R you ready for love?

Can this really be most of the OnePlus 15 experience, for almost a third less cash? Tom Morgan-Freelander spends a fortnight investigating...

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from £649/go.stuff.tv/15R

DAY 01

Officially the 15R is Robin to the OnePlus 15's Batman, but I have a hard time telling when I first get it out of the box. The two look awfully similar, with the same modern flat styling, offset rectangular camera bump and customisable Plus Key. The only giveaways are the slightly thicker screen bezel up front and a marginal difference in dimensions.

Even in the initial setup, I can tell that cherry-picking some often-overlooked hardware has helped keep up the illusion that we're in true flagship territory. Whereas most step-down rivals use optical fingerprint sensors that aren't as fast to detect your digits, here you're getting the same speedy ultrasonic job as the OnePlus 15, which doesn't force you to lift your finger a bunch of times just to register a print. It works like a charm even with wet hands.

Water isn't a problem here, y'see, as the 15R has prodigious levels of ingress protection. IP66, IP68, IP69 and IP69K ratings mean it shrugs off high pressure and hot water as well as surviving accidental drops into sinks, pools or toilets (hopefully clean ones).