Technologies

The OnePlus 15 Is One of the Best Mainstream Phones for Gamers

How does a phone with a battery nearly 50% larger than other high-end phones work for gaming? We do the gamer science.

If you’re a mobile gamer, you know the bliss of playing anywhere you want to go — and the anxious downside of draining your phone’s battery as you do. That’s why the OnePlus 15‘s massive 7,300-mAh battery makes this a promising handset for the discerning gamer on the go. Presumably, you’ll be able to play for longer without draining your phone down to low capacity.

The reality is a little more complicated, partially because the OnePlus 15’s advantages can be diminished if graphics and the frame rate are cranked up to the max. It’s a good problem to have, as the phone’s premium specs give it a higher ceiling for performance. However, gamers who aren’t careful can drain their batteries nearly as quickly as other top-tier phones.

Still, if you don’t want a gaming-specific phone like the RedMagic 11 Pro or Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro, which aren’t easily available in the US, the OnePlus 15 is a mainstream handset that offers premium specs and features, making it a good choice.

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The OnePlus 15’s gaming experience

Good specs, good display, decent speakers

Battery life while gaming is important, but we’ll set that aside for a moment to focus on the experience of playing games themselves. While both versions of the phone pack the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip, I used the pricier $1,000 version with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, which presumably performs better than the cheaper $900 model with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. I tested a handful of popular games that are demanding enough to gauge the OnePlus 15’s capabilities.

The effect: high graphics and smooth gameplay. Aside from its high-end hardware, the OnePlus 15 also has a 6.78-inch OLED display with HD Plus (2,722 x1,272-pixel resolution) and 165Hz maximum refresh rate. The latter is a big deal for gaming, but most games won’t hit that cap, as they’re typically set to 120 frames per second (fps) at most.

One of the few big games that supports such a high refresh rate is Dead Cells, whose roguelike gameplay is dependent on reaction time. In theory, it supports an unlimited frame rate, but I couldn’t tell much difference between 120Hz and 165Hz — with more frames per second (roughly one per hertz, so 165fps at the phone’s maximum), it should enable players to respond faster, in the matter of microseconds.

But I’ll be the first one to admit that my clumsy fingers can’t hit the touch controls accurately enough to get that level of quick response. That’s where using a third-party controller comes in handy, and the Backbone I had in my desk drawer worked amazingly well. I plugged the OnePlus 15 in, and Dead Cells immediately switched over to external controls, already mapping my assortment of weapons and items to different buttons. In seconds, I was slipping in attacks between frantic sequences of dodge rolls and double jumps to evade enemy attacks.

When I switched to Destiny Rising, the mobile version of the venerable online shooter, the Backbone was a welcome experience, giving me a lot more button controls at my fingertips. There’s less of a performance gap when using the physical controller with Destiny Rising, as the touch controls work quite nicely, all things considered, compared to Dead Cells. Ditto with Diablo Immortal.

The mobile edition of the hack-and-slash dark fantasy game also has respectable touch controls; while there are a lot of buttons on the screen that block some of the action, they’re placed in a way that I don’t hit them accidentally and generally tap the one I mean to hit most of the time.

Destiny Rising and Diablo Immortal look good with the graphics cranked up to their maximum allowed, but curiously enough, they can’t quite reach the highest possible settings. That makes me wonder whether there’s even a phone out there that can, because the OnePlus 15’s specs are nearly the best you can get on a phone today. Regardless, with features like reflections and high graphics turned on, Destiny Rising and Diablo Immortal have good visuals, somewhere between a PS3/Xbox 360 and a PS4/Xbox One. Powerful as it is, the OnePlus 15 can’t improve the visuals on old games like PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, but those with a distinct style, like Genshin Impact, look good with the phone’s smooth frame rate.

This matches the OnePlus 15’s performance benchmark test results from Geekbench 6 (which tests the CPU) and 3DMark’s Wild Life Extreme (which tests the graphics). The OnePlus 15 achieved higher scores and frame rates than any other phone, except for the RedMagic 11 Pro. While handsets in the iPhone 17 series were not far behind, older phones are left in the dust — my two-year-old iPhone 15 Pro Max got half the scores and frame rates that the OnePlus 15 did.

3DMark Wild Life Extreme

OnePlus 15 7,227RedMagic 11 Pro 8,074iPhone 17 4,885OnePlus 13 6,762

Note: Longer bars indicate better performance

Geekbench 6.0

OnePlus 15 3,670 11,061RedMagic 11 Pro 3,683 11,664iPhone 17 3,612 9.18OnePlus 13 3,091 9,362

Geekbench 6.0, single-core
Geekbench 6.0, multi-core

Note: Longer bars indicate better performance

The big battery helps

But fast charging is much more useful

Aside from its powerful specs, the OnePlus 15’s biggest flex is its 7,300-mAh battery, which is half again as much capacity as the 5,000-mAh batteries found on most premium phones, like the iPhone 17 Pro Max. This should lead to longer playtime, and from anecdotal experience, it does: the phone was at 2% when I started playing Dead Cells to speed up the battery drain, and I managed to play for 45 minutes before it automatically shut down to preserve the remaining 1%. It’s possible that OnePlus deliberately undercounts the bottom sliver of the battery to give people more time (similar to feeling like you’re getting more miles in your car than expected when the gas tank’s empty light is on), but it still gives the feeling of longevity.

But outside of a handful of those examples, the capacity advantage is more muted than I expected. The OnePlus 15’s battery doesn’t noticeably drain more slowly during gameplay than rival phones with smaller capacity batteries. Some of this can be attributed to the phone’s higher graphics and frame rate capability, which somewhat counteract this capacity advantage. Crank them up too high and they’ll drain battery life faster.

I tested this out by playing Destiny Rising for 20 minutes with all graphics and frame rate settings cranked up to maximum, which drained 6% of the OnePlus 15’s battery. When I dropped the performance to the minimum settings for a similarly timed session, it drained 5% of the battery — a small change, but it adds up.

The OnePlus 15’s greater advantage, especially for gamers with access to power outlets, is its recharging speed. The phone packs an 80-watt charger in the box. In my testing, it refilled from nearly empty (1%) to 73% in 30 minutes and reached 100% in 45 minutes. That’s faster than everything but the iPhone 17 series and Samsung Galaxy S25 FE in our tests, all of which have smaller battery capacities. The phone also supports up to 50-watt wireless charging, and because most wireless chargers top out at 15 or 30 watts, good luck finding one that’ll juice back up the OnePlus 15 at its maximum supported rate. The phone supports bypass charging, too, letting you play without draining the battery while it’s plugged in (as long as you can game with a cord sticking out of the bottom of the handset).

While I was disappointed that the large capacity didn’t lead to slower battery drain while playing games, I was delighted by how quickly I could top up the phone between sessions. Heck, you can recharge it even faster with the phone’s maximum 100-watt charging speed, if you pick up a separate OnePlus proprietary charger. It’s worth noting that the larger battery will still prolong casual phone use that doesn’t strain the hardware, such as browsing and using apps.

Final confrontation

What the OnePlus 15 has for mobile gamers over other phones

I found the OnePlus 15 to be a solid phone all around, and there’s something to be said about a high-performance handset that appeals to mainstream tastes. There are certainly fans of the «gamer chic» black, angled lines and RGB lights that characterize products sold to the gaming demographic — things that look like accessories for Decepticons, including the Asus ROG series of phones. Personally, I like the stylized artfulness of the OnePlus 15’s rounded corners, flat sides and smooth matte back cover.

Another advantage the OnePlus 15 has over gaming-specific phones is a normal software interface. CNET senior writer Mike Sorrentino was frustrated by numerous annoyances in the RedMagic 11 Pro’s software, from bloatware to brand watermarks on photos toggled on by default. The OnePlus 15 has a normal interface with its OxygenOS 16 skin on Android 16 — no extreme gamer aesthetic. The Game Assistant app is simple and I find it automatically collecting games within its folder to be handy.

And crucially, the OnePlus 15 has far and away better photo capabilities than other gaming phones. Its suite of three 50-megapixel rear cameras captured impressive color and detail in a series of images showcasing the streets of Lisbon, Portugal, that were shot by CNET’s talented principal editor (and professional photographer in his own right) Andrew Lanxon. While they don’t quite reach the quality of a Samsung Galaxy S25 series or a Google Pixel 10, they’re respectably close, and have the utility of main, ultrawide and telephoto cameras.

The OnePlus 15 does have some drawbacks. Other gaming phones have neat features, like the Asus ROG 9 Pro’s external cooling fan and, crucially, its side port for charging while you’re gaming. Worse, the OnePlus continues to lag competitors in offering only four years of Android updates and six years of security patches, which is notably less than the seven years that Samsung and Google offer (Apple doesn’t promise iOS updates, but generally manages six or more years depending on the device). Other gaming phones are worse, with the RedMagic 11 Pro receiving only three years of Android updates, while the Asus ROG 9 Pro receives an abysmally low two years of operating system updates. Even if the OnePlus 15 is better compared to gaming phones, it’s not great to spend about a grand on a phone only to see it stop receiving new, fun software features after half a decade.

There’s another caveat to the OnePlus 15, which I wouldn’t consider a dealbreaker for gamers. The phone’s 1,800-nit maximum display brightness is fine outdoors, but pales in comparison to its competitors; the iPhone 17 series, for instance, boasts a 3,000-nit peak brightness outdoors. But I wouldn’t expect many mobile gamers to be playing outside anyway — I sure haven’t been while I’ve done all this gamer science.

Technologies

Prime Video Hits Pause on Error-Filled AI Recaps

People reported the AI tool struggling with interpreting key scenes properly.

Amazon launched a limited beta of AI-generated Video Recaps for selected in-house Prime Video shows last month — titles like Fallout, Jack Ryan, The Rig, Upload and Bosch. But now the feature has made a generative AI about-face, with reports of it being removed from the app after fans found errors in the Fallout recap and posted about them online.

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The Video Recaps feature stitches together video clips, audio effects, snippets of dialog, music and an AI-generated voiceover narration. According to Amazon, it «analyzes a season’s key plot points and character arcs to deeply understand the most pivotal moments that will resonate with viewers as they enter the next season.»

But as reported earlier by GamesRadar, a viewer recently posted in the r/Fallout subreddit that the season one recap incorrectly dated Cooper Howard’s flashbacks to 1950 when they were actually set in 2077.

«‘Cooper offers Lucy a choice in the finale: die, or join him’ phrased as if he’d be the one to kill her,» another viewer posted on X, describing one of the other AI errors in the recap.

Several outlets then noted that the recap option in the app seems to have disappeared. CNET Senior Editor Corinne Reichert’s app still displays the recap option, but nothing happens when it’s clicked.

As someone with a terrible memory, I would really, really like these types of features to work. Hope springs eternal, I guess.

Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Saturday, Dec. 13

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Dec. 13.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? It’s so long, it’s almost not a mini version today. Read on for the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Field trip vehicle
Answer: BUS

4A clue: Peter’s antagonist, in a musical tale
Answer: WOLF

8A clue: «Keep me posted,» in texts
Answer: LMK

9A clue: Opera solo
Answer: ARIA

10A clue: ___Pen (emergency device)
Answer: EPI

11A clue: With 12-Across, gets in order
Answer: SETS

12A clue: With 14-Across, what a tennis champ might win a match in
Answer: STRAIGHT

14A clue: See 12-Across
Answer: SETS

15A clue: «A long time ___ in a galaxy far, far away …»
Answer: AGO

16A clue: Shy and gentle
Answer: MEEK

17A clue: Prefix with apology or answer
Answer: NON

18A clue: Comes to a close
Answer: ENDS

19A clue: Have to pay
Answer: OWE

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: «Goodness gracious!»
Answer: BLESSME

2D clue: Indefinitely many, informally
Answer: UMPTEEN

3D clue: Avoided, as an issue
Answer: SKIRTED

4D clue: «Now, where ___?»
Answer: WASI

5D clue: Green topping at a pizza parlor
Answer: OREGANO

6D clue: John who played Churchill on «The Crown»
Answer: LITHGOW

7D clue: Sneaky trick to «pull»
Answer: FASTONE

13D clue: Doesn’t just assume one has permission
Answer: ASKS

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Technologies

Apple Watch Series 11 vs. Series 10: Are the Differences Enough to Justify Upgrading?

At first glance, the new Apple Watch Series 11 looks a lot like its previous-year model. We compare the specs to see what’s changed.

If you’re looking at getting an Apple Watch this holiday season, you have a tough choice: Should you buy the latest Apple Watch Series 11, or find a Series 10 that has most of the same features at a lower cost? Apple made incremental changes to its flagship smartwatch, while also introducing significant improvements to the Apple Watch Ultra 3 and Apple Watch SE 3.

There are still enough differences to make you look twice at moving up (especially if you’re coming from an older model). Let’s compare the models side by side and tease out the finer details.

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Pricing the Apple Watch Series 11

The Series 11 has kept the same price as the Series 10. It starts at $399 for the model with an aluminum body or $699 for one made of titanium.

Add $30 for the larger 46mm case size in aluminum, or $50 for titanium. Opting for a model with a cellular radio that connects independently to networks adds $100. And if you choose a band made of something other than rubber or textile — a stainless steel link bracelet, for example — the price climbs further. Unfortunately, you can’t order just the watch case; you have to select a new band, even if it ends up in your drawer in favor of one you already own and prefer.

There’s also a titanium Apple Watch Hermès model available in silver titanium in both sizes that starts at $1,249.

Apple no longer sells the Series 10, since the Series 11 replaces it, but you can still find refurbished Series 10 models for less from Apple, and new models from other retailers while supplies last.

Apple Watch Series 11 vs. Series 10: Outward design

The Series 11 and Series 10 share the same case design and materials. The larger model measures 46mm tall by 39mm wide, while the smaller comes in at 42mm by 36mm. (Kudos to Apple for continuing to offer two sizes to accommodate people with different-sized wrists.) They’re also both 1mm slimmer than the Apple Watch models that came before, at 9.7mm.

Despite being mostly the same in dimensions, the Series 11 is slightly heavier than the Series 10. For example, the 46mm aluminum GPS Series 11 weighs 37.8 grams, up slightly from 36.4 grams for the Series 10. The 42mm versions come in at 30.3 grams and 30.0 grams, respectively.

For colors, the Series 11 adds a space gray aluminum option to go along with rose gold, silver and jet black. Both models are also available in titanium finishes of slate, gold and natural.

The physical controls are unchanged: the dial that Apple calls the Digital Crown and a side button (that Apple cleverly calls the «side button»). Only the Apple Watch Ultra includes a third physical control: the Action button.

Also noteworthy: The titanium Series 11 is made of 100% recycled titanium, up from 95% recycled material in the titanium Series 10. The display glass is made of 40% recycled glass in the Series 11; no amount is listed for the Series 10. And the battery in the Series 11 uses 100% recycled cobalt and 95% recycled lithium. (The Series 10 lists only 100% recycled cobalt.)

Series 11 vs. Series 10 screens

The screens on both the Series 11 and Series 10 watches have a wide-angle LTPO 3 OLED display. That means it’s easier to see the contents from an angle, and the always-on display refreshes once per second, allowing the seconds counter to move even when the watch is in inactive mode.

LTPO3 screens are also more power efficient. The screens reach up to 2,000 nits for clear visibility in sunlight and dim down to just 1 nit in darkness.

The key difference between the Series 11 and Series 10 screens lies in the glass covering. On the Series 11 aluminum models, Apple uses Ion-X glass, which it claims is twice as scratch-resistant as the glass on previous aluminum versions. The titanium Series 11 uses a sapphire crystal display.

Apple Watch processor and chips

Normally we’d highlight how the new processor improves on its predecessor, but for 2025 Apple stuck with the same S10 processor found in the Series 10. That also means the other chips remain the same, too: the W3 Apple Wireless chip, the second-generation Ultra Wideband chip (for precise Find My location tracking), a four-core Neural Engine and 64GB of storage.

Battery power: Series 11 vs. Series 10

Battery life is where the two models get really interesting. Apple doesn’t reveal how large the built-in lithium-ion battery is or its capacity, but it is claiming up to 24 hours for the Series 11 compared to 18 hours for the Series 10. In Low Power Mode, that’s up to 38 hours for the Series 11, up from 36 hours in the Series 10.

It’s not entirely clear where Apple squeezed an extra six hours of battery life out of what appears to be mostly identical hardware. Both phones use the same S10 processor, though there are likely software optimizations in WatchOS 26. CNET lead writer Vanessa Hand Orellana found that, at least initially, Apple may be undercounting the battery performance, writing in her review, «With notifications turned on (heavy Slack-ing and texting), at least one 30- to 45-minute outdoor workout a day, a full night of sleep tracking and some mild flashlight use, I’ve consistently managed to squeeze between 27 and 32 hours per charge.»

As for charging the watches, both the Series 11 and Series 10 can be charged up to 80% in about 30 minutes. Apple says that with a 20W power adapter, 15 minutes of fast charging provides up to 8 hours of regular use, while just five minutes is enough for eight hours of sleep tracking — thanks to the watch’s much lower power demands while you’re asleep. Apple’s comparison information for the Series 10 doesn’t list those last two metrics, but that seems more due to it being a marketing point last year versus a new capability in the Series 11.

Comparing the sensors of the Series 11 and Series 10

The Apple Watch’s sensors power health features that range from heart-rate monitoring to depth sensing to precise location tracking. That said…

They’re identical in the Series 11 and Series 10. No changes here.

Another change: Connectivity in the Series 11 and Series 10

One of the more notable changes in the cellular models of the Series 11 is support for 5G networks, specifically a power-efficient type called 5G Reduced Capacity (or 5G RedCap). That allows it to connect to both 5G and LTE networks without having to go through a connected iPhone, and the 5G speeds should be better. By comparison, the cellular Series 10 supports LTE and UMTS (3G).

Part of incorporating 5G into the Series 11 models is a redesigned cellular antenna and an algorithm that «simultaneously engages the two system antennas when needed, significantly increasing the signal strength,» according to Apple’s Series 11 press release. That algorithm is exclusive to the Series 11 and Apple Watch Ultra 3, per Apple.

Both Apple Watch models support Wi-Fi 4 (802.11n) at 2.5GHz and 5GHz speeds. (Apple’s comparison page only lists the speeds for the Series 11, but an Apple Watch Wi-Fi support page notes 5GHz has been supported since the Series 6 watches.)

Both watches talk to the iPhone and other peripherals using Bluetooth 5.3.

WatchOS 26 on the Apple Watch Series 11 and Series 10

The new features of WatchOS 26 come to both watch models, including hypertension notifications, Sleep Score and the Blood Oxygen app (making its reappearance in the US amid an ongoing legal dispute). Apple’s comparison page lists the new Wrist Flick gesture for the Series 11 but not the Series 10, but that must be a typo because I can confirm that it works on my Series 10 watch.

Apple Watch Series 11 vs. Apple Watch Series 10

	Apple Watch Series 11	Apple Watch Series 10
Design & sizes	Rectangular, 42mm, 46mm	Rectangular, 42mm, 46mm
Display	42mm: 446 x 374 pixels, LTPO3 OLED Retina display, Wide-angle OLED 46mm: 416 x 496 pixels, LTPO3 OLED Retina display, Wide-angle OLED	446 x 374 ppi, LTPO3 OLED Retina display, Wide-angle OLED
Brightness	Between 1 and 2000 nits	2000 nits
Thickness & weight	46mm size: 9.7mm; 37.8g (aluminum), 36.9g (aluminum GPS+Cellular), 43.1g (titanium) 42mm size: 9.7mm; 30.3g (aluminum), 29.7g (aluminum GPS+Cellular), 34.6g (titanium)	9.7mm; 30-41.7g (46mm titanium model)
Material & finish	Aluminum: jet black, rose gold or silver finish; titanium: slate, gold or natural finish	Aluminum: jet black, rose gold or silver finish; titanium: slate, gold or natural finish
Durability	5ATM Water + IP6X (dust)	5ATM Water + IP6X (dust)
Battery life	Up to 24 hours, up to 38 hours Low Power (always-on) + Fast charge: 80% in 30 min, 100% in 60 min	24-30 (always-on) + Fast charge: 80% in 30 min, 100% in 60 min
Sensors	ECG, 3rd-gen optical heart sensor, skin temp, depth gauge, SpO2, Noise monitoring, water temperature, compass	ECG, heart rate, skin temp, depth gauge, SpO2, Noise monitoring
Emergency features	Satellite SOS, Emergency SOS, Fall detection, Crash detection, Check in and Backtrack	Emergency SOS, Fall detection, Crash detection, Check in and Backtrack
AI & coaching	Siri (voice assistant); Workout Buddy	Siri (voice assistant); Workout Buddy
Processor	S10 SiP with 64-bit dual-core processor, W3 Apple wireless chip	S10 SiP with 64-bit dual-core processor, W3 Apple wireless chip
RAM/Storage	64GB (storage)	64GB (storage)
Payments	Apple Pay	Apple Pay
Price (US)	$399-$750 (titanium)	$399-$750 (titanium)