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Introduction
The OnePlus 5 officially went on sale last month, and has already become an incredibly popular smartphone around the world. The company recently claimed that the device has already become its highest-grossing product in India, which is saying something, given how popular all of OnePlus’ devices have been in the country, bar the OnePlus X. It is obviously one of the most remarkable devices you can buy right now, but is it as good as the Galaxy S8? Or at least, is it a better value proposition than the all-conquering Samsung flagship, especially, given its super-affordable price-tag? Today, we’ll take a look at the two devices side-by-side to give you a better idea about them, so that you can make an informed decision about which one to opt for in case you’re looking to upgrade your handset in the coming weeks.
Specifications
OnePlus 5
The Jury is still out on whether the OnePlus 5 will truly become a flagship killer in the commercial sense, but there’s no doubt that the latest smartphone from OnePlus ticks all the right boxes. It comes with great build quality, understated good looks and cutting-edge hardware that makes it a compelling buy at the $479 price-point. The device features a 5.5-inch Optic AMOLED 1080p screen that is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5. It is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC, which comes with a 64-bit CPU with eight custom Kryo 280 cores, four of which are clocked at 2.45GHz and four others at 1.9GHz. There’s also an Adreno 540 GPU to take care of all the graphics processing needs. The device is sold in two different versions – one with 6GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage, and another, with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of built-in storage.
On the imaging front, the OnePlus 5 sports a dual-camera module on the back. While one of the cameras incorporates a 16-megapixel Sony sensor with an f/1.7 aperture, the other one comes with a 20-megapixel f/2.6 telephoto lens. The front-facing camera on the OnePlus 5 comes with a 16-megapixel sensor with an f/2.0 aperture and 1.0μm pixels. According to OnePlus, the dual rear-camera module on its latest phone represents “the highest resolution dual-camera system on a smartphone today.” Which is technically correct, given that the two rear cameras on the device together account for a whopping 36 megapixels.
The OnePlus 5 also comes with a long list of connectivity features that include Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA and Bluetooth 5.0, while cellular connectivity includes support for 34 frequency bands to ensure compatibility with dozens of networks around the world. The device also supports GPS with A-GPS and GLONASS, while an NFC chip ensures you can use it for Android Pay. The device also ships with a USB Type-C port for charging and data syncing, but keeps the 3.5mm port for native compatibility with older headphones and audio systems. The OnePlus 5 comes with Android 7.1.1 Nougat pre-installed in the form of Oxygen OS, and carries a non-removable 3,300mAh battery. The device measures 152.2mm in length, 74.1mm in width and 7.3mm in thickness while weighing in at 153 grams.
Samsung Galaxy S8
The Galaxy S8 was always going to be an important model for Samsung, coming as it did in the immediate aftermath of the Galaxy Note 7 fiasco. The device has been praised almost universally for its revolutionary good looks, with a display panel that has often been described as the best ever seen in a smartphone. The 5.8-inch Super AMOLED WQHD+ (2960 x 1440) ‘Infinity Display’ has an aspect ratio of 18.5:9, and is protected by Corning’s Gorilla Glass 5. The U.S. version of the device is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC, while the international variant is powered by Samsung’s own, in-house Exynos 8895. The Qualcomm chip comes with an integrated 10μm CPU with 8 Kryo 280 cores clocked at a maximum of 2.45GHz, while the Exynos chip has an integrated octa-core CPU with four cores clocked at 1.7GHz and four cores at 2.3GHz. As for the GPUs, the Snapdragon 835 comes with the Adreno 540, while the Exynos 8895 has a Mali-G71 MP20. The Galaxy S8 packs 4GB of LPDDR4 RAM and has 64GB of built-in UFS 2.1 storage that can be expanded by a microSD card.
Imaging options include a rear-facing Dual Pixel 12-megapixel sensor and a front-facing 8-megapixel sensor, both of which have an f/1.7 aperture. The primary camera offers phase detection auto focus (PDAF), LED flash, auto HDR and optical image stabilization (OIS), while the secondary camera comes with auto-focus and auto HDR. The battery on the Galaxy S8 is a 3,000mAh unit with support for Quick Charge 3.0. The device also comes with IP68 certification, denoting its resistance to water and dust. The Galaxy S8 also ships with a boatload of sensors, including an iris scanner, fingerprint scanner, accelerometer, gyroscope, proximity sensor, magnetometer, barometer, heart-rate monitor and SpO2 sensor.
Impressive as it is, the hardware is not the only remarkable thing about the Galaxy S8. The device comes with Samsung’s very own AI personal assistant called ‘Bixby’. It can not only answer simple search queries, but users can also use the feature to get more information about various architectural landmarks by pointing the phone’s camera at those buildings or monuments. The Galaxy S8 ships with Android 7.0 Nougat out-of-the-box and measures 148.9mm in length, 68.1mm in width and 8mm in thickness, while weighing in at 155 grams.
And the Winner Is …
The Final Word
While the Galaxy S8 has a futuristic design with an elongated, curved Infinity Display, the OnePlus 5 is fairly traditional in its looks. In fact, many have even pointed out the phone’s uncanny resemblance to the iPhone 7 Plus, and to be honest, those observations are not entirely off the mark. However, an iPhone lookalike or not, the OnePlus 5 represents great value-for-money at the $500 price-point. Having said that. there’s no arguing that the Galaxy S8, even with the higher price-tag, brings something completely new to the table. The device has revolutionized the way we see our smartphones, and how we expect them to look in the years ahead. Although the OnePlus 5 is a great device that you can’t possibly go wrong with, the cutting-edge hardware, the futuristic good looks, the IP68 certification and the iris scanner, not to mention Bixby and the DeX desktop dock, all combine to make the Galaxy S8 a stellar device and helps it win this head-to-head.
Buy The OnePlus 5 Buy The Samsung Galaxy S8