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The days of the invite Aug 10, 2021

shoynn , Aug 10, 2021 :

A long time ago in a state far, far away, I was in desperate need of a new phone. I was completely over big name phones (Apple, Samsung, HTC, etc), and began my search for a new phone that could compete with the big dawgs but wasn't a money grubbing, overpricing company that wanted you to pay for their name more than their product. Through my interweb surfing I narrowed my choices down to 2 such small companies, Oppo and Oneplus. The phones they were about to release had the same specs, but the Oneplus had that sweet price tag I was looking for, not to mention their slogan of "Never Settle" matched my own mantra. So I began looking more into their very first product, the Oneplus One.

The year, 2014. The product, an amazing phone that matched the specs of the big players without the price tag. A phone that didn't come with twice the storage full of bloatware. A phone who's company encouraged rooting and installing/making custom ROMs to see what their device was truly capable of. The only problem, a small company with limited overhead, a huge following, and limited production. Their solution? The invite system. Lucky people were given an invite to which, upon using it to buy a phone, gained a small handful of invites they could share. Thus the community was born, and a rampage of hungry techies were vying in every thread to garner the coveted invite from a rndom stranger i. The community. Luckily for me there was a community that was for members of the United States military. Upon proving service you were put on a list that was maintained daily in which someone with an invite could just give it to the person on the top of the list. I joined as quickly as I could, and in September of 2014 my invite finally arrived! I ordered my Oneplus One as quickly as I could, afraid my invite would somehow disappear, and I would lose my chance to join such an exclusive club!

Fast forward shipping time and my phone arrived. The packaging was some of the sexiest I have ever seen. The phone itself was smooth and sleek. The textured sandstone back unlike anything else on the market. I was the envy amongst my tech savy friends, and the rest just kept asking me what company made my phone regardless of how many times I told them Oneplus did. This was the phone of phones. Fast, glorious, and nigh indestructible. I dropped it countless times, on the corner, on the side, flat on the screen. Never did I have it in a protective case. Never did I have a screen protector on it. Sure, there was a little bit of battle damage from the falls, but very minor dings and pits. A scratch or two on the screen. Otherwise the phone was in immaculate condition. It survived Seattle, Mexico, Costa Rica, and even Japan. Alas, not everything was meant to last forever. 4 long years of great experience with the phone came to a sad end when I moved across the country and my new location had terrible service. Oh, and also my service provider upgraded their infrastructure and no longer supported the bands my phone used. RIP Oneplus One.

Lo and behold, the Oneplus 6T is on the way, and along with it a partnership with my service provider, T-Mobile! I was over the moon. Again, a top of the line phone for a not top of the line price! Not to mention that the stars aligned and a trade in program was initiated: if you were in possession of a qualifying phone you would get $300 off. To my surprise, my ancient Oneplus One was on the list of qualified devices! Again I got a great device for a great price! (actually came out cheaper than my Oneplus One!)

This device is still treating me as well as my beloved original phone did, and as the Oneplus empire continues to thrive I will continue to be there to get a new phone when I am in need. I am a proud owner of the Oneplus Watch and would probably buy the Oneplus TV if it came to the U. S. In other words Oneplus, shut up and take my money!

Thank you for reading all of this and remember, Never Settle!