The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra will be my primary smartphone for at least the next few weeks, and I’m getting there from the OnePlus 13. I first put my SIM card in the OnePlus 13 three months ago, and no one there ‘did I’ve been able to fight it with my hands ever since. For me, that’s a surprisingly long time to use an Android phone, and that says a lot about what a great phone it is.
I’ll be using the Galaxy S25 Ultra for the next few weeks, but I’ll miss the OnePlus 13. Here’s why.
Why so long?
Twelve weeks of use may not seem like a lot to you, but it’s probably the longest continuous period I’ve used a single Android phone for in quite some time. My job involves me swapping Android phones very regularly, but various things lined up to mean I didn’t do that need to discuss the festive period. Often when these situations have arisen in the past, I have put my SIM in another phone just to see it again, or because I really liked it.
It didn’t even cross my mind this time. I even remember saying, during a planning session for future articles, that I wasn’t finished with the OnePlus 13, even though my review and other coverage was complete. For me to to want Continuing to use the OnePlus 13, even though various other phones I really liked were waiting for me, meant it didn’t do anything at all, and perhaps best of all, it didn’t do anything to annoy me .
I had a love/hate affair with the Oxygenos as a lot of what I didn’t like about Oppo’s coloros started to creep into the design and interface. These aspects – the seemingly endless system notifications, poor notification support and overly complex menus, for example – would have seen me reaching for the Google Pixel 9 Pro (my other favorite Android phone from last year) in days gone by , but with Oxygenos 15, OnePlus has taken back control and the software is all the best for it. I don’t just tolerate it. I like it.
Fantastic material
I’ve had the OnePlus 13 inside the official Sandstone case since it arrived. Aside from the odd requirement to put a strip of plastic inside to ensure you get the fastest wireless charging speeds, it’s a very nice addition to the phone. The grippy texture isn’t too grippy, so it goes in and out of my pocket without a fight, and it doesn’t add too much bulk to the phone.
When I take the case off I feel stupid for using it all the time. The soft, tactile texture of the microfiber vegan leather back panel on my Midnight Ocean model feels much more luxurious than the sandpaper scratch case. The design of the phone is perfect and a huge improvement over the OnePlus 12’s ‘H’ logo like moving Hasselblad’s ‘H’ logo to the side of the camera module and adding a polished line underneath, make it eye-catching and distinctive.
Battery life continued to impress, and with my two to three hours of use each day, it lasted well into a third day before I really needed to recharge it. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite didn’t make the phone too hot, and I loved using the camera too. Hasselblad’s work behind the scenes must be paying off, because the tone and colors produced in the photos are really attractive and give the OnePlus 13’s camera an identity of its own. I’ve even discovered a love for XPAN Camera mode, which has improved enough that I no longer view it as a gimmick.
It’s a difficult act to follow
The Galaxy S25 Ultra has to follow what I think is one of the best Android smartphones you can buy. So that it wins me over and encourages me to at least I want to use it for 12 weeks straight, it has to be easy to carry, look good, have great battery life, reliable software, and a camera I enjoy using.
The OnePlus 13 does all of this with ease, and I can’t ignore that the 12GB/256GB version costs $400 less than the cheapest Galaxy S25 ultra model, which actually has the same base spec. Even if you have $1,299 to spend on a new smartphone, saving that amount of money is the difference between getting a new phone And A smartwatch or smart ring, or just get a new phone on its own.
Samsung’s latest phones aren’t the OnePlus 13’s only competition, and the Google Pixel 9 Pro also presents a strong challenge, but that brings me to another strong point of the OnePlus 13. It has AI features, but they are not pushed as a monumental transformer or a reason to buy. I love this because I don’t feel like I’m paying for features I don’t use, as few so far have been consistently useful.
Maybe that’s also a reason why I’ve loved using the OnePlus 13 over the past 84 days: it’s a smartphone, and it excels at do things for smartphone. I don’t really need much more, and if you’ve been thinking about buying a OnePlus 13, take it from me, someone who’s usually happy to trade in on a different phone every couple of weeks, you won’t regret it not having obtained one.
