One of the common grumbles of users of OnePlus and their historical line of “flagship killers” is that while they have pretty usable cameras, the mobile imaging starting from the OnePlus One until last year’s OnePlus 3T doesn’t really shine and compare with the flagships. This year, they’re collaborating with mobile imaging standards outfit DxOMark to make sure that the upcoming OnePlus 5 has great camera capabilities.
One of the problems of being a budget-friendly smartphone brand is that you have to cut costs somewhere in your manufacturing process. For OnePlus, this meant staying with lower resolution screens (usually full HD) while flagships have better pixel densities at 2K or QuadHD, or skipping non-essential elements like microSD expansion and NFC. It also meant going with competent but not top-of-the-line camera sensors, which give you very passable and usable videos and images, but lack in the “wow!” factor.
What’s going to change with the OnePlus 5? We don’t really know for sure yet, but OnePlus has announced that they are working with DxOMark – the people who measure which the best mobile cameras are – to “enhance your photography experience with our upcoming flagship, the OnePlus 5.” At the very least, DxOMark should very well tell OnePlus what to do right with their algorithms and chosen camera sensor.
What does this tell us? Understand that the highest DxOMark rating OnePlus had was a paltry 76 (highest is 90) for the OnePlus 2. The OnePlus 3 and 3T weren’t even benchmarked. At most, we are going to have a camera on the OnePlus 5 that should not suck, given the partnership with DxOMark. But then again, that’s what we have always gotten from them from the OnePlus One up to the OnePlus 3T – camera performance that doesn’t suck, but is good enough. Will this partnership bring in the “wow!” factor? We certainly hope so.
SOURCE: OnePlus
