As you might already be aware of, OnePlus is rumored to be working on a second smartphone for 2015, which so far has been referred to by the industry as the OnePlus mini.
Information about the terminal has leaked on several occasions before, and as its moniker suggests, the handset is meant as a mid-range entry with a lower price tag than the full-fledged OnePlus 2.
Excitingly enough, today we received an email from an anonymous source, who claims to know almost all the details surrounding a OnePlus mini prototype. The source also adds that the handset will have a price tag of roughly $250 and that it might be launched in November or December 2015.
Join us below for details.
OnePlus mini Alleged Specs and Details
According to our source, the OnePlus mini (or at least one of the terminal’s prototype models) is equipped with MediaTek Helio X10 (MT6795T) SoC, and 2 GB of LPDDR3 RAM @933MHz operating in dual-channel. It boasts 32 GB of eMMC 5.0 storage expandable via microSDXC and a 5-inch IPS display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080. The screen is covered in 2.5D Gorilla Glass 3 or 4 and is protected by an oleophobic and hydrophobic coating.
Furthermore, the source says that the OnePlus mini will not have a dual-camera setup as some of the earlier leaked renders have suggested. However, it will pack a 13 MP Sony IMX258 primary sensor with a f/2.0 aperture, 4K @ 30fps video recording capabilities, and a Dual-Tone LED flash. It will also house a 5 MP front-facing wide-angle sensor with 1080p video recording capabilities.
According to the tip we received, the OnePlus mini will likely use the same camera and display as the recently launched Xiaomi Mi4c.
Other details worth mentioning include a 3,000-3,100 mAh non-removable Li-Po battery, a USB Type-C connector with Quick Charge 2.0 capabilities (which might be limited to USB 2.0 speeds), an FM radio, a MT6630 wireless SoC, Bluetooth 4.1, an IR Blaster, a 1.2W front-facing speaker, and unlike the OnePlus 2, an NFC chip which will support Android Pay in conjunction with a back-fitted fingerprint sensor.
The terminal will apparently be wrapped in a removable plastic shell (with different colors and styles sold separately), and will have an IP67 dust and waterproof certificate. The source also adds that the main camera may or may not make use of Mediatek’s 1080p@480fps Super Slow Motion recording. Furthermore, the display will use PSR (Panel Self Refresh) which OnePlus calls “DRAM” (Display RAM), as well as CABC (Content Aware Backlight Control), called “Smart Screen” by MediaTek.
The source adds that for the first time in MediaTek’s SoC history, a kernel source code will be available, paving the way for custom ROM development. And last but certainly not least, to compensate for the relatively poor GPU performance of the Helio X10 chip, the OnePlus mini will reportedly have the ability to render 3D games at the (lower) 720p resolution, and then upscale the image back to 1080p using MediaTek MiraVision, resulting in performance improvements as well as lower heat output and power requirements.
Once again, according to the source the OnePlus mini might be launched in November or December for the price of $250. As for the accuracy of these rumors, the source warns us that the prototype detailed above is a couple of months old already, and certain hardware characteristics may have changed in the meantime. Treat the information accordingly and maintain a healthy dose of skepticism.