A Higher Android Telephone, however It is Not the Greatest

OnePlus 13 Evaluate: Design

Trying on the OnePlus 13, I really feel like I’ve written about this telephone just a few instances already. The design appears just like the OnePlus 11 and the OnePlus 12, aside from some slight variations. The telephone is available in three colours: Artic Daybreak, Midnight Ocean, which has a “vegan” leather-based again, and Black Eclipse, which you see right here. The massive round digital camera bump contrasts the bottom’s brushed “grain-glass” design. The bump homes a 50-MP major digital camera, a 50-MP telephoto with as much as 3x optical zoom, and a 50-MP ultrawide.

The OnePlus 13 is the model’s first really waterproof smartphone. It’s IP69 rated, which suggests it’s protected in opposition to the usual dunk in water for as much as half an hour and might stand up to the stress of water jets and water temperatures of as much as 80 levels Celsius. It’s excellent news for folks with scorching tubs. OnePlus claims you possibly can sanitize the OnePlus 13 within the dishwasher if the setting isn’t scorching. In fact, I wish to do this out. However I didn’t for this evaluate. (My buddy, Jason Howell, did the deed over on YouTube. The telephone nonetheless works for him, so.)

The perimeters on this technology’s OnePlus 13 are a lot squarer than earlier than. They’re sharper than these on Apple’s iPhone, the Google Pixel 9, and, quickly, Samsung. However not OnePlus. It marches to the beat of its personal sq. motif. 

The OnePlus 13 comes with a 6.82-inch 2K show. The corporate makes an enormous to-do about its rating with DisplayMate, and within the realm of pixels-per-inch, most brightness, and shade gamut, the OnePlus 13 performs properly. However I’m solely mentioning this as a result of it was talked about in my briefing. The common individual gained’t have the ability to instantly inform the distinction in shade accuracy between this telephone and the Pixel 9 Professional’s Tremendous Actua, in order that’s excellent news for everyone.

I’m shuffling between smaller units with a sub-6.3-inch display screen, so the OnePlus 13’s bigger dimension feels gigantic compared. The one factor that helps me maintain it’s the MagSafe-compatible case that OnePlus sells, which I can use with varied PopSocket equipment. The larger telephone does get you a 6,000 mAh battery pack, which is what this telephone is all about.

OnePlus 13 Evaluate: Battery Life

The battery lasts a very long time. After six days off the charger, it nonetheless hovers round 22%. That is with Pokémon Go always blaring within the background so I can go surfing to Group Day. I additionally watched a number of dwell YouTube performances to kill the battery and edited some movies for future meme posting. I’ve been utilizing Google Chat completely on this telephone, letting it buzz the OnePlus 13 every time I get a message.

I nonetheless should run the telephone by means of Gizmodo’s full battery benchmark to see how its larger battery pack performs in opposition to the iPhone 16 Professional, the reigning champion on this web site. I don’t assume it would as a result of Apple’s {hardware} is on lockdown, although OnePlus’s efficiency has been promising. I’ll replace this part when it’s completed.

Like its predecessor, the large get on the OnePlus 13 is that it helps 100W quick charging so long as you employ the proprietary crimson charging cable and charging brick that permits for such speeds. OnePlus guarantees a full battery in 36 minutes with this technique in comparison with the iPhone 16 Professional’s two hours. However that’s you probably have all the correct accouterments; in any other case, the OnePlus 13 prices like everybody else. I acquired the telephone right down to 13% earlier than I charged it with a normal 30w charger. It took solely an hour to replenish.

OnePlus 13 Evaluate: Software program

I don’t just like the stylings of OxygenOS 13, not since Oppo has taken the helm from OnePlus. OxygenOS used to resemble inventory Android intently, however now it appears like a mixture of what it as soon as was and what ColorOS is now on Oppo units abroad, which is Oppo’s model of iOS slapped on prime of Android’s menu screens. The inventory Android bones are nonetheless on the OnePlus 13, however you will need to transfer rigorously by means of the interface to keep away from by accident turning one thing on, just like the break up Fast Settings menu. This can break up your notification shade and fast settings into two, so that you’ll should aggressively drag down from both left or proper to entry both/or. I don’t like change, particularly in gestures, so I stick to Basic mode: One pull-down for the Fast Settings and one other for every part else.

OnePlus provides some iOS-like stylings if you wish to make your personal wallpaper or change the look of the icons. You possibly can even obtain icon packs from the Play Retailer for extra customization. Whereas that is good, it isn’t the explanation to purchase this gadget. Nonetheless, it units the tone for what OnePlus is; it’s nonetheless very a lot a tool that caters to a specific area of interest crowd, and I can respect its gumption. Nonetheless, I nonetheless miss the outdated OnePlus UI.

OnePlus 13 Evaluate: Digicam

The OnePlus 13 is a good digital camera for individuals who don’t wish to take into consideration something earlier than posting to the web. I additionally love that there’s a built-in “magnificence mode” within the digital camera app; I don’t care who is aware of it. There’s a little bit of an motion angle to the pictures taken with the OnePlus 13, due to its major digital camera’s 85-degree subject of view. The colours are at all times wealthy, which bodes properly for pictures of landscapes and other people throughout golden hour. The Pixel 9 Professional’s algorithms are rather more tempered compared in an try to provide a considerably natural-looking picture.

I favor the OnePlus 13’s vivid pictures, besides when they’re an excessive amount of. After which that’s after I needed to come to phrases with the truth that I’d slightly the smartphone produce a photograph that I can churn by means of a filter on a 3rd occasion to look the way in which I need it to than produce the picture with the filter intact, making it tougher to edit after the actual fact. Generally, the OnePlus 13’s digital camera algorithms are too aggressive, and issues look extra saturated and yellow-hued than in actual life.

I used to be happy with the OnePlus 13’s most 3x optical zoom, despite the fact that it advertises as much as 6x within the digital camera app. I may see the snow on the mountains about 150 miles away. There’s a 120x digital zoom providing you probably have the telephone on a tripod. I’m ready for the subsequent Samsung Galaxy Extremely to do a zoom check. That’s the place I’m curious to see the disparity.

OnePlus 13 Evaluate: Verdict

I didn’t point out a lot concerning the internals of the OnePlus 13 as a result of, for most individuals, it’s the way it performs as a day-to-day gadget, not the numbers spit out by a benchmarking suite. As you possibly can think about, it is a new telephone from a model that makes a brand new one yearly; the OnePlus 13 does my bidding, from chopping up Joost Klein video clips with InShot to catching Pokémon in Go—I plan to make use of it to run the sport the subsequent month or so because it’s filled with further reminiscence. It runs on the most recent Snapdragon 8 Elite processor and provides as much as 16GB of reminiscence with a most of 512GB of storage, the variant that OnePlus despatched over. That is the primary gadget to launch within the U.S. with the Snapdragon Elite platform, however we’ll have extra smartphones to check to because the yr attracts on. Be at liberty to offer OnePlus its kudos for being first out of the gate.

The OnePlus 13 is worthy of consideration for folks sick of Samsung and Google’s race to be the primary Android. However it comes with caveats, essentially the most important being that you simply’re not on Google’s timeline for software program updates. This may increasingly turn out to be annoying as Google introduces extra Gemini options to the Pixel and the Samsung units that play good. However perhaps it’s additionally a promoting level for you. At a beginning value of $900, you should purchase an Android telephone that’s about being a smartphone slightly than pushing a future primarily based on synthetic intelligence. This telephone desires to serve the utility, which makes it a strong gadget, even when nothing about it will get me going the way in which different flagships do.