OnePlus 11R review: One for the "flagship-killer" mantra

OnePlus started off its journey disrupting the flagship smartphone space - a bold move to take on giants of the industry. As years have passed, OnePlus has become a household name and grown to offer premium smartphones that are compelling to the masses. But with the OnePlus 11-series, the company has returned to its "flagship-killer" mantra, which gave the brand a much-needed boost in its early stages. OnePlus 11R is much in line with that ethos, offering consumers the essentials and then some.

OnePlus 11R was launched alongside OnePlus 11 last month, but as an exclusive to the Indian market. Though the smartphone offers a high-value proposition for it to be limited to one market, the move is understood seeing how India is its biggest market.

OnePlus 11R comes in 8GB+128GB and 16GB+256GB configurations, costing Rs 39,999 and Rs 44,999, respectively. There are two colour options: Galactic Silver and Sonic Black. We got the latter for review purposes but had the chance to check out the former at the launch and both look fantastic. However, the silver variant is exclusive to the 11R, and the black variant doesn't look different from the OnePlus 11.

Here's our full review of the OnePlus 11R.

Design and display

OnePlus 11R is a successor to the OnePlus 10R, but has come a long way on the design front. Except for a few fine details, the OnePlus 11R is identical to the OnePlus 11. This is a step up from the 10R's plastic build inspired by Realme phone.

OnePlus 11R has the same circular camera module on the left which is etched into the chassis. The Hasselblad branding is naturally missing, which is to accommodate the lower price point. Overall look and feel of the phone are too similar to the OnePlus 11, which makes the OnePlus 11R one of the best-looking flagships for the price. In fact, the black variant has a deeper black shade, which is much to our liking.

The black variant has a matte sandstone-like finish, which keeps fingerprints at bay. But the glossy frame surrounding one side of the camera module picks up a lot of smudges, but it is not evident at first glance. OnePlus had to cut some corners here and there, and the biggest swap is the plastic frame. But the good part is it doesn't feel or look cheap. OnePlus 11R also has Gorilla Glass 5 protection on the back.

OnePlus has gracefully retained the Alert Slider, which is a relief. Despite the button's limited functionality, it remains a fan favourite. Sitting on the frame is also an IR blaster on the top, a power/lock button on right, volume controls on the left and a USB Type-C port alongside a SIM card tray and speaker at the bottom. That pretty much sums up the design of the OnePlus 11R and we for one love it.

Switching over to the crucial aspect of the design is the display, which is a 6.75-inch beauty. OnePlus 11R has a curved display, but it's done so with subtlety there were no accidental touches. The display, a Fluid AMOLED panel, punches out vibrant colours with good details. There are different colour profiles to suit your taste. The display also gets 120Hz refresh rate, which remained our default as trading for 60Hz for a slightly better battery life didn't seem compelling enough. The display is quite bright, making outdoor visibility strain-free. But there is no Dolby Vision, no Corning Gorilla Glass. Instead, OnePlus went for Dragontrail protective glass. Above all, the phone lacks any splash resistance or waterproofing.

Camera

There's some good news and bad. OnePlus 11R borrows OnePlus 11's 50MP IMX890 sensor, but loses out big time on other lenses. The main sensor is paired with an 8MP ultra-wide lens and a rather disappointing 2MP macro lens. There's no Hasselblad partnership, too, on this one, which should have little impact.

The primary sensor clearly carried all the weight here. Photos shot from the main sensor came out pretty well in well-lit scenes. The colours are retained very well and remain vibrant. The tonality is not biased to certain hues and colours pop out in equal levels. The details are picked up well on the distant areas of the photo as well. Natural sunlight is the ideal place to shoot with the 11R.

Indoor photos also came out nice, but not a match to the well-lit scenes under sunlight. There may be some loss of details and dynamic range if the indoor lighting is a bit challenging. But OnePlus goes into heavy post-processing in extremely low light conditions, as it amps up brightness, contrast and some colours. But none of it is disappointing. If you do happen to buy the 11R for its camera, stick the main lens.

Switching to ultra-wide mode can take a plunge in quality. The colours aren't captured to their true tone, the details are amiss. But you can still get good shots under sunlight, but indoor wide-angle shots are satisfactory at best. OnePlus 11R also gets 2X optical zoom, which worked well in well-lit scenes. The details it picked up on a high-rise on a bright afternoon are impressive.

OnePlus 11R's macro sensor seems to be filling the spec sheet. A telephoto lens in its place would've been better. The macro shots can be captured using the 11R, but it's not something getting all worked up about.

The portrait mode delivered surprising results, even in low light. The bokeh effect is subtle and the algorithm tries to get the subject in focus as much as it can unless it is a tricky situation with a camouflage background. The portrait on the front camera also works like a charm. In fact, the front 16MP camera does a good job, letting you capture good selfies ready to share on social media.

Shot on OnePlus 11R

Performance & UI

OnePlus does go back to its roots with the 11R, which means it is only fitting to expect raw performance. The phone packs an older Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 chipset from last year, but it is not an ordinary thing to manage all tasks with ease. On a broader spectrum, the OnePlus 11R performs quite well, right from meeting your daily needs to gaming tasks and more. But it's not quite perfect.

We noticed some software glitches here and there. More than once, the menu screen would refuse to respond, and the SMS app even ran into some glitches where it overlayed messages on top of one another. Performance-wise, the phone is more than capable of handling your tasks, but we figure it is the software that runs short.

The fingerprint sensor worked flawlessly when it worked. We didn't use Always-on Display during our review and the fingerprint sensor sometimes failed to wake up to a touch. We had to use PIN or face unlock at times. It was more than once, which is why it is etched in memory. These were some setbacks, but the main apps and functions such as gaming wasn't compromised on the 11R. 

Software glitches aren't all bad news. OnePlus can fix these bugs in future updates. After all, OnePlus promises three years of major Android updates and four years of security patches. For this phone, a life cycle of four years is quite enough.

But for the hardware, we wish OnePlus had improved the speakers as it did in the OnePlus 11. Sure, the output is good and gets pretty loud even, but it's not an improvement or a match to the OnePlus 11. We paired the 11R with OnePlus Buds Pro 2, which only amped up the experience. We'd advise you do the same for that quality multimedia streaming experience. 

Battery

OnePlus 11R packs a 5,000mAh battery, which is a generous size. We managed to get a whole day's worth of use from the 11R having used it as a primary device. With 6+ hours of screen on time consistently, the phone is one of the better-lasting ones. Complementing the well-optimised battery life on the 11R is a 100W charging, which powers up the phone to full in under 30 minutes.

OnePlus' battery tech hasn't run into any problems and it's a relief to see the sub-flagships continue to get the same attention as the flagships.

Verdict

OnePlus 11R is nearly perfect. It has its flaws, but the price makes it quite appealing. The striking resemblance to the OnePlus 11 is a brownie point, but the way OnePlus 11R ticks the essentials make it a phone for anyone who doesn't want to break their savings. It has a solid value proposition but is marred with fierce competition in the Indian market from the likes of Xiaomi, iQOO and other alternatives.

If you're a OnePlus loyalist or keen to ditch the 10R, the 11R makes perfect sense. The OnePlus 11 costs Rs 17,000 extra, so the 11R is a fitting choice for masses.