Launched on the 7th of February 2023, the OnePlus 11 is without a doubt the best OnePlus phone yet, and there are a few reasons why I think it looks set to be one of the best Android phones of the year as well.
First and foremost, it's very competitively priced. In the UK, it'll cost as little as £729 for the base model with 128GB of storage and 8GB of RAM. That's a lot cheaper than leading flagships by the likes of Samsung, Apple and even Google.
The price tag will be a massive draw to the phone and add to that the fact that it's a really impressive piece of kit, OnePlus seems to be on to a winner. But as you would expect, it'll be better suited to some people than others.
If you're an amateur photographer, in particular, you will definitely love this handset. Here's why.
1. All you need to do is point and shoot
Some phones require a lot of fiddling around with manual settings, like the Sony Xperia 1 IV, but some phones can make anyone look like a professional with a simple point-and-shoot. The OnePlus 11 is one of those, you don't need to know anything about cameras to get fantastic results.
The camera system is made up of a 50MP IMX890 main camera with a large 1/1.56" sensor, a 48MP ultra-wide camera with a 1/2" sensor and 115-degree field of view, and a 32MP portrait tele camera with a 32MP selfie camera on the front.
When I tried it out, I was really pleased with the shots I took, no matter whether that was during broad daylight, at sunset or at night. Photos picked up tonnes of detail, as well as vibrant realistic colours that really did the scene justice. The portrait mode was just as impressive, emphasising my little garden gnome and successfully blurring out the background.
Take a look at the gallery below to see some sample shots from the OnePlus 11.
2. The big screen is a beauty
Any good phone camera needs to be accompanied by an equally good display so that you can shoot the most promising photos possible and then view them accurately as well.
The OnePlus 11 has a large 6.7-inch screen with a resolution of 3216 x 1440p (QHD+) and a peak brightness of 1300 nits. It's a beauty.
What's more is that, unlike a lot of other handsets, it supports 10-bit colour, which means you'll be able to display up to 1.07 billion colours on it. That'll be great for showing off those top-quality shots at their very best.
3. It's powerful enough for editing
Having a good phone for photography isn't just about the camera and the screen. You'll want a decent amount of power to back it up too, not only to support the AI-based features but so that you can make detailed edits to the images before you print or post them.
Luckily, the OnePlus 11 is seriously speedy thanks to the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset under the hood, which sits alongside up to 16GB of RAM. It's noticeably faster than the OnePlus 10 Pro was.
Ultimately what that means is this can cope with just about any task, no matter how demanding. You'll very easily be able to touch up your images without the phone heating up or lagging.
