(Matt Weinberger) The OnePlus 2 phone.
The OnePlus One smartphone was one of the biggest tech phenomenons of 2014, becoming the smartphone of choice for those power users who could actually find one.
The device is basically a premium Android phone that looks and feels as good as anything from Samsung but at around half the price.
Now the makers of the OnePlus One are coming out with the sequel.
On August 11th, you'll get your first shot at the OnePlus 2, which takes everything people loved about the first model and makes it faster, more powerful, and prettier -- but maintains its budget-friendly status, with 16GB and 64GB models selling for $329 and $389, respectively (that's without a wireless carrier contract).
Indeed, the OnePlus 2 looks like a very cool phone, especially for the lower cost.
I got a little bit of hands-on time with the new phone at a OnePlus event in San Francisco, ahead of the official launch. A lot of what we saw had already been rumored or leaked, but there are still a few pleasant surprises.
And yes, the company says it'll be easier to get one this time out.
The hardware
As rumored, the OnePlus 2 has a metal frame, instead of the OnePlus One's polycarbonate plastic back. It gives the OnePlus 2 a nice, solid heft that makes it feel more durable than your average phone, but it's probably also why the price is slightly higher than the original's $299 MSRP. It's thin and lighter than it looks.
(Matt Weinberger) The OnePlus 2, with the new Oxygen Shelf feature displayed.
The OnePlus 2's 5.5" display is gorgeous at a 1080p resolution, and has a high enough brightness setting to be totally legible in direct sunlight.
It comes with a 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 v2.1 processor paired with the Adreno 430 GPU, which OnePlus says is more than enough juice to put the phone to work streaming high-def movies or playing graphics-intensive games.
The camera is a major point of pride for OnePlus, with the new phone boasting a 13MP resolution with a low-light sensor, optical image stabilization, and a "laser focus" system that doesn't require you to touch the screen to focus on a subject.
The phone has a slider right on the side of the phone to switch between three alert settings: None, Priority, and All, so you can choose what your OnePlus 2 phone alerts you for without taking it out of your pocket.
Also as rumored, the OnePlus 2 has a fingerprint sensor/lock that the company claims is "faster than the iPhone."
(Matt Weinberger) The rear of the OnePlus 2, with bamboo backplate.
You can also customize the notifications from the LED light on the top of the OnePlus 2, so it'll glow green for an email but blue for a text message.