Priced at just $250, a premium body and good internals make the OnePlus X quite a steal. Of course, OnePlus' infamous invite system does return, but small windows for open sales will be available, before gradually becoming free from requiring any invitations.

- Sleek; accessible design - AMOLED display leveraged well via Dark Mode and Ambient Display - Performance still reliable; even if not blazing fast - Return to microUSB port; at least for now - Battery above average - Expandable storage - Great price; makes it accessible for just about anyone

- Snapdragon 801 really showing its age - Lack of NFC; wireless charging; fast charging - Camera is inconsistent; especially video - Software still needs polish; somewhat buggy - Lack of LTE bands makes phone not futureproof in US

Fab design; Great performance; Stunning value;

Dodgy Auto brightness setting; Mushy low-light photos;

OnePlus had a happy 2014 thanks to its first phone, the OnePlus One , but 2015 was harder, with only a lukewarm reaction to the OnePlus 2 . The Chinese company then brought out the OnePlus X towards the end of the year to see it into 2016 – and it's a phone with an even more attractive price tag...

As a company, OnePlus is a bit frustrating to follow. It's manage to produce two outstanding Android phones in the last two years, but it's still a gamble trying to buy one. Sign up to gain exclusive access to email subscriptions, event invitations, competitions, giveaways, and much more.

A super-value phone that sets a new standard among sub-￡200 mobiles. Not perfect, but bloody good.

Fab design; Great performance; Stunning value

Dodgy Auto brightness setting; Mushy low-light photos

This is a shame, especially after the excellent camera on the OnePlus 2 , and it rather brings down the handset as a whole. The OnePlus X has a lovely screen, great build quality and excellent battery life, but when its performance levels are roughly on par with other smartphones in this price...

There's a reason the list above is almost all positives and a few negatives, but those few negatives could be a huge deal breaker for some. Still for $250 it's very difficult to be overly critical of a device that's built this well and performs nearly as well, all with the latest build of OxygenOS...

Low price; high value; Fast device; great multi-tasking; Amazing build; AMOLED screen; Size of the device; Dual-SIM; good network band support even in the US; OxygenOS with plenty of tweaks; FM Tuner; MicroSD card support

Camera is just bad in most situations; Battery life was all over the place; LTE could be spotty in the US; No NFC

When OnePlus founder and CEO Carl Pei first showed off the new X in our Manhattan office, I was impressed. Nice glass design, kind of a hybrid iPhone/Xperia look. The textbook definition of "premium." But it's really what he said next that got me. "It's 250 bucks." Wait.....what?

The look; People have describe the OnePlus X as an iPhone 5 look alike and honestly, I don't see it; I think OnePlus has added enough of its own personality to make it stand out, especially in the sub $300 range

When you really scrutinize the spec sheet; there is a lot missing you might actually want: NFC; fingerprint reader; 5GHz wifi support; only 16GB onboard storage (with expandable storage but without Android flex storage); and USB Type-C.

The OnePlus X is not another flagship killer, we have the OnePlus 2 for that. Instead OnePlus decided to take a break from the high profile smartphone game and brings us a stunning mid-ranger capable of delivering on both looks and performance.

The OnePlus X may lose some of the OnePlus 2's glamour with no fingerprint scanner and cut-back performance, but it's still a smooth operator that's impressively slim and light, with a sharp, seriously good AMOLED display and a dependable 13-megapixel camera proving highlights.

Thin and light; Strong value; Vibrant screen; Expandable storage; Decent battery life