OnePlus One smartphone finally ships out, following a day of disappointing delay caused by serious issues identified in its OpenSSL encryption on June 5.
The issues were not as serious as the Heartbleed bug, but the company refused to turn its head the other way and instead asked its developer Cyanogen to fix the software issues. Cyanogen provided the CyanogenMod 11S that runs on the One smartphone.
"We did choose to delay the shipment of the first phones in order to make sure the software was secure and provided the best possible user experience…The first OnePlus Ones ship to early users with invites as early as tomorrow," the company stated.
The first batch of the affordable smartphone is on its way to the hands of people who received invites, as OnePlus continues to run on a debated invite system for its new smartphone.
“As a start-up, we are constantly improving our product, processes and business. Thank you for your patience, trust and help in testing our product,” the company writes in an email to one user who got the invite.
There are two ways to get the smartphone as stated on the company’s website. One is by asking someone, who already has OnePlus phone, for an invite. The other is by joining promotional events or contests hosted on the company’s forum or social media accounts.
Invites have validity periods too. Invites that came from invite holders are usually valid for 24 hours. If the invite gets expired without having reached the recipient, it goes back to the sender so that the recipient may be given a new invite again. Invites through OnePlus will be valid for two weeks, depending on certain circumstances.
Critics say if they were to rely on the specs detailed by OnePlus in previous reports, the One smartphone is one to beat and compete in the tough smartphone market. Specs of the smartphone include a 5.5-inch Full HD display at 1080p, quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor at 2.5GHz, 3GB RAM, 3,100mAh battery, 16GB or 64GB memory, 13MP camera, dual-LED flash, 4G LTE and 4k video recording. It also has bottom-facing dual speakers, said to be the first smartphone in the world to have it.
“Software updates moving forward will be handled via an Over-the-Air (OTA) update. Future updates will bring additional features and general improvements to the software,” OnePlus says.
For those lucky ones who got OnePlus One invites, a 16GB version in Silk White is priced at $299, while 64GB in Sandstone Black is at $349. The company reveals the invitation system isn’t so far changing yet, but the invites will be much easier for everyone in the future.
