OnePlus’ dual camera OnePlus 5 starts at $649 in Canada

One of the smartphone industry’s worst kept secrets is finally official.

OnePlus has detailed its latest high-end smartphone, the OnePlus 5. The OP5 sees the company attempting to build a smartphone that features a main camera that is just as good as the best its competitors offer.

Starting with the basics, however, the OnePlus is a 5.5-inch device with 1920 x 1080 pixel display that supports the DCI-P3 colour gamut. It includes Qualcomm’s latest 10nm chip, the Snapdragon 835.

Depending on the model, the OnePlus features either 6GB or 8GB of RAM and either 64GB or 128GB of internal storage — the company’s latest phone once again trades in a microSD slot for dual-SIM functionality, so there’s no way to expand the amount of storage available on device without the use of a cloud service like Google Drive or Dropbox.

At 7.25mm thick, the OnePlus 5 is the company’s thinnest flagship to date. The OnePlus 5 also features a slightly smaller battery than its predecessor — 3,300mAh compared to 3,400mAh. Despite the smaller capacity battery, OnePlus says battery life is improved by 20 percent compared to the OnePlus 3T. The company also adds that its proprietary Dash Charge fast charging solution is able to give the OnePlus 5 up to one day of battery life in 30 minutes.

Of course, internal specs tell only part of the OnePlus 5’s story. In the lead up to the launch of this device, OnePlus played up the OP5’s dual rear-facing camera system, and, on paper at least, it sounds like an impressive package. According to OnePlus, the OP5 features the highest resolution dual camera system currently on the market.

It pairs together one 16-megapixel Sony IMX 398 sensor with f/1.7 aperture lens and another 20-megapixel Sony IMX 350 sensor with a f/2.6 telephoto lens. On the front of the phone is a 16-megapixel IMX371 sensor with f/2.0 aperture lens. The OnePlus 5 is no slouch at video either. It can capture 4K video at 30fps and slow motion 120fps video at 720p.

One missing feature is optical image stabilization, which could lead to less than ideal low-light performance.

Supporting the OnePlus 5’s impressive new camera hardware are a number of enhanced software capture features. Like with the iPhone 7 Plus, the OnePlus 5 includes a dedicated ‘portrait mode.’

Portrait mode sees the OnePlus 5’s two sensors working together to create separation between the subject and background. OnePlus says its software will ensure that a subject’s face is properly exposed and in focus while the background is blurred out.

Another new camera feature is ‘smart capture’, which uses the OP5’s telephoto lens to provide a combination of optical and digital zoom.

Using the two sensors, OnePlus says it has also been able to improve auto-focus performance by 40 percent.

OnePlus has also reworked its camera app to include a new pro mode that allows users to adjust image capture variables like ISO, white balance, shutter speed, focus and exposure compensation. This mode also includes an on-screen histogram, and it can output images in RAW format, allowing users to post-process their snaps with an image editing app like Snapseed or Lightroom.

Elsewhere on the software front, the OnePlus 5 ships with the latest version of the company’s OxygenOS skin. Built on Android 7.1.1, the skin includes a new a Kindle-like reading mode that uses the phone’s ambient light sensor and gray-scale mapping to create a more comfortable reading experience. OnePlus has also added a new gaming do not disturb mode that mutes any notifications and prevents errant hardware button presses from taking the user out a game. Lastly, the company is debuting an app priority mode that loads that speeds up how quickly the user’s most used apps load.

The OnePlus 5 supports all major Canadian carrier bands, including Band 66, which means it’s compatible with Freedom Mobile’s AWS-3 LTE network. In terms of connectivity, the OnePlus 5 also supports Wi-Fi 802.11 ac, Bluetooth 5.0 and NFC. Anyone that buys the OnePlus 5 won’t need to buy a new pair headphone either, as the phone comes with a 3.5mm headphone jack, in addition to a USB-C port for data transfer and charging.

Canadian consumers can purchase the OnePlus 5 starting today through the OnePlus online store using the code “Clearer Photos”. The smartphone is available in two different configurations. At $649, there’s the ‘Slate Gray’ variant, which comes with 6GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage. For $70 more, consumers can get the ‘Midnight Black’ variant, which instead features 8GB RAM and 128GB of internal storage.

On June 27th, OnePlus will open OnePlus 5 orders to all consumers.