OnePlus 11R 5G review: Back in form

OnePlus 11R 5G The company’s latest ‘value flagship’ and it’s not hard to see why this phone is getting so much attention, maybe even more than the flagship oneplus 11 5g ,Review) which was announced at the same time. For fans of the OnePlus brand, the 11R 5G represents the company’s core philosophy of providing a lot of premium features at a disruptive price, which is something we haven’t seen in a long time. The 11R 5G is a big upgrade over last year 10r 5g ,Review) And thankfully, OnePlus hasn’t cut too many corners this time around.

The OnePlus 11R 5G offers users a flagship-grade processor, the same primary camera as the OnePlus 11 5G, and very fast charging – all at a starting price of Rs. 39,999 in India. There aren’t too many phones in India right now that offer this combination of features at this price, which makes the 11R 5G a very attractive option. It’s time to see if it’s really as good as it looks on paper.

oneplus 11r 5g price in india

The base variant of the OnePlus 11R 5G has 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, but there’s another variant on offer with 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage that costs Rs. 44,999 in India. I think the base variant should be sufficient for most users, but if you need the extra storage, the other variants are also well priced. We are also noticing that a trend is starting to develop this year; Looks like companies are skipping the 12GB RAM option and going straight to 16GB. OnePlus sent us the top-end variant in Sonic Black for this review, and it’s also available in Galactic Silver.

OnePlus 11R 5G Design

The design of the OnePlus 11R 5G really surprised me, as it looks almost identical to the more expensive OnePlus 11 5G – unless you know what to look for. The absence of the Hasselblad logo on the rear camera module, no visible antenna bands on the frame and the centrally placed selfie camera are the only ways to easily differentiate the 11R 5G. Apart from these, the dimensions, weight and even the design of the curved-edge display are almost identical on both the phones. While this slightly dilutes the 11 5G’s premium appeal, it’s a huge bonus for the 11R 5G, especially when you consider the 10R 5G’s polarizing design.

The OnePlus 11R 5G features the trademark OnePlus ‘alert slider’, and in a first on a OnePlus phone, there’s an infrared (IR) emitter at the top. The phone comes with an IR remote app that once set up lets you control electronics and appliances in your home. The glass back of the black variant of the 11R 5G has a matte texture that resists fingerprints easily, but doesn’t offer much grip.

The OnePlus 11R 5G (right) looks identical to the OnePlus 11 5G (left), so you need to know what to look for

The OnePlus 11R 5G sports a 6.74-inch display with curved edges on the left and right sides, similar to the 11 5G, but with slightly narrower top and bottom bezels. However, the position of the in-display fingerprint sensor is very low, which makes it a bit inconvenient to operate. The display uses an AMOLED panel with 1.5K resolution (2772 x 1240 pixels) and 120Hz peak refresh rate. It supports HDR video playback (except Dolby Vision). The glass on the back is Corning Gorilla Glass 5 but the display uses Dragontrail Glass for scratch protection.

The retail box of the OnePlus 11R 5G includes the usual accessories such as stickers, a case, USB cable, 100W power adapter, and SIM ejector tool.

OnePlus 11R 5G specifications and software

OnePlus 11R 5G is powered by the very capable Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 SoC. This processor won’t deliver the same benchmark numbers as the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, but is still powerful enough for most practical use cases. Support for Bluetooth 5.3, Wi-Fi 6, NFC and many satellite navigation systems is also available in the phone.

The 11R 5G supports a total of nine 5G bands in India. You get stereo speakers and Dolby Atmos enhancement. The phone houses a 5,000mAh battery and supports 100W fast wired charging. It does not support wireless charging and also has no official IP rating, although it is said to have basic seals to repel water and dust.

The software of OnePlus 11R 5G is the same as that of 11 5G. You get OxygenOS 13 which is based on Android 13. There are the usual customization options, shortcuts and gestures that we’ve seen in Oppo’s ColorOS, as well as some older OxygenOS features like Zen Mode. There isn’t a lot of bloatware, except for a few OnePlus apps and Google’s suite of apps. The Internet Browser app becomes a bit redundant when you have Chrome, and can’t be uninstalled.

OnePlus promises three years of Android updates and four years of security updates for the 11R 5G.

OnePlus 11R 5G has an infrared emitter on top

OnePlus 11R 5G performance

The general performance of the OnePlus 11R 5G was great in the few weeks that I had it for testing. The fingerprint scanner is quick at authentication, and the facial recognition is pretty reliable too. The interface is fluid, the animations are slick, and there’s no lag in whatever task you perform on the phone. The software is full of features and thankfully I didn’t get any unwanted notifications.

The display is said to have an adaptive refresh rate between 40Hz and 120Hz (with support for 45Hz, 60Hz, and 90Hz) depending on the content being displayed. The interface always runs at 120Hz and only drops to 60Hz when there’s no touch input for a few seconds. Some apps always run at a lower constant refresh rate such as the Camera app at 60Hz and the Gallery app at 90Hz. Unlike phones with LTPO panels, which constantly change the refresh rate depending on the input and the content being displayed, this is not the case with the 11R 5G. Scrolling within apps is smooth but can have a minor impact on battery life.

There’s little to complain about in terms of gaming and multimedia performance. The SoC is capable of running even heavy games smoothly. Asphalt 9: Legends looked great and ran very well. The Gaming Tools menu of OxygenOS can be accessed quickly in any game with a simple swipe gesture. It also lets you keep tabs on the phone’s temperature and the game’s current framerate, as well as adjust additional features like anti-aliasing.

The OnePlus 11R (right) doesn’t get the Hasselblad treatment for cameras like the 11 5G (left)

OnePlus 11R 5G gets a bit warm during gaming. The stereo speakers are loud and sound great. As far as benchmarks are concerned, the OnePlus 11R 5G scored 775,602 points in Antutu and 908 and 3,430 points in Geekbench 6’s single and multi-core tests respectively.

The battery life of the OnePlus 11R 5G was excellent during the review period. In our HD video loop test, the phone ran for 21 hours, 43 minutes, which is a very good time. There was no problem in going a full day with heavy usage, or even two days with light usage. When I missed wireless charging, the speed of the 100W adapter made up for it. I was able to charge the 11R 5G from empty to full in under 30 minutes.

OnePlus 11R 5G cameras

The OnePlus 11R 5G prides itself on having the same main camera as the OnePlus 11 5G. It is a 50-megapixel Sony IMX890 sensor with optical stabilization (OIS). However, the other rear cameras are in line with the OnePlus 10R 5G, which is to say it’s not as good as the 11 5G. There is an 8-megapixel ultra-wide and a 2-megapixel macro camera. You get a 16-megapixel camera on the front, and OnePlus hasn’t specified which sensor is used for this.

The camera app is more or less the same as what you’ll find with the 11 5G, except for a few changes like the removal of the red shutter button, Xpan mode, and no Hasselblad Pro mode, since the 11R 5G doesn’t. Hasselblad Color Science (HCS) is not included. I don’t think this should be a major dealbreaker, as according to OnePlus, HCS only applies when shooting Raw in Pro mode.

Even with AI scene enhancement disabled on both phones, I noticed that photos shot with the OnePlus 11R 5G generally looked cooler than similar subjects taken at the same time with the 11 5G. The color tone was The details in the photos were almost identical as both have the same primary sensor, but there were one or two instances when the 11R 5G failed to match the image quality of the 11 5G. Close-up shots with the 11R 5G are full of great detail and colours. Unsurprisingly, the macro camera was not good and produced unsatisfactory results.

OnePlus 11R 5G main camera samples (tap to see full size)

The ultra-wide camera on the OnePlus 11R 5G produced weaker details and colors than the equivalent camera on the 11 5G. Images looked a bit washed out even in daylight. Thankfully, the camera app automatically takes long exposure shots in low light, so you get useful night photos.

The main camera of the 11R 5G takes great pictures in low light with great exposure, colors and details. Close-ups look good too and autofocus is very reliable in low light. The 11R 5G can only do up to 10X digital zoom, but quality is poor even in daylight. The selfie camera on the 11R 5G seems to be the same as the one on the 11 5G as their output was similar in most cases. It gets the job done but selfies aren’t very sharp, detail is a bit weak, and colors and skin tones can be misrepresented at times. However, due to the night mode, good pictures can be taken even in low light.

OnePlus 11R 5G ultra-wide camera samples (tap to see full size)

OnePlus 11R 5G selfie camera samples (Tap to see full size)

The OnePlus 11R can shoot videos at up to 4K 60fps, but only with the main rear camera. Ultra-wide is limited to 1080p and so is the selfie camera. 4K videos shot during the day and in low light look decent, with good stabilization and very little jitter when moving. Videos captured by the ultra-wide camera are particularly shaky in low light, though its electronic stabilization does a decent job. The camera app has plenty of familiar shooting modes like Film, which lets you capture a wide aspect ratio, and Log video recording.

Decision

OnePlus 11R 5G Will appeal to many OnePlus fans who have been waiting for something similar oneplus 7t To come along – a phone with a flagship SoC under Rs. 40,000. If you play a lot of demanding mobile games and need good battery life, the 11R 5G won’t disappoint. The main camera is also quite capable, although the rest of the cameras leave a lot to be desired. I think what many people are going to like most is that the 11R 5G looks a lot like the more expensive 11 5G, which makes it great value.

for those who are not sure realme gt 3 Should be coming to India soon and will have similar specifications to the 11R 5G but with support for 240W wired charging. If you don’t care too much about the processor, then Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G ,Review) is another great option to consider for roughly the same price. The phone offers great specs but more importantly, it has an IP68 rating and wireless charging. is the top variant of nothing phone 1 ,Review) might also be worth a look, as it’s currently selling for less than the base variant of the 11R 5G.

The OnePlus 11R 5G could have been better in some areas, but especially after last year’s offering, I think it’s a solid comeback.

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