OnePlus 13R Quick Review: The Best $599 Android Phone

For US consumers, Android phone options are limited and we think that sucks. The market shouldn’t be dominated by two players. That’s not what Android is about, at least, that’s not what it used to be about. Back in the day, we had Motorola, HTC, OnePlus, Google, Samsung, plus a few others that made the entire year full of exciting hardware launches.

These days, options are limited, with Google and Samsung essentially dominating the market. However, OnePlus is still giving it its best shot, releasing what we think are good phones. Kellen just reviewed the OnePlus 13 and said it’s a “truly incredible phone experience.” That’s high praise! And as you’ll find in the following OnePlus 13R quick review, I think the same of this device.

Priced at only $599, I’m not sure you can find a better deal. This phone is packed to the gill with high-end specs, delivering amazing performance. Besides a camera layout that I personally don’t care the look of, it’s a really great phone. Do I even really need to write this?

This is our OnePlus 13R quick review!

What’s Good

Specs and Performance – Where else are you going to get this list of specs for $599? OnePlus 13R features a 6.78-inch AMOLED 1.5K display with refresh rate of up to 120Hz, Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset with 12GB RAM, 256GB storage, 6,000mAh battery with up to 80W charging, triple rear camera setup highlighted by a 50MP sensor, under-display fingerprint reader (it’s optical, but I’ll let it slide at this price), IP65 rating, and OxygenOS 15 (Android 15) at launch.

These specs allow for a really fast mobile experience. Coming from the iPhone 15 Pro that I’ve been using, it’s almost a night and day difference. Everything it does is fast. Its processes photos quickly, it handles my mobile gaming with ease, and it charges really fast. If you want rapid performance, this is the phone.

Battery and Charging – With its 6,000mAh battery and ability to charge at up to 80W, I’m relatively certain you’ll never have battery issues with this phone. I was getting two days on this device, no problem. For me, in a rural area with not great service, that’s very good. I typically get one day with my phones, but this phone can handle 2 days with ease. For me, that’s rare. Everyone’s usage is different, so I can’t say you’ll get the same, but this phone’s battery life is top notch. Out of habit I tend to always plug my phone in at night, but on average I was going to bed with 40-50% battery left, compared to the 10-20% I get with other phones.

To get the 80W speeds when wired, you’ll need the supported adapter. Out of the box, the adapter OnePlus provides gives you 55W wired charging, which is still plenty fast.

Display – Again, coming from a smaller phone, this 6.78-inch display took a bit of getting used to, but it sure is nice to look at. Out of the box, OnePlus has it set to “standard” resolution (2376 x 1080), but users can choose to have it set to 2780 x 1264 for a sharper image. There are also settings for the Video Enhancement Engine which can sharpen images and provide color boosts should you want them. Beyond its 120Hz refresh rate, colors look great on this AMOLED panel and its peak brightness of 4500 nits is enough for any bright situation for easy viewing.

Out of the box, OnePlus has preinstalled a screen protector, which some folks may appreciate. I don’t quite care for the feeling of it when using swipe gestures, but to each their own.

Camera – You have three sensors on this phone’s backside: 50MP Sony LYT-700 (wide), 50MP S5KJN5 with 2X optical zoom (telephoto), and a 8MP ultrawide. There’s a lot of versatility here, but let’s be honest, you’re probably like me and simply open the camera app and start snapping. If that’s the case, you’ll be pleased with the results.

This phone captures a lot of detail and color, plus it processes said photos very quickly. It’s very fast to apply filters and the Pro mode is exceptional. It has all of the necessary features, such as ISO tweaks, shutter speed, exposure value, white balance, and all of that. You can choose whether to shoot in RAW, utilize a histogram, focus peaking, interval shooting, and change your aspect ratio. There’s everything you would need inside of here.

Most phones are taking good photos these days. While I still give Google props for having the camera software experience I like the most, I think my 2nd place now easily goes to OnePlus. I’ll let my photo gallery below do the rest of the talking. All images are edited for size.

Software – Shipping with OxygenOS 15 (Android 15), there are so many things to play with in this software. Most of the useful, cool stuff has to do with customization. For example, you can easily set which icons are shown on your notification bar, you can choose your battery icon, as well as get wireless connection speeds displayed. For the home screen, customization options are basically endless. Icon packs are easy to apply, you can have varying transition animations (that’s OG Android right there), and so much else.

Kellen did a good job summing up the software in his detailed OnePlus 13 review. He said, “It is indeed as smooth as ever, the transition from opening to closing an app is as hiccup-free as you’ll find on any phone. Animations are beautiful, the polish is noticeably here, and there might not be an area that hasn’t been improved by OnePlus.”

Beyond the toys to play with, it also looks good too. The redesigned settings menu, the pulldown to access the sliders and system toggles, it all looks very refined and nice. OnePlus took a major step in the right direction with OxygenOS versus past iterations and I’m here for it.

OnePlus says both the OnePlus 13 and OnePlus 13R will get 4 years of Android OS updates and 6 years of security updates.

Hardware – Gone are the days of curved glass and hardware. I say good riddance. OnePlus 13R is as flat as they come, relatively easy to hold in hand even with its size. It’s a big phone, especially when compared to my little baby iPhone, but it has that honking battery to make up for it. It’s even way bigger than my Pixel 9 Pro, which I think is the perfect size for a phone.

Besides the camera housing on the backside, there isn’t much to see on the OnePlus 13R. It does have the notification slider on the left side, which is helpful at times, but the hardware could almost be described as featureless in this black color. I wouldn’t say it’s boring, but it’s no Galaxy Note 10 if you catch my drift. If you plan on using a case, who cares what the phone looks like anyway?

Pricing and Availability

US buyers can snag the OnePlus 13R for $599 via the official OnePlus website and Amazon (currently out of stock). At this price, the phone is hard to beat. Google currently has the Pixel 9 on sale for $649, which is a great phone, but to be honest, if I was choosing between strictly the Pixel 9 and OnePlus 13R, I think I’d have to go with the 13R. The battery life is insane and the performance blows the doors off of the Pixel 9. And no, I don’t really place much value on 7 years of updates. That’s not how I use my phones.

My fear is that without carrier availability, OnePlus may not sell a ton of these, which again means less options for buyers. As an Android lover, that sucks. People deserve a lot of good options, unlike what our iOS friends receive.

The Verdict

Phone is affordable. Phone is fast. Phone is good. But seriously, I think OnePlus set out on a mission to deliver a great phone at an affordable price and completely knocked it out of the park. I wasn’t expecting to care for this phone much, but it completely won me over. It makes me wish that Wear OS was in a better state so I had a good wearable to pair with it. If you don’t mind dropping the $599 on a phone (financing is available), I recommend it. Maybe you’re bored of using the same ol’ Pixel and Galaxy stuff? Give OxygenOS a try. It’s been a breath of fresh air, to be honest.

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