The OnePlus Open Canvas: A Wide-View, Wide-Fibrant, Large-Scale Macroscopic Foldable Android Device

The hardware of the OnePlus Open has lots of things to appreciate. There’s the handy alert slider, of course, and also the fact that the phone isn’t shaped like a remote control. There is a happy medium between the portrait-firstorientation of the Z Flip 5 and the landscape-firstorientation of the Pixel Fold.

One of the Open’s more eye-catching specs is that it’s been tested to survive a million folding cycles, roughly five times what its major competitors, the Pixel Fold and Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5, advertise. The mechanism on the phone should function after 10 years, if the hinges are durable enough to be opened and closed 100 times a day. It will receive 4 years of Android version upgrade and 5 years of security patches.

The Z Fold 5 has a 6.2-inch, 23.1:9 cover screen, which is significantly larger than the Open’s 6.3-inch, 20:9 aspect ratio screen. The screen is 2484 x 1116 and it has a 10 to 120hz refresh rate, which is what the company calls it. Unfolded, the OnePlus Open matches the Pixel Fold’s thickness of 5.8mm, though the “vegan leather” black variant of the Open is 0.1mm thicker.

The device runs OxygenOS 13.2, an operating system based on theANDROID 13 OS and which has been changed to work better on the OPEN’s bigger screen. There is a horizontal menu at the bottom of the screen to quickly access files, favorites and recent apps, and the ability to run multiple apps side by side.

OnePlus’s solution to the problems some apps can have when you try to run them in the weirder aspect ratios of foldables is a feature it calls Open Canvas. You can tile your apps on the screen in a way that attempts to keep them at a usable aspect ratio, instead of stretching them and creating issues, so that they don’t get messed up.

Multitasking with a Folding OnePlus Open at a Live, Pedestrian-Free, High-Resolution Black-Box Conference

Internally, the phone is powered by a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor and ships with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of onboard storage. The OnePlus Open has a 4,805mAh battery that can be fast-charged at up to 67W.

Finally, for cameras, the Open has a Hasselblad-branded triple lens setup on its rear consisting of a main 48-megapixel camera, a 64-megapixel telephoto with a 3x optical zoom, and a 48-megapixel ultrawide. If you don’t care about recording in 4k, then you can do 4k at up to 30 frames per second. Two selfie cameras powered by 20- and 32-megapixel sensors sit within a couple of hole-punch notch along with the rear cameras.

I sat in the second row of the event. The keynote was about to start and as journalists pulled out their laptops and started typing away, I whipped out the new folding phone from the Chinese company that makes good mid-priced devices.

Usually, at these kinds of bustling live events, I have my laptop in front of me to take notes and write tweets, with Slack in the background to monitor chats with my team members. But with the OnePlus Open and its snazzy multitasking features, I was able to see three apps at the same time on the large 7.82-inch screen—Slack and Chrome sat next to each other, and I placed X along the bottom. I was able to post a stream of tweets (Xs?) containing photos pretty easily while moving back to the other apps to respond to my colleagues in Slack and grab URLs from Chrome.

Galaxy Fold: A Surprisingly Good First Attempt: The OnePlus Open Review: An Emerald Dusk View From the First Day

Samsung is on its fifth generation of Galaxy Fold phones, and while it has continued to refine the experience with every iteration, it has largely stuck with the same size and shape. I think that the foldable phone experience will be improved with the new designs that are entering the market this year.

In the first few days of using the phone, I often forgot I could crack it open and make use of the much larger internal display. That’s not a bad thing—in reality, with booklike foldables, you’re going to be using the exterior screen most of the time, switching to the larger display when you want to multitask, play a game, or watch a video. The screen on the exterior of a normal phone is what we want.

The only hardware gripe I have is with the massive camera module on the back. My hands are big, and I sit over the bumps with my finger. That doesn’t feel great, and I’m constantly smudging the camera glass. This might not be much of a problem if you have smaller paws. At least the whole thing looks gorgeous, especially in the Emerald Dusk color.

Source: OnePlus Open Review: A Surprisingly Good First Attempt

The OnePlus Open, an ultra-luxurious battery-screen camera, is $199$ more than $200$ a month ($100+$ open$)

It feels like the company spared no expense in building the Open, when you first turn it over. It feels luxe, and OnePlus even brought back the multi-position Alert Slider on the side of the phone, which lets you to switch between silent, vibrate, and ring with a satisfying flick.

But the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Google Pixel Fold are each just $100 more and are IP rated for full-immersion water resistance. They also include wireless charging, which is an optional feature on high-end phones.

The camera “bump” on the Open is more of a mountain. It has a raised circle that occupies more than a third of the back panel, with camera filters and a subtle Hasselblad H for style. The design of the phone is meant to catch the light like a recording device, but there is a gap between the cover glass and the lens that is supposed to remind you of a luxury watch. It certainly commands attention, but I found its best use is as a kind of pop socket to prop the phone on my finger when I was using it one-handed.

On the inside, the display measures 7.82 inches, with a 2440 x 2268 resolution. The panel has variable refresh rates from 120 h to 1 h, and it can hit a peak brightness of 2,800 nits in high brightness mode. Most phones top out around 2,000 nits.

I saw it ramp up in direct sunlight, and I couldn’t tell you if it went all the way up to the top of that range, but it did keep the screen readable even on a bright day. ThePixel 8 and iPhone 15 Pro tend to turn dark after a few minutes in order to prevent overheating.

Source: OnePlus Open review: right size, wrong price

OnePlus Open Review: Right Size, Right Price: Oneplus-Open Reviews-Battery-Screen-Camera-Price

The crease, too, was a neat trick. With the phone all the way open, it practically disappears unless you manage to catch a reflection at just the right angle. It’s less pronounced when you run your finger over it than on the Pixel Fold or Galaxy Z Fold 5.

The alternatives are a little more stiff than the Open. You need to open it to about 45 degrees to get it to stay open — anything less than that, and it snaps shut again. The same thing happens on the other extreme — after about 135 degrees, it flops all the way open.

In the last week that I have been using the phone, I have not encountered any serious problems, and I have not been overly cautious with it. The phone works just fine when it rains, and I haven’t seen a sign of dust in the display or hinge.

OnePlus has included some measures to reduce the chances of disaster, like drainage holes in the hinge so that water can exit quickly. There is a dispersive water-resistant treatment in some internal components. There is a case in the box which is nice and I would not trust it to provide any additional protection because it is a flimsy frame for the front and back panels.

Source: OnePlus Open review: right size, wrong price

Oneplus-Open Review Foldable Battery Camera Price: Wireless Charging, Multitasking, and Smart Modes on the Open’s LCD Display

I had no issues getting through a full day of use on the Open by a comfortable margin, and only drained the battery at the end of the day after 45 minutes of Pocket City 2. I spent my time with the Open’s always-on display enabled full time, which didn’t come with any serious battery life penalties.

Fast wired charging is still very much OnePlus’ deal, and the Open supports 67W charging with the included cable and charging brick — you’ll still get fast charging if you swap out the proprietary cable or brick, but you need both to reach the full 67W. You’ll get a full charge in well under an hour, which means you can skip the charging overnight and power up while you go about your morning routine, if you want.

The omission of wireless charging from the Open spec sheet is a real disappointment. It’s not hard to find a phone that includes wireless charging, whether it’s the Z Fold 5 or the most recent iteration of the Pixel Fold. The fast wired charging is great for some people, but the phone should have more convenience features like wireless charging.

It is more flexible than the split screen, but it is not as good as a phone with four-app multitasking. There’s a taskbar that you can display and hide easily, and it includes recent apps as well as a folder of recent documents. You can place floating windows anywhere on the screen, downsize to your liking, and minimize to a tab at the side of the screen so you can easily fetch them again.

By default, when you open an app on the inner display, it will expand to fill the whole screen. The first app to open in split screen view shouldn’t be displayed on half the screen. The first app kind of scoots over, and your view of it is cut off.

Source: OnePlus Open review: right size, wrong price

The OnePlus Open Camera System: Color Rendering, Performance, and Stability. A Review of One Plus Open Review: Right Size, Wrong Price

Maybe it’s because I just switched from a Pixel phone, but the thing I’m appreciating the most about the OnePlus Open’s camera system is its color rendering. The hardware is pretty decent, including a 48-megapixel main camera, a 64-miliate 3x telephoto with optical image stabilization, and a 48miliate ultrawide.

It all comes with Hasselblad branding and, according to the two companies, Hasselblad’s influence on the camera’s color science. And it really is nice — it’s not afraid to embrace warm tones and handles mixed lighting better than most phone cameras.

It’s a great camera system for static scenes, but I wish it handled moving subjects better. The camera tends to use too-slow shutter speeds in moderate and dim light, so you end up with a lot of photos where your subject looks soft. Forget trying to get a low-light shot of a moving subject.

Portrait cutouts are usually convincing, with the stray error here and there. The crop zoom mode is just fine if your subject doesn’t move but struggles with motion. Even though the players were illuminated with a white spotlight, the picture I took from the stands at an NHL game wasn’t sharp. The system in one of the shots seems to have attempted to fit the subject together from multiple frames, but didn’t quite work out.

Source: OnePlus Open review: right size, wrong price

The OnePlus Open Camera: Oneplus-Open-Review-Foldable-Battery-Screen-Camera-Price

There are two cameras on the screen, one for selfies and the other for video calls. The camera is tucked into the corner of the display, which I much prefer over the under-display camera on the Z Fold 5. It is helpfully illuminated by a flashing ring when you turn the camera on so you know where to look, but you can lose track of where it is.

Video recording with the main camera tops out at 4K 30 / 60p, but you’ll need to drop down to 1080p to use the more robust stabilization mode, which does a good job of smoothing out jerky motion from walking. There is a camera on the cover screen that records up to 4K video, but there is a bit of a wobble when moving the camera slightly. It wasn’t something I noticed with the main camera, so if you’re going to use a folding phone to record a video, it’s best to unfold your phone and use the rear camera for a preview of the picture.

Source: OnePlus Open review: right size, wrong price

Red Cable Club Sensitivities to the Shape of a Galaxy Z Fold at $1,700$ or More if You Trade in an Old Phone

You don’t have to be a card-carrying Red Cable Club member to appreciate the device’s shape, either. It is better than the Z Fold 5 and the widerPixel fold because it splits the difference between them. It’s lighter, and it feels more natural to use as a regular smartphone when it’s closed. It’s all supported by solid performance, high-quality screens, and a nice camera system. But at $1,700? The only thing that’s likely to be cheaper is the SAMSUNG GALAXY Z FOLD 5. That is very difficult.

OnePlus would be quick to tell you that the $1,700 price tag can be offset by trading in any phone — any old phone at all! — for a quick $200 discount. That’s not an introductory deal, either; the company says it will offer this discount throughout the life of the phone. That’s nice and all, but then why not just make the phone’s MSRP $1,500? Competitors are willing to offer promotional pricing. At the time of this writing, Samsung is offering $300 off a Galaxy Z Fold 5 if you trade in an old phone — even one that’s cracked.

Every smart device now requires you to agree to a series of terms and conditions before you can use it — contracts that no one actually reads. It’s impossible for us to read and analyze every single one of these agreements. But we started counting exactly how many times you have to hit “agree” to use devices when we review them since these are agreements most people don’t read and definitely can’t negotiate.