Thursday, December 11, 2014

OnePlus One Unboxing

I might not write on here very often, but the next few weeks here are something to look forward to. That's right -- as suggested by the title I am doing a review of the OnePlus One! For now, this post is specifically about the unboxing and related detail. other items will be saved for the full review.

Ordering

Before I get into the actual unboxing, I do want to touch base a bit on how I actually ordered the phone. Currently there is 2 ways of officially ordering this device. You can 1) Get an invite to order straight away or 2) Pre-order it using the OnePlus Pre-order system. I actually wanted to order my phone a few days before the November 17 preorders. However, despite the best efforts of some of my greater friends in my chat, I couldn't get an invite before November 17 so I had to order on Monday. I ordered at the end of the 1 hour window so my order was originally pushed back to 2-3 weeks. Then it was 3-4 weeks. Then it was 4-5 weeks. I got an invite to skip the queue, and had my phone at my doorstep on the following Friday. TL;DR: Ordered my phone on Monday, skipped the queue from 4-5 weeks and got the phone on Friday.

Unboxing

I'd be lying if unboxing this device didn't feel premium in nature. It's the best phone packaging that I've ever seen.
The phone was shipped to me via USPS 2-day Priority Mail. It wasn't in a box (at least on the outside). It was in a padded mailer-type thing. Enough about that, though.
As you can see, the charger is indeed not part of the main package. I'm okay with this, actually. The phone can be used anywhere internationally, but the charger can be included at the regional level so actual units can be shipped anywhere.
Out of the brown box, you're greeted with another box. A rather nice white box, with a red "case" slid inside of it.
One thing that you can't easily tell is the texture on the boxes. It's actually very hard to describe, at least for me. All I can say is that it feels "premium" to me. The texture is not rough, nor smooth...It's kind of "in the middle". Either way, the package is premium for sure.
Inside the red "box" (I don't really know what to call it so I'm using words interchangeably), the first thing you'll see is the OnePlus One itself. Newer batches of the phone also come with a nano-SIM tray. I ordered myself a micro-SIM card anyways.

The plastic on the phone screen has a few warnings on it as well as some information. It's not a screen protector, obviously. You can order that as a separate accessory. In my case, I just ordered the phone and that's it.
Removing the phone tray, you find yourself the SIM ejection tool, and its keychain pouch. You'll also find the pretty slick USB cable. The wire is flat to avoid tangles. The cord itself actually isn't long. I wish it was longer cord, but for the price I guess I can't complain that much. Perhaps OnePlus can sell a longer USB cord as an accessory?

The charger box isn't very special. It has a "sleeve", and that's about it. The charger puts out 5 volts @ 2 amps, which is used to charge the OnePlus One's large battery

Setup

I didn't take pictures or make a video of the actual setup of the pone. CyanogenMod/Cyanogen OS offers you an account in their own system, but I skipped doing this and used my normal Google account instead. This isn't Android L, so logging in with 2-factor authentication was just a tad bit more difficult. Other than that, setup was fine and went very smoothly.

Wrap-up

Well, this brings me to the end of this unboxing. I'll save my opinions of the device for the full review, which will probably be in a few weeks. Lately I've been busy in real life as well, so the wait might be extended. Sorry about that.