OnePlus Ace 2 Xiangling Edition
Five months ago, OnePlus partnered with Genshin Impact to release the Ace Pro Hutao Edition. We made an unboxing video at that time and we thought it was quite a good co-branding model. If you are interested in it, you can check out the video link here. Then five months later, they did it again with miHoYo to release another co-branding phone, the OnePlus Ace 2 Xiangling Edition. Like I said before, the Ace Pro Hutao Edition is an adorable work, so I’m pretty anticipating the successor. Can this Ace 2 Xiangling Edition be loved by gamers again this time? Let’s find out.
Unboxing
If you purchase the special Ace 2, you will receive a huge and heavy red box. The bottom of the box is a removable tray with metal carrying handle, which looks like some sort of ancient Chinese suitcase. Not surprisingly, the design of the Box is inspired by the Chinese Antique Stacking Lunch Box. The sides also have the fire element pattern of the game, and the golden handle does make it more like a launch box that conforms to the style of Liyue Harbor.
If you play the game a lot, you must know that the character Xiangling is a chef, so it makes sense to design a lunch box for her phone. The magnetic Buckle logo in the center of the box is Xiangling’s name – Ling. When you open the box, a familiar scene appears: It is Liyue Harbor, made of several layers of paper like Hutao’s decorative painting, with Xiangling and her companion, Guoba, on either side of Liyue Harbor.
So why did OnePlus choose Xiangling as the game’s avatar for Ace 2? I think it’s probably because they are so similar to each other. Although Xiangling can be collected for free in the game, she’s actually a very powerful avatar which I also like to play with. I’m sure those of you who have fought in Spiral Abyss should be able to feel how powerful Xiangling is, and Raiden National Team also helped me get full stars in Floor 12. While the Ace 2 isn’t expensive either as a mid-range model with decent performance. I guess OnePlus tried to remind users with Xiangling that the Ace 2 is equally powerful as the character.
The two drawers below Liyue Harbor are the main course inside the lunch box. In the first drawer, there’re some accessories put into the ‘custom manual’. The manual printed with a big Guoba head is thick and solid. And you can see Guoba’s eyes can change from different angles. Open the manual you will see the table of contents on the first page, and some Chinese welcome words on the next page.
Move on and you will see the paper card of Xiangling and Guoba popping up in a fighting posture. The short words on the left are the battle cry of Xiangling in Chinese, which does pull me back into the game. And then there’re a few character cards, Xiangling’s meme stickers, and a lovely Guoba card pin.
Next to the manual, there’s a refine scroll poster of Xiangling. In the beginning, I just thought it might be some sort of new recipe created by Xiangling.
So that’s all the accessories. They look good, but to be honest, the new work is not as surprising as the Hutao edition. Because there’s no custom phone case, the pin is not made into a weapon, and no primogems are given here. Even the poster is printed from the image in the game, while Hutao’s at least has a special poster made for her by OnePlus.
The Phone
The second drawer is of course the phone and the same accessories as the standard Ace 2, so no need to repeat them. The red leather-like variant is exclusive for the Genshin Impact edition, with stitch design on both sides like the Redmi K60. Unfortunately, there is no Genshin Impact element on the back panel. Apart from the exclusive color of the back, it looks the same as the standard Ace 2.
Custom Software
Now let’s boot the phone. Obviously, a customized theme UI is essential. The dynamic wallpaper and customized icons are the most basic tricks of these co-branded phones. Here we have to despise Redmi 12 Turbo’s Harry Potter edition. How can it be made without customized icons? There is a burning effect for the charging animation, and the small chili pepper also appears as you type with the default keyboard.
Like the Hutao Edition, we also have the custom ringtones recorded by Xiangling’s Chinese VA in the game.
The phone is also powered by the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, and it’s still no problem dealing with Spiral Abyss. It can run at full 60fps and the temperature is acceptable. But to run Genshin Impact perfectly, I still recommend Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 phones. For more information about the Ace 2, you can check out our Ace 2 full review video. Although it got an upgraded 18GB ram, there’s no perceivable difference from the standard variants since they share almost everything.
Verdict
The Ace Pro Hutao edition is still OnePlus’ best work for Genshin gamers. If put together, the Ace 2 Xiangling Edition maybe not be as worthy, as picky gamers would want a more thoughtful design. And the others who don’t play the game probably won’t buy a co-branding phone for the 18GB ram and the red leather-like cover either.
But every character in Genshin Impact has a loyal fan base, so those who especially love Xiangling better ignore my opinion and pay for it. Otherwise, I would recommend the Hutao Edition more.
