OnePlus: why you should not buy company devices

OnePlus has not been making Android phones for a long time, but during the four years it has been there, they always come with problems. The icing on the cake: a hack aimed at corporate customers' credit cards. Is it time to stop trusting a company with such low standards?

What is OnePlus?

Ιδρύθηκε πριν από τέσσερα χρόνια -στο τέλος του 2013. Η OnePlus είναι θυγατρική μιας κινέζικης κατασκευάστριας εταιρείας ηλεκτρονικών ειδών της Oppo. Η αρχική ιδέα της εταιρείας ήταν αξιοθαύμαστη: "να φτιάξουμε smartphones με εξαρτήματα και χαρακτηριστικά υψηλού επιπέδου χωρίς υψηλές τιμές.

But it seems the company has got it back.

For the most part, OnePlus does well smartphones. They are packed with excellent hardware and generally have good reviews. But the problem is not the phones, it's the company itself.

April 2014

The first OnePlus phone (OnePlus One) was released in April of 2014, just four months after the company was established. It's a good time, but it also marks the beginning of a long list of truly debatable company decisions.

Σε μια προσπάθεια να ενθουσιάσουν το κοινό για το πρώτο τους smartphone, η OnePlus ξεκίνησε μια πρωτοφανή καμπάνια, που ονομαζόταν "Smash the Past", Η εταιρεία ζητούσε από τους χρήστες να σπάσουν τα σημερινά smartphones τους. Δεν ακούγεται κακό, αλλά χειροτερεύει.

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Users should submit an application to join program, telling the company how they would crack their phones. After their selection they would have to jailbreak their phones in the way they described, and then they could buy a OnePlus One for a dollar.

The list of phones was limited. You should break a high-end smartphone like: iPhone 5, Samsung Galaxy Note 3, Nexus 5, or Moto X.

What happened: people misunderstood, because of course they broke their devices. Many broke their phones, but before they were selected, and before the contest began. This could be attributed to people who do not read or understand, but the whole thing could have been avoided if OnePlus had not started such a campaign.

Telling people to break their phones is not the best idea, as the devices are full of chemicals, which in the worst can cause explosions. Not just a mad idea but also a dangerous one.

Due to the reactions, the company tried to change the campaign, allowing the contest winners later to donate their old mobile rather than break it.

After that you would think the company took its lesson.

April / May 2014:

The OnePlus One was initially available only through an invite-only system. Was put in application to combat the limited quantities available at launch, but made things too complicated.

Για να λάβουν μια πρόσκληση, οι πελάτες έπρεπε να περάσουν από μια σειρά από "φλεγόμενα στεφάνια" με διαγωνισμούς. Και όλα αυτά για να αγοράσουν ένα τηλέφωνο. Μόλις αγόραζαν ένα τηλέφωνο, οι πελάτες αυτοί είχαν και ένα περιορισμένο αριθμό προσκλήσεων που μπορούσαν να διαθέσουν σε φίλους ή την οικογένειά τους. Όμως αν ήσασταν ένας από τους τυχερούς που είχατε προσκλήσεις, θα έπρεπε να τις διαθέσετε τις πρώτες 24 ώρες, αλλιώς τις χάνατε.

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Εντάξει, έλλειψη αποθέματος αλλά να χρησιμοποιήσεις ένα σύστημα προσκλήσεων για να "επιτρέψεις" στο κοινό να δώσει τα χρήματά του, είναι κάπως αλαζονικό, ειδικά για μια εταιρεία που δεν έχει κάποια ιστορία.

May 2014

Λίγο μετά την κυκλοφορία του OnePlus One, ορισμένοι χρήστες διαμαρτυρήθηκαν για κιτρινισμένες οθόνες. Η εταιρεία ισχυρίστηκε ότι η κίτρινη οθόνη δεν είναι "θέμα ποιότητας και δεν καλύπτεται από εγγύηση."

Given the recent problems with Pixel 2 XL screens and a similar response from Google, I do not mention it as an unusual reaction. But Google has increased the Pixel 2 warranty in two years, so at least there was an answer.

Νομίζω ότι οι χρήστες που είχαν αυτό το θέμα είχαν κάθε δικαίωμα να αναστατωθούν και η εταιρεία έπρεπε να κάνει πολύ περισσότερα για να το αντιμετωπίσει. Και ΟΚ, ακόμα και δεν είναι "θέμα ποιότητας" δεν θα πρεπε τουλάχιστον να διερευνηθεί το ζήτημα με την οθόνη;

August 2014

Μπορεί να είναι ο μικρότερος διαγωνισμός στην ιστορία του OnePlus. Ξεκίνησε με μια άτυπη εκστρατεία μόνο για τις γυναίκες που ονομαζόταν "Ladies First" τον Αύγουστο του 2014.

Η ιδέα ήταν η εξής: οι γυναίκες (και μόνο οι γυναίκες) θα τοποθετούσαν το λογότυπο της OnePlus στο σώμα τους ή σε ένα κομμάτι χαρτί, και έπειτα έπρεπε να πάρουν μια φωτογραφία που έπρεπε να ανεβάσουν στο forum της OnePlus. Στη συνέχεια, οι φωτογραφίες θα ψηφιζόταν από τα μέλη του φόρουμ - κυρίως από τους άντρες - και οι 50 πρώτες θα κέρδισαν ένα δωρεάν μπλουζάκι OnePlus και μια πρόσκληση για αγορά του τηλεφώνου.

Αν πριν σκεφτήκατε ότι η εκστρατεία "Smash the Past" ήταν ηλίθια, η εταιρεία χρειάστηκε μόνο τέσσερις μήνες για να την κάνει ακόμα χειρότερη. Αρκετά σεξιστική, η καμπάνα για τις κυρίες αντιμετώπισε πάρα πολλές αντιδράσεις μόλις ανακοινώθηκε, τόσο πολύ που η εταιρεία την ακύρωσε μέσα σε λίγες ώρες. Η εταιρεία υποστήριξε τότε ότι ήταν μια "πολύ λανθασμένη προσπάθεια από μερικούς μεμονωμένους υπαλλήλους".

Νοέμβριος 2014 - Απρίλιος 2015

Το OnePlus One έτρεχε με το Cyanogen OS - ένα προσαρμοσμένο fork του Android που ήταν κάποτε ο βασιλιάς του προσαρμοσμένου ROM. Εκείνη την εποχή, οι ιδρυτές της CyanogenMod προσπάθησαν να εκμεταλλευτούν οικονομικά τη φήμη του ROM, δημιουργώντας μια εταιρεία: την Cyanogen, Inc Αυτή η εταιρεία ήταν υπεύθυνη για την κατασκευή του λειτουργικού συστήματος του One.

This is one of the things that made OnePlus One more attractive than Android. Later, however, it became a nightmare for OnePlus.

While there was no error in OnePlus itself, Cyanogen, Inc. told 2014 in November that it had an exclusive agreement with Micromax to produce the operating system for an upcoming range of phones that would be available in India. The decision came in bad time for OnePlus, as it caused a temporary ban on the sale and sale of OnePlus One in India. The ban ended a week later as OnePlus decided to release its own Android version called Oxygen OS.

That was the beginning of the end for OnePlus and Cyanogen, but this relationship took about six months to finish. The two companies had a lot of problems, with Cyanogen claiming that OnePlus used the name Cyanogen to gain popularity, which may not be true, but I'm sure it did not hurt OnePlus recognition.

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The really hard thing was for the users who bought the phone because it was running Cyanogen OS, and the partnership ended a year later. Compared to Cyanogen, OxygenOS was less adaptable but still had many of the Android components.

That was the end of a very difficult first year of a new company. Most small businesses would not have survived all the reactions and adversities that occurred in such a short time, but OnePlus did.

August 2015: OnePlus 2

Like most Companies με επιτυχημένο smartphone, η εταιρεία ακολούθησε το One με ... το έξυπνο OnePlus 2.

Το OnePlus 2 κυκλοφόρησε χωρίς NFC (near field communication) - ένα χαρακτηριστικό που θεωρήθηκε βασικό για τα κορυφαία τηλέφωνα - και χωρίς ασύρματη φόρτιση. Αυτό προκάλεσε αντιδράσεις στην κοινότητα του Android, αν και η OnePlus ισχυρίστηκε ότι δεν ήταν αρκετοί οι ιδιοκτήτες του OnePlus που χρησιμοποιούσαν το NFC για να δικαιολογήσουν την μη υιοθέτησή του.

Also, as with One's release, 2 was released again with a system of invitations. Although there was no stupid contest like One, 2 had issues in the invite and sell system, so users could not buy the phone.

Initially, OnePlus promised a new and improved invitation system with more invitations. It has never been so.

November 2015

OnePlus, in addition to smartphones, offers accessories such as USB-C and USB-C cables on Micro-USB adapters. But both have been confirmed that they are not compliant with USB-C standards by Google's experienced engineer and USB-C expert Bensen Leung. In short, the use of the cable or adapter was able to fry the power supply thanks to the resistors and their construction.

Για μια ακόμη φορά, η OnePlus ζήτησε συγνώμη για το λάθος και πρόσφερε επιστροφές, αλλά μόνο για τους πελάτες που αγόρασαν το καλώδιο USB-C, και όχι τον προσαρμογέα USB-C σε Micro-USB (ο οποίος ήταν εξίσου κακός με το καλώδιο). Σημείωσε επίσης ότι το καλώδιο και ο προσαρμογέας ήταν και οι δύο ασφαλείς για χρήση με το OnePlus 2 ... και όχι με άλλα τηλέφωνα.

June 2016

On almost any Android phone, when checking for operating system updates, the phone communicates with developer servers to see if new software is available. Quite common.

Στο τηλέφωνο OnePlus 3, το τηλέφωνο έστελνε και το IMEI - ένας αριθμός που προσδιορίζει με μοναδικό τρόπο αυτό το τηλέφωνο - σε μια μη κρυπτογραφημένη σύνδεση. Αυτό σημαίνει ότι μια τιμή που μπορεί να συνδέσει το τηλέφωνό σας με το άτομο σας αποστέλλεται μέσω μιας ανοικτής σύνδεσης στους διακομιστές της OnePlus.

To make this even more interesting, it was also discovered that a correct IMEI was not necessary in order for the device to get an update. To do this, a user in the OnePlus forum sent a test request to the OnePlus update server with an unusable IMEI and got the update.

January 2017

Benchmarks are a hot topic for all devices.

With this in mind, the benchmarks in OnePlus 3t were taught to be higher than actual performance. OnePlus obviously used specific applications to get the highest results.

It is also worth noting that other manufacturers were also guilty of the same behavior: Samsung, HTC, Sony and LG were found to do the same thing with 2013.

June 2017

Αφού "πιάστηκε" για εξαπάτηση στα benchmarks με το OnePlus 3t, θα μπορούσε να πει κανείς ότι η εταιρεία εκτέθηκε και έβαλε μυαλό. Όμως η OnePlus πιάστηκε και πάλι να μεγιστοποιεί τα αποτελέσματα συγκριτικής αξιολόγησης στο OnePlus 5.

This time the results were increased by 5%. There is an incredibly detailed analysis for theme by XDA, and I would suggest that you take a look.

June 2017

OnePlus 5 users noticed an occasional error while scrolling on the phone, but it was not clear why it is happening. Soon it was discovered why: the screen was placed upside down. On purpose.

Because it was upside down, the screen was refreshing from bottom to top, causing some interesting issues when scrolling. It did not seem to affect all units, but it was quite obvious to those who did it.

Μπορεί να αναρωτιέστε γιατί η οθόνη ήταν σκόπιμα τοποθετημένη ανάποδα. Το XDA forum 'εχει την απάντηση.

July 2017

2017, a OnePlus 5 owner saw a building with fire, tried to call 911 and his device made two reboots.

It turns out that OnePlus 5 had a memory flaw that forced it to restart in case someone wanted to get in touch with the emergency services. If there is another mobile next to everything OK, but if it does not exist? Even phones without a SIM card are supposed to be able to make emergency calls.

Fortunately, the company quickly provided a solution.

October 2017

In October of 2017, it was revealed that OxygenOS collects data on the use of the device, a fairly common behavior among smartphone manufacturers. But within this data was the serial number of the device, meaning that the user's identity could be linked to that data.

Η εταιρεία ισχυρίστηκε ότι αποστέλλει δύο ξεχωριστά σύνολα δεδομένων - ένα για τη χρήση της συσκευής και δεδομένα ανάλυσης, και ένα άλλο με πληροφορίες για συσκευές (σειριακός αριθμός) για την "καλύτερη εξυπηρέτηση μετά την πώληση". Σημειώθηκε επίσης ότι όλα τα δεδομένα μεταφέρονται μέσω HTTPS για ασφάλεια.

The real thing here is that OnePlus did it all without the user's agreement. He took the user data and sent it to the company's servers without the consent of the users.

Just a few days after the disclosure of this data collection, OnePlus replied by stating that it limits the amount of data it collects.

November 2017

Just one month after the discovery that OnePlus collects user data without approval, another vulnerability has been found that allowed the use of multiple OnePlus phones without unlocking the bootloader through a backdoor called EngineerMode.

OnePlus claimed that vulnerability is not that big. Security researchers from NowSecure dealt with the issue deeper and provided a more in-depth explanation of the error. The XDA also has a good description of EngineerMode's operation and the way it hits the company's devices.

In fact, an attacker would need physical access to the device to easily access root and run malicious code.

Initially, it was considered that EngineerMode was a Qualcomm application, but after research Qualcomm claimed it was not its own. OnePlus hastened to remove EngineerMode quickly.

January 2018

In January of 2018, OnePlus officially announced an enormous violation, in which information from its 40.000 customer credit cards leaked. The actual violation occurred between November 2017 and January 2018, so OnePlus eventually realized what was going on and stopped credit card transactions.

Why are you still giving money to this company?

Too many issues. They started, with the not so smart decisions of a new company, continuing with the sale of USB-C cables that could literally destroy users' devices. We sometimes mentioned data collection by users (unlicensed), restarting phones during calls to 911, and security blanks that allowed easy access to root.

Stolen credit card information is in itself a very big issue, and it took more than two months for it to be perceived.

Naturally, none of these issues in itself is the end of the world. In fact, some of these have happened to other companies we love and trust.

But all of this together, in the four years of our existence, shows us that OnePlus is a company that consistently shows its lack of responsibility towards its customers.

If you are looking for good phones at a good price, there are other options.

Maybe OnePlus will improve over time, but at this point, we can't recommend buying from the company until they overhaul the attitude them, and demonstrate that they can maintain it over the long term, a behavior that can build trust.

First publication: HTG