OnePlus Goes All Out: A lot of Plus Ones
View(s):- Written by Mahesh de Andrado
The recently held OnePlus Cloud 11 event was something I wasn’t quite expecting. Sure enough I was waiting to see what the company’s new flagship smartphone was, and what it had to offer. But what I wasn’t expecting was what else they had in store. So here’s some of the things that OnePlus unveiled.
The OnePlus 11
Kicking things off is of course, OnePlus’s flagship device for the year, the OnePlus 11. It took me a moment to realize that we’re now 11 generations later with the venerable OnePlus One, the device that started it all. The OnePlus 11 as with any flagship, packs the best of the best. As such, it’s powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip, backed by up to 16GB of RAM and up to 512GB of non-expandable storage. That’s almost as much RAM as you would get in a modern day PC. The device also features a 6.7” 1440×3216 pixel 120Hz LTPO3 Fluid AMOLED display (definitely a mouthful) capable of displaying 1 billion colors. Added to that, the display also supports Dolby Vision and is HDR10+ certified and goes all the way up to 1300 nits peak brightness with an 800 nit brightness for HBM or High Brightness Mode (typically used if you’re looking at your phone under direct sunlight or a heavily lit environment.
Say Hello to the OnePlus 11 (Image Credits: ZDNet)
Keeping up with their partnership with Hasselblad, the OnePlus 11 triple camera system, consisting of a 50MP wide lens, a 32MP telephoto lens with 2x optical zoom and a 48MP ultrawide lens. The camera can also shoot 8K video at 24FPS, and up to 60FPS at 4K and up to 120FPS at 1080p. For the front shooter, OnePlus has packed a 16MP wide angle lens with auto HDR for all the selfies and groupfies you’d ever need to take. There’s no headphone jack, but we’ll come back to that in a bit. You also get what is now becoming a standard set of features seen in flagship devices such as an under display optical fingerprint sensor, Bluetooth 5.3, NFC, ultra fast UFS 4.0 storage, stereo speakers and an Always On display (AOD). OnePlus fans will be happy to hear that the Alert Slider, which was taken off on the previous flagship OnePlus lineup makes a reappearance.Powering all this is a 5,000mAh battery along with a wired charger that is capable of a full charge in 25 minutes or 1-50% charge in 10 minutes for the international version, whereas the US version gets an 80W charger.
OnePlus also announced a slightly cut down version of the OnePlus 11, called the OnePlus 11R. It features a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, up to 16GB of RAM and 256GB of non-expandable storage. The display is a 6.74” 1240 x 2772 pixel Fluid AMOLED, 120Hz, HDR10+ 120Hz display with a peak brightness of 1450 nits. There’s a triple camera setup consisting of the same 50MP primary lens as the OnePlus 11, along with an 8MP ultrawide and 2MP macro lens, along with a 16MP wide angle selfie camera. There’s no 8K video recording though, but that’s not such a deal breaker. The 11R also has the same 5,000mAh battery and ships with the same 100W wired charger as well. In terms of pricing, the OnePlus 11 will retail for around $699 which if you ask me, is a killer deal. The OnePlus 11R will retail for around $480.
OnePlus Buds Pro 2
Following the OnePlus Buds Pro, the Buds Pro 2 offers a host of creature comforts such as ANC, customizable EQs and support Bluetooth LE audio which according to the company, “enhances sound quality and performance while using less energy”. The buds also feature spatial audio, aiming to compete with the Apple AirPods Pro. If you’re not familiar with it, spatial audio is a technology that allows whatever you’re listening to, to track your head movements. For example, if you turn or tilt your head to the left or right, the music will adjust accordingly and you will hear it as though you were hearing it live with your head turned. The buds themselves have a nice finish to them and look really nice. While they can be used without an app, the HeyMelody app developed for both Oppo and OnePlus earbuds lets you customize EQ, and ANC.
The OnePlus Buds Pro 2 in all its glory (Image Credits: ZDNet)
One thing that I noticed missing was the lack of volume controls on the earbuds themselves. This means that the Buds 2 Pro offers no volume control, rather, relying on you to control volume from your smartphone/device. There’s wireless charging though, so I guess that’s something. The OnePlus Buds Pro 2 are priced at $179, which again isn’t too bad for a set of buds that have all these features.
OnePlus Pad
After building a strong fan base with their smartphones, earbuds and smartwatch, OnePlus seems to be targeting an even greater market share. And what better way to do so than with a tablet. Called the OnePlus Pad, the device features a 11.61-inch 2000 x 2800, 144Hz, 7:5 aspect ratio LCD screen, powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 9000, the Pad backed up by 12GB of RAM, and a massive 9510mAh battery coupled with a 67W SuperVOOC charger.
The OnePlus Pad is the company’s first Tablet device (Image Credits: The Hindu)
Similar to how Apple and Samsung are creating an ecosystem for their own devices, the OnePlus Pad also takes some pages out of their books. For example, the Pad can quickly share your OnePlus phone’s 5G network without the need for a manual hotspot setup. It even has the phone app pre-installed, despite having no cellular connectivity, hinting that cross-device call syncs may be possible (akin to how FaceTIme can work across multiple devices for the same call. The OnePlus Pad ships with a customized version of Oxygen OS based on Android 13, with hopeful support for Android 14 and 15. The OnePlus Pad also has accompanying accessories such as the OnePlus Stylo (stylus) and a magnetic keyboard, both available for purchase separately. There’s no details on pricing for any of these yet, and availability according to OnePlus’s website will be in April.
OnePlus Keyboard
Now this is not something I was expecting to see at all. Called the OnePlus Keyboard 81 Pro, the keyboard is the result of a partnership between OnePlus and Keychron, who are a mechanical keyboard manufacturer. But don’t be fooled. In essence, the OnePlus Keyboard 81 Pro is a modified Keychron Q1 Pro. The keyboard sports a 75 percent laptop-style layout with 81 keys (hence the name), and features hot-swappable switches so you can change them later on if they fail or you want a different feeling key.
Speaking of keys, the Keyboard 81 Pro comes in either red linear or blue clicky switches and features a material that OnePlus says produces “a soft bounce in each press for ultimate comfort, enhanced hand-feel and optimal durability.” The keyboard draws inspiration from OnePlus’s design language, with the Esc key in red.
The OnePlus Keyboard might just click with you (Image Credits: TechCrunch)
A customizable clear knob sits on the top right corner of the keyboard. Pressing the Esc key and turning the knob will let you silence notifications, akin to the alert slider on the OnePlus 11. The keyboard is also compatible with both QMK and VIA for remapping keys or creating macros.There’s customizable RGB backlighting too, with a plethora of effects to choose from. That’s not all though. A switch on the rear lets you change between MacOS or Windows keyboard layouts, and the keyboard can be used with Linux and Android as well. Adding even more usability, the Keyboard 81 Pro can be wirelessly over Bluetooth or wired via a USB port on the rear. There’s no word on pricing but for reference, the Keychron Q1 Pro retails for around $200, so it’s possible that the OnePlus Keyboard 81 Pro will be around the same price or slightly more expensive, given the collaboration between the two companies.
What are you most excited about from the OnePlus Cloud 11 event? We would love to hear from you.
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