OnePlus is a global mobile technology brand that’s been around for some ten years, but its new smartphone releases are the first in Canada.
Originally expected to go on sale starting February 13, two highly anticipated OnePlus phones are now available for order here.
The OnePlus 12R is now available in Canada.
Perhaps a surprise to some, there are 17 models in the international OnePlus lineup! But the company unveiled the OnePlus 12 and new R Series at a launch event less than a month ago, and it has now widely released two devices – the premium OnePlus 12 and accessible 12R – saying the choice lets individual consumers pick what’s most important for them in their next smartphone in terms of performance and price.
As part of the roll-out in Canada, OnePlus is giving away a OnePlus 12R to a lucky contest entrant at WhatsYourTech.ca. Enter for your chance to WIN!
“I’m truly thrilled we can bring the OnePlus 12R to users in North America,” said Kinder Liu, OnePlus President and COO. “Our community in India loves the OnePlus R Series; I know our global community will be excited to try the OnePlus 12R as well.” Announced with the device launch, OnePlus 12 compatibility at 5G speeds on all major cellular networks in Canada and the U.S.
Based in China, the OnePlus Technology Co. began in 2013, developing a smartphone that would balance high-end quality with a lower price than other phones in its class, saying customers would “never settle” (the slogan that’s used in OnePlus marketing material) for the lower-quality devices produced by other companies.
The OnePlus 12R ‘unboxed’ with cable, charger, card slot key, print materials and phone.
The new 12R, available in either shiny Cool Blue or matte Iron Gray colour schemes, is set as a device designed for gamers, multi-taskers and those looking for lots of power and the latest features in a competitive smartphone.
It has a nice aluminum finish on a solid metal body for good grip and balanced weight. Its slim lines frame a smart-looking AMOLED screen on the front, measured at 6.78 inches and protected by Corning Gorilla Glass.
On its thin side edges can be found the volume rocker and power/wake/sleep button on the right as usual, but the OnePlus Alert Slider’s been relocated to the left side of the phone to accommodate a new integrated antenna system in this model; there’s a speaker, earpiece speaker, Nano SIM slot and a USB Type-C port.
On the backside, there’s the powerful Sony 50 MP IMX 890 triple camera system, featuring a main 50-megapixel sensor and secondary camera lenses including a 112-degree ultrawide camera, a macro camera and a 16-megapixel front-facing camera.
Extra camera features include optical image stabilization and OnePlus’s latest HDR image processing algorithm to help the camera capture brighter, clearer, and sharper images, even in dark environments. Subtle colour differences are clarified with the camera’s tone mapping image processing, and red glare and artifact reduction are also supported to deliver crisp pure images.
They look beautiful on the 12R’s AMOLED screen, with its 2780 x 1264, 450 pixels per inch resolution. It supports Dolby Vision, HDR 10+, and 10-bit colour. The company has upgraded overall screen brightness and colour saturation levels in its new release, so even dark gaming scenes can look excellent under bright lights.
HyperBoost and HyperRender image algorithms on the 12R help calibrate the brightness and smooth the frame rate while playing video games.
OnePlus sees the LTPO 4.0 screen refresh technology it’s put in the 12R as key to delivering the best screen experience without overtaxing the battery. When scrolling through a photo gallery, for example, the screen should have a fast refresh rate, say 120Hz, to look as smooth as possible.
But with a still image, or a 60Hz video, that faster refresh rate isn’t necessary and drains battery life. LTPO 4.0 technology detects the best refresh rate for the situation and switches to it seamlessly. The OnePlus 12R also uses hyper touch intelligent algorithms for gaming and touch interactions, and it is one of the first phones to use its CPU to detect screen wetness and react accordingly to avoid mistouches or delayed reactions.
Inside, the OnePlus 12R touts its all-new Trinity Engine, a proprietary software platform to boost and accelerate smartphone hardware performance in heavy-duty or multi-tasking scenarios, along with other special OnePlus-developed technologies to deliver enhanced performance across the phone’s processor, memory, and storage, making the OnePlus 12R a real gaming and multi-tasking option.
OnePlus uses the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip, a performance-oriented octa-core mobile processor, in the 12R, which can be configured with up to 16GB RAM and 256GB UFS 4.0 storage.
The powerful hardware is kept in a cool running condition with an advanced graphite cooling system made up of two vapour chambers, much larger than previous models. That’s made all the more necessary by the largest battery in a OnePlus phone: the 12R is rated at 5,500 mAh. A smart 80W rapid charger, battery management and power save mode, and a proprietary battery health engine with the OnePlus 12R, is said to give the power source a lifespan of up to 1,600 cycles.
With a host of other user-initiated features like split view screen mode, a smart sidebar, and quick return navigation functions, many are saying that the OnePlus 12R is a high-performance smartphone with a competitive price point that’s worth the wait.
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The OnePlus 12R will be available on OnePlus.com, Amazon, and Best Buy.
Canadian Pricing
OnePlus12
12GB+256GB: $1069.99
16GB+512GB: $1199.99
OnePlus12R
8GB+128GB: $669.99
16GB+256GB: $799.99
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