The OnePlus Ace 5, a continuation of the Ace series, is positioned to offer high-performance features, a sleek design, and competitive pricing. This review delves deep into its core aspects—design, performance, display, camera, battery life, software, and overall value proposition. Let’s explore if the OnePlus Ace 5 can live up to the expectations in a market flooded with high-performance devices.
Design and Build Quality
OnePlus has always paid attention to design, and the Ace 5 is no exception. It has a sleek, modern aesthetic, offering a blend of premium materials that ensure it feels sturdy in hand. The phone maintains OnePlus’ traditional minimalist look, with subtle branding, a metal frame, and a smooth glass back. Available in several colors, including matte finishes that minimize fingerprint smudging, it caters to a wide range of tastes.
The phone’s dimensions are well-balanced. With a thickness of around 8mm, it feels neither too bulky nor too slim, providing a firm grip for most users. Weighing in at approximately 190 grams, the Ace 5 sits comfortably in the hand without feeling overly heavy, yet it still offers a sense of solidity that speaks to its build quality.
The placement of buttons and ports follows the standard OnePlus layout, with the power button on the right and volume rockers on the left. The alert slider, a hallmark feature of OnePlus devices, is a welcome inclusion, allowing users to toggle between silent, vibrate, and ring modes effortlessly. The USB-C charging port is situated at the bottom alongside a speaker grille, with no headphone jack—a trend that continues as more flagship models forgo this feature.
Build Quality Verdict: The Ace 5 nails the balance between premium feel and user comfort. Its minimalist yet solid design reflects OnePlus’ commitment to both aesthetics and usability.
Display
The display on the OnePlus Ace 5 is one of its standout features. The phone boasts a 6.7-inch AMOLED panel with a Full HD+ resolution of 2400 x 1080 pixels. This results in a sharp, vibrant viewing experience that enhances everything from day-to-day browsing to multimedia consumption. The colors are vivid, thanks to the HDR10+ support, which ensures an immersive experience while watching videos or playing games.
One of the highlights of the Ace 5’s display is the 120Hz refresh rate, which makes the UI feel incredibly smooth. Scrolling through apps, swiping between screens, and even gaming all benefit from this higher refresh rate. The adaptive refresh rate feature helps conserve battery life by automatically adjusting the refresh rate based on the content being displayed. Brightness levels are impressive, reaching up to 1300 nits peak brightness, making the phone easily readable in direct sunlight.
In terms of display protection, the phone comes equipped with Corning Gorilla Glass, offering a good level of scratch and drop resistance. The in-display fingerprint scanner is quick and responsive, though some users might still prefer the reliability of a side-mounted option.
Display Verdict: With its vibrant AMOLED screen, high refresh rate, and HDR10+ support, the OnePlus Ace 5 offers a stunning display experience that is hard to fault at this price point.
Performance and Hardware
The OnePlus Ace 5 is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, paired with up to 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM. This combination results in a phone that is lightning-fast, capable of handling the most demanding tasks, including heavy gaming, multitasking, and intensive applications. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 is one of the most powerful chips available in 2024, making the Ace 5 future-proof for at least a couple of years in terms of performance.
In daily use, the phone performs exceptionally well. There are no noticeable lags or stutters when switching between apps, opening heavy files, or even while gaming. Graphics-heavy games like Genshin Impact and Call of Duty Mobile run smoothly on the highest settings, thanks to the Adreno 740 GPU. The phone also stays relatively cool during extended gaming sessions, a testament to its improved cooling system.
Storage options range from 128GB to 512GB of UFS 4.0 storage, ensuring that users have plenty of space for apps, games, and media files. Unfortunately, there’s no option for expandable storage via microSD, which is becoming increasingly rare in flagship devices. However, the internal storage should be sufficient for most users.
Performance Verdict: Powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, the OnePlus Ace 5 delivers top-tier performance. Whether you’re gaming, multitasking, or streaming, the phone handles everything you throw at it with ease.
Camera System
The OnePlus Ace 5 features a triple-camera setup, led by a 50MP primary sensor, an 8MP ultra-wide lens, and a 2MP macro shooter. This versatile setup ensures that the phone can capture a wide range of scenarios, from landscape shots to close-up macro photography.
- Primary Camera: The 50MP Sony IMX890 sensor is the star of the show. It captures detailed, vibrant photos in good lighting conditions, with excellent color accuracy and contrast. Even in low light, the Night Mode helps to retain details while minimizing noise, resulting in clear and sharp images.
- Ultra-Wide Camera: The 8MP ultra-wide lens offers a 120-degree field of view, making it perfect for landscape and group shots. While the detail level is lower than the primary camera, it still manages to produce solid images, especially in well-lit conditions. However, low-light performance with the ultra-wide camera tends to suffer slightly, with some noticeable noise creeping into the photos.
- Macro Camera: The 2MP macro lens feels more like an afterthought. While it allows for close-up shots, the quality is not on par with the other sensors. It works best in well-lit environments but struggles with detail and sharpness in lower-light conditions.
The front camera, a 16MP shooter, performs adequately for selfies and video calls. It captures decent skin tones and detail, with beauty mode available for those who prefer enhanced images.
In terms of video, the OnePlus Ace 5 can shoot 4K at 60fps, providing smooth footage with good stabilization. It also supports slow-motion video at 1080p, a feature that can be fun to use for creative shots.
Camera Verdict: The OnePlus Ace 5 offers a capable camera system, led by a strong 50MP primary sensor. While the macro and ultra-wide lenses are less impressive, the overall camera performance should satisfy most users, especially for everyday photography and video.
Battery Life
Battery life on the OnePlus Ace 5 is solid, thanks to the 5000mAh battery packed inside. Paired with efficient hardware and software optimizations, the phone can easily last a full day on a single charge, even with moderate to heavy use. Whether you’re gaming, streaming videos, or using multiple apps simultaneously, the Ace 5 can keep up without needing to constantly reach for the charger.
One of the standout features of the OnePlus Ace 5 is its charging speed. With support for 150W SuperVOOC fast charging, the phone can go from 0 to 100% in under 20 minutes. This is a game-changer for users who are always on the go and need a quick top-up before heading out.
The phone also supports 50W wireless charging, though the wireless charger is sold separately. Reverse wireless charging is another neat feature, allowing you to charge accessories like wireless earbuds by placing them on the back of the phone.
Battery Verdict: The OnePlus Ace 5 excels in battery life and charging speed, offering all-day usage and some of the fastest charging available on the market today.
Software and User Experience
Running on OxygenOS 14, based on Android 14, the OnePlus Ace 5 offers a clean, near-stock Android experience with a few additional features and customizations. OxygenOS has always been known for its fluidity, and the Ace 5 continues this trend. The interface is smooth and intuitive, with minimal bloatware, making the user experience pleasant and straightforward.
OnePlus has introduced some useful features in OxygenOS 14, including improved multitasking capabilities, enhanced privacy settings, and better customization options for icons, wallpapers, and themes. One of the standout features is the ability to create multiple user profiles, making it easier to separate work from personal use.
The phone also supports a range of gestures and shortcuts that streamline usage. For instance, you can quickly access the camera by double-tapping the power button or switch to silent mode with a simple gesture. OxygenOS 14 also benefits from faster updates, as OnePlus is committed to providing regular security patches and Android upgrades for its flagship models.
Software Verdict: OxygenOS 14 is fast, clean, and user-friendly. It enhances the Android experience without overwhelming users with unnecessary features, offering a balance between performance and customizability.
Connectivity and 5G
The OnePlus Ace 5 supports dual 5G SIMs, making it ideal for users who need access to high-speed internet on two networks simultaneously. The phone also supports Wi-Fi 7, ensuring faster and more reliable connections when using wireless networks. Bluetooth 5.3 is included, ensuring smooth connectivity with wireless accessories, such as earbuds and smartwatches.
In terms of other connectivity options, the Ace 5 features NFC for contactless payments and data sharing, as well as GPS, GLONASS, and Galileo for precise navigation.
Connectivity Verdict: The Ace 5 offers a wide range of connectivity options, including dual 5G support, Wi-Fi 7, and Bluetooth 5.3. These features ensure that the phone is