This week OnePlus launched the OnePlus 11, a glossy, elegant, highly effective smartphone that, due to its Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 CPU, 16GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage, is sort of on par with the Samsung S23 Extremely however will price you $500 much less.
I used to be severely contemplating buying the Samsung Galaxy S23 Extremely to exchange my iPhone 11, having rejected the 12, 13, and 13+ we’re pressured to check with because the iPhone 14. After seven years within the Apple iPhone ecosystem, I felt time for change based mostly on the shortage of innovation and tiny, incremental, nearly lateral enhancements that I’ve discovered disappointing.
Whereas attending CES 2023 in Las Vegas, I heard many complaints from customers in regards to the iPhone 14, and that helped cement my departure, however which Android gadget would I leap for? I wished the S23 Extremely, however I’ve monetary obligations and wish to eat. The OnePlus 11 knocked on my door, bringing flowers, a bottle of cognac, a watch, strong cameras, and wonderful efficiency.
What satisfied me it was time
One of many causes I’ve resisted leaving the comfortable confines of Cuptertino’s walled backyard is that iOS is gorgeous and simple to make use of, requiring little thought or effort. As well as, lots of my members of the family use Facetime to keep up a correspondence. Anytime I point out Google Meet, Duo, or another video conferencing app, they stare at me blankly and act like nothing else exists, and it’s too laborious to be taught.
So, I have been caught within the iPhone ecosystem. Regardless that now you can kind of Facetime with non-iPhone customers, Apple had purposely made it so painful that no person does it. Tim Prepare dinner can inform us to purchase our mothers’ iPhones so we are able to facetime, however she will discover ways to use the numerous different accessible video conferencing apps. If not, oh nicely, mother, it is common cellphone requires you.
The opposite motive is that the cameras on my iPhone 11 have been lapped not solely by the iPhone 12 and 13, however by the Pixel 7 Professional, Samsung Galaxy S22 and S23 Extremely, and now OnePlus. I shoot many images and movies on my cellphone, and the picture high quality will not be the place it must be. I’ve additionally begun to note battery degradation, and I’m not going to pay to have it changed, which may be costly,
So it is time!
1. Refreshing distinctive design
After researching and getting hands-on with a number of Android telephones, together with the S23 Extremely and the OnePlus 11, I fell in love with the OnePlus 11. First, I’m not saying the iPhone 14 or the S23 Extremely are dangerous telephones, however the 14 is a disappointing lateral transfer from the iPhone 13, and I’m not keen to shell out $800 or extra for it.
One of many first issues that received me over was the elegant design of the OnePlus 11. The economic look of the Galaxy S23 Extremely simply is not for me. I favor the sleek curves of the OnePlus 11, together with its round rear digicam array that blends seamlessly into the sting of the cellphone. I additionally love the waterfall edge show, it provides one other sprint of sophistication and premium match and end to the cellphone.
2. Hasselblad-tuned cameras
The OnePlus 11 shoots nice images and movies that surpass my iPhone 11 and are not that far behind even the present Samsung Galaxy telephones or iPhones to my style. Whereas OnePlus could not have a 200MP digicam or an f/1.5 aperture, it has strong Sony sensors mixed with Hasselblad tuning that leads to excellent coloration science.
The OnePlus cameras additionally get a lift from the brand new Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset with superior AI to enhance computational pictures and lightning-quick response time from the digicam.
3. Excellent efficiency
I simply touched on it above, however the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 powering the OnePlus 11 is a game-changer. Positive, the iPhone 14 Professional nonetheless has an edge in some duties, however in Geekbench 5.4 it’s right down to a roughly 5% benefit, final yr that was round 20%.
In the case of GPU-based duties the OnePlus 11 and Samsung Galaxy S23 Extremely have now overtaken the iPhone. We could not imagine it both, however the period of Apple’s decisive cellular chipset dominance could also be at an finish. I’ve shot lengthy 4K movies, launched method too many Chrome tabs, and gamed for hours on the OnePlus 11 and nothing slows it down.
4. Limitless battery life and ludicrous pace charging
All these intensive duties I used to be speaking about above, you are able to do all that in a day and never even come near killing the battery on this beast. Throughout my weeks of testing, I had a three-day stretch at one level the place the cellphone simply wouldn’t die.
It lasted 13 hours and 10 minutes on its adaptive 120Hz setting in our Laptop computer Magazine battery check that entails constantly browsing the net on 5G with the show set at 150 nits of brightness. Guess which different present flagship that beat? It doesn’t matter what you guessed you are proper as a result of the OnePlus 11 is the newly topped champion of the telephones with the very best battery life ousting the iPhone 14 Professional Max.
Oh and when you do lastly kill the battery on the OnePlus 11 the 80W charger that comes within the field with it (Sure, you get an precise charger together with your cellphone nonetheless!) will cost the cellphone again as much as 100% in about 27 minutes. That is about half the time it takes to cost the Galaxy S23 Extremely or iPhone 14 Professional Max.
5. It is really reasonably priced!
Lastly and really importantly, value! The iPhone 14 cannot match the OnePlus 11’s specs, so I’ve to maneuver as much as the iPhone 14 Professional Max, which begins at $1,099. Then they cost a further $100 for a similar 256GB of storage.
That is $400 greater than the top-tier OnePlus 11 and I do not learn about you, however I want that $400 in my checking account. I’ve payments, a spouse, and children that deal with my checking account prefer it’s our checking account.
Last ideas
If you take specs, digicam functionality, design, and value into consideration, the OnePlus 11 is greenback for greenback among the finest telephones available on the market. Completely a prime 5 flagship cellphone. Additionally, I vastly favor OnePlus’s Oxygen OS to Samsung’s One UI, which makes me really feel like I am on a sport present.
Some folks have instructed me, “one thing should be unsuitable with that OnePlus 11 cellphone. How do they make it reasonably priced? It is easy, they made precisely the fitting cuts to ship a cellphone I really like at an incredible value. I do not care about wi-fi charging or waterproofing. Possibly it would not have the most recent digicam {hardware}, however it nonetheless takes nice images.
Why cannot Apple and Samsung make a cellphone that does not require you to listing organs on the black market? And no I am not speaking about their price range telephones, why cannot they ship a flagship cellphone that does not power you to determine between feeding the household steak or ramen noodles?
I really like steak and my OnePlus 11, so a ultimate toast and completely happy retirement to my iPhone 11.
