OnePlus 11 5G Delivers Impressive Flagship Performance On A Budget

With the newly revealed OnePlus 11 5G, a common sentiment noted across the community is that "OnePlus is back." While that is a simplistic reaffirmation to OnePlus that they're on the right track, it took a lot of misfires to get here. First off, the OnePlus 11 5G is gorgeous - to look at and to hold!

I got the chance to try out the OnePlus 5G with 16GB RAM and 256 GB storage in the Titan Black colour offering, and not much later my large collection of games and obsession with photography left only 50 GB to spare, which I find worth mentioning in case popular culture has fooled you into believing that anything above 100 GB is a lot.

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I've been an ardent OnePlus fan since their earliest days, and it was only very recently that I bid goodbye to my OnePlus 7T and moved to the 10T. While I instantly missed the slider, the 10T showed promise thanks to its fast-charging capabilities and lightweight form.

Naturally, when I got the OnePlus 11 5G in my hands, I was excited for a myriad of reasons - the return of OnePlus' iconic slider that is a truly useful feature, the promise of a lightning fast performance, the Hasselblad camera, and fast-charging technology that has saved my life on various occasions. We delve deep into all of those aspects in the review below!

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Performance

The OnePlus 11 5G is among a handful of smartphones to support the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset that magnifies the capabilities of AI to make your phone personalised to your needs. Reading a book on the Kindle app and suddenly have the urge to click a selfie? The device can effortlessly switch back-and-forth.

I don't remember ever clearing my app drawer while using the device. And where's the lag? PS: this is not a complaint - we don't want lag! With more than 40 apps running in the background, the device didn¡¯t stutter once and there was minimal to no heating during regular tasks. While gaming though, you might feel some heat in your hands, but it's negligible.

Adreno GPU also delivers 25% faster performance, with up to 45% better power efficiency, OnePlus claims. Tired of the stats? So am I! While travelling, I was constantly switching between Diablo Immortal, YouTube, Netflix, and Spotify without any trouble at all.

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The camera, too, opens quickly and is ready to take pictures instantly. Out of the 400+ times I opened my camera over two weeks, it malfunctioned only twice.

The device runs on OxygenOS 13 that is based on Android 13. While your concerns about the Oppo-isation of OnePlus might be well-intentioned, there's very little bloatware on this device, and it still feels in line with the OnePlus philosophy of simplicity and power. OnePlus says that the device will get three years of major updates and four years of security updates.

While the device is a multi-tasking powerhouse, I was a bit sceptical of its ability to quickly register my face to unlock the device. Using the same feature on the 10T was a complete nightmare and I just stuck to using the fingerprint scanner on that phone, but OnePlus has clearly improved the face scanner on the 115G as I faced no issues 95% of the time, but I think there's still room for improvement on this front.

And dear god, what's with the pocket mode? There's literally no need for it. And if you're using your phone under a blanket, the phone constantly keeps switching to pocket mode, prompting you to take action - which, honestly, is an added nuisance when you're enjoying the latest episode of RuPaul's Drag Race at midnight. Regardless, the OnePlus 11 5G is a performance powerhouse that shows long-term promise!

Camera

Hasselblad is back! When I first heard that OnePlus was incorporating Hasselblad technology into its camera sensors and lenses for the OnePlus 11 5G, it was pure joy reverberating in the room, and rightly so! When I got to use the camera in various conditions, it hit the right spots - mostly!

With a giant 1/1.56" sensor size and ?/1.8 aperture, my hopes were high from the start, and the camera exceeded my expectations. From the start, I realised how the shots made even the most dull settings pop, but not too much!

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The OnePlus 11 5G comes with a 50 megapixel IMX890 image sensor that works in tandem with an optical image stabiliser (OIS) to provide steady shots. And while I struggled to get steady shots on a moving vehicle in tricky terrain, the camera did a fantastic job 8/10 times.

1x shot on OnePlus 11 / Indiatimes

After depending on the OnePlus 10T for all my camera needs for about two months, the OnePlus 11 5G's camera hit me on the head like a well-intentioned hammer - being able to click beautiful shots in various environments and light conditions, even though it struggled just a bit after dark and while taking selfies.

Ultrawide shot on OnePlus 11 / Indiatimes

The OnePlus 11 5G also sports a 48-megapixel 115 degree ultra-wide camera with 1/2" sensor size. In many cases, the image quality struggled a bit when I took the photo, but the software processing managed to deliver beautiful and crisp shots each time.

Portrait mode 2x on OnePlus 11 / Indiatimes

Portrait Mode 1x on OnePlus 11 / Indiatimes

In addition, the 32-megapixel Portrait Tele Lens delivers DSLR-like images, as promised. Samples may be seen above. If you¡¯re a selfie maniac like me, you might be a little disappointed though. The 16-megapixel front camera is able to take decent selfies, but the difference in the capabilities of the back camera and the front lens will be very noticeable.

Night time shot on OnePlus 11 / Indiatimes

Night time shot #2 on OnePlus 11 / Indiatimes

20x zoom on OnePlus 11 / Indiatimes

In terms of the overall camera performance, I was thoroughly impressed. But if your focus is night time photography (which is good but not exceptional) and clicking selfies (mostly bleh), then this might not be the right device for you.

Design and display

Nothing radical has happened in the design department for OnePlus 11 5G, but that doesn't take away from how beautiful the device is. With a 6.7-inch 2k 120 Hz Super Fluid AMOLED Display, the OnePlus 11 5G displays colours in their full vibrancy.

The two weeks I spent with the device made me want to keep watching more content simply because of how beautiful it looked, and the curved vertical edges that felt like an inconvenience in the beginning quickly grew on me - making the phone even slimmer to hold and virtually undetectable in the pocket without a case on.

The OnePlus 11 5G's display is supported by LTPO 3.0 that tweaks the capabilities to match each use case. If you're reading an ebook, the refresh rate automatically drops to 1Hz but jumps to 120Hz quickly if you switch to Genshin Impact, all supported by the HDR10+ certification.

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The alert slider is back! The alert slider is back!

There's only very little to say about this development, except for the fact that I'm glad OnePlus is recognising its strengths and sticking to them after years of not doing the same.

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The OnePlus 11 5G feels like pure luxury in your hand; the beautiful matte texture on the back makes the phone ideal for use without a case, for it grips easily. I've registered zero drops without the case in two weeks and I'm a clumsy guy, so that says a lot!

I'm one of those people who will quickly find a wallpaper to suit my personality on a new device. But the OnePlus 11 5G live wallpapers do such a fantastic job of showing off its beautiful display that I decided to keep them, and so will you.

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And nope, the camera lens that protrudes (a little bit) does not impact how the device feels in your hand, although I'm not a big fan of the camera design. Perhaps some more minimalism in the future might help!

Battery and charging

First things first, don't let anyone tell you that fast-charging is a gimmick. Using the OnePlus 10T convinced me that fast-charging will always be a priority for me especially when I'm on the move. While the OnePlus 11 5G isn't as fast as the 10T in terms of charging, it still goes from 0% to 100% in less than 30 minutes - which I think is nothing short of a tech marvel - given the smartphone's giant 5000mAh battery. All this is made possible by 100W SUPERVOOC charging.

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And the battery doesn't disappoint either. I plugged in my phone at 10 AM and headed out 30 mins later with 100% juice to return after 8 PM with 10% still left. Doesn't feel like much? Let me add some perspective, I took about more than 400 photos, made about 20 videos, listened to two music albums, did 30-40 mins of light gaming, and constantly used my social media during this time.

And it's not like I need to keep the phone plugged in for an hour to charge when it did die. The battery's performance is not compromised by how quickly it is able to charge, and for that I'm very thankful! It's important to note that I used the device on power saving mode when I was outdoors. But even in regular settings, I only needed to charge my device once a day - but that's because I'm always watching something on YouTube or Netflix. If your usage is limited to basic functions, the phone could max out for a day and half on a single charge.

Also, the phone is supported by OnePlus Battery Health Engine to preserve the battery¡¯s health in the long-term, but only time will tell how effective that is!

OnePlus 11 5G's bonus features

One of the reasons why this smartphone's display is so rich and indulgent is thanks to the Dolby Vision support that gives it that extra punch in terms of detail. For instance, you can really notice how rich colours appear when you¡¯re watching an animated series.

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In addition, the phone's speakers deliver good sound on full volume - packing more power than I'd thought. If you use your phone as a bathroom speaker, the OnePlus 11 5G will do the job. In fact, if you watch your favourite shows and videos in a compact indoor setting, you might even feel compelled to lower the volume on account of how loud it truly is!

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But outdoors, you might want to stick to your bluetooth speaker. When listening to this banger, the speaker actually managed to outperform my HP Pavilion (2021) laptop¡¯s speakers in terms of clarity, volume, and impact.

I don't think we're talking enough about how well the Dual WiFi Acceleration feature works on the OnePlus 11 5G. It can exploit both 2.4 GHz band and the 5GHz band of your WiFi to give a smooth streaming experience. On my 10T, the streaming quality was always dismal due to inconsistent WiFi, but this feature completely elevated my streaming experience on the OnePlus 11. Sadly, only a handful of apps are supported by this feature. I'd love to see a phone-wide implementation of this feature in the future to truly unlock its potential!

My verdict of OnePlus 11 5G

Really good camera, impressive battery life complemented by fast-charging, and its strong processing capabilities make the OnePlus 11 5G the optimal flagship choice for both casual users and strong gamers who want a top-notch smartphone experience without having to spend over a lakh rupees.

The OnePlus 11 5G 8GB+128GB costs ?56,999, whereas the OnePlus 11 5G 16GB+256GB variant costs ?61,999

Do you think this review will help you make the decision when it¡¯s time to buy the latest flagship? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below. For more in the world of technology and science, keep reading Indiatimes.com.