OnePlus 11 review

The early flagship telephones from OnePlus made their title by having high finish specs however miraculously costing a whole bunch lower than the competitors.

These days are seemingly behind the corporate now, however the OnePlus 11 remains to be a competitively priced Android cellphone that’s adequate to suggest above dearer competing telephones.

If you need a cellphone with a big display, wonderful efficiency, nice cameras, and lengthy software program assist, you may’t do a lot better than this for $699/£729 – a whole bunch lower than the Samsung Galaxy S23 Extremely and even rather less than the common S23.

Design & construct

• Properly skinny
• Alert slider nonetheless nice
• Solely IP64

The OnePlus 11 is a big cellphone however feels slim and compact sufficient even in small arms due to its rounded edges and its curved show. It’s solely 8.5mm thick, and slips simply right into a pocket.

I used to be loaned the Titan Black mannequin, which is annoyingly slippery. It means the cellphone will slide off tables and out of your arms fairly simply, and there’s no case within the retail field (within the UK, a minimum of) – although I’ll let it off, because the matt glass end means it picks up completely no fingerprints,.

The Everlasting Inexperienced model appears to be like much less engaging to my eyes, however its shiny glass again is tackier and simpler to carry onto. Each variations have Gorilla Glass 5 on the rear, whereas the display has the more durable Gorilla Glass Victus to guard it.

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This cellphone has the three-position alert slider that OnePlus weirdly left off the current OnePlus 10T. Thank goodness it’s again, because the silent-vibrate-ring change is an actual {hardware} differentiator for the corporate.

Annoyingly although, in the event you flick the slider when utilizing the Chrome browser, it opens the ‘Discover in web page’ search discipline – a every day irritation I’ve not seen earlier than on different OnePlus telephones.

There’s no headphone jack, however a clicky quantity rocker on the left and an influence button on the precise. Additionally satisfyingly clicky are this cellphone’s haptics, a few of the greatest vibration suggestions on an Android cellphone. The pips from the keyboard really feel virtually mechanical, and it improves the expertise of utilizing the handset.

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Most eye-catching is the brand new digital camera design, which is a black circle with flecks of silver in it, full with ‘Hasselblad’ emblem to point a partnership on this cellphone with the digital camera maker. OnePlus says it’s meant to seem like a black gap. The U-shaped design round it’s chrome steel however there’s a seam between it and the aluminium sides of the machine.

This can be a good wanting cellphone that doesn’t really feel too heavy at 205g, regardless of its measurement. It’s a disgrace there’s solely IP64 safety although – that’s totally protected in opposition to mud ingress, however principally solely splash-proof. OnePlus all the time skimps on this the place it shouldn’t, and it’s a disgrace this doesn’t match all of the telephones which are IP68 at this worth.

Display screen & audio system

• 6.7in AMOLED
• 1-120Hz dynamic refresh price
• Dolby Imaginative and prescient and Dolby Atmos

The OnePlus 11 is blessed with a high quality 6.7in AMOLED display with a 3216 x 1440 QHD+ decision that helps each HDR10+ and Dolby Imaginative and prescient. Translation: colors are wonderful, and issues all the time look pin sharp. It’s a pleasure to make use of.

It’s a show with LTPO 3.0 know-how, which suggests it might probably range its refresh price. It may possibly go all the way in which as much as 120Hz when taking part in appropriate video games or scrolling (easily) via social media and textual content however can draw again right down to 1Hz to avoid wasting battery when not wanted. It’s vibrant, however not up there with the Galaxy S23 Extremely’s excellent out of doors visibility.

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I’m detest to take away the pre-installed display protector however its low-cost plastic coating picks up fingerprints and dirt like no one’s enterprise.

The cellphone is simply 74mm huge due to the display’s tall 20.1:9 side ratio, making it good for one handed studying or turned panorama to grip with each paws to play video games.

Twin stereo audio system within the earpiece and on the underside on the cellphone can blast out audio at a good quantity with out distorting. It’s nice for podcasts or the radio however music – as with all cellphone audio system – sounds tinny and skinny.

Higher is assist for Dolby Atmos, which is greatest appreciated via Bluetooth headphones (OnePlus hopes its personal Buds Professional 2) and might tune the EQ relying on the kind of audio.

Specs & efficiency

• Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 flies
• As much as 16GB RAM
• Extremely fast cellphone

Nestled inside is Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset, which can also be discovered within the Samsung Galaxy S23 and the iQoo 11 I lately reviewed. It’s one of the highly effective chips on the time of writing in February 2023 for an Android cellphone, and it reveals.

The OnePlus 11 doesn’t skip a beat it doesn’t matter what you throw at it. High finish video games with onerous to render graphics, multi-tasking between a number of apps, video calls whereas streaming video in cut up display? All wonderful right here.

Right here’s the way it fared in opposition to equally hench smartphones in our common benchmark app assessments:

That’s partially due to the 16GB RAM on my overview pattern (the most affordable mannequin solely has 8GB, although that ought to be wonderful for most individuals). This reminiscence mixed with the 8 Gen 2 outcomes means the OnePlus 11 is likely one of the quickest telephones I’ve ever used – it’s zippy it doesn’t matter what you’re doing.

Choosing the pricier 16GB mannequin additionally will get you 256GB UFS 4.0 storage – quicker storage then the 8GB mannequin that has 128GB of not-quite-so-fast UFS 3.0. Not an enormous distinction, however in the event you’re right here to seek out out if the OnePlus 11 is likely one of the strongest telephones you should buy, that element will matter to you.

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OnePlus additionally says it has put its machine studying smarts known as ‘RAM Vita’ within the cellphone that speeds processes up even additional, all the time assigning sufficient RAM to apps just like the digital camera to make sure they by no means lag, whereas maintaining each else ticking over. I can’t show how a lot of an impression this has, however I can say the OnePlus 11 may be very speedy.

Digital camera & video

• Excellent 50Mp essential lens
• Color correct outcomes
• Glorious handbook and professional modes

OnePlus has been unfairly derided for the standard of its cameras up to now, sufficient for me to say upfront that the OnePlus 11 has wonderful cameras. The one minor downgrade is there’s a 2x optical telephoto lens in comparison with the three.3x one discovered on the OnePlus 10 Professional from 2022.

It’s not a vastly unhealthy factor, significantly at $699/£729. The $799/£849 iPhone 14 doesn’t have a telephoto lens in any respect.

The very best lens on a cellphone is all the time the primary one and the 50Mp shooter right here is not any exception. In truth, I might say it is extremely good certainly. It has an aperture of f/1.8 which takes in sufficient mild to correctly expose photographs, plus optical picture stabilisation (OIS) to counteract hand jitter.

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

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It produces pure, true-to-life colors the place telephones from Samsung may over-saturate tones. In daylight, the OnePlus 11 is nearly as good because the iPhone 14 at capturing a scene, although now and again folks and landscapes look just a little washed out. That is additionally true of the 16Mp front-facing digital camera which is nothing significantly particular and struggles in low mild.

I nonetheless favor the processing of the Vivo X80 Professional, significantly in low mild the place it might probably seize way more element than the OnePlus 11. That cellphone additionally has a further periscope zoom lens, one thing lacking right here.

The OnePlus 11 additionally lacks the intelligent – and correct – software program of the iPhone and Google Pixel 7 to retain folks’s pure pores and skin tones. It has ‘pure color calibration with Hasselblad’, that goals to maintain the pure colors of scenes, however isn’t developed for pores and skin particularly. Total that is nit-picking what’s an excellent essential digital camera.

There’s additionally a 115-degree ultrawide lens with a powerful 48Mp half-inch sensor. Photographs aren’t nearly as good as the primary lens, with colors just a little darker than the scene, however photos are sharp and greater than adequate to put up to social media.

The third sensor is the aforementioned 32MP RGBW (purple inexperienced blue white) portrait telephoto lens. This can be a fastened size lens designed in partnership with Hasselblad to provide the bokeh impact of that firm’s XCD 30mm lens, and is used at 2x whether or not you choose common photograph or portrait within the digital camera app.

It produces spectacular outcomes, principally coping with folks’s hairlines and maintaining backgrounds attractively blurred, utilizing each {hardware} and software program to realize its results. It’s additionally good to punch in to 2x zoom now and again, however something past that’s digital zoom.

There’s additionally a Hasselblad-branded X-Pan mode to shoot like an outdated movie digital camera in a large panoramic format, plus a Professional mode that’s well-thought out with handbook controls, and choices to shoot in RAW and 10-bit color. There’s lots to dig into under the auto-mode floor, and the cellphone may be very enjoyable to shoot with.

The evening mode is simply too enthusiastic although, boosting mild means up above a scene’s precise lighting to a comedically vibrant impact. However video is robust, with the ability to shoot in 4K at 60fps and 8K and 24fps.

Battery & charging

• 5000mAh battery for all-day energy
• 100W quick charging
• No wi-fi charging

Impressively, OnePlus has crammed a dual-cell 5000mAh battery into the svelte OnePlus 11 with wonderful all-day outcomes. I had no situation taking the cellphone off cost at 7am and being assured it could final until 11pm. This was with regular use texting, listening to music via Bluetooth headphones, connecting to a smartwatch, and utilizing it for photograph, video, maps and extra.

It’s not a two-day cellphone until you’re a really mild person. When you hammer your cellphone you then’ll love the 100W quick charging, which in my testing charged the cellphone from 0% to 71% in quarter-hour and was full in 26 minutes.

Charging this quick actually adjustments the way in which you utilize your cellphone. No extra in a single day plugging in wanted – you may cost for the half-hour earlier than you allow your own home and go away with 100%.

There’s no wi-fi charging, one thing I personally don’t use even when it’s on a cellphone, however it’s value noting. At this worth you may anticipate it.

Software program & updates

• Android 13
• 4 years of Android updates
• 5 years of safety updates

OnePlus telephones principally now run Oppo’s ColorOS Android software program pores and skin, despite the fact that OnePlus nonetheless calls its personal model OxygenOS. Which means the stock-ish, pretty untouched Android look of outdated OxygenOS is not any extra.

As an alternative the newest model, OxygenOS 13 based mostly on Android 13, has a glance based mostly round rounded corners of notifications, widgets, and app icons. The notification shade has large rectangular and round icons that are wonderful, however I discovered the notifications themselves essentially the most annoying factor about utilizing the cellphone.

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It’s not simple to swipe away notifications as they arrive in, reminding me of Apple’s iOS and its inflexibility. You need to swipe to the precise to dismiss, however it’s additionally not all the time clear whether or not you must faucet or swipe down on a stack to take care of them, and I ended up nuking the entire listing out of frustration generally.

The auto-brightness can also be maddeningly aggressive, turning the display means too dim for my liking. I turned it off typically, which is one thing I don’t do on different telephones.

The OS is completely nice to make use of although, and the settings app is nicely thought out and clear. Some settings are hidden in sub-menus, however I did discover it simpler and quicker to tweak Android to how I prefer it visually in comparison with the newest Samsung telephones.

Maybe better of all right here is the promise of 4 years of Android updates and 5 years of safety patches, the primary such promise for any OnePlus cellphone, and matching Samsung. It makes the OnePlus 11 joint-best within the {industry} on the time of launch for Android software program assist.

Value & availability

The OnePlus 11 prices $699/£729/€849 for the model with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage, and $799/£799/€919 for 16GB and 256GB storage. You may pre-order it direct from OnePlus, or from most different electronics retailers and choose carriers and networks.

It goes on full sale on 16 February.

This pricing makes the cellphone comparatively inexpensive contemplating its specs however nonetheless a bit greater than one of the best Android deal round, the $599/£599/€649 Google Pixel 7.

OnePlus has efficiently undercut the $799/£849/€959 Samsung Galaxy S23 and solely actually misses out wi-fi charging and waterproofing compared. The iPhone 14 begins on the identical worth because the S23 within the US and UK, although is a bit more in Euros.

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

Verdict

If you need an Android smartphone with high specs in 2023 that’s designed to remain quick and could have software program assist until 2028, the OnePlus 11 is a superb selection. It’s additionally one of many most cost-effective high-end telephones to supply this.

The absence of wi-fi charging shouldn’t be dealbreakers for most individuals. In any case, this cellphone has a superb display, high cameras, good battery life and actually quick charging, and one of the best efficiency of any Android cellphone thus far. The shortage of full waterproofing is extra annoying to me.

Certain, the software program appears to be like completely different to the OnePlus telephones from 5 years in the past, however the identical is the case for iPhones and Samsung Galaxy telephones. OnePlus can’t simply stand nonetheless, it additionally should evolve – fortunately for us, the OnePlus 11 is a wonderful evolution and probably the greatest telephones you should buy for a worth that undercuts many competing merchandise.

Specs

• Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
• Android 13 (Oxygen OS 13.0)
• 6.7in, 3216 x 1440 QHD+, 1-120Hz LTPO 3.0, 20.1:9, AMOLED show
• In-display fingerprint sensor
• Digital camera:
  • 50Mp Sony IMX890 essential digital camera, f/1.8, OIS
  • 48Mp Sony IMX581 ultrawide, f/2.2
  • 32Mp Sony IMX709 portrait telephoto, f/2.0
  • 16Mp Sony IMX471 selfie digital camera, f/2.45
• 8/16GB LPDDR5X RAM
• 128GB UFS 3.1/256GB UFS 4.0 non-expandable storage
• USB 2.0 Sort-C port
• Twin nano-SIM slot
• 5000mAh twin cell battery
• 100W wired charging
• NFC
• 5G
• Bluetooth 5.3
• Wi-Fi 7-ready
• 163.1 mm × 74.1mm × 8.5mm
• 205g