OnePlus 11 long-term review: not settling so soon

The OnePlus 11 (review) was among the first Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC-powered smartphones we reviewed this year. At that time, we found it to be a “glamorous” device with an equally eye-catching price tag. While there’s no “Pro” in the name, the OnePlus ticks many boxes you’d expect from a premium smartphone.

However, it’s been a while since the OnePlus 11 launched in India. Seven months on since its launch, there have been many other launches in both premium (above Rs 50,000) and mid-premium (Rs 40,000 and Rs 50,000) segments. OnePlus also launched its most expensive smartphone with the same Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC, the OnePlus Open (review), last month. Plus, we have the Google Pixel 8 (review) and Pixel 8 Pro (review) as compelling options. Apple also introduced four new iPhones in September.

There are other Snapdragon 8 Gen 2-powered devices in India, including the Galaxy S23 series, iQOO 11 5G, and Xiaomi 13 Pro – all introduced around the same time as the OnePlus 11.

At Rs 56,999, the OnePlus 11 remains one of the more affordable Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC-powered smartphones, but is it as relevant as it was seven months ago? Or should the recently-launched Google Pixel 8 be considered? Here’s what we liked and did not like in our long-term review.

What works

Display: During our initial review, the OnePlus 11 impressed us with the display performance. Safe to say that there’s been no compromise in that area after months of usage.

The 6.7-inch display uses a Fluid AMOLED panel with LTPO 3.0 technology. There’s also HDR10+ and Dolby Vision support. All these tech specs work in perfect harmony to offer a great viewing experience. The outstanding display also gets complimented by equally good speakers. Watching sports, like the ongoing ICC Men’s World Cup 2023, was truly superb. Playing videos in high resolution on YouTube wasn’t a problem either. On that note, do subscribe to 91Mobiles on YouTube for tech reviews, including OnePlus 11 review, in 4K.

There have been reports about a green line issue on old OnePlus devices with AMOLED displays. There’s been no such problems with our OnePlus 11 unit.

Software: The OnePlus 11 awaits the stable Android 14 update, but the public beta version has been available. The Android 14-based OxygenOS 14 beta version is straightforward to download from the OnePlus Community Forum. Naturally, the OxygenOS 14 introduces a bunch of new features, but for this article, I will focus on the stable OS version (Android 13).

The OnePlus 11 has received several system updates in the last seven and one major OS update to Android 13.1. Not much has changed feature-wise, but regular security updates are definitely a good sign for a smartphone of this price.

The overall software experience is refreshing, thanks to fewer pre-installed apps. My favourite is OnePlus’s native gaming mode that automatically tweaks settings for the best gaming experience. The OnePlus 11 is also a critical device for the upcoming OnePlus ecosystem. A few features of the OnePlus Buds 2 Pro work only with this smartphone. The interconnectivity between devices may not be as extensive as that of Apple and Samsung, but it’s a good step.

OnePlus also promises four years of Android OS and five years of security updates with the OnePlus 11.

Battery: If you’re one of those who put their phone on charge at the last minute, the OnePlus 11 is meant for you. This year, OnePlus increased the charging speed to 100W for its numbered series. As a result, the OnePlus 11 attains 50 percent charge in just 20 minutes, and a full charge takes roughly 40 minutes. Even the battery backup is equally impressive.

With the highest settings enabled, heavy gaming, and 5G usage, the OnePlus 11 lasts almost a full day. We recently travelled to Uttarakhand with the OnePlus 11 and a full charge in the morning was sufficient for the rest of the day. By the end of the day, which involved music and video playback, lots of photos and videos, and some navigation, the OnePlus had around 10 percent charge

What doesn’t work

Broadly, the OnePlus 11 meets most of the expectations that you’d have from a smartphone priced above Rs 50,000. However, there are individual areas where rivals do it better. For instance:

• Ergonomically, I prefer the OnePlus 11’s placement of the in-display fingerprint sensor. The side buttons are also spaced out perfectly. Its metal frame offers a good degree of durability, though I’d recommend using a protective case as the sides are prone to scratches and dents. Design-wise, the OnePlus 11 could’ve been better. Not that it looks poor by any metric, but most phones under Rs 50,000 offer a similar sleek design with a premium glass finish.
• More on the design – the OnePlus 11 has no official IP rating. You can expect some amount of protection from water splashes and dust, but an official rating for dust and protection would’ve been ideal. There’s no wireless charging either.
  
  
  
  
  
• You can refer to our full review of the OnePlus 11 cameras. But in summary, the camera performance is good, be it for still photography or videos. The Hasselblad partnership also helps with colour calibration to an extent. However, the OnePlus 11 still struggles to detect accurate skin tones. In many cases, it overly brightened my skin tone. Additionally, the edit option on the native Photos app is very basic. The object remover tool was also quite unreliable in my review. If cameras are your priority, the iPhone 15 Plus (review) or Pixel 8 are good options to consider.
• The OnePlus 11 can handle most tasks without any visible lags or stutters, thanks to LPDDR5X RAM and UFS 4.0 storage. If you get the variant I used with 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, you can be carefree about freeing storage. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC introduces a great degree of power to the smartphone. However, the OnePlus 11 doesn’t really utilise that power fully. The Galaxy S23 and iQOO 11 with the same chipset performed relatively better in our benchmarks.

Verdict

If your priority is a value-for-money flagship with solid battery backup and charging speed, the OnePlus 11 is a terrific option, even at the end of 2023. The four-year Android OS update promise also ensures that the OnePlus 11 is usable for at least three years, or maybe more, depending on the battery health.

However, if your priorities are targeted, like cameras and gaming, the Pixel 8 and iQOO 11 might be better options, respectively. If you seek an all-in-one package without crossing the Rs 70,000 mark, the OnePlus 11 won’t disappoint.

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