[finbaar]

I'm sure that the single purpose of the person (there must be only one of them) who is the OP marketing department is to create a sense of "specialness" around the phone by making it so bloody hard to buy. Of course the invite system is bonkers but today at 12 they had a 1 hour open sale for the OP2. And of course the servers crashed, people couldn’t complete orders and a whole world of pain. So they extended for another hour. Repeat the pain.

Now I managed to get one easily enough (tip – if the sale opens at 12 order a couple of minutes before as rules are always there to be broken) but many many potential buyers failed and got mightily pissed off. I can’t imagine that delivery will be quick but I’m not in any real hurry.

It seems making people frustrated is more important than taking their money to OP, but would we even know about them if that wasn’t the case? Look at Zuk, they just built a decent phone and then sold it cheap to anyone, but not many people know or care.

[TobyS]

I managed to get one too after about 5 minutes of trying. A lot of people said they were continually hitting F5 when they were getting the 'server is down' message which isn't really helpful. I did that for a couple of minutes but then just opened a new incognito tab in Chrome and was taken straight to the order page. I tried with Firefox too and got to the order page but the Paypal button didn't do anything so went back to Chrome.

Annoyingly even on Chrome the first time I tried to order I got another server error. The second time, I clicked on 'Express shipping' (£9.99) and couldn't change it back to standard afterwards. I didn't realize there is such a long wait for the phone though either. I think they're made to order so they don't have millions of units sitting unsold in a warehouse somewhere, so I still have to wait three weeks or so, even with the pointless 'express delivery'. The only model left was the 64GB version which is a little overkill for my needs, but it's still a cheap phone for what it's got inside and I'm about to throw my current phone (Galaxy S3) against the wall it's so slow.

[konebyvax]

Given the woes that first time adoptees experienced with CS/repairs etc I think I would just bite the bullet and order a 'Chinese Special' with a similar spec and the obligatory lower asking price. Thoughts?

[Cloudane]

A year ago I was going to either get a Oneplus One or switch back to iPhone for the 6. Apple were willing to sell me a phone, Oneplus were still being their silly little elitist clubhouse. Apple won.

If I were to get another 'droid now it'd be anything with a promising future for software updates, so probably a Nexus, maybe Motorola. Not sure I'd go for some random Chinese one unless the make was known for keeping things up to date - I know the last thing I'd want is to go back to wading through 150 page threads on xda developers trying to get the camera working on my third party port of the latest Android release.

[finbaar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cloudane

A year ago I was going to either get a Oneplus One or switch back to iPhone for the 6. Apple were willing to sell me a phone, Oneplus were still being their silly little elitist clubhouse. Apple won.

If I were to get another 'droid now it'd be anything with a promising future for software updates, so probably a Nexus, maybe Motorola. Not sure I'd go for some random Chinese one unless the make was known for keeping things up to date - I know the last thing I'd want is to go back to wading through 150 page threads on xda developers trying to get the camera working on my third party port of the latest Android release.

No need for an import these days. The Vodafone Smart Ultra 6 is £125 (order over the web to avoid the £10 top up and pick up for free instore) and unlocked for a couple of quid from eBay. It is better than than any import below £175 and has the advantage of Band 20 LTE support (VF and O2 requirements).

[jonmorris]

Quote:

Originally Posted by finbaar

I'm sure that the single purpose of the person (there must be only one of them) who is the OP marketing department is to create a sense of "specialness" around the phone by making it so bloody hard to buy.

Of course. It's the Eric Cartman 'you can't come' technique.

Other companies have of course done similar things to create irrational purchasing decisions. Apple mastered it, and now others are all keen to open pre-ordering so people feel that if they don't get in now they might NEVER get in.

Obviously they would still get a phone if they waited a few weeks, but it's a psychological thing that I'm sure marketing people around the globe have studied and mastered for many, many years and will continue to perfect.

As press, I was given a code by OnePlus (and recently they had a drinks in London and offered the first lot of people to turn up invites) but I took pause and thought - hang on, I'm being given an invite so I can pay full price to buy a phone that isn't actually that amazing. I let my invite expire.

However, for a time when I had the code (and having it expire is genius as it puts me under pressure) then I did feel I should go ahead and order or miss out.

I am not sure how long the company will be able to keep this sales method going, but it clearly must be working. I bet a lot of people have bought the phone who might not have done otherwise.

[Cloudane]

I wanted to buy one because at the time it was by far the best value phone on the market. The invite system did nothing to attract me to it and wasn't just a case of waiting a few weeks either - I kept my eye on the situation and it hadn't changed months later. All it did for me was make me go "welp... if you don't want my money, fine."

Re: Vodafone handset, I can only reiterate that it's a great deal if you aren't too bothered about OS updates (and not everyone is a nerd who wants the latest updates like me) but beware if you are. Carriers are notorious for delays in updating their firmware, and that's on top of what is often slow updates from the manufacturer themselves.

[finbaar]

I know the SU6 has had a few updates, not major version ones but bug fixes and security patches. So it looks like it is being supported, who knows how long it will last? But if you want the latest version you are not going to be interested in the SU6 in the first .

[clewsy]

TBH it did me a favour as holding on meant more phones got released, then could evaluate then all, before deciding for me the moto x style was the one omto get. So far I don't regret that choice for 1 minute.