OnePlus 11 is a tempting Android phone at a great price
Most top-ofthe-line, big-name smartphones sell for $1,000 and up. It’s a fact of life: If you want the best from a manufacturer such as Apple or Samsung, you’re going to drop some serious coin.
But if you could get a flagship Android handset for, say, $300 less, would you consider it? And what would you be willing to give up to save that kind of money?
Meet the OnePlus 11 5G, the latest phone from a manufacturer owned by China-based Oppo. The company has a reputation for making devices that undercut prices from the big guys while still coming close to their capabilities. With this latest offering, OnePlus has outdone itself.
I would strongly consider buying this phone myself. Last year, after looking at several different models — including this device’s predecessor, the OnePlus 10 Pro — I bought a Google Pixel 6 Pro. But I can say this: If the OnePlus 11 had been available then, it likely would have been my choice.
And that’s despite the corners that were cut to get to that lower price.
One thing’s for sure: No one is going to mistake the OnePlus 11 for any other smartphone. Yes, it has a nearly bezel-free display with a hole-punch for the front camera, as do several Android handsets, and there’s Corning Victus glass for the front and Gorilla Glass 5 for the back, bolted to an aluminum frame that feels great in your hand.
But the rear camera bump is something to behold: A black, disc-shaped module that cradles the 11’s three cameras and flash in an arresting design. I heard “Wow, what kind of phone is that?” Several times when flashing the 11 in public. It would be a shame to hide this in a case.
The OnePlus 11 comes in just two colors, Eternal Green and Titan Black; I was sent the former for this review. Unlike previous
versions, in which OnePlus sold standard and larger Pro offerings, there’s only size for the 11. It does, however, come in two memory/storage configurations: 8 gigabytes of memory and 128 GB of storage costs $699; 16 GB of memory and 256 GB of storage is $799. By comparison, the new Samsung Galaxy S23+ lists for about
$1,100 with similar specs.
The screen is a 6.7-inch, 4K, Super AMOLED display with a refresh rate ranging from 1 to 120 Hz. As do many flagship phones, that rate adjusts based on what’s needed to conserve battery life. It’s bright enough to be seen in sunlight, though the Galaxy S23 Ultra and iPhone 14 Pro Max do better. Scrolling and other screen movement is very fluid. This is
easily one of the most responsive displays I’ve tried.
Overall, the performance is fantastic, and in ways that seem practical. For example, the face recognition and under-screen fingerprint scanner for unlocking the device are lightning-quick — much faster than any Samsung or Apple device I’ve used. It handled any game I threw at it with ease, and video streaming on Netflix and YouTube was flawless.
The OnePlus 11’s power is grounded in a Qualcomm Snapdragon Gen 2 systemon-a-chip processor. That’s also the chip you’ll find in the Galaxy S23 line, albeit customized for Samsung (I’ll review the S23 Ultra in a couple of weeks). The phone has a performance mode that allows for faster speeds,
but I couldn’t tell much of a difference. This is off by default.
The 11’s battery is very good, coming close to a full two days’ worth of average use before charging. And when you do need to charge it, its 80-watt charger can take the battery from empty to full in 30 minutes — and this is one of the few flagship phones that still comes with a charger in the box. (Note that in other countries, the charger is 100 watts.)
The OnePlus 11 come with Android 13 and a skin atop it called OxygenOS 13. But it’s a “lite” skin that is much less obvious than Samsung’s often overbearing OneUI, with very little bloatware. The interface is also quite customizable. For example, I could turn off the virtual buttons found at the bottom of the display on most Android phones so it behaved more like an iPhone, navigated completely with gestures.
Also: OnePlus provides four years of Android updates, and five years of security fixes, which matches the upgrade policies of Samsung and Google’s Pixel line.
I have mixed feelings about the camera system, which was developed in conjunction with legendary camera-maker Hasselblad. It has a 50-megapixel main camera with image stabilization; a 48-MP ultrawide; and a 32-MP telephoto. Photos taken in daylight and indoors are good enough, with more natural colors than the previous OnePlus Pro 10 model.
Yet where the camera system really shines is in low-light and portrait images. I’m a big fan of smartphone night photography, and the OnePlus 11 challenges Apple’s best. It’s also very good with portrait mode, and in many instances avoids the cutout look you often notice on iPhone portraits, with more natural edges for the subject of the photos.
But the camera also is a place where OnePlus has cut some corners. For example, the telephoto lens only zooms to 2X.
The disappointing aspects of the phone are often coupled to some exciting features. Remember the superfast wired charging I mentioned? Well, the OnePlus 11 doesn’t have wireless charging, considered table stakes for modern flagship phones.
And while the phone supports the upcoming WiFi 7 standard and works on all the major U.S. carriers with 5G, it doesn’t support millimeter wave, the superfast frequencies used by Verizon and AT&T. (On T-Mobile, the 11’s 5G was noticeably faster than my iPhone, which is also on T-Mobile.)
And unlike past OnePlus models, this one is not being sold through carriers, including T-Mobile, which has been a OnePlus vendor for years. If you want one, you have to buy directly from OnePlus, Amazon, Best Buy or other retail channels.