* I won a ticket for the OnePlus 6 launch event in London - Woohoo! :D *

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OnePlus announced that they were holding a contest for their upcoming launch event of the OnePlus 6 on 16th May at Copper Box Arena in London. Basically you had to explain why you wanted to attend the event. How long you've been a OnePlus user and why you were a fan of OnePlus in the first place.

So, Me being an ex - OnePlus user.. thought this is a great opportunity. And best of all I already live in London so would be quite easy for me to attend. Also, since I started watching Apple keynotes way back dating to the first iPhone, I've always wanted to attend one of these keynotes. My whole journey into smartphones was because of the first iPhones keynote which completely blew my mind. Now, having this opportunity to attend OnePlus' keynote would be a dream come true. I truly believe in this crowded space of high end smartphones.. OnePlus has definitely taken a different stance by providing flagship specs on a budget price.

Hence I decided to participate and wrote what came from the heart. Although I really liked my OnePlus 3T, which was a beast, there were few short comings. Mainly the mic, which wasn't that great for audio or video recording. On my post I not only praised what was good but also pointed out the bad (from my experience).. which was the reason for changing to another brand and wanted to see if the new phone has these fixes. Also, to see what new innovation they were bringing to the new phone. Anyway, this was my post:

#DestinationOP6 - The future of innovation

Hi,

I'm Allan and I'm a tech enthusiast. My first journey into smartphones was through the original iPhone. At that time it was a game changer, it blew every other phone out of the water. Actually it created a new category as a future phone, way ahead of its time.

Fast forward few years I was getting bored with the repetitive design of the iPhone and the boring iOS that never truly evolved like it should've. Quickly I switched over to android and I loved its many customisable features, the big screen, the UI, ability to use widgets etc. I was changed!

I heard about the OnePlus One (cool name) through the tech youtubers. They all dubbed it the cheaper alternative to all the flagships but with almost top of the line specs. For me, I loved the design and the simplicity. It had a minimalist look and feel that really challenged the norm of quirky and over the top (eye scrolling.. really?) features that looked amazing on paper but not practical at all.

Anyway, I became a OnePlus user back in 2017 and ended up buying the OnePlus 3T. Why? My old phone (would keep it anonymous) that was once a flagship.. less than year after purchasing it was not living up to its name. The battery life was almost half of what it was and the OS was starting to get all laggy after an update and the micro usb port was not usable at all, it completely broke.

After finding out about the 3T, I was surprised at how well built and fully specced it was for a fraction of the price of all the other flagships. I loved the unibody aluminium design, almost stock android UI, amazing camera, massive battery (very important), 6gb RAM and 128gb storage was perfect. Around that time it was the only phone with a massive 6gb RAM, which made the phone smooth as butter and the 128gb inbuilt storage meant I could take loads of pictures, videos, store my music and still have enough room to throw a party in it ;)

It seemed like the perfect phone but when I started taking videos at gigs and used the audio recorder to record my band (I play drums) the sound was not great at all. It was much worse than any other phone I had. And that was the only downside for me. I am a musician and I record live stuff a lot and the fact that the mic was not good meant I had to look for other options. So, after about a year of use I changed to another manufacturer.

So, the reason I want to be at the launch event is to actually find out what makes the OnePlus 6 stand out from all the other smartphones out this year. And also, if they have to managed to refine the microphone... And to see how the community comes together on these events. I've heard there's a huge support from the fans, the creators and the owners. I've never been to a launch of any technological product and only watched others attend it. So, would be a perfect time for me to experience this one. Plus (see what I did there :)) I already live in London. My contracts about to run out in few months and I have a decision to make and I just wanna see if this event will change my mind and make me switch back to OnePlus.

Anyway, I feel like OnePlus is ahead of the game and leading in the future of innovation and I would love to be a part of this event! :)

And lo and behold, after about a week I got an email saying I had won:

And today finally I got the ticket :)

Cropped the bar-code part ;)

I honestly wasn't sure if I would win, as there were thousands of people competing to get an opportunity to attend this event. But I'm very happy that I won. My inner geekness is rejoicing with joy! And I will keep you all updated how the event turns out.

Thanks for reading!