Introduction to the OnePlus 12R :
OnePlus is kicking off 2024 with two new phones: its current flagship, the OnePlus 12, and the interesting OnePlus 12R, which marks the first time an R-series handset has been released globally, not only in India. While we’ve seen T-series entries on the global stage before, the OnePlus 12R more closely delivers on the promises of the company’s full-fat flagship phones, and this year’s OnePlus 12R is no exception, running on familiar hardware for those who remember last year’s OnePlus 11, while also delivering some company and industry firsts of its own.
At first glance, you could mistake the Oneplus 12R for both the OnePlus 11 and the OnePlus 12, as all three phones have a similar aesthetic, with rounded corners and the characteristic ‘Starlight Dial’ circular camera surround that we first saw on the 2023 OnePlus flagship.The iconic physical alert slider has been switched sides (OnePlus claims this improves antenna performance), and the phone lacks wireless charging as well as full IP68 dust and water resistance, but it’s still a beautifully crafted and premium-feeling device with plenty of power and battery longevity.
The OnePlus 12R is a revamped interpretation of the OnePlus 11, featuring a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, 16 GB of RAM, 256 GB of storehouse, and the largest battery ever seen in a OnePlus phone. It also includes the rearmost OxygenOS 14 stoner experience, including the’ Trinity Engine’, which ensures the Oneplus 12R’s performance does not degrade over time.The phone features a1.5 K LTPO4.0 AMOLED display with advanced adaptive refresh rate, touch response rate, and peak brilliance (4,500 nits) compared to the OnePlus 11. The Oneplus 12R’s battery life matches the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra.
The Oneplus 12R , despite its impressive camera capabilities, falls short in camera versatility. The 50MP Sony sensor offers a similar experience to last year’s flagship, with a fast shutter and a year of refinement from OnePlus.However, the 8MP ultra-wide and 2MP macro cameras lack quality and consistency. For its price, there’s nothing that matches the Oneplus 12R directly, but alternatives like the OnePlus 11, Samsung Galaxy S23 FE, and iPhone 14 can come close, provided they sacrifice display tech and battery prowess.
The OnePlus 12R is the global variant of the OnePlus Ace 3, launched in China at the start of 2024. It was launched in India on January 23, with a staggered on-sale date. The phone is available in the US, UK, and Europe on February 13. US customers can choose between two storage configurations, starting at $499.99 with 128GB of space, and the single higher capacity 256GB model, which sells for $599.99 in the US and £649 / €699 in the UK and Europe. The Oneplus 12R’s pricing undercuts other newcomers like the Samsung Galaxy S24, Google Pixel 8, and iPhone 15.
The OnePlus 12 is around $300 / £200 more expensive for the same amount of storage, but offers a sharper screen, better cameras, longer-term software support, and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 flagship silicon. However, there is no current Australian availability for the OnePlus 12R or the standard OnePlus 12.
Design and Build:
The OnePlus 12R is a premium smartphone with a sleek design, similar to the latest top-tier phones. It features a matte glass back that repels fingerprints but has a low friction coefficient, making it slippery in the hand. The Cool Blue option is more eye-catching and better at catching light and fingerprints.
Colorway availability varies by region and storage variant. The OnePlus 12R is a great alternative to straight-sided iPhones, Galaxy phones, or the rumored Pixel 9 series. The front and back glass curve elegantly into the thin metal frame, making it slightly trickier to hold but more comfortable in the hand and eye.The OnePlus 12R features a flat top and bottom design, with a USB-C port, SIM tray, and speaker grille at the bottom, and microphones and an IR blaster on the top edge. This unique design allows for universal remote functionality, allowing users to control various devices from one device.
The OnePlus 12R also features OnePlus‘ iconic alert slider, which is absent from previous flagships like the OnePlus 10T. However, the knurled three-stage switch is now on the opposite side, which OnePlus claims improves antenna performance, especially when gaming in landscape.
The OnePlus 12R is thinner and lighter than the standard OnePlus 12, partly due to the lack of wireless charging and the lack of industry-standard dust and water resistance, with only an IP64 certification. The OnePlus 12R’s design also falls short of the industry standard IP68 protection against water ingress, making it a more affordable option for those looking for a premium phone.
Display:
The OnePlus 12R is a premium smartphone with a 6.78-inch 1.5K AMOLED panel protected by Gorilla Glass Victus 2. It boasts a peak brightness of 4,500nits, similar to the OnePlus 12, and is comparable to the iPhone 15 series at 2,000nits and the S24 series at 2,600nits. This higher brightness level allows for better outdoor legibility and HDR content consumption. The Oneplus 12R also allows users to view HDR imagery natively in both the OnePlus Photos app and the Google Photos app, similar to the latest Pixel 8 Pro.
The LTPO 4.0 tech improves power efficiency by switching between more frequency increments through its 1Hz to 120Hz range. The phone also features a 1,000Hz touch response rate (branded ‘Hyper Touch‘) for accurate touch input, and ‘Hyper Render’ for dynamic backlight calibration during gaming. The Oneplus 12R also has Aqua Touch, an algorithm that helps distinguish between water droplets and true touch inputs on a wet display, making it more reliable in rain or similar conditions.
The phone also features 2160Hz PWM dimming for reduced eye strain in low light and an overall A+ rating from Display Mate. These features are not headline features worth buying the phone for explicitly, but they are ‘nice to haves’ that elevate the Oneplus 12R‘s viewing experience beyond expectations and more prominent competitors.
Software and User Interface:
Even though the two firms are working together, OnePlus‘ OxygenOS 14 is a new operating system that upholds the fundamental principles of earlier software versions. A clean look and user experience are provided by OxygenOS 14, which is powered by the most recent version of Android 14 and supports gestures and floating windows for multitasking, user-generated wallpapers, rapid app launches via the fingerprint sensor, and Zen Space for mindfulness.
Other firms would be wise to consider the platform because of its well-received inventive design and support for artificial intelligence. Along with gestures and floating windows for multitasking, the platform also provides Zen Space for mindfulness.OnePlus has struggled to find a consistent home for the Shelf within OxygenOS, which serves as a dedicated widget home for glanceable information. OxygenOS balances simplicity and functionality, despite other brands’ focus on more features.
The Oneplus 12R‘s software support is less extensive than the OnePlus 11, but it maintains compatibility with the similarly spec’d OnePlus 11, with three years of OS upgrades and four years of security updates. Both phones will likely remain in favor until Android 18 (and possibly OxygenOS 18), ensuring both phones remain in favor until then. The Shelf is a useful addition to OxygenOS, providing a convenient way to keep glanceable information in one place.
Camera:
Although the OnePlus 12R‘s rear camera configuration is similar to that of the OnePlus 11 and 12, it is a notable upgrade and cost-cutting feature. The 1/1.56-inch Sony IMX890 sensor is retained, and software has been upgraded for faster performance. But the Oneplus 12R‘s photographic performance isn’t as noteworthy.
While the 8MP Sony IMX355 ultra-wide camera offers reliable color reproduction, comparable images show less detail. Less innovatively, the 2MP macro camera is devoid of pixels, dynamic range, and color depth.The OnePlus 12R is a smartphone with an OIS-supported main 50MP sensor, offering great image quality and HDR shooting. It has a ‘ProXDR‘ toggle in the gallery app, showcasing its HDR capabilities.
The Oneplus 12R can capture full sensor 50MP images and HDR shots in RAW, using the same RAW HDR algorithm as the OnePlus 12. It also offers excellent colors, detail, and dynamic range when snapping standard 12.6MP jpeg stills. AI-supported shooting, particularly in editing tools, is not as prevalent on the Oneplus 12R as in the OnePlus 12 and other premium phones. However, features like generative fill, popularized by Google Pixel and Samsung Galaxy smartphones, are not available on the Oneplus 12R.
Performance: Seamless multitasking and Gaming :
The ‘Trinity Engine’ brand from OnePlus refers to an extensive system of software and hardware improvements that improve the phone‘s performance. Three major parts make up the Trinity Engine: the CPU-Vita, RAM-Vita, and ROM-Vita.Together, these parts enable the Oneplus 12R to function smoothly and effectively.They accomplish this through memory allocation for frequently used apps being prioritized, throttling for heat management and battery endurance, and dynamic storage defragmentation to maintain file accessibility. This strategy guarantees a more seamless experience for consumers wishing to buy a smartphone with long-term use.
The OnePlus 12R, running on the same chipset as the OnePlus 11, offers comparable flagship performance in artificial benchmarking tests. It feels as fast and fluid to use as any current flagship, including Snapdragon 8 Gen 3-powered phones. The performance shortfall is likely to be felt for at least a year or two, making the phone comfortable with whatever you throw at it right now. Gaming on Genshin Impact with default graphical settings and a 60fps frame rate cap proved zero issue for extended periods.
However, despite the new ‘Cryo-Velocity’ dual vapor chamber cooling system, heat build-up was more noticeable during intensive tasks than expected.OnePlus phones come with easily navigable performance features like Live Lock, which allows you to pin apps, and Gaming features, which let you customize graphical settings, manage notifications, and tweak HDR visuals. With the help of these tools, users may adjust the performance of their phones, control notifications, and switch between better HDR images.
The Oneplus 12R phone has a high-performance mode in the power menu, which is an extra feature that may not be required but is nevertheless worthwhile to investigate even though it is made for responsive daily use.
Battery and Charging :
The OnePlus 12R, a successor to the OnePlus 11, boasts a larger battery capacity of 5,500mAh, making it the largest power cell in a OnePlus phone ever. This capacity delivers the best battery life in a OnePlus phone, with around eight hours of screen-on time per charge, equivalent to two days of light to average use on a single charge.
he OnePlus 12R also offers rapid 100W fast charging, allowing users to hit 100% charge after only 26 minutes in most markets, except for the US where it peaks at 80W. The company promises a four-year or 1,600-cycle battery life, equated to around 80% of out-of-box performance. However, the OnePlus 12R has a reduced peak 80W charging speed in the US and no wireless charging. Despite these limitations, the OnePlus 12R is a strong contender in the Android phone market, outperforming mainstream rivals like the Pixel 8 series.
Connectivity and Other Features:
Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth v5.30, NFC, Infrared, USB Type-C, 3G, 4G (supporting Band 40, which is utilized by certain LTE networks in India), and 5G with active 4G on both SIM cards are among the connectivity choices available on the OnePlus 12R. The phone has a temperature sensor, in-display fingerprint sensor, accelerometer, gyroscope, ambient light sensor, compass/magnetometer, and proximity sensor.
Oneplus 12R Price and Bank offers:
The OnePlus 12R is available in two variants, 8/128 GB at Rs 39,999 and 16/256 GB at 45,999, and is available in Cool Blue and Iron Gray colors. It can be purchased on Amazon or the official OnePlus website. Customers can get an instant bank discount of Rs 1,000 with ICICI credit card and OneCard, and a 6-month no-cost EMI through ICICI credit/debit card EMI and OneCard EMI. Additionally, they can receive a free trial of Google One for 6 months and YouTube Premium for 3 months.
Conclusion:
OnePlus 12R: A Reimagined OnePlus Phone
- The OnePlus 12R is an updated version of the OnePlus 11, with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, 16 GB of RAM, 256 GB of storage, and the longest battery yet seen in a OnePlus device.
- It features the rearmost OxygenOS 14 stoner experience, including the’Trinity Engine’, ensuring the Oneplus 12R’s performance does not degrade over time.
- The phone features a 1.5 K LTPO4.0 AMOLED display with advanced adaptive refresh rate, touch response rate, and peak brilliance (4,500 nits).
- Despite its impressive camera capabilities, the Oneplus 12R falls short in camera versatility with the 50MP Sony sensor offering a similar experience to last year’s flagship.
- The Oneplus 12R is a premium smartphone with a sleek design, featuring a matte glass back that repels fingerprints but has a low friction coefficient, making it slippery in the hand.
- The 6.78-inch 1.5K AMOLED panel protected by Gorilla Glass Victus 2 boasts a peak brightness of 4,500nits, similar to the OnePlus 12, and is comparable to the iPhone 15 series at 2,000nits and the S24 series at 2,600nits.
- OnePlus’ OxygenOS 14, a new operating system, supports gestures and floating windows for multitasking, user-generated wallpapers, rapid app launches via the fingerprint sensor, and Zen Space for mindfulness.
- The rear camera configuration is similar to that of the OnePlus 11 and 12, but the 1/1.56-inch Sony IMX890 sensor is retained and software has been upgraded for faster performance.
- The OnePlus12R runs on the same chipset as the OnePlus 11, offering comparable flagship performance in artificial benchmarking tests.
- The phone has a larger battery capacity of 5,500mAh, delivering the best battery life in a OnePlus phone.
- The phone offers rapid 100W fast charging, allowing users to hit 100% charge after only 26 minutes in most markets, except for the US where it peaks at 80W.
- Despite its limitations, the OnePlus 12R is a strong contender in the Android phone market, outperforming mainstream rivals like the Pixel 8 series.
