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  • I’m actually one of the few who don’t hate OnePlus and plan on hopefully getting the 2. But then when they mention an even better phone coming out soon I think why would I get the 2? If I was Pei I would have either kept it under wraps or gave some reasons why we should get the 2 now and not just wait for the better one.

  • I haven’t used NFC on my phones in years. So it’s not a particularly big deal for me….
    But it IS nice to know it’s there if I happen to want to use it.
    Also, have OEMs FINALLY stopped putting the hideous NFC icon in the notification bar?

  • Never Settle – “We didn’t put NFC in cause no one uses it” – Well they were, as Apple Pay and Google Wallet were growing exponentially in the last 6 months, but okay, lets assume the numbers arent that high with usage. The fact they left it out of their device now lowers the number of people who COULD use it to prove the case for or against the mentality of whether or not it was or was not used. In this case, OnePlus settled with a higher than usual priced device, with less features – basically, the same damn phone as last year, with a new SoC processor and camera…ooohhhhh wow… totally worth the added cost, at the sacrifice of setting for less in the same friggen phone. LAME!

  • “I don’t know what to tell you anymore.” — Tell us when this company goes under because of it’s continuous missteps and boneheaded moves.

  • I don’t mean to bash OnePlus or Pei at all, but saying that the Two is “future proof” then saying that NFC is something for future phones just seems so wrong…..

  • It is amazing how they keep digging themselves into more negative drama with each event.

  • These are the type of niggas to include NFC in their next phone but take out Bluetooth

    • nah, 2020 flagship killer is coming later this year oh wait, it’s coming next week :0

  • NFC isn’t the only thing they compromised on, and with a motto like “Never Settle”…well, leaving out a major feature because some people don’t use it seems like settling to me.

  • Ugh, NFC is one of the features I bought a new phone in order to have finally. And I love paying with Google Wallet or using it to pair with Bluetooth speakers and stereos. Why would I want to give that up now? It’s barely an expensive chip either so their excuse seems weak in general, especially for something with a fingerprint reader that now is useless for payments.

  • So basically he’s saying that he’ll include NFC in their next phone later this year.

    So why even purchase the OnePlus 2? What a stupid company.

  • Buy our 2016 flagship killer, but be prepared to upgrade in 2016 anyway because we’ve left out a feature we expect you’ll want by then. I like his honesty regarding their planned obsolescence.

  • Cutting edge marketing, or death by a thousand cuts? Swimming against the stream, or jumping into the whirlpool? Way ahead of the curve, or tying yourself to the train tracks? Time will tell. My income is not disposable enough for this type of foolishness. Sure is a fun spectator sport.

  • I don’t mean to sound stupid, and correct me if I’m wrong, but a couple years back some phones didn’t have NFC, so Verizon had an NFC simcard there was also NFC backs and batteries wasn’t there? So wouldn’t it be possible to just do that?

    • NFC Simcards were only for secure payments. NFC can do so much more than that.

      Plus, why would I buy a device just to turn around and spend more money to provide a feature that comes standard on nearly every other device today?

  • Better be careful calling out OnePlus like that, they will “break up” with you like they did AP the other day over the editorial haha. Also seems like they are starting up the HypeTrain for their next phone already…

    • From my comment below to someone else who said this same thing:

      “Not trying to be a dick, but are we going to get a reference to this every time someone says something critical of OP? I think we can all understand why exactly OnePlus did what they did there. There is criticism and then there is the kind of post that ended the relationship between those two. Any reasonable person, outside of press acting entitled, can understand what happened there and would not have a problem with it.

      I think it’s time to move on from that situation and get back to the phone and whether or not its worth spending money on.”

      • Well I would agree Kellen, but at the same time they did just start hype for ANOTHER phone that is supposed to be the successor the “flagship killer”. Had they not done that I would agree, but seriously wtf is going on over there. Is this going to be the “killer of the killer of 2016 flagships” now?

        • I’m not disagreeing that them already talking about another phone before this phone is out is not a good look, I’m just saying we all need to move on from the stupid drama they have with one news outlet, drama that has nothing to do with the actual phone or not.

          • I can agree with that. I wouldn’t have posted my comment had I saw that someone else posted the same thing, so for that I apologize. But people getting wind of a second better phone coming (in the near future) is going to destroy their sales for the OP2. Especially since, I believe, that this phone is marketed towards the power users, who would be aware of its coming from sources such as DL.

          • Yeah, it’s pretty crazy that Carl is already talking about this other phone and that he basically wants to use it over the OP2. I like his honesty, but man, not the smartest move ever.

  • I’ve tried to use tap to pay with my Android phone precisely twice. In both cases, it didn’t work. It was clearly a problem with the terminal, but the bottom line is this: you still have to bring your wallet and cards with you as a backup, so there remains little to no need for NFC specifically, except as a technological doo-dad that’s fun to play with. I’m certainly not going to base a phone purchase on whether or not I can occasionally use it to make purchases in a manner that saves me precisely zero time/effort. Having a built-in bottle opener would be more useful.

    • NFC payments are simply one facet of what NFC can do (and what many of us use it for). It’s been integrated into business models, IT asset tracking (MUCH more secure than RFID), and mass transit.

  • One thing is for sure. They know how to milk this cow until it bleeds dry and then move on to the next cow. I’m sick of these guys who seem at best kind of douchey.

  • I have only used NFC a small handful of times, what I am really waiting for is Samsung Pay on my S6E. Assuming it will work as advertised, that will change the face of NFC. When you can pay with your phone anywhere a CC is accepted is when people will utilize it. I don’t want to have to walk up to a register stare at the CC machine to see if NFC will work or not, quicker/easier to just take out the CC.

  • It totally makes sense to me, but it would have made more sense to think like that a year or two ago. Now it’s gonna take off. It still isn’t all that heavy, but I still would have added it. Its such a modest feature that it wouldn’t have impacted he price at all imo.

    I mean at the end of the day, I still don’t think the masses know much about this phone. Or ever heard of it. Only the developer and super tech savvy know about this device. You don’t see commercials or anything like that. The average consumer isn’t participating in these forums. So that’s another reason why they should have added it imo because their main focus group knows all about this stuff. Just my opinion.

  • It is odd that NFC still hasn’t taken off even with Apple getting in on it.

    I pay with google wallet at at least a few times a week I would use it all the time if it was everywhere.

  • I use NFC to pay at the vending machines are work all the time. Would not get this phone because of that.

    • I seriously wish we had more modern vending machines here. There are many times I don’t have small bills or change and I want something from the machine.

  • Rapid iteration does not seem to actually serve companies well in this industry… It’s a rookie mistake, and gosh, you hate to see it.

  • Don’t care about the phone…but I’ve never used NFC even once outside of “let me see if it works.”

    Is it mostly used for wallet?

    • Google Wallet
      Sending photos and links to other devices
      NFC Tags that can automatically perform actions on your device when touched
      Pairing bluetooth devices like speakers or headphones.

      NFC has many functions. People just aren’t aware of them.

      • Why would I not just email or use any of the other 10,000 ways to send photos or links?

        Why do I need an NFC tag to connect to bluetooth? can’t I just tell the device to connect automatically if it’s in range? (I’m a heavy BT user at home and work).

        The actions seem interesting – but I guess I can’t even think of one I’d use.

        Funny how different people use devices so drastically different. I couldn’t care less about NFC, yet to others it’s mission critical. Kinda like SD cards I guess.

        • I send photos to friends when we are hanging out or have them send them to me using NFC. I could share a photo any other way like you mention but tapping their phone and automatically sending or receiving it in seconds is just faster than opening an app attaching a picture and sending it. I also send web links between my phone and my tablet using NFC.

          Connecting a bluetooth device with NFC is just faster. Instead of going into settings and pairing it with a number when prompted or whatever, it’s just tap and done with NFC.

          I have an NFC tag on my desk at work that I tap when I get there to put my phone on silent, and toggle certain things like WiFi and Bluetooth. I tap it again at the end of the day to toggle everything back and turn my volume up. I also have one at my computer at home that opens an FTP app to transfer files to and from my computer so I don’t have to open the app drawer and find the app.

          There are plenty of non NFC methods of doing everything but NFC is all just about convenience and saving time.

  • Here’s my input, with mobile payments that use NFC, and that Apple uses NFC for mobile payments, oneplus two is clearly not going to be a “flagship” killer

  • I think NFC is one of those things you don’t think about until you start using it and realize how great it really is. It’s kind of like a smartwatch. I still here people say how they don’t understand the point of them, but most of us who use one daily know the true value.

    As for OnePlus pushing everyone but Sammy and Apple out of the market – that’s great PR speak but they have nothing to back that up. In fact, they are already getting smoked by Motorola in the direct-to-consumer market for value priced phones. Without a solid mid-range device they can’t compete – even Samsung is figuring out that most people don’t want/need a $600 phone and profits are tumbling because of it (This is not my opinion, look up their Q2 financials and press release). Even though their phone is a good value, the “one size fits all” philosophy doesn’t work – even Apple couldn’t pull that off. $400 is still a lot to shell out for an off-contract device for many people, especially when they read about how great the Moto G/ZenFone2/etc. phones are for half the price.

    • I own a LG G Watch and I still don’t realize how “great” it is. It just makes checking useless notifications more convenient and quick replies easier. To anyone who paid over $200 for a smart watch, I feel sorry for you. I paid $75 for mine and I can see the product for what it is at that price point, not make excuses for it.

  • The truth of the matter is this: There is no single device that suits everyone’s needs perfectly. They should have chosen another motto because you can’t please 100% of the people 100% of the time. Regardless of the final hardware & software design, there will be someone that wants something different (unless you use iphone).

  • I’m not a Oneplus users, but he is right. I have had NFC on every phone I have owned since the Gnex. I used it once on the Gnex, and have not used it since. It’s a gimmick for now. Maybe it will be realistic at some point.

    • The difference is that NFC has become standard on Android phones, so when NFC rollouts become more widespread, the devices will already be able to take advantage of the service. Regardless, Wallet has been useful at McDonalds, Walmart, CVS, etc., but people just don’t know that they can use it (these retailers cover virtually every US Android user). When a device that purports to be a flagship killer removes 3 year old standard tech, with built-in functionality in the OS itself for around 5 iterations, saying that no one uses it is only setting up their user base for failure. It shows that OnePlus doesn’t care about how their users are going to be using their devices in a year from now; they expect their user base to purchase a new $300+ phone from them over a couple bucks of tech.

    • Just because you don’t use it, doesn’t mean that others are following suit. Many people, including myself, have been using NFC for years. I started back when I bought my Galaxy Nexus, and it was one of the reasons I wanted that phone.
      My wife and I beam things back and forth quite often, and we also use it to quickly pair to wireless speakers at home. NFC is hardly a gimmick; the main problem is many people aren’t aware of how to use it, and that many places either turn off the terminals, or poorly maintain them so they work sporadically.

    • You’re just one person. The fact that he has to address backlash proves that MANY people use it, and it was a mistake to take it out.

      • Do you really think the majority of smart phone users actually even care about NFC? (Let’s expand your sight beyond this enthusiast group)

        • How would I know what the majority thinks? All I know is that the backlash was loud enough for them to have to respond to it with PR SPIN.

          • How can you know either way? The backlash was because the majority of one plus buyers are enthusiasts who care more about phone specs than how they actually use it on a daily basis.

            I’d be willing to bet the majority that are crying about no NFC barely ever, or never even use it.

          • “The backlash was because the majority of one plus buyers are enthusiasts” – You’re saying the same thing I’m saying. The majority are enthusiasts and if your enthusiasts aren’t happy, you’re not selling.

          • “How can you know either way?”

            “(Let’s expand your sight beyond this enthusiast group)”

            You make those statements above, yet you keep doing the opposite yourself by trying to assert your opinion that NFC is barely ever used and/or cared about.

  • He’s saying the next phone – the OnePlus 2S – will not come with wifi since nobody uses it.

    • No, it won’t come with LTE since unlimited data doesn’t exist and we use WiFi instead.

  • So the OPT is going to be soon replaced by a OPsT? Sounds like a pretty ugly way to treat your customers. Maybe they should have just nixed this release and gone with the next one if it’s coming so soon. Unless the next one is going to be $500+; they want to retain their image of not “settling” by letting their core users “settle” and offering a separate device to appeal to those who can afford an actual flagship killer.

  • “Hey….the Oneplus2 iS OKAY ….. But the next phone ! ” …

    And as for the NFC negligence? #DEALBREAKER… #NeverSetttle my behind.

  • He also said in 5 years the only smartphone companies in existence would be apple Samsung and themselves.

    No.

  • I for one can’t get a phone without NFC or wireless charging. I use them both daily. NFC Tags at work and home. Google Wallet at stores. And I only charge wirelessly.

    • I still can’t jump on the wireless charging bandwagon. I’ve tried using it exclusively a few times on the S6, but I always go back to the good ol’ usb cable since it charges quicker and can still be charging if I decide to use it.

      • If I ever NEED my phone charged faster, I just pull the cable out of the charging pad and plug it into my phone. But most of the time, wireless charging is fast enough for my needs.

        • Thats my situation exactly. I mostly use a wireless changing stand at my desk at work, on my nightstand, and a dock in my car. Its great not having to fumble with a cable in those places, especially being able to place and grab the phone with one hand, almost without looking. But there are times when I need a lot of power quickly so then I plug into a Turbo charger.

    • I prefer the Quick Charge. I did the Qi thing for a year or two and went back to the cable since I can jump a large % of battery in a short time. Only time Qi made sense was at night.

      • Yeah, it all depends on a persons use. My phone is never in dire need of a fast charge. I work at a desk with my phone on the charger most of the day. And my phone sits on a charging pad while I sleep. But I know some people need that fast “charge and go” ability.

  • People won’t be using NFC for 12-18 months? I’d love to hear the logic behind that, seeing as how Google Wallet has been around for years, along with NFC tags, phone-to-phone sharing of files, etc.

    • How long have you been using Wallet, and how many people do you personally know, use it?

      • I don’t know anyone personally that uses it but every time I use it, people ask me questions about it. I think people WANT to use it. They just don’t know how.

        • Where is it accepted/where are you able to use it? I’ll be honest and say I haven’t really looked into it too much, cuz it seems like more of a hassle to try using that rather than just swiping a card. Also, seems limited. My super quick research says anywhere MasterCard is accepted, but what If I don’t have a MC. Just Visa?

          • You did some pretty poor research lol, it has nothing to do with MC or Visa. The terminal needs to support contactless payments, a good rule of thumb is any major gas station or fast food station will support it, with many other stores having it as well. Just look for the little NFC icon.

            I use it maybe a couple times per month, as I said before I mainly use it when I’m out walking or biking and don’t or can’t easily carry my wallet with me, I can just my phone to pay for drinks or snacks.

          • Well I did admit it was super quick, right? So if I usually carry my ID around with me everywhere I go, there’s really no reason for me not to carry a CC as well? How can you “easily” carry a phone with you, but not a wallet? Or a flat piece of plastic?

          • For me, paying with my phone is actually quicker than pulling my wallet out, flipping it open, grabbing the card and swiping it and putting in all the info on the machine. With my phone, I just open the app, tap it and I’m done. I still always have my card with me but I find paying with my phone is less of a hassle.

          • Do you walk or bike ride much? It feels much better to do these things without a wallet in your pocket, especially if you don’t think you’ll need it. I’m saying that for me, there are many times I leave home on a bike ride with just a phone since I never go anywhere without it, not thinking I’ll need to buy anything, when I end up needing to buy a snack or drink and I can just use my phone to pay.

          • Sounds like your wallet is too fat…

            Driver’s licence, Clipper card, 2 x CC’s and some greenbacks. Markedly thinner than a phone 😉

          • I don’t know how old you are, but many of us need car and health insurance cards, plus any loyalty cards. When you fold this up in two-fold or tri-fold wallets it gets thick. Even an empty wallet is thicker than a phone

          • >30 – my health insurance card is in there as well (it’s thin).

            I really don’t understand why people carry around every single card they own in their wallets. I switched from a fatty wallet to that one about 8 years ago, and have never looked back.

            Google Wallet is great for storing loyalty card numbers by the way – make them scan your phone, or type in the number manually.

          • Of course it is, it’s been obsolete since Windows 8 came out! It is THREE versions old. 7 YEARS old. So yeah.

          • There is a pretty long list of stores and restaurants that use it. I know all of Mcdonalds and all Chevrons have it available for starters. The Save-Mart grocery store in my town that I shop at has it. They say “MasterCard” I think because that’s the type of card they use for their physical wallet card. I only have a Visa but I can connect it to the app and use it through Google Wallet

          • subway, panera bread, pretty much any fast food restaurants like taco cabana or Mc Donalds, Also 90% of vending machines now see to support it. Its still got a logn way to go.

      • I’ve been using Google Wallet since I have the Galaxy Nexus, so 2011? Also two of my friends got the GNex the same time as me and have used Google Wallet since

        • And until the mass market adopts and accepts these technologies they are mere geeky things to dink around with but i agree, rather have it and not need it then need it and not have it. Then again I was talking about how smartphones would replace the wallet 10+ years ago.

          • McDonald’s, Walmart, and CVS have been using NFC payments before Google Wallet; I used my debit card’s nfc for contactless payments before I got my GNEX. The idea that NFC isn’t widespread is a myth perpetuated by those who haven’t had the ability to use the tech: iOS users.

          • Most gasoline stations, restaurants and even mom and pop convenience stores have also been using it. The thing is, once you start using it, you realise how many place actually support it. (A lot of places)

          • Walmart near me removed NFC payments from vending machines for whatever reason. Only place I’ve really seen NFC widely available is grocery stores at self checkouts.

          • Mass market also includes visa, mc, carriers, manufactures to get their poop in a group and make it a thing. So the tech is there however, not being utilized effectively.

    • Taking this from my other reply

      It makes sense when you consider their target market audience is China and India, were nfc payment isn’t really used with China even having an alternative to contact less payment. If they could remove NFC in order to lower cost for their main market, then it makes sense that they would.

        • Right, but does it require any type of migration? If so, does that happen automatically?

          • Android Pay isn’t a rebranding of Google Wallet, but it duplicates much of the functionality. Notably, Google Wallet lets you maintain a balance and do peer to peer payments. So I expect we’ll see it as something of a split. No clue if there will be any sort of migration, as they may want you to reenter CC info for security’s sake.

  • Have a phone with NFC… never used it. I think he’s basically saying what we all know… “Phones have a 2 year shelf life in two years we’ll put it in if it takes off.”

    • Have you ever tried Google Wallet? Going someplace with just a phone definitely has perks, I use it all the time when going for walks or bike rides where I don’t want to carry a hefty wallet around with me if I think I might need a snack or drink.

      • I have, and it didn’t work very well. I dislike mobile payments for a lot of reasons, mainly for usability, and the fact that a lot of vendors do not support mobile payments, so I need to bring my wallet along anyway. I’ve slimmed my wallet anyway, it’s smaller and thinner than my phone anyway.

    • Not trying to be a dick, but are we going to get a reference to this every time someone says something critical of OP? I think we can all understand why exactly OnePlus did what they did there. There is criticism and then there is the kind of post that ended the relationship between those two. Any reasonable person, outside of press acting entitled, can understand what happened there and would not have a problem with it.

      I think it’s time to move on from that situation and get back to the phone and whether or not its worth spending money on.

  • That made absolutely no sense, whatsoever. If anything, NFC is becoming a lot more useful now than it was a year or so ago.

    • It makes sense when you consider their target market audience is China and India, were nfc payment isn’t really used with China even having an alternative to contact less payment. If they could remove NFC in order to lower cost for their main market, then it makes sense that they would.

      • That is not true. In an article from 2013 on NFC World is was reported “China Mobile, the world’s largest mobile network operator, and Chinese bank card association China UnionPay have announced that their NFC payments service is now live in more than fourteen Chinese cities, including Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou — and eight banks have signed up to make use of the partners’ platform.”

        So if the world’s largest mobile provider introduced NFC payments, they are more than useful in phones.

    • My big thing with leaving out NFC is that Apple finally gets it and now there are more point of sale locations available Google Pay is coming and somehow they think it’s acceptable to skimp on NFC – and some people are defending One Plus! That should not be defended. Not having NFC is unacceptable whether people use it or not.

      • At this point in the NFC game on devices, its almost as standard to have in them as Bluetooth is, but that took a while and most people thought it was ONLY for headsets, but realized its for sharing internet, files, photos, music, everything. NFC isnt just payments but it can also trigger home automation, pay bus/transit fares, be used for museum information, it has major uses – to leave it out is similar to saying “Cell networks are large enough you really dont need wifi for those areas there isnt reception anymore” – its counterproductive, its a statement that is asinine and incorrect and frankly the attitude of OnePlus is so brazen to behave this manner, I dont even want a device or support them even if they do fix the issue and release a device with NFC. I simply dont want it anymore.

        • Until a phone can replace your wallets all together I don’t see NFC taking over everything anytime soon. Not until some real security measures can be implemented with mobile devices.

          Would be nice for the NSA to release and create a secure ID network for citizens that can be used over mobile devices to replace ID’s. I think they owe it to us for all the Billions in taxes and other crap they have pulled on us. Put all those top 20 Super computers in the world they have created to use for us instead of against us.,

    • Their statement basically was –
      “We’ve settled and so should you, we also upped the price, we also f’ed up so severely we are releasing TWO devices this year, because it’s embarrassing we realized we left sheizneizza out, and we certainly cant redesign the phone at this point, so we will release another device that will take over as flagship soon, so dont buy this device, but if you want, you should buy it anyway, but maybe wait, but…”
      All I heard was – “We settled. Buy an Alcatel instead if you want a cheap device.”

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