OnePlus’s phones hasn’t been exciting for the past few years, but with the release of the OnePlus 11 5G, the company seeks to regain its “flagship killer” status. Equipped with Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, and cameras co-developed with Hasselblad, saying that the OnePlus 11 5G has made some buzz is an understatement.
The company has kindly sent us a unit for review, and it has been my daily driver for the past few weeks. Read on to find out whether this phone is a worthy upgrade for 2023.
OnePlus 11 5G Specifications
| Model | OnePlus 11 5G |
| Dimensions | 163.1 mm × 74.1mm × 8.53 mm |
| Weight | 205g |
| Processor | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform |
| RAM | 8GB / 16GB LPDDR5X |
| Storage | 128GB UFS 3.1 / 256GB UFS 4.0 |
| Display | 6.7” QHD+ 120 Hz dynamic Super Fluid AMOLED with LTPO Up to 1000 Hz touch response rate Support sRGB, Display P3, 10-bit Colour Depth Corning Gorilla Glass Victus Dolby Vision support |
| Camera (Front) | 16MP, ƒ/2.45 |
| Camera (Rear) | Main Camera: 50MP, 1/1.56″, ƒ/1.8, OIS Ultrawide Camera: 48MP, 1/2″, f/2.2 Portrait Tele Camera: 32MP, 1/2.74″, f/2.0 |
| Operating System | OxygenOS, Android 13 |
| Battery and Charging | 5,000 mAh SUPERVOOC 100W |
| Connectivity | WiFi 802.1 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be, 2.4G/5G, Wi-Fi 7 Bluetooth 5.3 (aptX HD, aptX, LDAC, LHDC, AAC, SBC) NFC GPS |
| Biometrics | On-screen fingerprint reader Face unlock |
What’s In The Box?
- OnePlus 11 5G smartphone
- 100W SUPERVOOC charger
- USB-C charging & data cable
- Welcome note, quick guide, safety guide
- Stickers
Design
The OnePlus 11 5G comes in two colour options: Titan Black and Eternal Green. Our review sample came in Eternal Green, which features a gloss back. The Titan Black option is matte with a sandstone-like finish.
The first thing you will notice is the large camera bump, which houses three cameras and an LED flash. They are protected by a large circular glass. The housing extends all the way to the edge.
On the right side of the phone lies a power button and a silent/vibrate mode switch. The volume rockers are placed on the left side of the phone. The bottom houses the SIM tray, USB-C charging port and a speaker grille. Another speaker grille can be found at the top, giving users a stereo speaker experience.
Display
The OnePlus 11 5G is equipped with a 6.7 inch QHD+ AMOLED display with a resolution of 3216 x 1440 pixels, and a 120Hz dynamic refresh rate. The default refresh rate is set to Full HD+ resolution, so I would recommend you changing it to QHD+ in the menu for sharper images. However, it does impact battery performance.
It is also capable of displaying 10-bit images on its 1.07 billion colour display. Translated to real performance, images especially the ones captured on its camera look vivid and detailed.
Colours look vibrant, especially reds and yellows look punchy, to the point it is too much. Luckily, there are five different colour modes to choose from: Vivid (default), Natural, Pro mode, Cinematic and Brilliant. I used Brilliant mode, therefore getting a more natural colour experience.
The phone’s display supports LTPO 3.0, which adjusts the screen’s refresh rate to match the content you are viewing. You can choose between high or standard refresh rate, the latter of which caps the refresh rate to 60Hz. I kept it at 120Hz to fully utilize the hardware available, though keep in mind that running it on high refresh rate hurts battery life.
User Experience
Upon starting the OnePlus 11 5G for the first time, you get the option of having an app drawer (similar to stock Android) or have all app icons placed on the home screen (iOS style). I chose the former as I prefer for widgets and most commonly used apps to popular my home screen, but it is a nice touch to have that option.
After using the phone as my daily driver for weeks, I enjoyed the near stock Android experience. To get the most out of the device however, you will need to dig through the settings, one such example is setting the display colour profiles and resolution as mentioned earlier. I wished these options were present upon initial boot up, or at least communicated earlier.
There is also an always-on display (AOD) that displays the date and time, battery level, and widgets such as Spotify. It turns on when it detects any movement, but it seems to be too sensitive to me. Even small vibrations will turn on the display. OnePlus claims the AOD runs at 1Hz to save battery, and I can attest to that. Despite, turning on the AOD accidentally all the time, the battery level does not seem to be affected too much. Granted, AODs tend to not consume much power, but every little bit of optimisation helps with battery life.
Performance
The OnePlus 11 5G is equipped with the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 mobile platform and up to 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM. Using the phone feels smooth and instant, and I could barely notice any performance bottlenecks while switching apps or gaming. While using my old phone, I had to clear apps and cache all the time to avoid slowing the phone down, but on the OnePlus 11 5G, I never had to resort to this measure.
Running the phone on Geekbench yielded great results too, scoring 1176 for single core performance, and 4814 for multi-core. Compute performance on Vulkan top tier too, managing to score 8868 points.
Speaking of gaming, the new Adreno 740 GPU is a beast. Graphically demanding titles such as Genshin Impact ran smoothly at 60fps with medium-high graphics settings applied. At the highest setting it does stutter occasionally but not enough to mess up my combos. Do keep in mind, the GPU is running at QHD+ resolution instead of FHD+. Lowering the resolution does eliminate most of the stuttering.
Camera
Unlike other phones that are engaging in megapixel chasing for the main camera while ignoring the ultrawide and macro cameras, the OnePlus 11 5G offers a more complete camera experience.
The main camera has a 50MP Sony IMX890 sensor at ƒ/1.8. While not the largest sensor by any means, it is capable of taking in lots of light thanks to the bright f/1.8 aperture. The flankers are no slouch either. The ultra-wide comes at 48MP with an aperture of f/2.2, while the portrait tele camera has 32MP and f/2.0 aperture.
I tend to rely more in the main camera for day to day photography, but the ultrawide and tele cameras come in handy when I need to compose specific shots, without compromising on quality. As part of the co-engineering effort with Hasselblad, the camera has three ‘Master’ filters for you to experiment with.
The resulting images look sharp and detailed, and colour production is excellent. The camera app also has professional features such as RAW shooting, 10-bit photos, histogram and focus peaking.
Shooting videos are pleasant too. The new phone is able to capture up to 8K 30Hz. With OIS on however, the resolution caps at 1080p 60Hz. The OIS controls shakes and movements well, especially when I need to take panning shots without a tripod.
Audio
The OnePlus 11 5G has dual speakers, which can get really loud. However, the sound gets muddy at beyond 80% volume. I could get the best results at 50-60% volume, where it sounds warm with a more pronounced treble.
Battery
The OnePlus 11 5G is equipped with a 5,000mAh battery, which consists of two 2,500mAh batteries. Battery life is excellent, capable of reaching two full days on a single charge with moderate use. The included 100W SUPERVOOC charger can charge the phone to 100% in 25 minutes. While this charger is 50W less than the previous generation, it is still more than quick enough for most users.
If you are expecting wireless charging however, you will be disappointed by the lack of it.
Conclusion
The OnePlus 11 5G is a true “flagship killer”. You get the latest top-tier hardware, and the software is great too, delivering a true flagship smartphone experience.
Past OnePlus phone cameras were not the primary focus of the company, but the current camera co-engineered with Hasselblad is more than capable of taking great photos.
We will have to wait for the official Malaysian launch for more pricing details. So stay tuned to The AXO for future updates.
For more information, please visit OnePlus official website.
