OnePlus 15R review: unbeatable battery life, beatable value

The OnePlus 15R’s artillery life is exceptional. It’s a smidge amended than the very awesome OnePlus 15’s, and the 15R costs 2 100 dollars less. So why americium I having a difficult clip recommending it?

Typically, OnePlus’ R-series telephone is simply a simplified, less-expensive follow-up to the main flagship — successful this case, the OnePlus 15. And technically, yeah, it meets that criteria. But the vibe is different; the 15R doesn’t consciousness for illustration you’re getting distant pinch flagship features astatine a bargain price. It’s $699 to the 15’s $899, it includes a less-powerful but still beefy Qualcomm processor, and it lacks a telephoto camera. In position of battery, it manages to transcend the stunning capacity of the 15 pinch a somewhat bigger 7400mAh capacity. You tin spell days — days — before you moreover person to think astir charging your phone. I’ve been utilizing it for the past 2 weeks, and I tin count the number of times I’ve needed to complaint it connected 1 hand.

But here’s the “but.” The camera isn’t each that great, there’s nary wireless charging, and astatine $700, the 15R is successful benignant of a no-man’s-land: astir $200 excessively overmuch to consciousness for illustration a woody and missing a mates of features coming connected different phones astir the aforesaid price. You whitethorn arsenic good spell for the afloat flagship 15 and make do pinch charging your telephone each mates of days alternatively than each 3 aliases four, aliases prime up the Pixel 9A for a much reliable camera and a overmuch much reasonable $499 price.

The 15R uses Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chipset, a tier down from the “Elite” SOC successful the OnePlus 15. In regular usage it’s conscionable arsenic powerful; my litmus trial is ever 1 of the build pages connected Icy Veins, which are dense pinch media and interactive elements. As pinch the 15, there’s very small choppiness erstwhile I scroll astir 1 of these pages utilizing the 15R.

And arsenic a sidenote, I’m not seeing overmuch of OnePlus’ humanities tendency to aggressively adjacent inheritance apps. I kept Google Photos moving successful the inheritance complete a mates of days arsenic I collected images for a photograph book project; each clip I opened the app it was correct wherever I’d near it successful my timeline. If it had afloat closed, I would person had to scrub backmost to the spot wherever I’d near off. It’s the small things.

As for the large things, it’s difficult to overstate conscionable really bully the 15R’s artillery capacity is. With a operation of light-to-moderate usage successful the phone’s highest capacity mode, the artillery typically dipped beneath 20 percent aft 3 afloat days. That’s with the always-on show enabled full-time. Switching backmost to balanced performance, which is the default, seems to thief agelong it retired a small more. If you wanted to beryllium really aggressive pinch power-saving settings, I stake you could get astir of a week’s worthy of usage retired of a azygous charge. That’s wild.

The downside: the silicon c artillery tech that allows the 15R to transportation specified monolithic artillery capacity tends to degrade faster than modular lithium-ion batteries. OnePlus claims the artillery will clasp 80 percent of its original capacity done 4 years of use, which is reasonable, but I wish artillery exertion would inclination toward longer lifespans pinch amended prospects for reusability, not worse.

Normally, I’d find the deficiency of wireless charging to beryllium beautiful annoying connected a $700 phone. And I conjecture it is connected principle, but erstwhile you only person to complaint your telephone each fewer days, it’s a small much forgivable. As it is, you’ll get up to 55W wired charging speeds pinch the ceramic and cablegram included successful the box. Personally, I’d springiness up super-fast wired charging if it meant getting moreover slow wireless charging, but tons of group would make the other argument.

The camera strategy connected the 15R includes the aforesaid main 50-megapixel sensor pinch f/1.8 lens arsenic seen connected the flagship OnePlus 15. And for illustration the 15, there’s nary much Hasselblad branding present — it’s each OnePlus’ DetailMax motor for image processing. I sewage immoderate very bully photos successful bully lighting, though results were a small unpredictable successful mixed aliases dim indoor lighting. Images were sometimes overly agleam and unnaturally saturated, and debased ray remains a situation for the 15R arsenic it was connected the 15.

There’s nary dedicated telephoto camera connected the 15R, which is forgivable since that’s often the lawsuit connected phones nether $800. The 8-megapixel ultrawide is simply a small harder to fto slide, though. It’s a awesome downgrade from the much precocious 50-megapixel ultrawide recovered connected the 15, and the quality is easy to spot successful debased ray photos — they’re a smeary mess. Overall, it’s a camera strategy that’ll do the occupation for personification who’s not picky astir photograph quality, but I’d return the Pixel 9A’s camera complete this 1 immoderate day.

Not to make it each astir Google, but the Pixel lineup illustrates the 15R’s positioning conundrum. It’s $200 much than the firmly midrange Pixel 9A, which offers some wireless charging and a much reliable camera. Or, for conscionable $100 more, there’s the Pixel 10, wherever you’ll find a telephoto camera and Qi2 wireless charging pinch magnets built into the backmost of the phone. What the 15R offers — immense artillery capacity, but a lackluster camera and nary wireless charging whatsoever, astatine a medium-high value — seems a small disconnected balance.

Still, it’s difficult to reason pinch the artillery life. If the OnePlus 15 appealed to you connected that ground but felt a small excessively pricey, past the 15R mightiness beryllium for you. Otherwise, I deliberation you’ll do good to support your bedside telephone charger astir for now.

Photography by Allison Johnson / The Verge