OnePlus 11 5G Review: Premium Experience, Standout Value
OnePlus 11 5G Review: Battery Life Tests, Charging, And Our Review Conclusion
Charging speed has long been one of OnePlus' primary selling points. As other OEMs have made only modest progress here, OnePlus keeps pushing the envelope. Last year, it released the 10T with incredible 120W charging. The OnePlus 11 5G isn't quite that fast—it's actually 40W slower, but 80W charging is still much quicker than most competing phones. The Pixel 7 Pro, for instance, tops out at 23W, and the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is 45W.
You'll only see those 80W speeds when the phone's battery is low, but it maintains high wattage all the way through the charge cycle. It'll still be filling at 50W when half full, and it drops only a little bit all the way up through the mid-80s. No matter what your charge level, a few minutes plugged in will get the OnePlus 11 to a point where you don't have to stress about the battery. However, the phone only charges at 18W when attached to a standard USB-PD plug.
To hit the maximum charging speed, you'll have to use the OnePlus SuperVOOC charger. But mercifully, that's included with the phone. We appreciate this gesture when many more expensive phones have dropped the included charger to save money. However, the decision to go back to an A-to-C cable this year is questionable. There's no wireless charging in this phone, either, so hopefully you didn't invest in OP's expensive charging dock.
You'll only see those 80W speeds when the phone's battery is low, but it maintains high wattage all the way through the charge cycle. It'll still be filling at 50W when half full, and it drops only a little bit all the way up through the mid-80s. No matter what your charge level, a few minutes plugged in will get the OnePlus 11 to a point where you don't have to stress about the battery. However, the phone only charges at 18W when attached to a standard USB-PD plug.
To hit the maximum charging speed, you'll have to use the OnePlus SuperVOOC charger. But mercifully, that's included with the phone. We appreciate this gesture when many more expensive phones have dropped the included charger to save money. However, the decision to go back to an A-to-C cable this year is questionable. There's no wireless charging in this phone, either, so hopefully you didn't invest in OP's expensive charging dock.
OnePlus 11 5G Battery Life
The PCMark battery life test aims to simulate a standard day's workload by running the benchmark over and over over the course of hours. It's not always indicative of real world mixed usage performance, but it helps to compare devices with an always-on and active load test.
These battery life benchmark numbers are not a surprise—the OnePlus 11 5G lasts about as long on a charge as other recent OnePlus phones. Our actually daily usage numbers are lower, as you'd expect, but the OnePlus 11 won't have you running for a power outlet. We had no trouble making it through a day of heavy use with 6-7 hours of screen time. You might be able to eke out two days of usage with less screen time.
The camera setup doesn't look much different than the 10 Pro on paper, but we've seen impressive results. Photos taken on the OnePlus 11 5G are sharp and bright, and while they don't have the magical HDR processing of a Pixel, the phone's dynamic range is better than past OP phones. The quicker exposures compared to previous OP phones also means you'll have an easier time photographing moving subjects. OP's decision to only include a 2x telephoto lens and tune it for portraits is a bit of a bummer, though.
As OnePlus has become more aligned with its parent company, the software experience has changed. The latest versions of OxygenOS are little more than alternative skins for Oppo's ColorOS. There are some sub-optimal interface decisions, and the lack of Material You support is disappointing. That said, you can adjust to the software, and most users probably won't dislike it. On the plus side, OnePlus promises industry-leading update support with five years of security patches and four years of OS updates.
It is a strong value at $700 for the 8/128GB OnePlus 11 5G, but we're still talking about a $100 premium over the Pixel 7. For my money, the Pixel 7 offers the best budget flagship experience, but the OnePlus 11 5G has some nice bonuses like the super-fast charging, better display, and higher performance—especially in the graphics realted benchmarks. There will be plenty of Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 phones this year, but most of them probably won't be this good.
OnePlus 11 5G Review Conclusion: A Return To Form
The increasing influence of Oppo over OnePlus seemed like a problem over the past few release cycles, which featured higher prices and less innovation than some previous releases. The OnePlus 11 5G feels like the kind of phone OnePlus used to make; it's blazing fast, reasonably priced, and looks good. The build quality is getting close to Samsung-level, which is a nice change of pace. OP also gets points for bringing back the alert slider, which was missing on the 10T and we can't knock that 80W charging, either. Sure, it might be nice to get 125W like the 10T, but 80W is still much faster than any other flagship phone in the US.The camera setup doesn't look much different than the 10 Pro on paper, but we've seen impressive results. Photos taken on the OnePlus 11 5G are sharp and bright, and while they don't have the magical HDR processing of a Pixel, the phone's dynamic range is better than past OP phones. The quicker exposures compared to previous OP phones also means you'll have an easier time photographing moving subjects. OP's decision to only include a 2x telephoto lens and tune it for portraits is a bit of a bummer, though.
As OnePlus has become more aligned with its parent company, the software experience has changed. The latest versions of OxygenOS are little more than alternative skins for Oppo's ColorOS. There are some sub-optimal interface decisions, and the lack of Material You support is disappointing. That said, you can adjust to the software, and most users probably won't dislike it. On the plus side, OnePlus promises industry-leading update support with five years of security patches and four years of OS updates.
It is a strong value at $700 for the 8/128GB OnePlus 11 5G, but we're still talking about a $100 premium over the Pixel 7. For my money, the Pixel 7 offers the best budget flagship experience, but the OnePlus 11 5G has some nice bonuses like the super-fast charging, better display, and higher performance—especially in the graphics realted benchmarks. There will be plenty of Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 phones this year, but most of them probably won't be this good.
