*** DONE My OnePlus 5 Smartphone :blog:hardware:mobile:phones:software: CLOSED: [2017-09-14 Thu 20:50] SCHEDULED: <2017-09-14 Thu> :PROPERTIES: :ID: 2017-09-14-OnePlus5 :CREATED: [2017-09-14 Thu 17:17] :END: :LOGBOOK: - State "DONE" from "DONE" [2017-10-14 Sat 14:59] - State "DONE" from "STARTED" [2017-09-14 Thu 20:50] :END: Update 2017-10-14: OnePlus spyware I've got a new smartphone. It's a [[https://oneplus.net/at/5][OnePlus 5]] 32GB. My must-have requirements were: - Not much bigger than my Nexus 5 (5") - Dual-SIM because I have to use a business-SIM as well - Android without bloat-ware - SD-Card or at least 64 Gigabytes of storage - Audio headjack - GPS, compass My nice-to-have requirements were: - [[https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/][LineageOS-support]] for future options - [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near-field_communication][NFC]] - [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qi_(standard)][Qi]] for wireless charging The OnePlus 5 is almost a perfect match. Its dimensions are a little bit bigger and it does not feature Qi charging. The price tag of 500€ is tough but lucky me, I only had to pay a fraction because it is a device my company owns. I probably would not have paid that much money for a smartphone. **** My Thoughts After Using it for Two Weeks You might have followed [[https://twitter.com/search?q=%40n0v0id%20oneplus&src=typd][my tweets on the OnePlus 5]]. Here are my most important findings so far. First of all, the device is slippery. I won't use it without its neat wood-like case that adds better *grip* to the back-side. The *LED* is way too small. In comparison to my old Nexus 5, the LED notification is hardly noticeable. Same holds for the *vibration alarm*. My Nexus 5 was put to vibrate-only most of the time. I noticed its vibrations and its LED reliably. Not so with the OnePlus 5. Now, I have to think about using a not that crazy and not so loud sound instead. Too bad for my peers I will have to annoy in the future. I'd say that it is a disadvantage that it does not come with a micro *USB port*. It has the newer USB-C type connector which makes my set of cables and chargers useless. I bought myself some cheap adaptors to fix this. #+CAPTION: Tweet by me with link to http://karl-voit.at/2015/07/29/Smartphone-battery/ #+ATTR_HTML: :alt @OnePlus 5 #DashCharge: in 30mins 23%➡️77% I am impressed. 😯 No more over-night charging? 🤔 http://karl-voit.at/2015/07/29/Smartphone-battery/ (article from 2015) #+ATTR_HTML: :align center :width 584 [[tsfile:2017-09-03T01.00 Twitter.com - n0v0id - OnePlus5 DashCharge impressive -- publicvoit screenshots.png][https://twitter.com/n0v0id/status/904116813256167425]] On the plus side, having an USB-C connector does offer some advantages as well. The so called *[[https://www.androidcentral.com/dash-charge][dash charger]]* of the phone is an amazing thing. Recharging is unbelievable fast. The *battery* lasts for at least one and a half days with my current usage pattern. I hope that even in a few years, the battery will last for a day. [[https://www.startpage.com/do/search?q=oneplus+5+camera][Many reviews mention the built-in *camera*]]. Yes, it is really impressive. No noticeable shutter lag, nice portrait mode with its cool [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bokeh][bokeh effect]], lossless 2× zoom, really easy to use software. Despite my concerns against the wrong advertisement of fingerprint readers as a security enhancement, I actually started to use the *fingerprint reader* to unlock the screen. Remember: It's a nice convenience feature, not a security win. The sensor is ultra fast and I can unlock the device reliably in any angle of my registered fingers. Even upside down. The *display* is huge and has a nice resolution. The *launcher* of OxygenOS allows for much more icons to be placed on the desktops. The *night mode* lets me read in the evening without hurting my eyes. I could not find out why I should use the *reading mode* that "simulates" an eBook reader display since the night mode seems to do the trick. The OxygenOS is almost a *clean Android* 7 with some few add-ons that really make sense to me. [[https://twitter.com/petelau2007/status/869871185374265344][It will get Android O]] so that the current [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OxygenOS][OxygenOS]] 4.5.10 (Android 7.1.1) will be updated probably end of this year or Q1 of 2018. #+CAPTION: Tweet by me: App required to get black background. #+ATTR_HTML: :alt In order to get a black background, I have to install an app on my @OnePlus 5. We've lost functionality on the way 😒 https://play.google.com/store/apps/det #+ATTR_HTML: :align center :width 584 [[tsfile:2017-09-02T11.06 Twitter.com - n0v0id - In order to get a black background, I have to install an app on my OnePlus -- publicvoit screenshots.png][https://twitter.com/n0v0id/status/903906891306291200]] I very much appreciate the three-stage hardware *alert slider* although I can not configure it the way I want it to. The options here are very limited so that I use it only to go to full silent mode and back. I'd definitely love to see more options to switch sound/vibration/visual profiles with it. The *speakers* are placed at the bottom like my Nexus 5. In comparison to it, the OnePlus 5 speakers are really, really loud. I mean it. I can listen to talks, TV shows, music in a large room even with some background noise without issues. Amazing engineering here as well. #+CAPTION: Tweet by me: Signal is able to use registered phone number of SIM2 & data from SIM1. #+ATTR_HTML: :alt I can confirm: #Signal is able to use registered phone number of SIM2 & data from SIM1. Even with disabled SIM2. Thanks @whispersystems #+ATTR_HTML: :align center :width 583 [[tsfile:2017-09-02T13.31 Twitter.com - n0v0id - I can confirm - Signal is able to use registered phone number of SIM2 and data from SIM1 -- screenshots publicvoit.png][https://twitter.com/n0v0id/status/903943532385378304]] This is my first *dual-SIM* experience. I'm glad that I don't have to carry around a second smartphone. However, the software support for dual-SIM is very poor. For example I can only choose between "select the SIM number 1 or 2 to use on every call" and "ask me every time which SIM to use for this call/message". I was hoping for a more clever solution where the phone recognizes the previously used SIM for this contact which is then re-used when I call or text somebody again. I can go on with several examples. Some things might be solve-able via third party apps I have yet to find. Those things should really be handled in the default software setup. The OnePlus 5 *storage capacity* can not be extended by using an SD card. On my Nexus 5, I had only 16 Gigabytes with a real-world capacity of only one Gigabyte left for daily usage. The 64 Gigabytes of the OnePlus 5 with approximately fifty Gigabytes of real world capacity left for my daily useage are a big win. #+CAPTION: Tweet by me complaining about the bad SAR value. #+ATTR_HTML: :alt Too bad that I found out that the @OnePlus 5 I ordered has a rather high #SAR value of ~1.5 (compared to ~0.5 of N5) https://t.co/xtSlsvMEjK #+ATTR_HTML: :align center :width 578 [[tsfile:2017-08-31T12.24 Twitter.com - n0v0id - Too bad that I found out that the OnePlus5 has a high SAR value -- screenshots publicvoit.png][https://twitter.com/n0v0id/status/903201830611685376]] Unfortunately, I had to find out that [[http://www.bfs.de/SiteGlobals/Forms/Suche/BfS/DE/SARsuche_Formular.html][the OnePlus 5 has a bad *SAR value* of 1.39 W/kg (ear) and 1.48 W/kg (body)]]. It is still clearly below the maximum permissible value of 2.0 W/kg. However, my Nexus 5 and most other current smartphones are below 0.5 W/kg. Not a show-stopper but I'd like to use a phone with a better SAR value instead. Overall, I am quite happy with my OnePlus 5 with a few drawbacks mentioned above. **** OnePlus Spyware (and Its Removal) :PROPERTIES: :END: After [[https://www.chrisdcmoore.co.uk/post/oneplus-analytics/][an analysis proved that OnePlus has added spyware on the devices]], I needed to remove this software. I activated the developer mode (Settings -> About Phone -> Software Info and tap on build number many times) and activated the USB Debugging in the developer settings. The command line tool =adb= is installed on Debian-based distributions with =apt install adb= and helps on removing the spyware: 1. Check USB connected phone via =adb devices= 2. Make a backup of the two spyware apps: - =adb pull /system/priv-app/OPDeviceManager/OPDeviceManager.apk .= - =adb pull /system/priv-app/OPDeviceManagerProvider/OPDeviceManagerProvider.apk .= 3. Open =adb shell= and un-install the two apps: - =pm uninstall -k --user 0 net.oneplus.odm= - =pm uninstall -k --user 0 net.oneplus.odm.provider= The procedure might need to be re-applied after each OTA update. Windows users do need to install Android device drivers and =adb= beforehand. OnePlus has proven that they do not respect the privacy of their customers. This is going to be my last OnePlus smartphone I guess.