Phones Review: OnePlus 11 (and comparative with Google Pixel 8 Pro)

[RSB96]

Although the OnePlus 12 has just been released, I've been using the OnePlus 11 for a few weeks now and wanted to discuss my impressions, especially considering I use the Pixel 8 Pro as my second device.


Design.


In terms of design I was struck by how well built it is. It is a relatively large mobile, but quite narrow and elongated, with which in the hand it is more comfortable to hold than the Pixel 8 Pro or the iPhone 13 Pro Max that I have.

I was also surprised by the lightness to be a large mobile and with a 5000 mAh battery, much lighter than the aforementioned Pixel and iPhone.


The feel of the back is very nice, it is soft and grips quite well. It does not have wireless charging, which, although it is not something I usually use, I consider that it should carry for the price it had. The frame is polished aluminum, on which fingerprints stay.


The screen, curved, I like a lot, although it does not have rushed as much the frames as other alternatives, and they are not completely symmetrical either.


Another thing I find strange is the front camera, in the left corner instead of being centered, something they have solved in the current generation. When you take a selfie or are making a video call in that location you are not completely "centered".


The button settings are excellent, they do not dance and feel solid and with good feedback, better than on other Android models, and the "switch" to put the phone on vibrate or mute has an excellent feel.


Overall it is a very attractive phone, light and easy to hold in the hand considering its size. It is very well finished and the "switch" to switch between volume, vibrate and mute, as in the iPhone, is very practical and useful.


Screen and sound.


It has a 6.7" 2K AMOLED screen, with LTPO panel, which allows you to vary the refresh rate between 120 to 1 Hz.


In addition, it has support for HDR10+, P3 calibration and the possibility of calibrating the screen to 10 bits.


In everyday use, we have a very good panel, with good colors, good contrast and great quality. It looks great from all angles. However, the maximum brightness, without being bad, lags behind other alternatives, such as the Pixel 8 Pro, iPhone 13 Pro Max (or higher) or Galaxy S24 Ultra.


The fact that it is curved to me does not matter, it is a design detail that I like and also does not affect for typical use, I have not noticed false touches on the keyboard, for example and neither does it distort the panel excessively in the corners (although a shading is slightly appreciated when you are on a completely white background).


It has the possibility of having always on display, quite simple, but it offers the right and necessary information at a glance.


I was positively surprised by the sound. It sounds very good. It has a very intense bass and it sounds very good, although the treble at maximum volume can become a little distorted. Nevertheless, I consider it better than the audio of the Pixel 8 Pro, for example.


Performance.


It has the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and 16GB of RAM (expandable via internal memory up to another 12GB more).


The performance is brutal, in every way. Everything goes super fast and super fluid. When you play, everything moves brutally and in some games that have "ray tracing" you notice an improvement in graphics compared to other phones.


In addition, I have not noticed excessive heating when you are demanding demanding tasks. Playing a half hour, I have not noticed that it goes over 32 degrees, according to the panel offered by OnePlus in "game mode". While it is true that it is now winter and the ambient temperature is lower than in summer.


In this sense it is noticeably superior to the Pixel 8 Pro, which sometimes even doing scroll you notice that it does not go quite fluid, and certain demanding tasks are choked (even the own that premiered with AI). In this is the opposite, I have not noticed anything strange.


It has a haptic engine, similar to the one used by the iPhone, and it works in a similar way. Personally, it's something I like that it has and it makes the vibrations have a better feeling than with standard vibration.


The 5000 mAh battery gives plenty of battery life for almost two days with normal use. With a demanding use the day will do it to spare.


The Oxygen 14.0 layer (with Android 14), I found quite attractive, very customizable and with many settings. I have not noticed any bugs or anything remarkable in these days that I've been using it. It has gestures just like the Pixel, which I personally like more than using the buttons.


It's not a layer that comes with excessive bloatware. If I remember correctly, it came with the entire Google "suite" (Oxygen seems to be pretty integrated with Google services in general) and OnePlus' own apps are weather, clock, OnePlus Store, Files, Notes, Photos, Community, Calculator, Games, Internet and Clone Phone. Netflix was also preinstalled.


The game mode offers additional information when playing games about the state of the phone, such as temperature, framerate in real time and the ability to modify different aspects of the GPU, screen, among others.

There are other layers that come with many more reinstalled apps, both the manufacturer's own and third-party, stuffing Spotify, games, and video apps you don't need or want.


At the time of writing, it has the December 2023 Android security update, so it's about a security patch behind the Pixel, which has the January 2024 update.


Aesthetically I liked it more than other Android layers, such as One UI or MIUI, and I liked how it "camouflages" the apps that are not fully optimized for Android (Wible, my gym app, Movistar, Naturgy, Iberdrola, etc.), filling the "leftover" gaps by putting the colors of the app. This is something that, for example, Google's layer does not do, and is quite ugly aesthetically speaking.


One UI, for example, does a similar job to that of One Plus.


Camera.


It has 3 cameras. The main one of 50MP and aperture ƒ1/1.88; the ultra wide-angle, 48MP a 32MP portrait sensor, which is equivalent to a 2X optical zoom. All camera equipment is backed by camera manufacturer Hasselblad.


Activating the "high resolution" mode, I have to say that it shoots fast and without delays, something that does not do for example the Google Pixel 8 Pro, since it takes a few seconds both to take the photo, and then process it in the gallery. On the OnePlus you shoot and that's it, no waiting. Again, the Pixel's Tensor processor chokes everything your device has to offer.


The camera is pretty good, particularly the main camera, doing a good job of detail, HDR, contrate, etc. At night with the main camera we can get pretty good images.


The wide-angle also does a good job, with fairly unobtrusive distortion and offering the right level of detail and sharpness.


However, the 2X zoom has not pleased me much, considering that it gets worse results than other phones with digital 2X zoom, such as the iPhone 15 Pro or the Pixel 8 Pro.


I did a photo comparison between the Pixel 8 Pro and the OnePlus 11. On the right photos of the Pixel, on the left of the OnePlus 11.


In this photo, at 1X, already getting dark, I find that the OnePlus overexposes the light a bit, the light being more realistic on the Pixel. The OnePlus tends towards a warmer tonality and the Pixel cooler, this being the usual tonic on both devices. Detail is better on the Pixel, not blurring details as much as the OnePlus. In this photo I'm sticking with the Pixel.

This photo is taken with the 2X zoom. While it's true that the scene on the Pixel comes out a bit dark, the OnePlus overexposes the lighting a bit too much, burning the faces of the people on the posters. Also the OnePlus burns the red neon, while the Pixel controls all the lights correctly. If we zoom in on the photo, the Pixel offers more information, even though the Pixel's 2X zoom is digital and the OnePlus's is optical. In this photo I'm sticking with the Pixel as well.

Now entering the night, the first photo was taken at 1X. I have mixed feelings about this one. The OnePlus again overexposes the scene a bit too much, but the Pixel comes out a bit too dark. The detail in both is similar, although it is true that the Pixel came out a bit blurry (taking several seconds to take the picture, both for being taken at 50MP and for pulling the night mode). The OnePlus had no delay in taking the photo. I consider the Pixel's photo more realistic, and if the photo hadn't come out a bit shaky, it would have more detail. However I like the overall look of the OnePlus photo better.

The second photo taken at night, also at 1X, gives us a somewhat different result than the previous one. In this shot the Pixel ups the highlights a bit, overexposing certain areas more than the OnePlus. However, the detail is somewhat better on the Pixel. Both scenes are quite similar, but personally I'll go with the Pixel.

In the next photo, again the Pixel overexposes the highlights too much, while the OnePlus controls them just right. The detail on the Pixel and OnePlus is similar, although in this shot, I find the OnePlus to be slightly better than the Pixel. In this shot, I'm sticking with the OnePlus.

This photograph, taken at 2X, in both is quite poor for me. In this shot there are highlights and shadows for each phones. The OnePlus controls the highlights better, but the detail is terrible, being a blur. In contrast, the Pixel offers noticeably better detail (the scene is perhaps a bit shaky because of the delay it has, again), but the highlights overexpose it a bit too much. Without liking either of the two, if I were to keep one, I'd go with the Pixel, mainly because it has much better definition and detail.

The last photo at night, at 1X. A somewhat complicated scene due to the fact that there are a lot of high intensity spotlights and a lot of artificial light. Again, we can see that the Pixel overexposes the light too much and the Zara is completely burned out, as well as the RIU neon. However, the detail of the Pixel is noticeably better. I think I'd go with the Pixel photo, as the lack of detail in the OnePlus I think spoils the image more than the Pixel's overexposure.

In the morning, we have this photo, taken with the 0.5X (0.6X on the OnePlus). Overall, the Pixel's HDR does a better job, highlighting the cloudy day, while on the OnePlus, the clouds are barely noticeable. Detail is better on the Pixel. However, distortion on the OnePlus is less than on the Pixel. The OnePlus shot is more saturated and warmer than on the Pixel, with the Google model being more realistic. I prefer the Pixel's picture, even though it distorts the image somewhat more.

The second photo, taken in the same place, with the 2X zoom, we note that the shot of the OnePlus is again more saturated and warmer than the Pixel. Also the Chinese model raises the exposure somewhat more than the American model. The detail on the Pixel is better than on the OnePlus. Again, I find that the Pixel beats the OnePlus, with both photographs being quite correct on both.

Taking the OnePlus to the limit, taking a picture in 5X in digital, while in the Pixel is optical, we note that evidently, the Pixel does much better. Better detail, greater sharpness more natural colors... In this case, the Pixel, due to its optical zoom, takes a noticeably better image than the OnePlus, which is much more processed and washed out.

Another photo in wide angle. In this case again we can see that the Pixel distorts the image much more than the OnePlus. The HDR work is better on the Pixel than on the OnePlus, as is the processing work at the level of sharpness and detail. Again, you can see that the OnePlus tends towards a warmer white balance than the Pixel. In this photo, because of the distortion issue, and because the differences between the two photos is small, I would go with the OnePlus.

The photo at 1X in the same location again shows us something similar. Warmer tonality on the OnePlus, while the Pixel offers slightly better detail and sharpness. In this case I think the HDR on the OnePlus does a better job, since on the Pixel the sky looks a bit overexposed and the tree at the top looks overly contrasty. In this shot I'm sticking with the OnePlus.

The last one, with the 2X zoom, we see a very similar scene in both. The OnePlus again tends towards a warmer (and unreal for the day it was) tone than the Pixel, while the Pixel offers some more sharpness and detail in the scene, but the differences between the two is very small. For being somewhat closer to the "real" scene, I would choose the Pixel shot.

In this wide-angle shot, we see again that the Pixel distorts the photograph more than the OnePlus. In this case, we again observe a greater warmth and greater saturation in the shot of the OnePlus with respect to the Pixel. Regarding sharpness and detail, in both it is quite similar, slightly better in the Pixel. The HDR in both does a good job. In this shot I'm going with the OnePlus.

With the 1X zoom, the Pixel offers better white balance and HDR work. It also offers better detail and definition than the OnePlus. Both pictures being good, I prefer the Pixel's.

With the 2X zoom, we see the same thing again. Tonality more quality on the OnePlus, better detail and sharpness on the Pixel. Again, I prefer the Pixel's.

With the 5X zoom, although the OnePlus doesn't do a bad job via software, the Pixel offers a better image of the statue, both in sharpness and detail.

In photos of close objects at 1X, the Pixel manages to focus at a shorter distance than the OnePlus without activating the "macro" mode. The Pixel also offers a much better natural blur than the OnePlus. HDR on the Pixel does a better job than on the OnePlus. The white balance in the present case is noticeably warmer on the OnePlus, with the Pixel being more realistic. In this shot, the Pixel is quite superior to the OnePlus in my opinion.

In this other shot, at 1X, we note that the Pixel contrasts the image better than the OnePlus, accentuating the shadow of the Cupra Born's concave tailgate. The Pixel does a better job on white balance and sharpness and definition, as can be seen in the car's emblem.

In macro photography, both allow you to focus very closely on the object you want to capture. However, in the scene taken, I again choose the Pixel, as it does not overexpose the photo as much, it does so with a higher contrast and offers better detail, as can be seen in the orange peel that the car has on the paint.

The last image, at 1X. The OnePlus again does a warmer white balance than the Pixel. The Pixel offers much more detail and definition in the ford plates, for example. Colors also look less saturated and realistic on the Pixel.

In conclusion, we can see that the OnePlus, without having a bad camera at all, does not reach the level of the Pixel, this being one of the phones with the best camera on the market, with the zoom being the biggest weakness of the phone (surely solved to a large extent by the OnePlus 12).


Overall all the pictures taken with the OnePlus I liked quite a bit. I'm generally used to photos that tend to be warmer (the iPhone always tends towards a warmer white balance), so I don't mind that kind of processing too much either, even if it's more unreal than the "real" scene.


I liked the speed at which it takes pictures and the shutter speed, much faster than on the Pixel, which there are times when it despairs, especially when you want to photograph something moving, like a car, since the Pixel when you shoot at 50MP takes a long time to take pictures. It also makes instant photo processing the OnePlus, which is not the case with the Pixel 8 Pro.


Conclusions.


I really liked the OnePlus 11. It is a very comfortable device in the hand, lightweight, with good autonomy with normal use, cameras that without reaching the best on the market, it defends itself well and above all with extraordinary power and fluidity.


This device is perfect for those who want an elegant and well-finished device, but very powerful to play for a long time without worrying that it gets very hot or starts to drain battery, as it is a device that optimizes performance and heat very well, being far superior to other alternatives in this regard.


The screen, with a great color calibration and acceptable brightness, and a very good audio, makes it a very good device for multimedia or gaming consumption.


The interface, although it is no longer "Oxygen" as it was before, since it is practically identical to Oppo's ColorOS layer, I find it very attractive and with very interesting, functional and customization features. However, seeing that other manufacturers are starting to increase to 7 years software updates, it would be nice from OnePlus improvements in that regard, although they promise 4 years of Android version updates and 5 years of software updates, which is not bad at all either.

 

[Technerd108]

Nice detailed review. Can't wait for your review of the OnePlus 12!

 

[RSB96]

Nice detailed review. Can't wait for your review of the OnePlus 12!

At the moment the OnePlus 12 I don't think I'll buy it, I've only had it for a few days, as it was not mine. Next may be the Galaxy Tab S9 + vs iPad Pro 12.9 "M2

 

[Technerd108]

At the moment the OnePlus 12 I don't think I'll buy it, I've only had it for a few days, as it was not mine. Next may be the Galaxy Tab S9 + vs iPad Pro 12.9 "M2

No worries. I meant whenever you get your next OnePlus I look forward to the next review.