OnePlus 11: So it’s a low-key gaming phone? It’s not all roses and sunshine when key convenience features are missing

Here we are in 2023, and fresh off the official OnePlus 11 unveiling in China. What’s arguably the first unveiled, exciting smartphone of this brand new year, is looking like quite the flagship beast. And while we’re yet to get a worldwide announcement of it, plus the official global prices, a lot about it has become clear following OnePlus’ event in the mainland.Check out our hub of information for the OnePlus 11 if you want to learn everything about it, because we won’t be going over it all here. Instead, we’ll focus on some things that are still a bit iffy and questionable about the first big smartphone release of 2023…

A strong focus on gamers for what’s considered a mainstream flagship! That’s not a bad thing, by the way.

The recent OnePlus 11 event was a bit surprising in how focused the company appeared in targeting hardcore mobile gamers. Now, those aren’t exactly super common in the west, with many just playing the occasional casual game here and there (if “here” is the bathroom, and “there” is the bathroom).

However, in China mobile gaming is huge, and it’s worth noting that some of the biggest corporations that hold the strongest grasp on the mobile gaming industry are unsurprisingly also there; most notably – Tencent Games.

So it makes perfect sense for the similarly local OnePlus to try and target both the gamers of its republic and the casual users of the west, by delivering a flagship smartphone that has the exact characteristics of a traditional western mainstream flagship, but the gaming features of what you usually see on something like the Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro.

The OnePlus 11 indeed interestingly packs the largest haptics motor to ever get crammed into an Android phone, and that motor is capable of some neat tricks. To quote OnePlus – it delivers “two vibrations at the same time” for your games. This means you won’t just feel a little rumble in one spot like on any other phone, but directional rumbling, and dual too.

We’re yet to try it out and see if it’s as cool as it sounds, and not restricted to just a few games, so stay tuned for our OnePlus 11 review, but this does sound pretty interesting! However, is it actually useful for the casual user? Probably not.

Still, there are certain gamer-oriented features that anyone can enjoy, and the next one we’ll take a look at is one…

120Hz display, 120FPS gaming! You don’t care? You should! Even non-gamers win from this…

Besides being the first Android phone with a unique rumble motor, the OnePlus 11 is also the first 2023 smartphone to be powered by the newest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor (the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S23 series is next). And the OnePlus 11 also conveniently packs a 1440p display capable of up to 120Hz refresh rate.So what does this mean? Thanks to its raw power and high-refresh rate display, the OnePlus 11 is capable of smooth gaming at 120 frames-per-second (FPS), as opposed to the more traditional 60 or 30.

Plus, as we recently reported, the OnePlus 11 carries “the world’s first super frame super picture engine, achieving a breakthrough in game frame rate and picture quality.” Obviously not the best translation from simplified Chinese, but you get the picture… Gamers will be very happy with this beast. Especially competitive mobile gamers, for whom super fast response times (or lack thereof) can make or break a win.

But I’ll take a wild guess here and assume that you’re not a competitive mobile gamer, which is just statistically super likely. However, you too can enjoy a smooth 120Hz display and a powerful processor, for obvious reasons – your smartphone will just feel super smooth and snappy, especially if you’re coming from an older 60Hz one.

And who knows, phones like the OnePlus 11 who disguise as mainstream, but pack awesome gamer-oriented features, might just be what the west needs, in order to get more serious about mobile gaming?

And now, onto the questionable things

So those were gamery features unique to the OnePlus 11, which the rest of us can still enjoy. But something else weird that made an impression during OnePlus’ recent unveiling of its first 2023 flagship, is what the company didn’t say.

Certain things were not mentioned whatsoever, and are still suspiciously absent from any marketing materials that later popped up, so it’s possible that they’re missing. Most notably…

Don’t use this baby in the rain

While leaks from the recently-over-with 2022 occasionally claimed IP54 water resistance for the OnePlus 11, it seems that the main water in this scenario would be the nervous sweats you’ll get every time you’re outside during a cloudy day.Because evidently this phone is not IP water-resistance rated, judging by the zero mention of IP ratings for any water or dust resistance…

To be fair, we’re seeing conflicting reports – some say it will, some say it won’t have water resistance. It makes sense to have it, as its predecessor did, but then again, it’s not out of the question for OnePlus to remove features. But we’ll get to that next.

In any case, at this point, it’s getting a bit difficult to cope with spending $900 or more on a new flagship with some really impressive features, like the aforementioned raw power, 120Hz display, unique rumble motor, yet not having some water resistance to keep it all safe.

By the way, the $900 price is speculative also, based on what we’ve seen in previous years, so stay tuned for when we get the official pricings for the global OnePlus 11 model.

But wait, there’s more… Or shall we say – less.

We live in a wireless future. Or… do we? Guess not.

Yet another impressive, flagship feature on the OnePlus 11 would be its large 5000 mAh battery and the 100-watt fast charging that it’s capable of. And bless our hearts, the mobile gods are still listening to our prayers – OnePlus is even going to chuck a 100W charger in the box with your new flagship!However, here’s a hot take that most people aren’t on board with me about, but I’m sticking by it because it’s true for me – wireless charging is basically expected from a flagship these days. Is it not? I always charge my phones exclusively via convenient charging pads these days, and don’t necessarily mind the slower charging, due to how convenient wireless charging is for me.

But what OnePlus did is prioritize faster charging at the cost of wireless charging, apparently. Because there is no such thing on the OnePlus 11, despite the fact that its predecessor – the OnePlus 10 Pro – did have 50W wireless charging on board. And the same big battery, by the way. So why are we getting convenience features removed?

Again, nothing has been officially confirmed by OnePlus, but none of the marketing makes any mention of wireless charging, which is usually a dead giveaway that a feature is missing.

What an odd one. Who’s this phone for? Ideally – everyone. Realistically?

This new OnePlus 11 flagship is just so weird to me, in so many ways.

Odd choices all around from our friends at OnePlus, who seemingly tried to grasp all demographics with one, single smartphone.

From the hardcore gamers, to the mainstream users, as that boisterous Hasselblad-branded camera module, plus the phone’s otherwise traditional design suggest.

But hey, our review of the OnePlus 11 is coming, so we’ll get our answers soon enough. And again – the phone is getting globally launched on February 7, so stay tuned for updates on that.

Until then – let us know what you think about the OnePlus 11 and both its removed and added features. Are you excited for it, and will you pick one up when it releases globally? Or are you waiting for a different 2023 smartphone to come out – and if so, which one is it?