Oneplus 2 ! (Photo: oneplus.net)

It’s cheap, it’s trendy and it has a great overall performance sheet: the OnePlus 2 is coming soon.

Soon, Android gaming fans will have yet another smart phone to choose from. If you’re weary of spending heaps of money on a smart phone and want something different (but just as great,) the OnePlus 2 will be the answer to all your prayers. So how much will it actually cost once it comes out? According to The Verge, the 16GB version will be priced at USD 329 and the 64GB model can be yours for the cheap price of USD 389. See? It really is much cheaper than other Android smart phones.

If you’re still skeptic about this great device, here are the specs that will prove that there is nothing to roll your eyes at. The physical appearance of the OnePlus 2 is quite different form its predecessor’s: instead of plastic, they went with more sophisticated metal elements. As engadget reports, it is not only the material that they changed: “take a closer look and you’ll notice the subtle curve — from the screen to the back side — on the magnesium alloy frame.[…]There are also stainless steel accents throughout that contribute to an overall more premium feel compared to the original.”

Just pop off the back and replace it with another StyleSwap cover

As engadget says, changing the look of the OnePlus 2 around is easier than ever: you only have to click off the back and replace it with a different StyleSwapcover. When the phone is launched, there will be a total of four covers: rosewood, Kevlar, black apricot and bamboo. They will cost USD 27. The OnePlus is equipped with a USB-C port at the bottom and – I know people who use their phones for playing on a lot of gambling apps will love this feature – the charger cable will apparently be tangle-free. According to The Verge, there is also a “three-position switch on the side of the phone that lets you cycle through the three default notification settings in Android Lollipop.”

The OnePlus 2 performs quite well on the processor-side, too: it will be equipped with a “Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 810, a chipset consisting of a 1.8GHz octa-core 64-bit processor and an Adreno 430 GPU,” as engadget says. There have been concerns about the processor overheating on occasion. To that, OnePlus 2 came up with a great solution according to engadget: “it’s using the cooler 810 v2.1, which, in combination with the thermal gel and graphite stuffed into the body, should keep the phone palm-friendly in most cases.”

OnePlus 2 with heightened security features

Additionally, the OnePlus 2 will be equipped with a fingerprint reader to make sure than nobody gains access to your phone unless you want them to. As engadget reports, the fingerprint reader is a 0.5 second faster than the iPhone’s. The Home button is also non-clickable. Take a peek inside the workings of this phone, and you’ll absolutely fall in love with it if you love spending time on mobile gambling apps. The Verge states that “when you swipe to the left from your home screen, you’ll see an area that collects your favorite contacts and most used apps.” The Shelf, as this feature is called, will be thought over and expanded further in the future.

In terms of software, the OnePlus 2 will have tell-tale signs of the Android 5.1’s design. The company, however, added its own twist to the mix: OxygenOS. It is simple but great; according to The Verge, some new, fun things have been added, “like a menu that lets you enable gestures to tap the screen to wake it, or draw a circle on the screen to launch the camera.” How cool is that? If you have the sudden urge to pre-order the phone, we have not-so-wonderful news for you, however. You can only place orders if you have received an invite to do so. Of course, this adds to the suspense and feeling of prestige. So, it’s time to ask around to see if your friends have the golden ticket…