REVIEW: OnePlus 11 – A Return to form

The OnePlus 11 is the latest flagship phone from OnePlus. There will be no ‘Pro’ models in 2023 according to OnePlus, so the 11 is their high end go to phone this year and you know, I think OnePlus have nailed it with this phone. While it’s technically an iteration above the OnePlus 10 Pro, it feels soo much more. It’s hard to explain, but it just feels like it’s a proper flagship phone.

Design & Build Quality

Looks wise, it’s getting harder and harder for phone manufacturers to look different, but in 2023, personally, I don’t think people are that fussed with how a phone looks anymore. Most of the time we’re looking at the screen, so as long as that’s on point, the back of the phone and the colour aren’t decision makers as they can be changed with a simple case or screen. In saying that, I do like the look of the OnePlus 11. It’s a nice iteration on their previous phones.

The camera modules are in a circular camera bump that looks well when taking photos and is complemented by a ‘ring flash’ as well that works well in night shots. Around the edge of the phone you’ve the usual assortment of switches and ports, but thankfully OnePlus decided to bring back the Alert Slider that was removed from the 10T phone. This is a USP for OnePlus and should be on all their phones by default.

Display

Going back to what I was saying about the display needing to be on point, and OnePlus have this display on point. It’s a new LTPO3 AMOLED screen with 1440 x 3216px resolution, 120Hz refresh rate, Dolby Vision HDR. One of the benefits that OnePlus points out is a smart feature allowing the display to recognize certain types of content and adjust its refresh rate granularly. Reading a book it will bring the refresh rate to 1 or 10Hz, while gaming will boost that to 120Hz.

It’s definitely not the brightest panel on the market, but in every day use, and not in blinding mid-summer sun, it’s exceptionally good look and very energy efficient! What more could you ask for from a phone screen in 2023.

Performance

The OnePlus 11 ships with Android 13 and is powered by the latest SnapDragon chipset, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. It’s the flagship chipset for 2023 and it’s great to see it included in the OnePlus 11. The Gen 2 feels significantly faster than the Gen 1 chip, and it’s also highly energy efficient, and that helps with the battery life (more on that below).

I don’t think there was a single moment during my testing where I felt the phone stall or stutter and on top of the high end chip set, OnePlus have included up to 16gb of RAM and 256gb of USF4.0 storage, so the storage is also lightning fast as well, and that really helps with the performance we’re seeing on the phone.

I think it’s safe to say, no matter what you want to do on your phone, performance won’t be an issue with the OnePlus 11.

Cameras

The cameras in the OnePlus 11 are probably the biggest step up in their phones this year. The main camera uses the well-known 50MP Sony IMX890, the telephoto camera is brand new. It uses a 32MP Sony IMX709 with 2x optical zoom. OnePlus markets this as a portrait-focused camera with fantastic bokeh effect. Finally on the back we find the ultrawide lens. It uses a 48MP camera with 115-degree FoV and also allows for close-up and macro stills as well.

The Hasselblad partnership continues with the OnePlus 11 and we’ve loved the colour accuracy from the previous phones with this partnership and the 11 doesn’t disappoint.

You can see from the sample photos I took below that the photos from each of the lenses don’t disappoint. I took these in some harsh lighting conditions as well, with bright sun and the black fur of my cat (who’s name is Ozzy for anyone wondering).

You can also see the really nice depth of field from the telephoto lens and the accuracy of the focus on the lens as well as I selected different subjects.

Finally, you can see the Macro shot of a Lego Orchid I have. You can clearly see the part number on the leaf as well as the little pink frog that makes up the center of the flower.

Battery Life

The battery life on the OnePlus 11 is exceptional. It has the same 5000mAh capacity as the OnePlus 10 Pro, but the battery just seems to keep going and going. I’ve got through days with 6+ screen on time and pretty heavy usage and still have over 30% battery left.

The OnePlus 11 support 100watt Super-Vooc charging and can go from 0-100% in just 22mins. That’s shockingly quick and actually changes the way you charge your phone. Gone are the overnight charges and in are the quick charges in the morning as you’re getting dressed and getting yourself ready for the day. When you’re done, the phone is fully charged and ready to go. If you want a quick top up, a few mins in the afternoon and the phone is at 100% again. While the OnePlus 11 doesn’t have wireless charging, I’d take the speed of 100w Super Vooc over wireless charging any day.

Conclusion

The OnePlus 11 is a welcome return of form for OnePlus. It’s also priced very competitively, starting at 829euro for the 8/128gb model and 899 for the 16/256gb model. The performance and battery life and top tier and it’s hard not to recommend at this point in 2023.

You can find out more about the OnePlus 11 and buy it over on OnePlus.com/ie