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OnePlus 2: The smartie that's trying to outsmart Google's Android

Breathe new Oxygen into ecosystem in a stylish case

Licking Google's Lollipop

A lot of battery life comes down to the software, and in this respect OnePlus is unique. The OnePlus 2 uses a custom build of Android OnePlus has called OxygenOS. The firm used to use Cyanogen but ran into legal problems in India over rights to that OS, so built its own for the new handset, with lots of tweaks that haven't made it into mainstream Android – or at least not yet.

"In Android M you're going to see a lot of features from Google that we already have in Oxygen," Pei said. "You can customize data access privileges for individual apps, there's a dark screen mode to blank out wallpaper and save battery life, and the ability to be more flexible in button layout for key functions."

While the Oxygen system looks very similar to Android version 5, aka "Lollipop," there are differences, too. The phone app is instantly noticeable thanks to the aforementioned dual SIM card slots. Bring up the dialpad and you are automatically asked which SIM you want to use.

The traditional triangle, circle, and square software buttons are missing from the baseline setup but can be switched back on if required. There are also a few extra OnePlus apps in there, such as a hardware-powered graphic equalizer that works for music and calls.

The standard Android keyboard is built in, but so too is SwiftKey, a semi-predictive keyboard that OnePlus says is a better solution since it learns the user's preferences automatically.

The OnePlus 2 also has gesture control when the phone is in standby mode. Trace a circle on the screen and the camera opens. Draw a V and the flashlight activates. Draw two parallel fingers down and the music player fires up, with < or > gestures skipping forward or backward on the track list.

There's also a high level of customization available that will really reward the power user. Alerts, button styles, and color schemes are all under the user's control, and software updates offering more options should be coming along the line post-launch.

As for speed, a quick run of the AnTuTu benchmark showed a score of 51,371, beating everything else out there in the smartphone space. Admittedly this was on a factory reset handset model, so actual results may vary.

All in all, OxygenOS looks like a very handy little package, and the hardware can stand up in build quality to anything Apple, Samsung, and LG have put out there. It's also competitive on price – $389 for the 64GB version and $329 for a forthcoming 16GB model with 3GB of RAM, although considering the small price difference between the two, the full-fat version looks like a better bet.

Review kit should be available soon, so we'll have a more detailed rundown later. But based on this first look the handset looks very interesting indeed. ®

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