Re: The trouble is
OP1 and OP3T owner here and the higher price of the OP3 had me questioning whether to just pay the difference and get the Samsung alternative instead. With the deals it was between 50 and 100 quid more but a quality brand, waterproof, better camera and post processing and nice looking screen although still not convinced I want a screen that breaks easier.
I purchased the OP1 because of price and it being the first phone with CyanogenMod as the standard firmware.
If it wasn't for the 128gb of fast internal storage and 6GB ram I probably would not have gone for the OP3. Having now owned it and found that the OP3 only uses about 3gb of memory no matter how hard I try to fill it, because the software on it has intentionally limited it. Something to do with powering the rest of ram would make the batter drain quicker from what I understand. No software option to change this though, so the 6GB of ram is a bit of a gimmick.
So now the newer OnePlus devices are not cheap, don't have CyanogenMod (yes you can flash yourself but usually means Banking apps, official streaming apps and other stuff refuses to work) and I feel a little bit tricked by them with the memory thing.
My next phone I have a choice of an OP or say a Samsung, I would likely pay the extra for the Samsung. It's a bit like buying cheap chinese computer where you might have problems with drivers or getting virtualisation to work, just extra effort and it's never quite as good as buying the slightly more expensive known brand like HP, which just works and is reliable. I feel that with the OnePlus phones now and with the price difference being closer together, it's not a hard choice to make anymore.
Saying that, I absolutely adore my Oneplus 1 with the sandpaper back and Cyanogenmod as well as my OP3T. But this is probably the end of the road for my OP love affair.