OnePlus: "get ready" for pre-order crunch

The OnePlus One is one special smartphone, that much is certain. It's got bold styling, respectable specs, and some rock solid Cyanogen software running the show. What it doesn't have is a lot of users, and the company's slow rollout is putting them a bit behind the curve. A new pre-order program starts soon, with orders officially being taken on October 27. If you're anxious to jump on the OnePlus train, though, you can go to their site and build your cart now.

The catch? As I've detailed before, a pre-order doesn't guarantee you a phone when they ship next. OnePlus has a designated number of phones they're shipping, so your pre-order is really crossed fingers and submitted credit card info.

It's like this: If OnePlus has 20,000 phones to sell, but get 30,000 pre-orders — only 20,000 phones will be sold. If you're number 23,413, you won't get a phone this time around. You'll have to wait for the next batch to go out.

Another OnePlus kluge: the pre-order timeframe. You'll have one hour to get your OnePlus pre-order in. If you've tried to order a Nexus smartphone via the Play Store, you have a good idea of what a cluster-you-know-what that is.

Who knows how many users are crushing the system to get their OnePlus One, and who knows if your efforts will even matter. To make it worse, OnePlus has announced the time the pre-orders can be placed, so everyone interested will be setting time aside for it.

But hey, if you want to give it a shot, you can go to OnePlus' site and build your cart now. That will let you skip the first few steps in the process, at least.

Source: OnePlus