OnePlus 11 in depth review

This year’s OnePlus 11 doesn’t have a Pro variant, thus the vanilla model has a difficult time supporting the weight of two smartphones. After all, it has to persuade consumers of the Pro and previous models of the OnePlus 9, for example. Additionally, it seems like the business was able to combine the two versions into one.

The OnePlus 11 strikes us as an odd cross between the OnePlus 10 Pro and the OnePlus 10T from the previous year. It has a few glaring shortcomings as compared to the Pro, but in the context of the 10T, it represents a significant improvement. As an illustration, the OnePlus 11 now has a third-generation LTPO OLED display with Dolby Vision compatibility and a 120Hz refresh rate. Additionally, it raises the resolution to QHD+.

Of course, all of those pixels are being handled by the newest and finest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, which is combined with up to 16GB of RAM. The photography department also receives a significant improvement, with the ultrawide camera now having a 48MP sensor and the 2x telephoto camera having a large 32MP sensor. Additionally, the Hasselblad Color Calibration is now available on the 11, although it wasn’t on the 10T from the previous year. The alert slider is also back, oh yeah!

This year, wireless charging is not on the menu, but we do get 100W fast charging practically everywhere except in the US, where it is 80W, which is still a great boost in both markets. It should take only 25 minutes to charge the battery from empty to full.

OnePlus 11 unboxing

The OnePlus 11 comes in a traditional OnePlus-styled huge, red box with all the usual goodies including user manuals, a USB-A to USB-C charging cable, and the requisite 100W charger. Surprisingly, the OnePlus 10 Pro last year came with a USB-C to USB-C connection, but OnePlus stated that they opted to revert back to USB-A owing to customer input, since most sockets and PCs still support the older standard, offering consumers more flexibility.

This time, there is no protective case. Only Chinese purchasers will receive one additional case.

Design

Although the OnePlus 11’s appearance is relatively similar to that of last year’s flagship, there are some distinct differences, notably in the form of the camera bulge. The island that transitions into the side frame used to be square-like but is now circular and has a stainless steel hump that has been chromed over underneath the camera ring. The remainder of the rear plate is uncluttered and understated. We can kind of see the similarity between old sports vehicles and Swiss timepieces, as claimed by OnePlus.

All areas receive the identical versions of the OnePlus 11, despite the fact that this wasn’t made explicit during the device’s Chinese debut. This year, the OnePlus 11 also receives an official IP64 rating. The phone is not officially certified, however it is said to provide IP54-equivalent protection against water and dust in India.

A Gorilla Glass 5 sheet with small side arcs of 0.16 protects the rear panel. Despite the handset’s 8.5mm thickness, they contribute to its smooth and elegant design and make it seem lighter in the hand. Although the 205 grammes of weight are fairly typical for a 6.7-inch phone, they appear to be well distributed, so the phone doesn’t feel heavy at all.

However, the selection of materials is anything from inexpensive. The side frame is made of chromed metal, and the front and rear glass are covered by Gorilla Glass Victus and Gorilla Glass 5, respectively. Given the phone’s prominence as a flagship, the fact that the face is curved is not surprising. The 11 was destined to sport a curved display like the 10 Pro’s spiritual successor starting in 2022, but the 10T had a flat one.

The OnePlus 11 makes up for this with minimal bezels all around and a tiny punch-hole in the upper-left corner of the screen for the selfie camera. Nothing unusual occurred.

The power button and the returning alert slider are located in the frame to the right. Over the years, the slider captured the hearts of many devoted admirers, thus its return is welcome. It is quite simple to feel and grasp, sensitive, and has a pleasing click. We have the volume rocker on the left. Additionally, you might frequently snap an undesired screenshot instead of locking the device because the power button and the volume buttons are located on each side of each other. It takes some getting accustomed to.

The SIM card tray, USB-C port, and loudspeaker grille are all located at the bottom. The second speaker is tucked down behind the earphone grille at the top and is quite covert. The top and bottom portions of the frame are flat with curved edges, similar to other phones, as opposed to the entirely curved left and right sides.

Overall, it appears like OnePlus has made mostly cosmetic, small design tweaks. It adheres to the typical design fads from the last few of years, and OnePlus has managed to make this large smartphone seem thin and light in the hand—a difficult feat. You must determine if the camera bump on the rear is more aesthetically pleasant than the blocky component from the previous year. This feature is very subjective.

LTPO AMOLED Display of the third generation

A new 6.7-inch LTPO3 AMOLED display with 1440 x 3216px resolution, 120 Hz refresh rate, Dolby Atmos HDR standard, and 10-bit colour depth is included with the OnePlus 11. Along with the latest generation LTPO’s increased energy efficiency over the previous model, OnePlus also highlights a clever feature that enables the display to identify particular types of content and adapt its refresh rate precisely. For instance, reading an e-book will reduce the refresh rate to 1 or 10Hz, while gaming will increase it to 120Hz. Granular refresh rate management isn’t really a novel concept, but more on that later.

The OnePlus 11 delivers an increase in display technology and HDR capabilities over the OnePlus 10 Pro, but it performs poorly in our brightness test. The smartphone raises brightness up to 767 nits in auto mode, compared to a maximum manual brightness of 487 nits. Although it is nearly 800 nits as stated, the highest luminance is not flagship-worthy. Modern high-end phones sometimes exceed 900 or even 1,000 nits.

Even on the sunniest of days, 767 nits are still sufficient to give a comfortable outdoor experience, thus it’s unreasonable to complain too much. Additionally, it claims to have a peak spot brightness of 1,300 nits, so you will still be able to see HDR material as intended.

When it comes to genuine HDR, OnePlus continues to link it to the display’s current brightness level, which is frequently linked to the automatic brightness. The consequence is HDR films and movies with low brightness, which nearly fully contradicts the point of having HDR. High-brightness HDR mode is another option, albeit it only partially resolves the problem.

On the other hand, colour accuracy is unparalleled. The display obtained a remarkable average dE2000 of just 1.0 in the Natural colour setup, with a highest recorded dE2000 of 2.3.

HRR Control

The refresh rate of the OnePlus 11 is quite adaptive, just like it was with the OnePlus 10 Pro, and it considers both the information on the screen and your interactions with it. Depending on the brightness, leaving the display idle with static content will provide either a 10, 5, or 1Hz refresh rate. The refresh rate decreases as the brightness level is increased. Expected behaviour in light of our prior knowledge about LTPO OLED panels.

As soon as the material started to change in the Chrome browser, for example, we observed some granular modifications being done immediately. Even if you are not touching the display, moving objects will cause a higher refresh rate—typically 60Hz—to be triggered. Whether it’s the native player, Netflix, or YouTube, the video player will limit that to 60Hz. The system can also play films at 30Hz to match their frame rate, while 24fps videos are still played at 30Hz, depending on the type of video.

In accordance with the content, the system will also modify the touch response rate, however we are unable to verify this and must instead accept OnePlus’ word for it.

Furthermore, the display can be too intelligent for its own good. Recall the troubles we encountered with the variable refresh rate on the OnePlus 10 Pro? They have returned to the OnePlus 11 though. The display struggles to decide whether to ramp up to 120Hz or scale down to 30Hz when there is both static and moving material on the screen, which causes scrolling problems and occasional video stuttering. This has happened to us on Instagram and occasionally in Chrome.

When using the YouTube app to play certain 60fps videos, we too encountered a problem. The responsiveness of the screen would deteriorate, needing many taps to activate the video controls and even to register a touch on the pause button. If you start tweaking the playback speed, it might even make the screen entirely unresponsive, which is really aggravating. Also conceivable are app crashes. Additionally, there is no evidence linking the problem to video resolution.

Battery life

Since a few years ago, OnePlus phones haven’t had the best battery life, with the 10 Pro being the lone notable exception. Even if the OnePlus 11’s battery capacity is still 5,000 mAh, the OEM took some notes and made improvements.

The OnePlus 11’s total endurance score of 108h is just slightly better than the OnePlus 10 Pro’s, but its screen-on results have significantly improved, and they are perhaps the most crucial aspects of our testing.

Charging Speed

The 11 charges rather quickly, as one would anticipate from a OnePlus phone. Thanks to the quick 100W charging, you can anticipate a full charge from zero in just 22 minutes. With the exception of the Xiaomi 12 Pro, which takes the lead with a difference of just one minute, there are hardly no competitors that can surpass the OnePlus 11 in this area.

The OnePlus 10 Pro from last year and the OnePlus 11 from this year clearly differ in that the latter charges 10 minutes quicker, which is quite an accomplishment given that fast charging takes around 30 minutes. The OnePlus 10T, with its insane 150W charging, seems to be somewhat quicker, though. However, we wouldn’t claim that the OnePLus 11’s 100W is a degradation with a difference of only 3 minutes.

Speakers

One bottom-firing speaker and one speaker that serves as an earpiece are provided by the standard stereo speakers on the OnePlus 11. Additionally, based on the loudness rating (-25.1 LUFS) and general sound quality, it is definitely reasonable to assume that the 11 used the speakers from the 10 Pro. Not that there’s a problem with it.

The speakers on the OnePlus 11 provide a very clear sound and are clearly designed primarily for podcasts, movies, and voices. Even at higher volumes, the sound quality is pretty good. Not that the bass is missing, though. It will probably be appealing to those seeking a more flat, neutral sound because it is more noticeable at greater volume settings. Other flagship phones have undoubtedly produced bass that is fuller. The logical mismatch between the left and right speakers is our sole criticism. We anticipated a little bit more from OnePlus’ flagship when it came to levelling out the two speakers, albeit the left channel is always a little quieter.

Software

The OnePlus 11 uses Android 13 as its base operating system and adds its own OxygenOS 13 skin on top. But don’t let the moniker deceive you. The OxygenOS we once fell in love with is not the OxygenOS 13 that is currently available. Despite Oppo’s claims that it will continue to support OxygenOS for the worldwide market, the new OxygenOS is exactly like ColorOS and even Realme’s Realme UI 4.0. It appears that OnePlus smartphones are running ColorOS not just in China but also in Europe, India, and the US. We even discovered some subtle and difficult-to-see similarities between OxygenOS and ColorOS, indicating that they are most likely two different operating systems.

OnePlus regrettably betrayed its promise from last year that it will restore OxygenOS to a condition that was similar to stock and scrap its intentions to change into ColorOS.

We understand that most OnePlus fans would be really unhappy because OxygenOS’s more uncluttered design, along with a few extra features, was the draw that kept them coming back. The good news is that ColorOS has advanced much since its first release and is currently a quick, polished, and highly configurable Android skin with its own unique feature set. Let’s look more closely.

Given everything above, it probably comes as no surprise that OxygenOS 13’s general design and iconography have been fully updated to match Realme UI 4.0 and ColorOS 13. The fast toggles in the drop-down menu and the icons in the system settings menu are examples of iconography.

The first two toggles in the notification shade are large, rounded rectangles, much as on stock Android. However, the remaining shapes are still circles rather than the standard rectangles. But other from the app icons, notification cards are nearly identical to stock. The icons of OxygenOS, also known as ColorOS, are plain and simple.

Wallpapers, fonts, icons, accent colours, fast toggles, fingerprint animation, Always-on display—you name it—are all standard customization possibilities.

This is perhaps one of the last remnants of OxygenOS, speaking about Always-on. The majority of the Always-on settings follow the standard OnePlus aesthetic, and there is also a contextual function that allows the Always-on to display pertinent information based on the situation. At a glance, you may view information about forthcoming events, music that is now playing, the weather, etc. Additionally, it is more deeply integrated with Spotify.

There are a few new options available in the Home screen and Lock screen sub-menus, but they aren’t exclusive to ColorOS. On a large smartphone like the OnePlus 11, the icon pull-down motion is really helpful. OnePlus regrettably removed the swipe-and-hold feature from the Home screen that sent you straight to the app drawer’s search bar. It was among the most helpful features. Sadly, it has to go.

The new OxygenOS 13 is very generous with customization choices when it comes to sound and vibration. On ColorOS, the O-Haptics menu has been present for a long, but OxygenOS users have just recently discovered it. You have fine-grained control over the degree of haptic input you experience, choosing between Crisp or Gentle. Overall, the haptics motor feels fantastic; it is smooth, robust, and natural.

In terms of audio, the new Android 13 supports Spatial Audio, while OnePlus is responsible for Dolby Atmos compatibility.

There are now additional notification-related settings available in OxygenOS. The status bar icons, the banners that appear above other programmes, and the notification cards on the Lock screen may all be customised. Particularly intriguing is the diminished notification feedback when using a full-screen app. The notification tone is more subdued and the vibration strength is reduced. Additionally, the banner that appears over a full-screen app has been streamlined. The fact that you can’t quickly swipe away the notification cards from the lock screen is bothersome. Either swipe twice to the left or swipe once and tap the trash can.

Unfortunately, it appears that OnePlus did not provide any customizability options for the physical alert slider. The three possible profiles (Ring, Vibrate, and Silent) used to include at least some basic choices supplied by OxygenOS, however that is no longer the case. There is nothing more you can do except to flick the switch.

You’re probably sick of hearing it, but OxygenOS users only have access to the so-called Special features in the Settings menu; ColorOS users do not. You now get Work-Life Balance, Smart Sidebar (an edge bar you can pull out from the side that contains preferred applications or actions), and Flexible Windows (floating, flexible programmes in windows). The latter tries to reduce phone distractions and increase your ability to concentrate on work-related tasks.

While it’s sad to see OxygenOS depart, we hope Oppo and OnePlus work to find a compromise and satisfy their ardent supporters. There is nothing fundamentally wrong with ColorOS 13, Realme UI 4.0, or OxygenOS 13, but the fact that all three manufacturers use the same hardware and software might result in sales being cannibalised. There may not be many reasons for people to choose OnePlus phones.

Whatever the case, we thought OxygenOS 13 behaved well in regular use — it’s quick, sharp, and dependable. With the exception of the problems we’ve described in the display part, at least, we didn’t run across any troubles.

performance and benchmark

The OnePlus 11 is powered by the cutting-edge Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 CPU, which will be the standard for premium Android smartphones by 2023.

We went into more detail about the generational improvements on the announcement date, but the key takeaways are that the GPU side saw performance and efficiency increases of 25% and 45%, support for new, faster memory technologies, and a 35% increase in CPU performance and efficiency thanks in large part to a revised core configuration (1+2+2+3 in place of the 1+3+4 of before) (LPDDR5X and UFS 4.0).

Additionally, the RAM-Vita function of the OnePlus 11 speeds up every tier of RAM allocation, which occasionally entails terminating cached operations to make place for more urgent ones. Priority is given to AI-related activities, such as the camera app. It might require as much RAM as 1GB.

Intriguingly, the OnePlus 11 performed admirably against the older chipsets but failed to keep up with the recently tested nubia Red Magic 8 Pro in the multi-thread scenario. The single-core result, however, left us perplexed because it was insufficient to surpass the Exynos 2200, Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, or even the Dimensity 9000 SoC from the previous year.

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 in the OnePlus 11 performed as predicted on the combined AnTuTu test and the other GPU-intensive benchmarks. In the AnTuTu test, it still wasn’t enough to unseat the Red Magic 8 Pro, but it shared first place in every GFX Benchmark test. However, since it must render everything in 1440p rather than 1080p, the OnePlus 11 lagged behind several other smartphones in the onscreen tests. Naturally, it outperformed the 1440p flagships from last year, though.

Sustained performance

The cooling system for the OnePlus 11 has a fancy name: Cryo-velocity VC Cooling. Every year, cooling system updates are extremely common since businesses must modify their goods to work with the more potent chipsets that Qualcomm provides.

As the name implies, the Cryo-velocity VC Cooling system employs passive vapour chamber cooling, but it has a larger-than-normal surface. OnePlus claims to have improved the heat dissipation capabilities of the system by 92% with the use of a new structural design for the heat dissipation system. The manufacturer does not specifically identify the baseline gadget at this time, but there has been some innovation. In order to increase heat dissipation towards the display, the cooling system employs a bigger VC surface in addition to a mid-frame layer of graphene and a layer of novel crystal-graphene material.

Additionally, the OnePlus 11 seems to manage extended periods of severe workloads with ease. At the end of our hour-long CPU stress test, the system still had at least 74% of its performance.

It’s unreasonable to anticipate that the gadget would continue to operate at peak efficiency for so long, but in our opinion, the OnePlus 11 delivered superb performance. The good news is that there are no noticeable performance variations, so your gaming experiences should include fluid and consistent frame rates.

Additionally, OnePlus has introduced a new HyperBoost Engine that tries to balance performance and battery consumption while optimising the gaming experience. According to the business, it continuously monitors what is going on the screen and modifies performance as necessary. For instance, it could increase GPU performance during graphically demanding jobs while decreasing it a little during passive scenarios. One thing to keep in mind is that the HyperBoost Engine is only available for Genshin Impact and PUBG Mobile. We can only rely on OnePlus’ assertion because there is no reliable method to verify it. Other than that, these games functioned without any issues.

Camera

The camera hardware is significantly different from the OnePlus 11 Pro and an improvement over the OnePlus 10T from the previous year. The primary camera features the well-known 1/1.56″ optically stabilised 24mm lens and well-known 50MP Sony IMX890 sensor.

The telephoto camera, on the other hand, is brand-new. 32MP Sony IMX709 RGBW, 1/1.56 pixels “, a 48mm lens with a 2x optical zoom, and a 1.0 m sensor with an f/2.0 aperture. This is marketed by OnePlus as a portrait-focused camera with an excellent bokeh effect that mimics the XCD 30mm and 65mm lenses from Hasselblad.

The ultrawide camera has a 48MP, 1/2.0 sensor “, f/2.2 camera with a 115-degree field of view and autofocus functionality. The latter also supports macro and close-up stills.

All cameras are, of course, Hasseblad Color-calibrated, and a 13-channel multi-spectral sensor has been added for better colour and white balance.

We already know what to expect because the selfie camera is a OnePlus 10T – 16MP, f/2.4, 24mm, 1/3.0″, 1.0m.

Depending on how you look at it, the new camera hardware is, in general, a mixed bag. It is a definite decrease from the 10 Pro. Although the 11 has a bigger, more competent telephoto sensor overall, the primary sensor is smaller, the ultrawide camera is inferior with a lower FoV, and the telephoto camera is now 2x instead of 3x. But compared to the OnePlus 10T, the 11’s camera configuration is more adaptable and powerful.

Camera app

Hasselblad-inspired elements can also be seen in the camera app, most notably the orange shutter release button. It basically matches the one on the most recent Realmes and Oppo phones.

The other modes may be found under the “More” sub-menu, and they can be switched between by swiping on the viewfinder or the scroller below. You have the choice to arrange the modes anyway you like.

Under the three-dot button in the viewfinder’s upper-right corner lies the general Settings menu. You may also turn off automatic Macro detection there.

Although there is a separate Night mode, we discovered that if the illumination parameters are satisfied, Night mode processing is active even in Photo mode. The capturing and stacking processes don’t last more than a second or two at most. Within the Night mode, there is also a tripod mode that employs a longer exposure for superior results. Each of the three cameras is capable of using the Night mode.

Additionally, OnePlus 11 supports Pro mode for all of its cameras, giving users access to controls for standard features like ISO, exposure, white balance, manual focus, and shutter speed. Additionally, you have focus peaking and a histogram at your disposal.

Some of those choices are accessible while recording videos in the so-called “Movie mode.” Advanced stabilisation, HDR, a LOG option for a greater dynamic range, ISO, shutter speed, and histogram may all be enabled. It also functions with all three cameras.

Daylight photos

main camera

After pixel binning, the primary camera on the OnePlus 11 produces 12.5MP images. The OnePlus 11 will take excellent pictures with true-to-life and pleasingly vibrant colours. The produced images have hardly any noise and good detail processing. Additionally, the sharpness is evenly distributed, and the amount of post-processing is kept to a minimum, reducing overall noise.

Where necessary, the daytime photographs’ dark parts appear dark. The Hasselblad cameras have a higher contrast due to this trait of not exposing shadows, which gives them a more expressive and/or dramatic appearance. Images taken with bright backdrops or backlit subjects looked wonderful because to the excellent dynamic range.

Even after carefully examining the images, turning on the AI toggle in the viewfinder had no appreciable impact on the situations. The two photographs are identical everywhere the AI scene detection would have said it was a “Blue Sky” or “Building” shot. This kind of camera behaviour has been observed on cellphones made by various BBK brands.

From the viewfinder, the full resolution mode of the primary camera can be changed. Although the sensor’s native 50MP can be used to capture photographs, doing so isn’t really worthwhile. These pictures appear to be upscaled versions of the 12.5MP photos with less clarity and more grit, and they don’t really add anything.

The Pro setting doesn’t give a less saturated, natural look like it did in previous years. It has been tweaked this year to produce the same colours as the Auto mode. Pro mode does appear to create images with a little bit less noise suppression and a darker exposure, but these effects are only noticeable if you zoom in closely.

2x telephoto Camera

The specialised 2X telephoto lens produced fantastic images with lots of detail and pleasing crispness. The high contrast, wide dynamic range, and constant exposure match those of the primary camera.

The only issue we have is that the main and ultrawide cameras didn’t produce any moiré on distant textures. We also observed that, although it is hardly noticeable, the telephoto lens has a tendency to deviate somewhat from the main camera’s white balance.

Ultra-wide camera

The ultrawide camera takes fantastic pictures and excels at catching details with lots of crispness. Although there is undoubtedly some grain when examining the image closely, the overall appearance does not detract from the distinctive appearance that the other cameras produce.

Again, there is a little difference in the white balance between the secondary camera and the primary camera, but that is nitpicking at this stage. By no means can it be assumed that these minor variations in white balance are unimportant.

The ultrawide can also record photographs at the full 48MP resolution of the sensor, unlike the telephoto. Similar to using the main camera, taking full-resolution pictures will only result in upscaled, softer, and less-detailed images.

The camera app will switch to the ultrawide lens and begin shooting in macro mode as soon as you are sufficiently close to the subject. However, in our experience, it generally functioned effectively. This automated detection can be turned off.

The macro images’ general quality is excellent, with outstanding colour reproduction and lots of detail, and they continually worked well even under more difficult circumstances. However, we were hoping for slightly crisper photographs.

Low-light photos

Main camera

The camera understands exactly what to do whether you are using Photo mode or Night mode to take the picture. The final photographs captured in Photo or Night modes are essentially identical. Regardless, the OnePlus 11 will produce superb low-light images with high dynamic range, superior exposures, lovely resolved detail, excellent sharpness, and minimal noise.

Any of the three cameras’ low-light shots don’t dramatically or excessively brighten, which is a hallmark of smartphone “Night mode” processing.

2x telephoto

As anticipated, the 2x mode instantly converted the low-light images into Night photos. Again, there is no distinction between photographing in Night mode or Photo more mode. Unfortunately, the programme almost always forces a crop from the primary camera and only employs the telephoto lens when the illumination is better. That’s a little disappointing considering the sensor’s size, since we think it could produce some good low-light images.

As a result, photographs in low light didn’t preserve as much information as in 1x mode, and it tries to make up for this by somewhat oversharpening, but the colours are pleasing and the exposures are accurate. Even when highlights come from real lighting, they are adequately retained, and contrast is still abundant, despite the fact that details can occasionally be lost in shadows.

Ultra-wide camera

Once more, using the ordinary Photo mode to take ultrawide photos in dim light will immediately switch to Night mode, so there is no distinction between the two modes while shooting at night.

Even though the ultrawide lens is not as good as the other two at catching fine details and shadows, it nevertheless produced some of the best-looking ultrawide images with conservative exposures and vibrant colours. Compared to the other cameras, brightness is a little bit more conservative, but the image is still clear and true to life.

Low noise levels, great clarity, pleasing contrast, and good highlight retention are all present. Many ultrawide cameras have demonstrated terrible low-light performance, but this one is right up there with the best.

Portrait Mode

OnePlus is especially proud of its Portrait mode, which draws on both the company’s extensive experience with portrait photography and the colour science of Hasselblad. The 2x telephoto is being marketed by OnePlus as a portrait camera that mimics 30mm and 65mm focal lengths because of this.

The portrait photos taken with the primary camera, however, have a somewhat better overall appearance. The main camera generates a more natural skin tone, more pleasing colours, and a warmer overall atmosphere. It also resolves more information. Sometimes the telephoto lens will produce skin tones that are too light.

Both images have good dynamic range, but the last image was superior because of the bright sky in the background, which was captured by the specialist portrait photographer. Additionally, edge detection is almost perfect.

The portrait mode is good overall, and it’s evident that OnePlus and Hasselblad put a lot of effort into it, but for some reason, the main camera outperforms the telephoto in this situation.

Selfie camera

The OnePlus 10 Pro’s front-facing selfie camera was upgraded to a 32MP sensor last year, but the company has brought back the 16MP IMX471 sensor it has been using since the OnePlus 7 Pro. Although the technology is the same, computational photography has advanced sufficiently to enable this camera to take some pretty beautiful selfies.

The colour adjustment on the selfie camera is undoubtedly the finest we’ve seen from this sensor in earlier OnePlus models. When taking selfies in the sun, we discovered that the highlights clip, but choosing a little shady location produces far better results. Even in scenarios with backlighting, there is a tonne of detail, superb exposures, and a wide dynamic range. Vibrant colours and strong contrast are produced via the HDR processing of the front camera.

Selfies taken in a portrait orientation do look wonderful, as long as the camera can correctly identify the subject line the first time. However, when it does, the resulting portrait selfies appear excellent, and the separation is convincing. In our case, spectacles tripped the artificial bokeh.

Video recording

The main camera on the OnePlus 11 has an 8K At 24fps maximum while the ultrawide has a 4K @ 60fps maximum. The 2x telephoto camera’s maximum resolution is 1080p @ 30 frames per second. The video will be clipped from the main camera while zooming in video mode in 1080p at 60 frames per second or higher. The 8K shooting mode does not support the AI enhancement toggle, which further improves the video’s aesthetic on a software level. The main camera supports AI enhancement up to 4K, whereas the telephoto or ultrawide cameras only support 1080p, and the AI mode is only supported at 30 frames per second.

All video modes offer and enable stabilisation. Additionally, there is an Ultra Steady Pro filming mode that only supports 1080p @ 30 frames per second but makes excellent use of the ultrawide camera.

Since OnePlus originally introduced 8K video on the OnePlus 9, it has advanced significantly, however the limited 24 fps option will appear choppy in comparison to the typical 30 fps video from all the other camera options. If you want to use an editor that supports the resolution to crop deeply into the video, shooting in 8K might be the best option.

Our Verdict

The OnePlus 11 appears to have a strong chance of gaining a lot of admirers this year after years of iffy releases. There is not much on its spec list that is missing from a competitive upper-tier phone. It features a state-of-the-art LTPO3 AMOLED panel, Qualcomm’s most recent hardware, a good overall camera experience in both daylight and nighttime, a long battery life, lightning-fast charging, pleasant-sounding stereo speakers, and excellent sustained performance.

The OnePlus 11 isn’t exactly a flagship-level device in some ways, but it doesn’t have to be. It’s a well-rounded phone with few flaws when viewed in the context of its price. We would love to see OnePlus finally catch up with the competition in terms of zoom level—2x doesn’t cut it on a flagship in 2023—and a better variable refresh rate handling would be excellent because this current solution causes issues with some apps. However, same disadvantage also applies to Oppo’s top models, so it is not unexpected.

The software modifications will undoubtedly spark controversy. OnePlus definitely broke its pledge to stay loyal to its roots in this sense because the new OxygenOS 13 has nothing in common with the earlier iterations. While we generally approve of ColorOS, we would have preferred to see at least some of OxygenOS’ original features preserved. Given both Oppo and Realme smartphones already employ the same software, there are currently few to no reasons to use OnePlus’ smartphones. For all those years, OyxgenOS served as the hallmark of OnePlus.

However, we don’t see any reason not to purchase the OnePlus 11 if you don’t care about the condition of OxygenOS right now or you are brand-new to the OnePlus ecosystem. It’s a reliable all-arounder that will eventually grow even more popular once the price settles.

PRO’S & Cons

/