OnePlus 12R

I don't think I've reviewed a OnePlus phone since the Nord 2, nearly two years ago now. That was a nice phone, I seem to recall. My review is linked here. I remember being annoyed by the fact that I couldn't find what I wanted readily in the Settings, but overall, for the price, finding it to be a super handset and great experience. I wonder how things have moved on in the OnePlus experience since then. I was keen to find out with the perfect opportunity as OnePlus PR sent over the 12R.

My initial impressions of the phone physically are that it's big and weighty, over 200g! With a 6.78" screen, I guess that was inevitable. Almost the size of the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra in fact! Although not quite, width and height are a shade less. But its what people want, we're told, so no wonder, really. There was no case in the box, rather a 100W supporting charger and cable, papers and pokey-tool for the Dual 5G SIM Card Tray. It's solid and hefty, chunky - you know it's in your pocket - and protected with an IP6 (dust)/4(water) rating. So decently-enough dust-resistant, but only basically splash/quick-dunk for dropping in a toilet!

It's a very nice blue colour, apparently Cool Blue, but you can also buy it in Iron Gray or Electric Violet as well. It's very 'glossy' and slippery, so needs a case to stop the inevitable. The stand-out feature for me is the huge, circular camera island. And not stand-out in a good way! I guess it's down to personal preference and perception of what style means, but for me it seems disproportionately big and awkward as it also has grooves/lines heading towards the left edge. No attempt at symmetry. The circle has a knurled edge, too which feels like it should, therefore, turn. But it doesn't. More so-called style maybe.

There's a OnePlus logo in the middle of the back and that's about it. The camera island houses four inner circles, the main camera, the wide-angle, the macro and, no, not a second flash but a MultiSpectral Sensor used for capturing more accurate colour information. Apparently. The back is made of glass, though it looks and feels very much like plastic. The edges curve round to meet the aluminium frame in all four directions, making it feel classy and premium. The same is true of the front, where Gorilla Glass Victus 2 is employed underneath the factory-fitted screen protector (which is not glued on, so can be easily removed). Subtle curves on the left and right of the front glass, which, again, I like and adds to the look/feel, and small, centralised circular Selfie cutout just below the earpiece, which is also one of the two stereo speakers.

On the right of the phone we have solid-feeling power buttons and volume rocker, up top an IR Blaster (for those who still use them), at the bottom, USB-C port, the other speaker, SIM Card Tray and on the left, still unique in Androidland, I think I'm right in saying, the Alert Slider. Well done OnePlus for keeping that a thing! Firm and precise switching between Ring, Vibrate and Silent. Excellent. There are various microphones and antenna cutouts around the phone of course, given that it's metal.

The front panel, then, is an AMOLED one which can be switched between 60Hz or 120Hz alongside an option to let the system decide for itself, based on what you're doing. OnePlus claim that in auto mode, the brightness is capable of 4,500 nits, though in most cases it's functioning at 1,600 - which is still mighty impressive! It's hard to fault the screen. It's bright and colourful, just like my favoured Motorola screens, with all sorts of options in settings to further tweak how you want it to look. The panel is 1264 x 2780 pixels which, over the large screen returns a ppi of 450. Very happy with the screen - no complaints.

I decided to use my trusty Motorola Edge 50 Pro as the copy-from device so dutifully installed OnePlus' Clone Phone on it. The app seemed to kick off the 'clone' process but then slides into the standard-looking Google backup/restore process, so I'm not quite sure what installing the App did - apart from not having to type in my router's code. The app produced a QR code on the OnePlus 12R which I was invited on the Moto to scan. I did. Which is when the Google Backup/Restore process appeared. So I waited for it to finish then opened Clone Phone on the OnePlus device, did it again, using a QR code, having told the OnePlus that it is the 'new' phone and a much different dialogue popped up on both phones and off it went again, proprietary, not Google's. And it was much quicker - 7 minutes instead of 20 (for the same data I chose) at 100MB/s. So I'm not sure what that was all about, but I got there in the end. It seems that the best way to do this is to set up the OnePlus phone first, enough to invoke the Clone Phone app, then start the process from there.

Anyway, all that done and the basics are there. No homescreen layout benefits but all the apps are then downloaded and installed with some basic settings selected, but far from all. Probably a tall order when OxygenOS 14 is so different from Moto's HelloUI. So yes, OxygenOS 14 out of the box, based on Android 14 (with a promise of 3 OS updates - so to include Android 17) and as I write, July 2024 Google Security Patches (with a promise of 4 years more of that, taking it to Spring 2028). That's a good mark in the sand. Google should force all OEMs to offer that 3/4 as a base minimum in my humble opinion!

Face Unlock and Fingerprint Scanner registered surprisingly quickly and easily, which might be a bit of a worry, but they work surprisingly well given that these optical under glass fingerprint scanners are not always great. And yes, the face recognition registration was like lightning. Barely looked at it for a couple of seconds and it declared that it was done!

It's a shame that in order to get the 100W charging (80W in USA) and 0-100% in under half-hour with any of these BBK phones you really have to use the charger that comes in the box - though good indeed that it's in the box. And carry it with you! I tested this and it's clear that using my generic UGreen 100W GaN charger it's taking about an hour and a half (as it drops down, apparently, to 18W) whereas, for example, my Motorola Edge 50 Pro with 125W brick in the box, when used with the same UGreen charger, remains lightning fast, TurboCharge function retained, no need for Moto's own brick. PD and SuperVOOC are different technologies. Only if the device supports both does one get a similar performance. There's no wireless charging here, either. But there is a whopping 5,500mAh battery! And that's a great size which, in my tests, is good for 2 days clear of my average use and nets me the best part of 3 hours with my 10% Reading Test.

First things first and as I pull down the homescreen I'm invited to agree to use the OnePlus' Shelf function. This is a front-end overlay which can be invoked by swiping down on the homescreen from anywhere but the very top (which is assigned to the Notification shade of course). You can turn it off and have the swipe-down from anywhere instead being the Notification shade, as per standard Android. But before I do that, let's take a look.

There are 'tiles' (a bit like Windows Phone, except that they appear to be the size they are, not resizable). By default, the user is served up with a clock, Steps counter (tracker), Note taking, weather and (a broader) Spotify. Options to add via the plus icon up-top are IR Remote, Recorder and Photos. You can long-press each tile to remove them. The Settings allow you to choose 'smart' suggestions (and reminders taken from your Calendar). Up the top there's a universal search function, which seems to search the phone for apps, files, photos or any other data, presumably, that it can find - though clearly not Calendar as it failed to return my dentist appointment - even though I had given Shelf permission to use Calendar. And lines up a row of adverts for apps at the top!

Using the Recorder app (either via the Shelf or standalone) seems to work OK with options to edit, skip silences, change speed, mark a point in the recording with a photo (take with camera or choose from their Photo App - but not any other). The Photo tile works automatically when you've taken enough interesting photos (in their app) so that it can produce a 'highlights' reel. Or you can assign a 'custom' Photo tile and pick which photos from the app that you want shown when the tile is tapped. It seems all pretty basic - and is really simply a shortcut to a 'favourited' bunch of photos. The tiles don't seem particularly 'smart' in any way, though some auto-refresh (like clock, weather and steps). I'm not really sure that this whole front-end Shelf is really useful or needed. Would be interesting to know how many OnePlus fans use it.

The Notification Shade has simply adopted the Apple Control Panel style. No choice, like with Motorola (for now, at time of writing), you're just stuck with it - short of installing another Launcher I guess. I really don't like the big-buttoned clunkathon which feels cartoony and cheap. The standard Android way is much nicer as far as I'm concerned. Bad OnePlus for giving no choice.

I joined the Red Cable Club and gave in to the ever-present nag at the top of the Settings page. This opens up an online page of plugs, member nags, options for support, care and service and a Discover panel which again plugs OnePlus services and reviews from various online sources by the looks of it. Membership benefits with all sorts of points schemes' stuff encouraging the user to spend more money, ways to 'earn' Red Coins (so perhaps you don't!) and perhaps more usefully, troubleshooting guides and systems analysis tools. It's pretty much the same kind of stuff that Samsung are doing in their Members app (and now Moto too, on the bandwagon, with their Motorola Notifications/Hello, You app). The price of being able to knock a few quid off the buying price, I guess.

Talking of which, I'm now on the hunt for Bloatware and find very little. Just Facebook (easily uninstallable), not even LinkedIn. Well done OnePlus. There are some apps which double-up Google ones, like Photos, Calculator, Clock, Internet and Weather (none of which can be uninstalled, only force-stopped/disabled) - but then their own apps too, some of which it could be argued are genuinely useful. Games, IR Remote, Camera (of course) and ColorOS' O Relax. OnePlus Store stands out as uninstallable. My pick of these is O Relax as I found this to be genuinely useful on a previously-owned Oppo phone. A plethora of relaxing sounds to mix and match, overlay - all sorts of options and great sounds to generate, an explore section with some wild visuals and VR-style interaction as you move the phone around and a timer to set if you want to drift off. It is a veritable playground and helpful tool. Probably the best thing BBK ever did!

Wallpapers can be generated using a photo or shot from the camera which then serves up a few options to choose from on the theme of the shot used. This is something that most OEMs are playing with - last week I was musing on the same with Moto and reflecting, as for this, that it's not really that useful or well done. The onward surge towards more AI it seems!

What OnePlus do offer is lots of ways to adjust one's UX via Icon shape/size, grid layout for homescreen, various of their own Widgets - in fact if you start digging into settings, there are loads of adjustments to be made which seem to be unique (at least to OnePlus, if not BBK too) which I shall hope to cherry-pick as highlights as I continue with my thoughts here.

Google's Feed or Discover (or whatever it's called this week) is off to the left for those who want it and that is bog-standard Vanilla. You can change the homescreen mode to the Apple style one (if you must) where all the apps are splayed out across multiple screens, or stick with Android's own App Drawer.

The Always on Display has some options, some animated but most of them 'canned' and not so many basic 'clock/weather' type ones. There's a few. Annoyingly the only Music Player app which is supported for AoD use is Spotify. Why not (at least) YouTube Music, OnePlus! The AoD can be set for always on ("All Day"), scheduled between certain times or to reflect Power Saving - so it turns off if you don't move it for a while. Sadly, like most AoD functioning devices these days, there's no control over the brightness and, yet again, its algorithm is returning it too dark for me in some situations. Nobody seems to get this right - even Samsung stripped away the manual control. The Games app comes across as a child's toy, frankly. Perhaps it is. Bright and colourful, cartoonified and with dreadful, annoying music playing the whole time.

There's plenty to play with in amongst the settings with a ton of BBK-unique features such as the Smart Sidebar and Big Homescreen folders, most of which I've covered before in my OnePlus reviews here on my blog, so search for the features you want to read about. I will isolate that Smart Sidebar though as it's worthy of special attention. It does all the usual stuff you'd expect from a sidebar but adds into the mix a section for Recent Files which will list and allow you to open them and File Dock, which lets you drag/drop any file you like into the area, which pops up when long-pressing a file, again, for easy reference/use later. The homescreen enlarge folder function is similarly useful so that you can make a folder bigger/smaller and make what's in it more visible by bigger icons (obviously then taking up more space on the screen).

This phone came armed with 256GB storage and 16GB RAM. By default, the 16GB RAM has been upped to 20GB by the pointless expansion system, using storage space as more. I'm no expert but those who seem to know about this kind of thing seem to think it's something-and-nothing. You can turn it off and return to 16GB or expand it if you want by another 8/12GB, making up to 28GB RAM. Eeek! That's more than most desktop PCs out there! There are also variations on this configuration out there, 128GB 8GB, 256GB 8GB and 256GB 12GB but be careful when choosing as there's no expandable storage. The storage seemed to be reading/writing nice and quickly with UFS3.1 when bombarded with copying tasks, both internally and when attached to a PC. The device is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 (4nm) and nobody, even relatively heavy gamers or video creator/editors, will have any complaints about the processing speed and load capacity. I didn't find anything during my tests here that slowed it down significantly for anyone to notice, I contend, even though some may cry that this is 'last year's processor'.

A quick word about Microsoft's Phone Link - this OnePlus 12R has full working with Phone Link on PC with Apps and pass-through audio, just like Samsung/Surface Duo.

This the first breakthrough device that I have tested (other than those) as most remain a no-go for apps and pass-through audio, so it looks like OnePlus is ahead of the pack. Well done. What's not so good is that there's no HDMI-Out and the USB-C port is only v2.0 rated. No plugging into the telly, but most people are wireless-minded these days anyway. There's only me left, it seems, who wants a cable!

The phone's stereo speakers seem decent enough - not tinny at top volume, fairly loud but not up there with the field-leaders for that, or quality/bass. There are various controls to review/explore inside and out of Dolby Atmos, some only for headphone use. There's a fair bit to play with and adjust. The sound is just fine. In keeping with the Motorola devices I have to hand and Pixel, but not up there with the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. But then that is twice the price. At least! Earphones tested both wired and Bluetooth (v5.3) and both do an excellent job. There's a form of Dolby Atmos in the audio settings, enhanced for ear/headphones, but it's vary OnePlus-flavoured, not any version that I've seen anywhere else outside of BBK Group phones. There's a Spatial Audio setting which seems to do something - not sure what really with MP3 music tracks - but yes, makes it sound better and sure enough, when watching the right YouTube video which exploits the system, there's certainly 'movement' of the sound around the head making it more immersive. Then there's Head Tracking, which you need the right head/earphones/buds for. When I got that organised, in the shape of the Moto Buds+, all was good and sure enough it works as expected, the source of the music/video staying where the phone/device is in relation to head movements. So phone in front of you, move head left, sound favours the right ear. And vice-versa. I had LDAC playing with no problem, but support depends on supporting hardware of course. It all sounds great to me!

Connection options appear to be good all-round really, NFC, GPS, data on 5G, phone calls with good clarity both ends, WiFi (7 for those who can use it) is solid in my tests on 5G routers and Broadband, Bluetooth seems to have a good range/stability too, so no complaints here.

The area which some say has been skimped on to some degree in order to keep the price in the mid-range and not flagship is cameras. The main shooter is a capable 50MP f/1.8 unit with OIS, but here is where it falls away a bit with the wide-angle being an 8MP f/2.2 shooter and supported by the not-so-useful 2MP f/2.4 so-called macro facility. The main camera can shoot 4K at 60fps and the Selfie is a 16MP f/2.4 camera, but the whole photography experience here is not a patch on the OnePlus 12 (non-R version). Having said that, what it produces is going to more than enough for casual snappers, people posting to social media, people like me, in fact! I would have no complaints and the reality is that 95% of people would be in the same boat. The lack of any optical zoom, I guess some may snarl at, but even that I reckon would only drop the ratio down to 90%. Pixel peepers beware, you'll need to move up the OnePlus 12 and cough up another couple of hundred pounds. But anyway, as usual I'm going to point you to GSMArena at this point for a proper drill-down, lots of tests, samples and analysis far in excess of what I could generate.

There's lots to like about this phone and it represents very good value for money in many ways. In order to keep the price down some stuff has been shaved away, but most people are not going to notice. Yes, it would be nice to have a zoom camera, wireless charging and fast charging without the SuperVOOC system, but generally speaking this would be very well received by most users who would appreciate a big phone, vibrant and bright screen, huge battery, lovely build quality and a way into the OxygenOS and all the bells and whistles that brings. There's a special place for OnePlus at the Phone Link table for those of us who are using Desktop computers and the phone has decent enough speakers and audio output. You could do far worse than this for your £649 (or, actually, significantly less now that a few months have passed). Recommended for all. A great all-rounder that's not going to break the bank.