‘ ” bahaha
The relationship between oneplus and OPPO have been front and central to discussion around this phone as long as I’ve been aware of it.
There are almost as many differences as similarities between the 1+1 and the Find 7A.
Oh and 1+1 is ~0.6 the price of Find7 – which seems fairly noticeable as someone not getting review units to try out.
This is a shameless pathetic link bait article which adds absolutely nothing.
I will certainly look out for the phandroid.com URL to avoid wasting my time in future.
Big whoop. Everyone complains about overpriced phones, too many of the same similar brand (galaxy S xyz), so here is a company trying to take on the overprice “flagship” phones and someone cares who is the company behind it?
I’m picky, and I”m also cheap when it comes to spending money on something like a phone. I still have my 2+ year old Galaxy Note because the others are all 700+ off contract! If Oppo or OnePlus can deliver a 5.5″ device and it lives up to the hype, it will probably be my next device.