Are ‘flagship killer’ Android phones well and truly back? No one wants to say it, and understandably so. The specs do seem to have a suggestion. As does the price. The OnePlus 11R is what we are specifically looking at here. This now sits alongside the true flagship phone, the OnePlus 11. There are some similarities in terms of the design and personality too, which lends weight to the argument. Yet, it would seem OnePlus has done enough to put a gap between the two on the spec sheet.
The pricing will give you a bit more perspective. The OnePlus 11R in 8GB RAM and 128GB storage guise is priced at ₹39,999 while the 16GB + 256GB option costs ₹44,999. Your colour choices are Sonic Black and Galactic Silver. The former is my pick, which I shall explain in a bit. Before that, a quick check of the competition landscape leads us to the Samsung Galaxy A73 (prices start ₹41,999 onwards) and in case a 108-megapixel camera isn’t your sole criteria, it is powered by a comparatively slower processor, slower charging tech and subjectively, doesn’t look as good.
Speaking of which, the OnePlus 11R’s design is incredibly similar to the flagship OnePlus 11 (that’s ₹56,999 onwards). So much so, it may be difficult to differentiate between the two, unless the latter is in the green colour. Hint: look for the Hasselblad branding on the camera module, the OnePlus 11R doesn’t have it. That means the extremely convenient alert slider is still very much there (the rumours of its departure seem greatly exaggerated).
The Sonic Black colour, specifically, has a really nice glitter as light falls on the back panel – this is something we’ve tried to capture in the feature image of this article. This isn’t a plain black finish, there is attention to add that slight sparkle with a metallic finish. That said, while there is a matte texture and the back panel tries to provide some traction to your fingers, the OnePlus 11R does need you to be attentive as you hold it. There is the slight chance it can slip.
Some of the spec choices OnePlus has made, are smart. The processor is from a generation before, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1. Albeit with some tweaks to boost graphics and core speeds. That in itself was corrective hardware, trying to make up for some of Samsung’s chip manufacturing foibles with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, and therefore not as old in terms of a generation-to-generation time gap. With similar memory and storage specs, you’re not compromising on longevity.
The only complication we foresee here is the choice of 8GB and 16GB RAM – in case you don’t plonk the cash for the latter, it is a fairly big dip for the former. A 12GB RAM option instead would have been the ideal balance.
As you’ll use the OnePlus 11R, it is difficult to establish this as essentially a chip for last year’s flagship phones. There is a flagship-esque experience as we use the phone, with slick animations, no strain as multiple apps are left running in parallel and gaming is as good as it can be with no dropped frames. One of the reasons why the performance is held well, is the handling of the thermals.
Except initially, when the phone was being set up and data pulled from the cloud, the OnePlus 11R didn’t heat up at any other stage in the review process. Naturally cool amid regular tasks, and tepid when gaming or deploying navigation.
This also means good news for the battery, and stamina. First and foremost, the OnePlus 11R easily gets through a day with moderately heavy use. In our experience, the battery from 100% at 8am still has about 25% charge at 8pm. No chance of battery anxiety, for most usage cases. That is with 5G, which many believe drains more battery than 4G mobile networks. Anyway, the 5000mAh battery also gets the utility of really fast 100-watt fast charging.
With batteries that charge so quickly, there is always the risk of damage due to higher temperatures or quick degradation. OnePlus says multiple sensors are in place to monitor metrics such as temperatures, so that charging speed and quality can be controlled. In particular, this will come in handy for use cases where someone is using (such as playing a game) the phone while it is rapidly charging. How well this and the battery health tech works, will only be clear in due course of time.
Cameras is where the biggest differentiation with the flagship OnePlus 11 comes through. It is a 50-megapixel main camera, which is a good foundation for most photos. Specifics, perhaps not so much – an 8-megapixel ultrawide camera and a 2-megapixel macro camera, make up the troika. Keep this simple rule in mind, the ultrawide and macro cameras, in this spec, will work best if the ambient lighting is good. Rest of the time, stick to the main camera and crop, as required.
The latest crop of OnePlus cameras include a significant difference to how they handle colours, and that’s true for the OnePlus 11R as well. Despite no Hasselblad tuning to rely on, the photos you’ll mostly get will be well detailed, colours that are easily distinguishable without visible attempts to make any of them pop out more than they do, as well as contrast. Dynamic range could have been better in some scenarios, but that is a minor takeaway.
Also Read:OnePlus 11 proves why you must not pay ₹1,24,999 for an ‘ultra’ flagship phone
The 6.7-inch display, which is an AMOLED display with 2772 x 1240 pixels, isn’t at all a curious spec choice. The resolution finds a balance between 1440p displays (the flagships have it) and the 1080p screens (these are found lower down the price point). This is a good screen to look at, complete with 10-bit colour support. For some reason, this didn’t come across as bright as the flagship sibling, under harsh lighting conditions, but more than holds its own elsewhere.
You may be surprised, as we were, with how close the OnePlus 11R gets to the overall personality and experience of the more expensive OnePlus 11. The flagship has its advantages though, the camera being a significant point. Yet, for this alternative flagship package, the OnePlus 11R is getting the design, ergonomics, performance and overall consistency, pretty close to spot on. That defines value. For alternative flagships, you don’t really have many choices – simply because this doesn’t take as big a dip in the overall experience.
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