Using the OnePlus 13s as a woman: pocket-friendly size, Pink finish, and more
2025 has seen a resurgence of affordable compact flagships, such as the OnePlus 13s and Vivo X200 FE. Before these, we had only a handful of compact phones on the market, but they had mostly catered to the flagship segment, like the Samsung Galaxy S25, iPhone 16, and Xiaomi 15. The OnePlus 13s marks its entry in the sub-Rs 55,000 segment with a flagship chipset and a wonderfully compact design. I’ve been using the OnePlus 13s for a few weeks now, and here are some things I’ve liked about it from a woman’s perspective.
Compact design
Among other things, the first thing that stands out about the OnePlus 13s is its compact design. Ever since rumours began circulating online about OnePlus launching a compact flagship, it has been one of the most highly anticipated devices. The OnePlus 13s features a 6.32-inch display and measures 15.08 x 7.17 x 0.82 cm. It’s also quite lightweight, weighing just 185 grams, which was a delight after using phones that exceeded 200 grams.
The in-hand feel of the phone is excellent, especially for someone like me with small hands. But almost everyone who checked out the device appreciated its compact feel. It’s also thin, which makes it easier to hold, and it fits easily in my small pocket. Pants designed for women typically have small pockets, so you can understand my joy. My judgment might be a bit biased here, as I prefer compact phones, with the Galaxy S25 being another favourite. But just the experience of holding a phone that doesn’t feel like a large brick is genuinely refreshing.
It comes in Pink!
OnePlus’s decision to introduce the Pink variant of the 13s in India is something I was quite impressed with. Most Chinese brands refrain from launching Pink phones in India. Even Vivo, which recently launched its compact X200 FE in India, didn’t bring the Pink variant here (missed opportunity!). That’s why I was genuinely surprised and impressed to see OnePlus launch the Pink variant of the 13s in India, a decision that feels like it’s aimed at users like me. The market here might not seem to have much demand for the Pink colour compared to others, but I think it’s time Chinese brands take the risk and follow the likes of Apple and Google, who have always offered multiple colours, including Pink.
Although OnePlus didn’t send us the Pink Satin review unit, we were able to check it out briefly. It’s a soft, light Pink colour, and comes with a matching case in the box. This colour variant also places the device in the same league as other popular Pink phones, such as the iPhone 16 and Google Pixel 9. The OnePlus 13s is also available in Black Velvet and Green Silk colours.
Surprisingly, it doesn’t heat up much!
The OnePlus 13s is a flagship phone powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite, Qualcomm’s fastest mobile chipset. It’s paired with 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM (plus 12GB virtual RAM) and up to 512GB of UFS 4.0 storage. These specs suggest you can expect top-notch performance from the OnePlus 13s, even under demanding workloads. You can read more about this in detail in our review, but I’ll share a brief account of my personal experience.
I’m not a heavy user, but I expect snappy performance given the phone’s hardware capabilities. The most intensive task I put the 13s through is gaming for about an hour each day. Even then, the phone doesn’t heat up much and remains comfortable to hold. I’ve also played games with the phone plugged in, and surprisingly, I didn’t experience any uncomfortable heating issues.
I bring this up because of my experience with two other compact phones, the Xiaomi 15 and Samsung Galaxy S25. While I liked both, they tended to heat up more than usual, making long gaming sessions or even extended WhatsApp calls difficult. The OnePlus 13s does better on that front.
Small screen, but still great for streaming
A compact phone might seem limiting for content consumption, especially if you’re used to streaming on larger devices. The OnePlus 13s has a 6.32-inch display, which is smaller than the typical 6.7 to 6.8-inch screen sizes. Despite that, the OnePlus 13s features almost no bezels, offering an immersive all-screen experience. So even while watching TV shows or movies, I didn’t find the smaller screen to be an issue. The near bezel-less design makes it quite suitable for content consumption.
That said, it might not suit everyone, especially those who prefer larger screens for watching videos. Still, if you’re worried about whether the OnePlus 13s will be too small for viewing content, in my experience, it holds up well and shouldn’t be a significant concern.
New customisable shortcut button
The OnePlus 13s debuts a new ‘Plus Key’, replacing the iconic Alert Slider that has been synonymous with OnePlus users for years. The new button aligns with the current trend of customisable shortcuts paired with AI features. On the OnePlus 13s, you can use the Plus Key to take screenshots of virtually anything on your screen, which are then stored in an organised manner in a new app called Mind Space. It’s handy for saving articles, events, guides, and similar content so you’re not scrambling to find them later.
I didn’t find the Plus Key very useful for my usage. But the key point here is that it remains customisable. If you don’t want to use it for the default Plus Key functions, you can assign it to behave like the traditional Alert Slider, allowing you to switch between ring, vibrate, and silent modes. You can also configure it to activate DND mode, turn on the flashlight, open the camera, or access tools like Recorder, Translate, and Screenshot. And if none of that appeals to you, you can disable it entirely so pressing the button does nothing.
So while OnePlus may have replaced the classic Alert Slider, the new Plus Key still offers a reasonable degree of flexibility to suit different user needs.
Of course, no phone is perfect.
While there’s a lot to like about the OnePlus 13s, it does come with a few compromises, like the absence of a wide-angle camera, no support for wireless charging, and only an IP65 rating for limited dust and water resistance. We’ve discussed these in detail in our review, which you can read here.
That said, the overall experience with the OnePlus 13s has been both refreshing and practical, especially as a woman who has been using this phone for a couple of weeks now. While many of us tend to prefer an iPhone or a Samsung flagship for various reasons, including compact size, the OnePlus 13s stands out by getting the form factor right without compromising on performance.
