Before the OnePlus Open, OnePlus released their OnePlus 11 5G device in early 2023. Several months after its release, it’s one of the best phones of 2023. It’s hard to say a phone in that price range is terrible, so for choosing the OnePlus 11 5G, you’d have to like the OS, camera processing style (thanks to their partnership with Hasselblad), and overall build of the phone. We check back on it several months later to see how the phone feels in the long term.
Design and Build
The design and build of the OnePlus 11 are my favorite things about the phone. While the camera module is a bit weird for me, the rest of the phone build is excellent. It’s familiar with the recent OnePlus flagships. The large 6.7 inch OLED screen has the punch hole camera on the top left. You still have the alert slider alongside the power button on the phone’s right side. The volume buttons are on the left side. Of course, the phone charges via the USB C port that you find at the bottom. The glass and aluminum back on my green model is shiny and pretty.
Day to Day Experience
I was using the OnePlus 11 5G for several months. I’m used to curved screens by now, but I may be leaning back to flat screens. It comes with a pre-installed screen protector, which is great.
If there is one thing OnePlus does right, it’s Oxygen OS. It’s so fluid. We’re now on OxygenOS 13, and it’s customizable without too much bloatware. It’s a bit more colorful than what we’re used to from OxygenOS 12. But the UI is easy to navigate, and while for some may be a learning curve, it gets easy quickly—a win for me.
The 120Hz is just smooth! It’s just lovely. When the phone was released, it was one of the first to have the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip. Along with the fluid UI experience, it just handles so well. Rarely did I have an app crash on me. As expected, jumping through social and messaging apps is lightwork for this phone.
I consume many of my movies in bits and pieces on the go. I spend a lot of time on New York City trains so it’s a good way to entertain. The AMOLED screen is just nice for high-quality content. The screen doesn’t always get as bright as I’d like it to, but it wasn’t a significant problem. When watching things at home, the stereo speakers sounded great. There’s not much bass, but that’s expected for most smartphone speakers.
OnePlus 11 5G Cameras
The Hasselblad x OnePlus camera partnership returns for the OnePlus 11 5G. The rear camera module has a 50MP main camera, a 48MP ultra-wide camera, and a 32MP zoom lens. This has been the best OnePlus camera. Depending on how you like the final look of the picture, you may or may not like it. The colors in the pictures have a “natural” look. They tend to sometimes look too warm/yellowish, depending on the lighting, but it doesn’t happen that often. There were a few times that pictures came out a bit overexposed. Not sure how I caught the lighting so badly for it to look that way.
The portrait mode is all right. It’s not my favorite. You can do it at 1x or 2x zoom. It gets the job done but can be more refined. The bokeh effect isn’t too exaggerated, which is nice. It has a soft, more realistic image.
Battery
If you’re not familiar with OnePlus and battery charging, they have had warp charging for a while now. This phone doesn’t have wireless charging capabilities, so if that’s a big thing for you, you may have to wait that one out. While it doesn’t have wireless charging, the OnePlus 11 does have 80W Supervooc super flash charge technology. You can charge back up so quickly that it makes up for the lack of wireless charging.
The 5,000 mAh battery lasts a long time. Of course, everyone’s battery life is different, so many factors. You will get notifications if an app is taking up too much battery power.
Verdict
With an elegant, qualitative design and a more than decent camera, the OnePlus 11 5G is a win. You can get it for $600 and up. There is no additional storage slot, so if you’re a content junkie, you may want to go for the 256GB storage model over the 128GB storage. I love that we’re normalizing all of these fantastic flagship features for under $999.
OnePlus 11 5G Android Smartphone
Pros
- Great build
- Affordable Pricing
- Great chipset
- Large Display
- Fast Charging
Cons
- No Wireless Charging
- IP64 Rating
