The OnePlus 11 is the company’s flagship phone to be launched in 2023, and it’s got you a lot of excitement. From the sleek design, to the extremely powerful refreshed processor and fast charging skills, the company is working hard to bring this phone to many top honors.
At the same time, this is not a major overhaul from the already excellent OnePlus 10 Pro that launched last year. The phone has a similar design but the power is skyrocketing. Even the new camera setup, while good, isn’t a huge leap.
If you were hoping to see a brand new OnePlus phone, chances are you’ll be disappointed with this one. Owners of recent OnePlus devices shouldn’t upgrade because the new device doesn’t offer enough benefits for you to shell out for the hefty price tag to upgrade.
1. Introducing the OnePlus 11 phone
The base model of the OnePlus 11 is priced at VND 14.4 million at the MobileWorld store, which comes with 12GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. Even the higher-end review model, with 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, will only cost you VND 16.9 million, lower than competitors in the same segment.
The biggest competition with OnePlus 11 is the smartphone from Google that is , with the current price from 17.9 to 23.6 million VND officially listed at MobileWorld store. This price is not too different from the OnePlus 11, so it can also be considered a worthy choice if you want to upgrade the phone.
The Pixel 7 Pro is one of my favorite phones of 2022, winning the CNET Editors’ Choice award when it was launched in October for its great camera, smooth interface, and attractive design. It’s a great phone and one of my favorite ways to experience Android 13.
However, the OnePlus 11 is far superior in its power, the phone offers blistering speeds so users can play games and heavy multitasking smoothly. OnePlus 11 offers faster charging than Google phones. Pixel’s Tensor G2 processor isn’t built for straight-line speed, but it still handles everything you’ll find in the Play Store just fine. The pure Android 13 software on the Pixel is excellent, and the camera often performs better, too, especially with the addition of a 5x optical zoom lens, which the OnePlus 11 lacks.
Then there is the newly launched Samsung Galaxy S23, which starts at VND 21.9 million and comes with a 6.1-inch screen, triple camera setup, 8GB RAM and the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 processor . Gen 2. It’s the same chip used in the OnePlus 11.
2. Is there a OnePlus 11 Pro?
In previous years, OnePlus has launched two versions of its phone, a base model and a more full-featured Pro model. But the company abandoned that strategy this year, opting for a new device instead. It’s basically the OnePlus Pro, but it doesn’t have the Pro moniker.
It launched a OnePlus 11R with slightly cut specs and a lower price tag. This is for the Indian market, so if you’re shopping in other countries it’s only the regular OnePlus 11.
3. OnePlus 11 – new design, waterproof
OnePlus’ new flagship was launched in 2023 with a fresh look, swapping the 10 Pro’s square camera unit into a circular one, the metal bezel gracefully curving to meet the edges of the phone. looks more harmonious. The model’s green tone looks both stylish and smart, while the curved glass on the front and back makes it a pleasure to hold.
I really like the look of the phone, it appears with a different look from its predecessors, the phone has a different design language but is still very familiar in the large OnePlus family. The phone is protected by premium Gorilla Glass, so don’t worry too much about it breaking easily.
The new OnePlus 11 upgrades by coming with an IP64 rating for waterproofing. The lack of waterproofing on most versions of the OnePlus 10 Pro is annoying, as that’s what we’ve come to expect on all flagships. So it’s good to see water protection on the OnePlus 11.
However, IP64 offers only mild protection against splashes while other competitors including the Pixel 7 Pro, iPhone 14 and Galaxy S23 all have an IP68 rating that protects the device from being submerged in water for at least 30 minutes. . IP64 is better than nothing and it certainly makes your phone more secure when taking calls in the rain.
At 6.7 inches, this screen is big enough for mobile gaming, with a maximum resolution of 3216 x 1440 pixels that makes everything look better and sharper (you can You can choose a lower resolution to help save battery power). The phone has a Super AMOLED panel that supports Dolby Vision HDR and HDR 10 Plus, which means it’s bright, bold, and capable of properly displaying HDR-compatible content.
Its adaptive frame rate can go up to 120Hz for a smooth experience for intense tasks like gaming, but you can also automatically drop it down to just 1Hz to save power for your apps. less demanding tasks such as browsing the web or displaying the always-on display.
There is a fingerprint scanner inside the display. Longtime OnePlus fans will be pleased to see the alert slider on the right side of the phone, allowing you to instantly put the phone on silent or vibrate mode. The slider was notably absent from last year’s OnePlus 10T.
4. OnePlus 11 is full of power
Powering the phone is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, backed by 16GB of RAM. It’s a powerful chip that delivered some seriously impressive scores in our set of benchmarks, giving it a very good score among the phones around.
Of course, benchmarks don’t mean everything, but rest assured that this phone will handle anything you care about. The device’s graphics performance is extremely powerful. Extreme games like Genshin Impact, PUBG Mobile and Asphalt 9: Legends (all at full resolution) render at consistently high frame rates for smooth gameplay.
OnePlus advertises this new phone with “optimized RAM allocation”, “hardware-accelerated ray tracing” in games, and lighting effects, all good, but yet to have any games. Which is available on Android that supports things like ray tracing. It’s like having a car capable of driving on a MagLev track – great technology for sure, but there’s no way to actually put it to use yet.
In the real world, all that power means the phone is quickly getting used to. The phone has a fast, smooth Android interface and no lag or stutter – a sign of poorly configured hardware. There are very few things that can slow down this phone. It handles video streaming and image editing perfectly well.
That speedy experience is aided by the phone’s Oxygen 13 OS interface. Based on Android 13, the Oxygen OS theme is a lightweight Android skin with a clean, easy-to-use interface. I liked it right away, you can also customize the system fonts and the always-on display to give it a bit more personality.
OnePlus has extended the support period up to 4 years for Android OS updates and added a 5th year for security updates. That’s the longest time the company has ever supported a phone, and that means will be very safe for you to use.
5. OnePlus 11 – better performing camera
OnePlus 11 has 3 main cameras on the back including a 50MP main camera with an aperture of F1.8 and optical image stabilization, a 48MP ultra-wide camera with close-focus macro photography and a 32MP portrait camera with 2x optical zoom. It’s a fairly predictable triple-camera setup, but the portrait camera let me down.
5.1. Zoom capabilities of the lenses on the OnePlus 11
That 2x zoom is seen as a step down from the 3.3x zoom found on the OnePlus 10 Pro and a big step up from the 5x telephoto zoom on the Pixel 7 Pro. The zoom skill may not seem like the most important feature, but if you want to take great photos in any environment, the powerful zoom can be an invaluable tool.
Instead of using a wide lens and capturing everything in front of you in a single photo, a long zoom lens allows you to find more interesting compositions in those scenes by cropping the road signs. , cars or crowds of people are distracting. The telephoto lens is an important part of any professional photographer, and I absolutely love using the zoom on the Pixel 7 Pro and the massive 10x optical zoom on the . Even the 3x zoom on the iPhone 14 Pro gives me more space to work.
5.2. Evaluation of the photography capabilities of the main camera OnePlus 11
There isn’t a proper telephoto lens on the OnePlus 11 and it looks like I’ll have to compromise my photography with this one. As a result, it doesn’t round out photography perfectly, but it can still satisfy general photography needs.
OnePlus has once again partnered with iconic camera maker Hasselblad, which seems to have calibrated the camera for better color capture. While some photos looked true to life, with strong colors and pleasing contrast, others looked oversaturated, with strong HDR processing that lifted shadows and lowered tones. down the highlights to an unrealistic level.
Taking photos with the main camera results in better exposure, with warmer colors and more details. The main lens produces brighter and sharper images than the others. When photographing the sky, you’ll get a photo with crisp details from the buildings and a soft flash of color from the rainbow. However, the HDR processing software is set up a bit too much, raising the shadows to the point of looking unrealistic.
5.3. Evaluate the photographic capabilities of the ultra-wide camera
OnePlus 11 heavily invested in HDR for the ultra-wide camera, giving users shots of the sky that looked a bit fake compared to the surrounding buildings. There’s also a noticeable color shift between the main camera on the OnePlus 11 and the Ultrawide – a detail I also noticed on the OnePlus 10 Pro.
Using the macro mode on the ultra-wide lens, the OnePlus 11 brought a great close-up photo to the user. I love the rich, vibrant and relaxing green tones when taking close-ups of the leaves.
5.4. General review of the lenses on the OnePlus 11
The OnePlus 11 lacks zoom compared to the competition, but its 2x lens lets you take very good portrait shots. Colors in the picture look a bit cold, and there is not much detail on the face. However, the blur effect is very good. The 2x portrait mode on the OnePlus 11 gave users a closer portrait, and I appreciated its ability to blur the background. The details on my face are also sharper.
As part of a partnership with Hasselblad, the phone comes with a variety of color settings created by photographers. I really enjoyed this because I want to edit images my own way using any photo editing app on Google Play store.
However, at night the camera works very well. I was impressed with the brightness it was able to achieve, giving users brighter photos than the iPhone 14 Pro, albeit with less detail.
The device lets you record video at up to 8K resolution, but its standard 4K footage works better for most cases, providing HDR footage that gives you more control over the sky. Video colors look better, and optical image stabilization helps smooth out shakes during recording.
The camera takes great pictures overall. If photography isn’t a big focus for you and you just want a sharp, vibrant photo of your friends at the beach or a beautiful landscape, then the OnePlus 11 will serve you well – especially if you have a hobby. I love taking pictures at night. If you’re looking for a more comprehensive photography experience, consider the Pixel 7 Pro.
6. OnePlus 11 – quality battery and fast charging
The phone is equipped with a 5000 mAh battery that is capable of keeping you going all day long, as long as you are careful when using the device. With the screen set to a maximum resolution of 3216 x 1440 pixels, 120Hz refresh rate with screen brightness at maximum, the battery dropped from full to 92% after 1 hour of streaming video on Youtube. After the 2nd hour, it was reduced to only 85%.
With the resolution down to 2412 x 1080 pixels and the refresh rate at 60Hz, it doesn’t even lose its capacity and is 100% intact after an hour of Youtube streaming and only drops to 95% after the 2nd hour. , a great performance. But with 30 minutes of gaming in Genshin Impact, with the above settings will blow up to 10% of the battery.
With more conservative settings, you won’t need to worry too much about your phone dying in the middle of the afternoon, and you should still leave a few percent of battery behind when charging at night. Hardcore gamers can step up the settings when they want to enjoy every detail in their favorite game, but make sure you have adequate battery capacity.
Thankfully, even if you drain your battery while gaming or streaming on Youtube, it recharges quickly. The phone supports 100W fast charging in the UK and 80W in the US allowing you to quickly charge the battery in just 25 to 27 minutes on the 80W model. One to two hours faster than the Pixel 7 Pro.
7. Should OnePlus 11 buy?
If you’re looking for a high-performance phone to tackle gaming, video streaming, and all the essentials of life, the OnePlus 11 is a great phone to consider. It has enough power for you to tackle anything in the Google Play store. Plus, it offers fast charging which means you don’t need to worry about battery life. Besides, 5 years of security support is also a great bonus that OnePlus offers to customers.
While the camera setup is not considered the best compared to other products, it is quite capable of capturing beautiful everyday photos that you will be excited to share with your family, friends or colleagues.
In addition, this is also considered the cheapest flagship you can buy, cheaper than both the Pixel 7 Pro and Samsung Galaxy S23. If photography is not your primary concern, but you want optimal performance for gaming, then the OnePlus 11 is definitely worth your money.
