OnePlus 13R Review: Great Phone, Excellent Price

It is a model new 12 months and we have got model new OnePlus quantity sequence telephones. The OnePlus 13 and OnePlus 13R had been launched in India earlier this week with the most recent {hardware} and new design. OnePlus has managed to maintain the pricing very aggressive as nicely. Speaking about being aggressive, the underdog OnePlus 13R is as soon as once more trying to be an awesome bundle, at the very least on paper. I have been utilizing the 13R for about two weeks to search out out if the brand new mid-range flagship is an efficient improve from the OnePlus 12R.

The OnePlus 13R is priced at Rs. 42,999 for the 12GB + 256GB storage possibility, whereas the 16GB + 512GB mannequin will value you Rs. 49,999. It’s obtainable in Astral Path and Nebula Noir color choices. We acquired the Astrail Path variant for assessment within the prime trim.

OnePlus 13R Design: Premium and flat

• Dimensions – 161.7 x 75.8 x 8 mm
• Weight – 206g
• Colors – Astral Path and Nebula Noir IP Score – IP65

OnePlus 13R will get a brand new design this 12 months, with a flat body and a flat show. You’ll be able to nonetheless inform that it is a OnePlus telephone, because of the left-aligned round rear digicam module, which has been a staple because the OnePlus 11. The telephone does have a barely totally different implementation of the module, although, because it’s not connected to the facet body.

The rear digicam module is not connected to the facet body

The 13R feels very premium in hand, and the glass rear panel has a patterned matte end to it. The Astral Path model we acquired for assessment has a pleasant texture that’ll remind you of these cool star path images on the web.

I actually preferred the star trail-like sample on the again

The body is aluminium, has a matte end, and could be slippery. Fortunately, it isn’t a fingerprint magnet, although. OnePlus does present a pleasant silicone case within the field, although. You will discover the clicky quantity and energy buttons on the proper facet, with the left housing the long-lasting textured alert slider.

The alert slider is in the identical place as final 12 months’s OnePlus 12R

The SIM card tray, which might accommodate twin SIMs, is positioned on the underside alongside a loudspeaker, twin microphones, and the USB Sort-C port. There is a third microphone on the prime, together with one other speaker and the IR blaster.

The telephone will get an IR blaster

General, the telephone feels nice to carry in hand, though the flat body does are likely to dig into your palm after some time. The OnePlus 13R will get an IP65 ranking, barely higher than its predecessor.

OnePlus 13R Show: High quality of life upgrades

• Dimension and sort – 6.78-inches LTPO 4.1 AMOLED, 1.5K decision
• Refresh charge – 120Hz
• Safety – Gorilla Glass 7i

The show on the OnePlus 13R is now flat and makes use of a more recent LTPO 4.1 AMOLED panel. The specs are nonetheless the identical as earlier than, although, and also you get a 120Hz refresh charge, 1.5K decision, 19.8:9 side ratio, HDR10+ help, Dolby Imaginative and prescient, 10-bit color depth, and 100% Show P3 help.

The telephone will get slimmer bezels in comparison with final 12 months’s mannequin

The show is nice for watching movies and streaming content material on Netflix and different streaming providers. It additionally will get fairly brilliant, with a claimed excessive brightness mode of 1,600nits and a peak brightness of 4,500nits. Once more, the identical figures as final time, and it continues to be extremely legible even beneath direct daylight. The viewing angles are additionally fairly good. The panel additionally helps Aqua Contact 2.0 and Glove Mode.

The panel provides HDR10+, HDRViVid help together with Dolby Imaginative and prescient

The telephone’s color replica was very true to life, particularly within the Pure color mode. It additionally provides Vivid, Cinematic, and Sensible color profiles. You’ll be able to select between a regular and excessive display decision, with the latter draining extra battery. As for the refresh charge, you possibly can toggle between auto (1 to 120Hz), 60Hz, and 120Hz.

The optical fingerprint scanner labored nicely all through the assessment interval

OnePlus appears to have additionally managed to barely enhance the screen-to-body ratio because of slimmer bezels throughout. The show has a punch gap cutout on the prime centre for the selfie digicam and an under-display fingerprint scanner, which is of the optical selection. The scanner labored very nicely throughout the assessment.

OnePlus 13R Software program: Clear with a contact of AI

• OS – Android 15
• UI – OxygenOS 15
• Newest safety patch – December 5 2024

The OnePlus 13R comes with the most recent Android 15-based OxygenOS 15, which is significantly better than earlier iterations of OxygenOS. There’s nearly no bloatware and I really like the general smoothness and animations when navigating the UI. You do get a number of pre-installed apps, reminiscent of Fb, LinkedIn, and Netflix, however these are apps that I would obtain anyway. OxygenOS 15 can be claimed to be 40 p.c lighter than earlier variations, which suggests you get extra storage on your apps and information.

The telephone is confirmed to obtain 4 years of OS updates

OnePlus has additionally included some AI options on the telephone. You get AI-backed options within the Images app, reminiscent of AI Element Enhance, AI Unblur, AI Eraser, and AI Reflection Eraser. There’s Circle to Search from Google, Google Gemini, AI Assistant for Notes, PassScan in Google Pockets, and Magic Compose for rewriting textual content. Whereas some options reminiscent of AI Element Enhance and AI Unblur are hit-and-miss, I discovered the AI Eraser, Reflection Eraser, Magic Compose, and the AI Assistant for Notes fairly helpful.

A brand new Share with iPhone characteristic permits you to simply share recordsdata along with your iPhone mates. OnePlus additionally added the brand new Open Canvas characteristic for multitasking from the Open. I attempted each of those options, and so they labored fairly nicely. Nonetheless, Canvas is finest suited to bigger screens.

In the course of the assessment interval, the telephone obtained two OTA updates and is presently on the December 5 2024 Android safety patch. OnePlus has promised 4 years of OS updates and 6 years of safety updates.

OnePlus 13R Efficiency: Buttery clean

• CPU – Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
• RAM – 12/16GB LPDDR5X
• Storage – 256/512GB UFS 4.0

OnePlus telephones are recognized for his or her clean efficiency, and the 13R does not disappoint. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is a flagship chipset from final 12 months, so you’ve got acquired nothing to fret about. The telephone carried out extraordinarily nicely in all our artificial benchmark exams, and I confronted no lag or stutter throughout each day or heavy utilization.

The telephone additionally runs fairly cool, and I hardly confronted any heating points throughout the assessment. That is largely because of the 9,925mm sq. vapour chamber, which saved the warmth away even throughout heavy gaming periods. Concerning gaming, I performed BGMI on the very best settings obtainable, and the telephone dealt with it with ease. Genshin Influence additionally ran easily with none hiccups. It is undoubtedly an awesome telephone for gaming.

Gaming is tremendous clean on the telephone, and it does not warmth up a lot both

You get twin audio system on the telephone, and so they can get fairly loud. There’s additionally some bass, which is sweet. The earpiece and microphone additionally labored nicely throughout telephone calls.

OnePlus 13R Cameras: Higher than earlier than

• Primary rear – 50-megapixel Sony LYT-700, f/1.8, OIS, Autofocus
• Telephoto – 50-megapixel Samsung S5KJN5, 2x Optical zoom, f/2.0, Autofocus
• Ultrawide – 8-megapixel, f/2.2, 112 diploma FoV
• Entrance – 16-megapixel, f/2.4, Mounted focus

The OnePlus 13R has an improved digicam setup. The corporate listened to customers and reviewers and removed the 2-megapixel depth/macro sensor. You now get a helpful 2x optical zoom digicam. The first digicam has additionally been up to date, however the ultra-wide sensor seems to be the identical. However, the telephone does see much-needed enhancements.

The two-megapixel macro digicam is lastly gone

The digicam app is easy and has a number of modes, together with Time-lapse, Hello-Res, Lengthy Publicity, and Professional. You additionally get devoted Portrait and Night time modes.

Loads of modes can be found within the Digicam app

Coming to digicam efficiency, I seen enhancements in images taken from the primary digicam in daylight situations. The colors are on level, there’s loads of element, the dynamic vary is extensive, and the white steadiness can be good.

Images shot from the primary digicam in 1x [Tap to expand]

This 12 months, the brand new telephoto digicam is a pleasant addition and produces superb leads to daylight situations. As soon as once more, there are many particulars, the colors intently match the first sensor, and the picture has a superb dynamic vary.

Samples shot utilizing the 2x telephoto digicam [Tap to expand]

Subsequent, the ultrawide digicam, which stays the identical as final 12 months, takes good images when there’s loads of gentle. The photographs have good element, however the colors are extra saturated than images from the opposite cameras.

Digicam samples from the ultrawide digicam [Tap to expand]

The 2x telephoto digicam can be fairly respectable on the subject of Portrait images. You get 1x and 2x crop within the digicam app, and the sting detection will not be too dangerous both. Nonetheless, the pictures are likely to have loads of noise and softness in lowlight situations.

Portrait images with the 2x telephoto; Daylight (Prime), Lowlight-indoors (Backside) [Tap to expand]

Speaking about lowlight situations, the primary sensor continues to carry out nicely, with pictures providing good element, pure colors, and a fairly correct white steadiness.

Lowlight digicam samples from the first rear digicam at 1x [Tap to expand]

Nonetheless, ultrawide and telephoto cameras aren’t superb when there’s not sufficient gentle. You will discover a whole lot of noise and softness in pictures.

Lowlight samples: Ultrawide (Prime 3); 2x Telephoto (Backside 3)

The entrance digicam on the OnePlus 13R produces fairly good images in daylight situations. There are good particulars, and the pores and skin colors are fairly correct. Nonetheless, the digicam does not carry out nicely in lowlight situations. There’s a whole lot of noise and softness in selfies taken with much less gentle.

The OnePlus 13R can file movies at as much as 4K 60fps, and also you do get optical picture stabilisation, nevertheless it solely works in 1080p 60fps. Movies taken on the telephone, utilizing the primary digicam in 4K, have a superb quantity of element with barely boosted colors. Lowlight movies lack the identical quantity of element, and you may begin seeing some noise and darker shadows. Stabilisation is nice when utilizing Extremely Regular video mode in 1080p decision, however you will see some shakiness and sudden jumps when working or panning.

OnePlus 13R Battery: Large in all methods

• Capability – 6,000mAh
• Charging velocity – 80W
• Charger – 80W (Within the field)

The OnePlus 13R makes use of a brand new Silicon-Carbon battery that’s denser and bigger than earlier than. Regardless of packing a bigger 6,000mAh cell, the 13R is slimmer than the 12R. In my each day utilization, the telephone persistently delivered over 7 hours of screen-on time. Most of my days often ended with over 40 p.c of battery nonetheless remaining. In our HD video loop check, the telephone lasted 32 hours and 16 minutes, which is kind of spectacular however not stunning.

A full cost takes about 1 hour 30 minutes

OnePlus gives an 80W SuperVOOC charger within the field, which might cost the telephone from 0 to 100% in about 1 hour and half-hour. I ran some extra exams and located which you could get about 40 p.c cost after half-hour of being plugged in and about 60 p.c in 45 minutes. General, I would say this is a wonderful efficiency.

OnePlus 13R Verdict

Is the OnePlus 13R an awesome bundle? Sure. Is it full worth for cash? Sure. Has it improved over final 12 months’s 12R? Sure. The brand new OnePlus 13R is unquestionably definitely worth the improve. It will get higher cameras, a bigger battery with longer life, higher construct high quality, longer software program help, and different minor enhancements.

As for options, I can solely suppose of some. There’s the newly launched Oppo Reno 13 Pro (Review), which prices increased however lacks in key areas reminiscent of efficiency and battery life. There’s additionally the Xiaomi 14 (Review), which will get the identical chipset, provides higher cameras, a compact design, and likewise prices about somewhat increased. It’s also possible to go for the iQOO 12 (Review), which, though older, nonetheless provides nice efficiency and a good digicam setup.