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OnePlus is back at it, giving away more invites. This time around they are holding a contest called “Summer Shot”. They are giving away 10,000 invitations to purchase the OnePlus One, as well as 100 limited edition “Never Settle” t-shirts. Thankfully, this contest only requires you to post a picture of something happy that you did this summer, instead of something less savory like their last (cancelled) contest.
The contest is taking place on Instagram instead of the OnePlus forums this time around. You’ll need to snap a photo of something fun you did this summer, or go find one that you already took. Then upload it to Instagram and tag it with the hashtags #summershots and #oneplus. It has to be an original photo, so no cheating. If you don’t have an Instagram account, there are other ways to enter. Over 55,000 people have entered already, so get in while you can. The contest ends on August 25 at 6am Eastern Time. The winners will notified by August 27.
Lots of people are unhappy with the way OnePlus have handled themselves with the whole One invite system. Plenty of folks have sworn off the device and the company altogether. Obviously, tens of thousands of people are still interested in the One and what OnePlus is doing. The One is a really killer device with high-end specs and a great camera, and the no contract pricing is exactly what I would like to see happen in the smartphone industry as we move forward. The problem is in the company’s marketing arm.
The invite system is ridiculous; just sell the phone already. Then there are the OnePlus forums problems, including the deleting of posts and general heavy handedness when it comes to forum users voicing negative opinions about the company. Even legitimate issues and concerns are regularly deleted in the name of stamping out negativity. A previous invite contest that OnePlus ran, which was deleted very quickly, required women to take a photo of themselves with the OnePlus logo written somewhere on their body. The connotations were downright sexist.
OnePlus needs to get its act together. In the meantime, you can enter the Summer Shot contest right here.