OnePlus over the years has always been a brand that I’ve rooted for as they go up against larger Android smartphone OEMs like Samsung. And now the company is well up there with the South Korean electronics giant.
At the same time, OnePlus has shifted its flagship phones from being “flagship killers” to more of the same. That is very much applicable to their latest phone, the OnePlus 11.
Design & Hardware
The first strong point of the OnePlus 11 is that the phone feels great in the hands, especially the black colour variant that offers a textured back that makes it less slippery.
The phone is still made from metal and glass to make it feel like a premium device. Unlike other Android phones, the OnePlus 11 is only IP64 water and dust resistant.
The display on the OnePlus 11 is a 6.7-inch AMOLED with LTPO 3.0 with a resolution of 1440 x 3216 pixels.
The screen has a 120Hz refresh rate and is also capable of 10-bit colour including HDR10+ and Dolby Vision HDR formats. The OnePlus 11’s display looks great and gets fairly bright in most lighting conditions.
Powering the phone is the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip with up to 16GB of RAM and up to 256GB.
Like previous OnePlus phones, the OnePlus 11 has an in-display fingerprint sensor, as well as face, unlock that works quickly. Other specs include Bluetooth 5.3 and Wi-Fi 7.
For battery, the OnePlus 11 has a 5,000 mAh cell inside. It also comes with the company’s Battery Health Engine which helps to extend the life of the phone’s battery by using a battery health algorithm and battery healing technology.
While the OnePlus 11’s battery should last all day, the phone does support 80W SuperVooc fast-wired charging using the included charger.
A full charge using the 80W SuperVooc charger takes 27 mins or so. Unlike past devices, the OnePlus 11 does not have wireless charging.
For colour options, the OnePlus 11 comes in Titan Black and Eternal Green.
Pricing is as follows:
- 128GB/ 8GB RAM – $999 CAD ($699 USD)
- 256GB / 16GB RAM – $1,149 CAD ($799 USD)
The OnePlus 11 is now up for pre-order from the company’s website and ships on February 16th. The phone is also available from Amazon (.ca and .com) and Best Buy (Canada and US)
Software
On the software side of things, the OnePlus 11 is running Oxygen OS 13 based on Android 13.
With OxygenOS 13, it brings a new design that the company says is supposedly “Inspired by Nature.”
The overall look of the OS has even less of a stock Android feel of OxygenOS past and now looks similar to Android skins you would find on OEMS such as Xiaomi and Oppo (OnePlus’ sister company).
Some new features of OxygenOS 13 include a AOD (Always On Display) that is now partnered with Spotify, and an improved Zen Mode. OnePlus has also added Spatial Audio support including Dolby Atmos, improved Fast Pair and easy audio switching.
While OxygenOS 13 looks pretty good, it definitely has some quirks. There are some design elements that don’t make sense. One such thing is that when you are adjusting the brightness in quick settings, you can’t just tap along the brightness bar to select a brightness level. You’re only option is to move your finger across the bar to adjust.
In terms of software support, OnePlus has previously announced that select devices (such as the OnePlus 11) will get four major Android updates and five years of security updates.
While that software update policy is great and puts OnePlus up alongside Samsung, it remains to be seen how timely OnePlus will release its future OxygenOS updates for the OnePlus 11.
Camera
For the OnePlus 11’s cameras, it brings 3rd Generation of the Hasselblad Camera for Mobile system.
There are three camera lenses on the OnePlus 11, which include a 50MP Sony IMX890 sensor for the main lens, a 48MP ultra-wide lens with a 115-degree FOV and a 32MP portrait telephoto lens.
Meanwhile the selfie camera is 16MP.
Photos taken on the OnePlus 11 look good, thanks in part to the natural colour calibration with Hasselblad that can also produce 10-bit colour.
One thing that is a bit of a letdown on the OnePlus 11’s cameras is the telephoto lens. While it’s great that you can shoot portrait photos with bokeh and light effects. The actual lens is only capable of zooming in by 2X while some of its competition offer 3X, 5X or even 10X optical zoom.
Being limited by the 2X telephoto lens is much more noticeable when shooting video with the OnePlus 11. If you wanted to zoom in on a subject, you could only zoom in so far with the optical lens, after that, you would be using the digital zoom on the phone.
Low-light photos on the OnePlus 11 can look good but only if there is some light source in view. Otherwise, low-light photos will turn out very blurry and hard to make out people or objects in the photo.
Videos taken on the OnePlus 11 look great, you can shoot up to 8K video at 24 fps or 4K at 60 or 30 fps.
Final Thoughts
Overall the OnePlus 11 is a solid phone with a good set of cameras (in most conditions) but it’s hampered by the latest version of OxygenOS, which won’t be for everyone.
Pros
- Beautiful display
- Good cameras
- Quick performance
- Great battery life
- Fast 80W wired charging
- The new OxygenOS update policy is great
Cons
- No wireless charging
- OxygenOS 13 is a downgrade from past versions
- Only 2X telephoto lens zoom
TheCanadianTechie 