Unlocked phones haven't quite caught on with mainstream U.S. audiences, but the smartphone world served up two big reasons to believe that will change. Earlier this week OnePlus unveiled the follow-up to its unconventional hit, the OnePlus 2, while Motorola followed suit shortly after with its latest flagship, the Moto X Style.

Both phones pack loads of features that should appeal to a wide swath of prospective phone buyers, but the real headline here is the aggressive pricing—at $329 for the OnePlus 2 and $399 for the Moto X Style without any carrier subsidies, both companies are nudging customers towards the unlocked phone route. Of course, the question remains: Which "flagship killer" reigns supreme? Read on for a side-by-side comparison.

Let's start with size, since that's one characteristic on which many people just can't budge. Motorola ditches the whole "one-hand friendly" notion and bumped the screen size on its latest phone up to 5.7-inch phablet territory. At 6.06 by 3.0 by 0.44 inches and 6.31 ounces, the Style is fairly large by most standards. And while the OnePlus 2 isn't exactly small, it's got a more reasonably sized 5.5-inch display and measures 5.98 by 2.95 by 0.39 and 6.17 ounces.

Display resolution is another important distinction between these two smartphones. Motorola steps up to a 2,560-by-1,440 display, which is increasingly becoming the standard issue resolution for top-end phones. Meanwhile, OnePlus sticks with 1080p resolution for the 2. The Style's display will look sharper to discerning eyes, to the tune of 520ppi to the OnePlus 2's 401ppi. One note on the Style's display tech: Motorola ditches AMOLED in favor of LCD, which might affect Ambient Display notifications. OnePlus also sticks with LCD, though, so that's not really a point of distinction between the two.

For all the special snowflakes out there, both the Style and OnePlus 2 offer a number of customizable back plates that add a bit of personality to each. Motorola's Moto Maker holds an edge, though, offering up to 126 unique color combinations, while OnePlus will only sell a handful of replaceable backs in exotic finishes like rosewood or Kevlar.

Both manufacturers opted for Qualcomm-branded chips, but the Moto X Style will feature the Snapdragon 808, while the OnePlus 2 packs a Snapdragon 810. Both are very capable SoC's, with a few trade-offs worth noting. The 810 is the faster chip, with an improved GPU, but it's been plagued by heat management issues. Meanwhile the 808 has proven to be more than capable, but you lose some power in favor of better thermal properties.

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Motorola stays the course with its minimally invasive tweaks to Android, only adding a handful of genuinely useful features don't detract from the experience. Meanwhile, OnePlus parted ways with the popular CyanogenMod team in favor of the more subtle OxygenOS.

Camera performance will be a major point of distinction, with the Style packing a 21-megapixel sensor to the OnePlus 2's 13-megapixel sensor. Pixels are far from the only factor, though, but we'll have to wait till we get both phones into our labs to make any concrete claims about performance.

OnePlus fit a slightly larger 3,300mAh battery to the Style's 3,000mAh battery, but Motorola also found room for an NFC radio and microSD card slot. Those last two are going to be big selling points for a number of vocal supporters out there.

So which aggressively priced unlocked smartphone will you choose? Think there's a better option out there? Let us know in the comments below.

About the Author

Before joining the consumer electronics team at PCMag, Eugene worked at local news station NY1 doing everything from camera work to writing scripts. He grew up in Montclair, New Jersey and graduated from the University of Virginia in 2010. Outside of work Eugene enjoys TV, loud music, and making generally healthy and responsible life choices.

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