So starting last year, we decided to do this One-year review, with certain daily driver of ours because usually, most products perform flawlessly during their early days. But as time goes on, we see its true colours. That said, I used the OnePlus 11 as my daily driver for over a year before swapping to a new daily. Did they live up to their promise? And getting the OnePlus 11 in 2024 a good idea? Let us share all about it in this OnePlus 11 One year later.
OnePlus 11 One-Year Later Review
What I loved
I am Addicted to the Alert Switch
Other than the OnePlus 11 which is in my pocket, the other phone I have not changed in my pocket is the iPhone SE 2nd Generation because it’s still too good for what it is and I love the mute switch. But nothing got me addicted as much as the Alert switch did. This is by far the best way to put your phone on vibrate, mute or enable the sound. When I moved to other phones for review sake, I’d just reach to the sides and go like “Where’s the Alert slider” – I loved this one and I know I won’t see it with other brands but, this would be the feature I’d want to see on every other phone out there.
Oxygen OS, post Oppo Acquisition, is the most stable OS on a OnePlus
One of the biggest, and I mean the biggest issue with OnePlus has always been its OS. To put it simply, it was their Achilles heel since day one. The fallout with CyanogenMod, the dawn of OxygenOS, their inconsistency with support and breaking devices post updates – did not give the best experience at all.
But after the entire acquisition and not to forget whatever that has happened between Oppo and OnePlus, has not just saved OnePlus but Oppo as well. The software is far more usable and I have had the most pleasant experience with the Oxygen OS. The buttery smooth experience even after a year with little to no glitches, and the fact that they stuck to their word of releasing an update every two months is commendable. I did run through some issues like my volume animation would go nuts but this was patched almost immediately.
If this is the type of software support one is signing up for, well, I have to say, it’s pretty good for OnePlus.
For a Powerhouse, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 still is Feisty
I think it’s safe to say, from a performance standpoint, things have plateaued and sure, with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 out in 2024, I had no reason to upgrade because the Gen 2 is still amazing. The performance curve throughout months with playing games like Honkai Starrail, and other graphics-intensive ones casually, and using most phones for proper split-screen multitasking, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 is still feisty as ever.
Coupled with the 16GB RAM, I think it has too much RAM for backend processing. But this is where their RAM-Vita did a lot of work which was pretty obvious. The idea was to create an experience where we could pick up where we left off, and it worked so well that I often left things halfway and went back to continue things.
The Hasselblad Experience did Improve
The camera, more specifically the “Hasselblad” experience with the OnePlus 11 did improve with the new OxygenOS 14 update where the colours and low light experience were a tad better. While it wasn’t their biggest focus – because OxygenOS 14 brought other new features to the table which we will talk about in a bit – the camera still was alright to shoot with and still is. If a neutral colour profile is your thing, then you’d appreciate this more.
OnePlus kept up with Update promises
At the time of writing, the OnePlus 11 is successfully on Android 14 with OxygenOS 14 and so many thoughtful improvements made the experience worth it. Their animation and the new Fluid Cloud look are pretty nice to look at, which works with timer, screen recording and such. Some of the features “inspired” by the Cupertino brand are found here like Smart Cutout and Smart Touch, which require a little bit of improvement in detection.
My personal favourite is the File Dock because you could pretty much store the file there and then do this whole drag and drop between apps – which is genius and I love it. The Gallery now integrates with Google Photos, so you don’t have to go through Google Photos to access those photos.
For the most part, we got harmonious improvements with the OxygenOS 14 and I can only hope that this track record continues.
What got on my Nerve
The USB-C 2.0 is a big bane to my existence
As someone who resorts to USB-C drive data transfer a lot, this USB-C 2.0 was an absolute bane of my existence. Now if you are the type of person who shares wirelessly or via Bluetooth and such, that’s fine. But when you’d rather move a big file via USB-C and when it doesn’t offer the speeds you are looking for, it gets a lot frustrating.
I am not very fond of the Curve display
The curve is okay, but flat is justice. The OnePlus 11 curved display offers little to no functional reason as to why it’s curved. Despite being a pretty 6.7” display, and you can use it as a daily phone with no issue interacting with it, the curved display was a worry, to be honest. Because curved glasses are a lot more expensive to replace, something you should keep note of.
The front-facing camera, for darker Complexion, is a nightmare
As a brown skin person, the front-facing camera was a nightmare to deal with as it doesn’t do well with its exposure compensation. The moment it detects a darker skin, the exposure gets knocked up high where I tend to look pale brown and my friends look better. Not a great experience and this needs to change. This is the one time I always resorted to my iPhone for the more balanced colours.
A Year later: Did the OnePlus 11 live up to their promise and my expectations?
A year later, the pros did outweigh the cons because they did live up to their promise to us and my expectations as well. Which brings us to the next question…
OnePlus 11 in 2024: Should you buy it?
So, earlier this year, Oneplus announced the OnePlus 12 and the 12R, where the 12 is improved by a lot and finally a proper successor – with support for Wireless Charging, a faster USB-C and so on, but it’s also pricey. But that’s where the 12R steps in as it runs the same Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 but has inferior cameras and much more. If you don’t mind getting a better phone which is at least a year old, and performs the same from a processor standpoint but better in other aspects, the OnePlus 11 in 2024 is still a good buy.
So, there you go – It was nice residing in the OnePlus brand and now it’s time for us to move onto other devices to be our daily and see if they live up to the brand’s promises.
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