OnePlus 11R 5G review: The Android phone you have been waiting for

OnePlus has long been known as a brand that offers premium features at a not-so premium price. However, somewhere down its journey, OnePlus deviated from that trend, especially in its mid-budget smartphones. The result was that the company offered decent smartphones that kept missing the mark. Now in 2023, OnePlus has launched two new smartphones – the premium OnePlus 11 5G and the star of this review, the mid-budget OnePlus 11R 5G – that served as a good reminder of why OnePlus smartphones are so popular among the masses.
Of these, the OnePlus 11R 5G plunges the brand back in the league of Android killer smartphones as it offers the same value-for-money proposition that OnePlus is known for. The OnePlus 11R not only comes with a premium design and display, but it also offers a premium performance with features that are one step shy of premium.

At a starting price of Rs 39,999, the OnePlus 11R 5G offers flagship-grade features with fewer compromises. But are the features enough to make this phone a winner? We will find that out and more in the review below. So, keep reading.

OnePlus 11R review: Specifications

Display: 6.74-inch Fluid AMOLED display with, 120Hz screen refresh rate, 360Hz touch sampling rate, 2772 X 1240 pixels resolution, HDR 10+ support
Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 Mobile Platform
RAM: 8GB and 15GB LPDDR5
Storage: 128GB, 256GB UFS 3.1 storage
Operating System: OxygenOS based on Android 13
Camera: 50MP primary lens with Sony IMX890 sensor + 8MP ultra-wide angle + 2MP macro sensor at the back, 16MP selfie camera
Battery: 5,000mAh battery with 100W SuperVOOC fast charging technology
Colours: Galactic Silver, Sonic Black
Price: Starts at Rs 39,999

OnePlus 11R review: Design

Let’s talk about the design first. The OnePlus 11R 5G is almost identical to its premium sibling, that is, the OnePlus 11 5G. From the first glance, it’s almost impossible to distinguish one from the other. On taking a closer look there are only two features that separate the OnePlus 11R from the OnePlus 11. First, the premium OnePlus 11 comes with the Hassleblad branding in the camera module and second, it has a left stacked front camera module. The OnePlus 11R has no such branding and it has a centrally placed camera module. It also helps that the two phones come in a different set of colour variants.

Similarities (and dissimilarities) apart, the OnePlus 11R 5G is a gorgeous piece of glass fused with metal that oozes class. The Sonic Black colour variant that we got has a matte finish with a shiny effect. The overall impact of this design is that the phone looks premium, is easy to grip, and is excellent at keeping fingerprints at bay. The glossy metal chassis that meets the circular camera module too does its job well by bringing the metal and the glass closer and providing more structure to the overall design language.

Another feature that helps in setting the OnePlus 11R apart from its predecessors is the slider on the right that remained missing from the OnePlus 10R 5G that launched last year. This slider has been a part of the OnePlus experience for a very long time, and it remained missing from the company’s smartphones for quite some time. This year, with its 2023 batch of smartphones, OnePlus has brought this feature back letting users change the phone’s ringer without taking a peek at the display.

Apart from this, you get an IR camera on the top, volume rockers on the left side, power button on the right, and the SIM card slot, the USB Type-C charging port and the speaker system at the bottom. Completing the package is the phone case and a screen guard, which the company ships inside the box.

OnePlus 11R review: Display

Talking about the display, the OnePlus 11R 5G comes with a 6.74-inch Fluid AMOLED display with, a dynamic screen refresh rate of 120Hz, a touch sampling rate of 360Hz, a resolution of 2772 X 1240 pixels, and a peak brightness of 1450 nits. You get support for HDR 10+ technology along with an in-display fingerprint sensor. OnePlus has made meaningful compromises to the phone compared to the OnePlus 11, which gets a QHD+ display with LTPO technology, up to 1000Hz touch response rate and Corning Gorilla Glass Victus protection, to pack all the right set of features without overshooting the budget.

In practice, the OnePlus 11R 5G has a well-lit display that doesn’t disappoint even under the harsh Delhi sun. The screen is bright and offers quite accurate colour reproduction, which comes in handy when you are watch shows with vibrant colours such as The World’s Most Amazing Vacation Rentals on Netflix or movies with a 60s vibe, such as the Boston Strangler on Disney+ Hotstar. The fingerprint sensor is also adept at unlocking the device without a second’s delay each time. That said, I do wish OnePlus had placed the sensor a little higher for easier access. But that definitely is not a deal breaker.

OnePlus 11R review: Camera

Now lets talk about the camera. The OnePlus 11R comes with a triple rear camera setup that is housed inside a black-coloured circular camera module. At the back you get a 50MP camera with Sony IMX890 sensor and optical image stabalisation (OIS), an 8MP ultra-wide-angle lens and a 2MP macro lens. And on the front, you get a 16MP selfie camera.

Details aside, the primary camera of the OnePlus 11R performs well in bright outdoor light. The colours are bright and vibrant and there is ample depth and detailing with ample shadows. Overall, the images are quite sharp. In the indoor lighting conditions, the phone produces images that are slightly warmer in tone. This is mostly true in low light conditions as well, except the objects aren’t quite as sharp. On zooming in the images, the detailing remains missing. The secondary camera does a decent job. However, the detailing remains missing. The macro camera, on the other hand, could use an upgrade as it misses out on clarity even during bright outdoor light.

Coming to the selfie camera, the phone does a good job at reproducing colours, especially in the daylight conditions. I particularly like the fact that the camera algorithm doesn’t automatically ‘beautify’ your features and fix what it deems less than perfect. The result is that you get natural images with your perfections and imperfections. However, when there are multiple subjects in the image, the selfie camera misses out on the depth and details, which is easy to notice when you zoom in a bit.

OnePlus 11R review: Performance

Lastly, the performance. The OnePlus 11R 5G is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 system-on-chip (SoC), which is Qualcomm’s flagship processor from last year, and is historically known for offering a power-packed performance. The newly launched OnePlus 11R 5G is no exception to this rule as it offers a smooth and lag free experience no matter what you throw at it. Whether you are using it for your daily grunt work or binge-watching watching thrilling movies and shows on Netflix over the weekend, the phone supports you through everything without a single hiccup every time. This performance is aided by OnePlus’ Android 13-based OxygenOS 13.0 that offers a bloatware free and easy to use interface.

Another feature that I love about this phone is its sound. Mid-budget smartphones usually offer a decent sound with ample clarity and the ability to scale up the volume to high levels. The OnePlus 11R 5G goes a step ahead by offering a clear and a balanced sound, something that we usually associate with the early versions of the company’s earbuds. Acoustic songs like Kings, Queens and Vagabonds by Ellem are a good way to understand how the phone brings out each keystroke of the piano and every guitar strum with balance. And yes, it is as loud as other phones

Lastly the battery. OnePlus has also made major changes to the battery in its OnePlus 11R 5G smartphone. Compared to the OnePlus 10R that comes with a 4,500mAh battery and 80W SuperVOOC, the OnePlus 11R comes with a 5,000mAh battery with support for 100W SuperVOOC fast charging technology. The phone’s battery easily gave a day’s run time and, on some occasions, even more on everyday usage, which for me involves answering dozens of calls, emails and messages, and good two to three hours of OTT and social media time. It takes around 30 minutes to charge the phone completely.

Should you buy OnePlus 11R or not?

Now the most important question of this conversation: Should you buy the OnePlus 11R or not? The answer to this question is a simple yes.

The OnePlus 11R is a no-nonsense phone that offers a lot of the premium features at a mid-budget price — something that has been the company’s strength since the beginning. The phone packs a well-lit display with in-display fingerprint sensor, decent cameras, a smooth user interface, a strong core and good audio system in a glass and metal body. The phone looks and feels premium, and it stays the course in terms of performance as well. Sure, it could use some improvements in terms of the camera, just a couple of things here and there, but overall, at a price point of Rs 39,999 the OnePlus 11R 5G offers value for money.

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