Anyone else got the One yet? Rob R. surely?

I've had mine for a couple of days now, and thus far it seems a nice enough (though LARGE) phone. Random observations:

CM11S is very similar to stock Android on the surface, which made the transition from my Galaxy Nexus to this pretty easy.

I like the Privacy Guard features, and have carefully gone through and set restrictions on each and every app.

At last.. a setting to DISABLE wake on power connect/disconnect!!

LTE is quick, though even HSPA (not even HSPA+) was never really a bottleneck for me. It's a phone, not a server!

Well, not really a phone. I do use it as such from time to time, but mostly it is "the internet in my pocket" (yes, that's a smartphone, I'm not quite that happy to see you).

The stock ($15) flip case is a lot better than the forums at OnePlus might let on. I'm using it until the glass screen protector (eBay) arrives, but might just keep using even after that.

Less lag than the G.Nexus -- definitely a faster phone, but not really a huge leap that I've noticed so far, other than screen size.

The on-screen keyboard in portrait mode is finally large enough now for my stubby fingertips. I switched back to the G.Nexus briefly and was shocked how tiny the on-screen buttons were!

No extra invites yet, but they do claim to be stepping up with them this month. If any arrive, I'll offer them here first.

CM11 is very good stuff. PrivacyGuard strikes an excellent balance in the too-much vs. not-enough controls department. I'm currently running CM11 on my Nexus 7 (2013 + LTE) tablet, and stock Android on my Nexus 5 phone and switching back and forth is seamless.

Curiously, if you want to run the latest Android build on the Nexus 7 tablet, you have to go with CM (or some other 3rd party thing). Google is still a release behind, for whatever reason, but only on the LTE variant of the tablet.

The OnePlus One does look great and I am very interested in actually seeing one in person. But, the whole lottery/queue for an invite is a poor way to do business when dealing with a phone. In the phone world, to delay getting it into my hands by a month or more is suicide. Things change so quickly and rumors about the next thing are out before I have a chance to buy.

It's unlikely I'll be getting a OnePlus One due to timing. But, the lack of Qi charging makes me even more hesitant. I have the iOttie Qi mount in my car, and it rocks. I'd rather not live without the convenience of just snapping my phone into the mount and have it charge without fumbling for cables.

I've been using the Nexus 5 basically since launch and it's still a fantastic phone. I really wish it had a removable battery. Maybe the OnePlus Two will come with wireless charging and a removable battery. It might be perfect then.

The funky thing about the battery is that it actually is somewhat accessible -- remove the back cover, and there it is. But not rigged for easy replacement. Strange that.

I'm now installing CM11 on the G.Nexus (right now!), and.. well.. that phone is slower than I remembered it to be, compared with the One.

Say.. anyone know what app one needs to install for Google phone/sms (Goggle "Voice") ?

I've never used it before, and am having trouble locating it in the Play Store. Lots of apps with similar names, but not from Google.

EDIT: Found Google Voice by searching from a computer --> "This app is incompatible with your device." --> doesn't like the lack of a SIM card, I guess.

Or perhaps a better question: The G.Nexus is going to be used around the home on wifi -- no SIM card. So I'm looking for a wifi based SMS/Texting app to use on it.

Anyone got a recomendation?

Thanks.

PS. Speaking of which.. I used the scissors method to convert my "standard SIM" from the G.Nexus into a "micro SIM" for the OnePlusOne. Worked fine. I did purchase a $5 kit with sticker templates and adapters for the purpose.

Google Voice will install on tablets, so I doubt it's the lack of SIM card that's stopping it from installing.

I'm sure you have access to a US VPN service. You should probably try and download the Google Voice app (and setup a GV account) through that. I don't think Google Voice ever officially made it outside the US.

Ah.. okay, I just read somewhere that Google Voice was USA + Canada, but apparently not for app-install purposes. The OnePlusOne doesn't get it (without tricks) either.

Found another free service while hunting: Text+

Free 2-way SMS over wifi, to/from regular mobiles as well as other Text+ users. It also has voice calling, both inbound/outbound. 2.2 cents/minute USA+Canada, or free to/from other Text+ users.

The service assigns a (free) local telephone number to enable it to interact (text/phone) with other (regular) mobiles.

We just want it for texting, and so far, so good.

Note: the default Android Phone app can use Wifi for calling over a SIP account (eg. voip.ms), so I set that up for voice calls. Lots of lag -- about 1.5 seconds or so, but a bonus when needed.

My speedtest earlier today. The upstream is close to twice the bandwidth this very server used to have last year. Downstream was actually a tad faster then my VDSL2 connection at home.

The speed can be a benefit though. The faster the transfer finishes for a phone, the sooner a slot is freed up on the tower. And the sooner the phone can put the cell radio back to idle saving power.

I'm amazed at how quickly the mobile networks are improving these days. Once T-Mobile completes their transition to LTE across their mobile footprint, it may become a viable broadband provider for my mom. DSL at 768kbit was not stable enough to remain connected for her for more then an hour a day. Satellite has terrible latency, and costs more per GB then a mobile plan would.

That's pretty decent mobile data throughput. The local cell gear where we live here gives the One about 20mbits/sec in both directions on HSPA+. And perhaps 42mbits/sec or so for the downlink on LTE. The initial burst shows as much faster, before some kind of traffic shaping kicks in.

Speedtest sure does chew into the data allowance quickly though, so I've stopped using it hourly now.

Edit: the "Copy to Clipboard" link at Speedtest.net gives a nicer embedded graphic: http://www.speedtest.net/iphone/937767333.png

T-Mobile ended up exempting speedtests from their data caps. Reason being, the employees used to be locked to a cap without the option to get unlimited like the customers have. As they rolled out LTE, the employees were testing all the time and burning through their allowance quickly.

I'm looking into the differences between LTE and HSPA, driven by the exposure the last job gave me into cellular radios. So much of the basic signaling has changed that measuring "good" signal strength is quite a bit different. LTE handles interference in a better way. It's a good advance in the radio tech to help support more and more devices out in the wild together.

I'm eager to also see the changeover to Voice over LTE (VoLTE) as it brings a little more bandwidth for higher quality calls. US providers seem to be experimenting with it across a small number of phones and markets currently.

20mbit on HSPA+ is really good, and right near the cap of what that spec is capable of. 42mbit hints the LTE is the first generation. The ~90mbit from my tests hints at LTE-Advanced, what was initially deemed the proper 4G transition point. Verizon here in the US is calling it XLTE.

Before I got into empeg hacking, I actually had a mid-career stage managing/advising a cellular radio firmware group at a large company. But all of the latest stuff (HSPA, LTE..) came after I moved on from that phase.

Cheers!

VoLTE? people still use voice?

mlord: Nice. The early protocols are interesting to look into, seems like initially a lot of hacks came together to make data transfer work over a network not initially designed for such. LTE feels like the first time they've really gone back to the drawing board to implement a cellular data spec.

dbrashear: Yep. Until this country decides it wants to give all it's citizens reliable internet, I'm still stuck using pure phone voice services to keep in touch with parts of my family. I would like to see phone interviews evolve at some point, had some pretty painful ones during my current job hunt.

Hilariously, last week I dropped off my spouse at her job and because I had a day off I planned to drive to Harrisburg to take some train pics and have some sour beer. I realized before I got outside the city that I had no phone (but I had my LTE iPad)... within short order I installed Google Hangouts, told GVoice to use it, and arranged a doctor appointment for the next week, among other things, without actually even having a phone.

So, I guess I'm one to talk.

Mine should arrive tomorrow, and as I already use CM11 on most of my mobile devices I'm hoping it will be seamless.

Not sure when invitations turn up, but happy to pop in here when they do...

Excellent!

We just returned from a week at the cottage, where the 1+1 was used for wifi-hotspot internet access over HSDPA+/LTE. Wicked quick, just like high-speed Cable internet.

CM-11S is good, though ever so slightly flaky in the latest update to an Adroid 4.4.4 base. There seems to be an update for the 1+1 every 10 days or so, fixing various small issues from that. Current release is "33R", which is good for most, but has some battery-life issues that have since been resolved in mainline.

Cheers

We spent a good chunk of last week at "the cottage", where wifi tethering to the phone is the only available means for internet access.

The 1+1 tethering with HSDPA+ and LTE connections was wicked quick -- never saw anything remotely near those speeds when using the Galaxy Nexus (HSPA) there earlier in the summer. Surfing with the ultrabook on wifi was just as snappy and quick as with the 60/10 cable connection at home.

The 1+1 is definitely a keeper, even if it is a bit of a stretch in the front pocket of my jeans.

Cheers

I have three "invite codes" for the OnePlus One smartphone now -- available to whoever wants one. Just PM me. The invites must be redeemed (by purchasing the handset) within six days from now. Each invite is for one 64GB "Sandstone Black" handset, priced at US$349.

Handset details here: http://oneplus.net/one

I will be offering the invites elsewhere as well, but empeg BBS members have priority.

Cheers
-ml

Speaking of which -- there are threads on the OnePlus and XDA forums on how to enable the heretofore "missing" LTE band 20 on the One, which is of major interest to UK and European users.

Cheers

With regard to CM11 being "ever so flakey", I've definitely observed this, running CM11 on my Nexus 7 (2013, LTE) tablet. It works great, it really does, but after a couple weeks of uptime the network stopped working. A quick reboot and it was back in the game.

This is well worth it in return for the extra features that CM11 provides over stock Android (PrivacyGuard, trivial to root, etc.).

Ooh ooh ooh. I just broke the glass on my Nexus 4 this past weekend and need a new phone. Mark, can you give me a little bit of time today to look at some reviews and figure out if I should jump on this or wait for the upcoming Nexus 6 / Nexus X / whatever it's going to be called?

Hm, first thing I see is that apparently OnePlus is abandoning the invite-only system next month, so maybe the best bet is to wait to see what the new Nexus looks like.

Well, so long as you can wait -- judging by past history, the new Nexus is likely to be available (though understocked) in November, then out of stock for a month, then back in stock for a day, and so on.

Cheers

Yeah, that's a good point. I'm actually not in *that* much of a rush, since my wife's lending me her Nexus 5 until I find a replacement.

I'm pretty conflicted. The leaks for the new Nexus suggest it's going to be a big ol' phablet sized device, which doesn't sound appealing to me, but the OnePlus One doesn't have wireless charging, which is pretty much a dealbreaker.

I guess I'm going to wait things out for a while to at least get more relaible leaks of what's coming from Google.

These are exactly my concerns. I love the OnePlus One aside from the lack of Qi charging. I have Qi on my desk, in my car, and on my nightstand. It's really great.

The early leaks only mentioned a 6" model, but those stories were updated to include a smaller 5.2" version. Check the very end of this story.

I'll be waiting for the Nexus model and will jump on that if I can afford it at the time. I've used CM on every previous Android phone I've owned, and also saw flakiness in it. It would always get progressively worse over time. I'd also rather have the stock experience and the knowledge that I'll be receiving the fastest updates.

Tony, I'm hopeful that the Nexus 6 or whatever it's called will have wireless charging, but I'm not going to be surprised if it doesn't. The second gen Moto X doesn't have it, and neither do most phones out there. I'm glad I didn't buy any more Qi pads!

The "stock" experience is totally available for the One (and many other popular phones), as a replacement ROM (aka. "distro"). CM11S is essentially that too, but with more settings exposed and a few different default apps.

After using it here, here's no way I can see going back to something without proper privacy controls. I've put it on my Galaxy Nexus as well.

Cheers

Mark, from what I've seen, the stock ROMs that get made by third parties for these phones is not quite the same thing. It also doesn't address the issue of how quickly the phones get that update.

But that doesn't really matter. What matters is we both have options available to us that fit the kind of phone we want, and that's great!