Surprisingly, I’m back on a two-year upgrade cycle for my phone. I bought the Nexus 5 in November 2013, and even though I’ve had issues with it and have been thinking about upgrading, I’ve delayed until this past week to get a new phone. I ended up getting a 64GB One Plus Two over my other two choices: Nexus 6P and Moto X Play/Style.

I waited until the Nexus 6P was announced before making my decision. I prefer getting the latest Android OS ASAP (for example, my Nexus 5 is on Marshmallow now but the OPT is still on Lollipop) so I really wanted to buy this phone. The main reason that I didn’t was because it is horrendously ugly – I hate that black bar on the back of the phone. The design just kills it. It was also the most expensive of my three choices by a significant margin.

The Moto X Play/Style was my first alternative but because it was not available for purchase yet in Canada or US, it lost me as a customer. Although the OPT has some significant drawbacks (NFC & not straight from Google), I decided that it was ok. I’m not too worried about lack of NFC. I think wireless charging contributed to the death of my Nexus 5’s battery and if I ever use Android Pay, I’ll probably end up using it via a wearable (and if it really takes off, I’ll get a new phone within 2 years).

The defining feature that made me pick OPT instead of waiting for a Moto X was that the OPT supports dual 4G sim cards. I can’t trust WIND Mobile in the GTA so having an alternative is valuable to me. Also, it would be great for vacation. That was enough to convince me to buy one, and I was able to secure a (free) invite after only a few days. Unfortunately, my equipment for USB type-C and nano sim cards have not arrived yet so I can’t actually use the phone!

Posted by Kevin in Blogs Tags: cellphones, google, oneplus