The OnePlus 11 Smartphone: OnePlus' Best-Executed Device Yet Gadgets 36T

 

The OnePlus 11 Smartphone: OnePlus' Best-Executed Device Yet Gadgets 36T

Let me start by saying that no phone is perfect. Every phone has flaws and therefore you will rarely find a reviewer saying a phone is perfect or a finished phone. That's why the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra has won so many "best" awards, but not necessarily the best. Most phones have trade-offs, and those trade-offs are usually due to cost, design, or technology limitations. For several weeks I had the opportunity to play with the OnePlus 11 smartphone.In this article, I want to share my thoughts on the device and the company with you.

In recent years, Oppo's commitment as Oppo's parent company has become increasingly evident, even if ownership hasn't changed much. In my opinion, the OnePlus brand tried to bite off more than it could chew like a small brand and didn't use all the technology of the Oppo group. However, there have always been similarities between OnePlus phones and Oppo phones, so this shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. Finally, Oppo is the brand that brought us fast charging and with the OnePlus 11 it offers us 80W fast charging in the US and 100W in the rest of the world at 220V.

 OnePlus 11 Design and Specs

The OnePlus 11 borrows the design language of previous models in the OnePlus range, namely the OnePlus 7T and 10 Pro, which themselves inherited the design  from Samsung's S22 series. The new phone differs from many other phone models that have largely adopted similar designs. The OnePlus 11 comes in two colors, a Textured Titanium Black color and a Sleek Evergreen color, both of which are premium. OnePlus also includes a physical notification slider on the phone, which is a staple of the OnePlus brand. The OnePlus 11 is also the first phone to feature Qualcomm's new Snapdragon Spaces Ready program, meaning any

Headset that supports Snapdragon Spaces will be compatible with the OnePlus 11.As for the specs, the OnePlus 11 is available in 8GB and 16GB RAM configurations paired with 128GB UFS 3.1 and 256GB UFS 4.0 respectively. All versions come with a 5000mAh dual-cell battery with 80W wired charging and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, including the latest X70 5G modem, FastConnect 7800 Wi-Fi and  Adreno 740 GPU. The OnePlus 11 is OnePlus' first phone  to be compatible with  all three major US airlines.However, it will not be commercially available from all suppliers. In the past I've tried activating OnePlus devices with carriers like Verizon who claimed to be compatible but couldn't BYOD; Once I had to go to the store. where they had to activate my iPhone line before I could use my OnePlus 10 Pro.

OnePlus 11 runs on Android 13.0 in the form of OxygenOS 13.0 - OnePlus version of the Android OS. For photography, the phone has a triple camera setup; The main camera is a 50-megapixel Sony IMX890, while the other two are a 48-megapixel Sony IMX581 and a 32-megapixel Sony IMX709 with 2x optical zoom. These sensors lag behind f/1.8, f/2.2 and f/2.Lenses each with an aperture of 0. The front selfie camera has a 16-megapixel sensor with a fixed focus and an aperture of f/2.45; It can record 1080P videos at 30 fps. Speaking of video, the main camera array can be used at full speed for 8K at 24 fps or 4K at 60 fps, or in slow motion for 1080p at 240 fps or 720p at 480 fps.

On paper, this phone looks reasonable and competitive with what's already on the market, especially for $699. However, the lack of wireless charging will be a stumbling block for many. I think ruling that out was a mistake, especially given how cheap the  cost of adding wireless charging is these days. Unfortunately, I think  OnePlus listened to its fans a little too much and asked them to choose between fast charging and wireless charging. I'd also like to see  better zoom than  the OnePlus 11's 2x zoom, although at $699 I can forgive that as it would likely drive up the cost.I know  OnePlus  said  the 11 is the only device to offer this launch cycle because it makes it easier to line up. However, I think it would still be great to have an additional SKU with wireless charging and more optical zoom (preferably 5x or more).

 Setup and First Impressions

 Setting up the OnePlus 11 was simple and straightforward, although OnePlus requires a Red Cable Club membership to earn rewards and join the user community. Otherwise, the experience is a basic Android setup. One of the things I like to do when I get a new device is test the 5G and Wi-Fi speeds in my home. This proved that the OnePlus 11 could match the performance of my S22 Ultra 5G, but for some reason it had Wi-Fi  compared to my Galaxy Z Fold4 with the latest generation Qualcomm's FastConnect 6900 (Wi-Fi chipset always flawless). 6 download speeds to fight ).The OnePlus 11's FastConnect 7800  is expected to be the next generation of Qualcomm's best Wi-Fi chipsets; It will eventually be Wi-Fi 7 capable, although for now it will  only reach Wi-Fi 6. However, I was disappointed to see that the OnePlus 11's Wi-Fi performance barely hits 300Mbps on my 1 Gigabit fiber connection, while the Galaxy Z Fold4  regularly tops out at 600Mbps and up. Wi-Fi performance aside, the OnePlus 11 is incredibly responsive and fast, which is what we've come to expect from OnePlus. When I checked it on the GeekBench 5 benchmarking platform, the performance numbers matched what I've seen on competing phones with  the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 platform. According to the 3Dmark Wild Life Extreme benchmark I ran, the OnePlus outperforms 11 The iPhone 14 Pro Max scores from 3597 to 3352, which is also well above the S22 Ultra's modest result of 2115.In short, the OnePlus 11 is a speed demon when it comes to benchmarking, which is what I think  everyone expects from a OnePlus device. I also ran some initial GeekBench 6 benchmarks but found them too inconsistent to include here.

 OnePlus 11 camera performance

Camera performance has always been OnePlus' Achilles heel, but I can confidently say that OnePlus nailed it this time. I don't know to what extent this is due to Oppo's technical support, but in the end what counts is not  how it was achieved, but that it was achieved. I can say I've noticed a lot of Oppo's AI-enhanced software  on OnePlus (not really new).The main camera is incredibly realistic, sharp and responsive. Portrait mode naturally looks like it was shot on a wide-aperture DSLR camera, and the aperture can be easily adjusted  to suit your preferences. It looks like  the Hasselblad setup has finally made its way to the phone this time around.

The OnePlus 11 Smartphone: OnePlus' Best-Executed Device Yet Gadgets 36T

The camera's zoom  is also decent thanks to the high-resolution main sensor and 2x optical sensor; However, it doesn't quite match its 10x optical counterparts like the S23 and S22 Ultra. Low light photos are great too and can even be a bit overexposed at times, but your phone's camera usually captures amazing light and produces very sharp photos. Overall I was  impressed with the camera; It exceeded my expectations and offered an experience that was competitive with the iPhone and S23/23+, but not quite at the ultra level. 10-bit color is an option, as is HEIF, but it won't be compatible with many programs and apps.

 

The OnePlus 11 Smartphone: OnePlus' Best-Executed Device Yet Gadgets 36T

 Watching videos on the OnePlus 11 is easy and seems to have borrowed heavily  from Oppo.The photo experience feels more distinctive on OnePlus. Record up to 8K24, although I always recommend people stick to 4K60, and if you want maximum stabilization it'll still set you back to 1080P. Again, Oppo's AI backlight feature allows for better video performance in low light, but it's not the same as  the Find X5 Pro with the Marisilicon X chip. Bundled with the OnePlus 11 (they sell separately for $179), the OnePlus Buds Pro 2  are designed to work seamlessly with your phone and deliver high-quality wireless audio co-developed with Dynaudio and Google. The OnePlus 11 is the first non-Google Pixel smartphone to feature Google Spatial Audio  and  Google Fast Pair, which works great on virtually all Android devices.I think the headphones are the perfect size - comparable to Apple's AirPods Pro 2 - and the case  fits in the same pockets as my jackets and shorts, which are designed for AirPods.

Headphones The  overall sound quality is excellent. I was very impressed with the audio quality when LHDC (Low Latency High-Definition Audio Codec) was enabled, although I think  signal stability could be better as I encountered some dips here and there. The low-end sound is particularly impressive, something traditionally difficult to achieve in such a small package. I tested the headphones with multiple devices (S22 Ultra and OnePlus 11) and switching between them was easy and seamless.

Overall I'm very impressed with these headphones, although the noise cancellation isn't the best, they've done reasonably well on planes and on city streets as they passed my training tests and didn't fall out of my ears, when I was sweating. what often happens  with  AirPods Pro 2. I  wish OnePlus wouldn't hide the Buds Pro 2 menu behind so many settings options and make it easier to manage  the buds via the filter phone's main menu drop-down menu. An opportunity to implement Snapdragon Sound may also have been missed as the phone already supports it, which may have resulted in lossless sound quality.

 Summary

I sincerely believe that the OnePlus 11 is one of the best phones  OnePlus has released in a  long time and represents excellent value for money. I see many signs that OnePlus has focused on some things  it considers essential for its fans, borrowing from the Oppo group to maximize the experience.This is particularly evident when recording videos or enabling the AI ​​improvements in low light, which use the same user interface as Oppo phones. Having said that, I don't think the OnePlus series is geared towards video as much as Oppo  and like Oppo did with the Find X5 Pro which is still my favorite video recording phone. The OnePlus 11 still captures great videos up to 8K, but I have to be honest, 4K60 is the perfect quality these days.

All in all, if the lack of wireless charging isn't an issue for you, this is a fantastic phone at a very competitive price, especially when you book it now for an additional $100 off. Upgrade to a larger capacity of 16GB RAM and 256GB faster and larger storage.