I watched the event live streamed while i was commuting into San Francisco, i wish i could have been there in person. as for the launch experience, it was wonderful to see the emphasis on the community throughout the event. it reminded my of my time waiting for my invite for the oneplus one, the time i spent in this community back then, and the my experience with the oneplus one as my daily driver.
so story time..
my oneplus one was my favorite smartphone i've had to date. Then one day during a flight back to san francisco, i had it stolen right out of my bag while disembarking my flight. i tried to get the police to follow my device in the airport but they were more concerned with me filling out the paperwork.. and the android device manager lost the phone after it had gotten a few miles from the airport while i was waiting for my connecting flight. i was heart broken.
the next day i went to tmobile to get a cheap burner phone and try and track my device imei, so the rep decides to switch my phone first, then asks what my imei is from my oneplus one. to which i told him i didnt have it and he needed to pull it from the tmobile system. however since he setup the new phone first, it removed my previous device from the system. so tmobile was unable to do anything to find my device.
i stuck with the burner phone, trying to figure out what to do or get next, quietly hoping that i might be able to recover my oneplus. about two weeks later while sitting at my desk at work pushbullet (a notification mirroring application) suddenly dumped tons of notifications into my browser, and i realized that my oneplus had been turned on without being wiped. i quickly opened the android device manager and the location popped up.. at a rehab center in malibu, california.
I immediately called the police officer that was handling my case, except no answer. after several tries i decided to lookup the rehab center's phone number and try it that way.. i talked to a very friendly staffer who took down a description of my oneplus (she was really confused by the name, i had to explain what it even was) and my phone number and said she would review people who either entered the center or had visitors since the theft. after an anxious 15 minutes she called back. she had my phone in her hands, and next day aired it to me. that was one of the happiest days of my life.
pardon for the long story, but the oneplus 6t has brought me back to the oneplus family. i dearly loved my oneplus one, it is still my favorite smartphone to date. however subsequent oneplus devices didnt draw me back. the 6t has that same excitement to me that the oneplus one did. i am so excited to pick it up at my store in SF on thursday.
as for if there is anything i would change from today's launch.. well be careful what you ask for. (for context I am a product manager at a tech company in san francisco) it was great to have Pete kick off the launch in english, however the presentations throughout the launch could use some coaching on avoiding crutch words (like, okay, alright, umm, and so on). the videos to announce certain elements were good, but missed opportunities to showcase the selling point. (where was the slowmo timer for fingerprint unlock? if the bragging point is speed show it off more, is it as fast as a back panel fingerprint reader?) it was great to see other products come to the stage as well, but they all lacked any sort of 'reveal'. i have other thoughts, but theses are the big points to me..
anyways all in all it was a great launch and oneplus is making huge steps in maturing as a company. i really hope you guys make it for the long haul!
Last edited: Oct 29, 2018
