OnePlus releasing midrange smartphones that perform better than their price ranges. In the US, the company’s prominence has waned in recent years.
OnePlus 10T, a $649 phone, changes that. The phone fills a well-defined niche. It’s fortunate that it’s not for everyone.
The 10T’s Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 CPU stands out. It’s 2022’s greatest Android chipset. The 10T is around $700. That shows what this phone’s about. Fast wired charging is also on board, 125W in the US since our power outlets can’t take greater voltages.
The 10T lacks wireless charging and Hasselblad branding on the camera system, unlike the 10 Pro. Big, fast-refresh OLED screen, but no wireless charging. The 10T is for folks who want high-performance without paying $1,000. If so, you’ll be glad to know OnePlus is back.
Base model OnePlus 10T has 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, but no microSD card slot. Both will be marketed in North America. Those are competitive specifications, particularly given the pricing, where 6GB of RAM is standard. The 16GB version performs like a $1,000 phone.
Who doesn’t window shop for a new house on Zillow’s mobile site? I played Diablo Immortal for 30 minutes without serious difficulty, save for a fire-breathing monster I had to seven-sided strike. When I enter a new region, the framerate is a bit unsteady, but it’s not bothersome.
Genshin Impact has smooth gameplay and little missing frames. It’s one of two games OnePlus claims it’s designed the 10T for using a framerate stabilization feature, and it works wonderfully.
The 10T’s rapid wired charging works. The phone comes with a large charging brick and USB-C to USB-C cord. The phone charges to 30% in about five minutes.
60 percent charge in 10 minutes, full in 20. If you don’t mind carrying the charger, you can add many hours of usage with only a few minutes at a power outlet. Even if you spend most of your day without a power source, you can still game or stream video.
Good battery life. The 4,800mAh battery lasted a day with 60% charge after regular usage. I mostly used cellular data with high performance mode on and the quickest screen refresh rate setting (on by default). That’s a day of moderate usage; if you want to do a lot of gaming, a late-afternoon recharge is needed to prevent single-digit battery misery.
The 10T has an IP54 certification worldwide. The identical phone at T-Mobile has an IP rating, but the unlocked version doesn’t. IP54 protects against dust and water spray, not immersion. It’s not as waterproof as other flagship gadgets, but it’s better than nothing.
The 10T lacks OnePlus’ alert slider. The manufacturer reduced the slider to make room for the phone’s CPU and heat dissipation system. This phone lacks an alert slider, but that doesn’t mean it’s gone forever. Leaving it out is controversial among OnePlus fans. I got by using the phone.
OnePlus included a heat-dissipation technology on the 10T because to its powerful CPU and quick charging. OnePlus boasts it has the biggest vapor chamber ever. I don’t understand 3D graphite and copper foil, but it works nicely. The phone warms up while downloading the 15GB Genshin Impact (with the animated loading screen enabled), but not frighteningly so.
Diablo Immortal makes the phone warm, but it’s still pleasant to use. I only noticed the phone growing warm when I placed it on a sofa cushion while downloading large game files. The cooling system can’t work when it’s suffocated, however.
Oneplus’ 10T has a serious heat-dissipation system.
OnePlus 10T is a 6.7-inch OLED with 1080p resolution and 120Hz refresh rate. Flat panel, curving edges. It’s not an LTPO display, so it can’t dip to incredibly low refresh rates, but the screen will adjust between 60, 90, and 120Hz to save power. It’s not the brightest screen I’ve seen, but 950 nits is plenty to see in direct sunshine.
OnePlus has joined Google and Samsung in pledging to longer software support periods. The 10T will receive three OS upgrades and four years of security patches, compared to five years for other Pixel and Galaxy smartphones. That’s not great, but it’s decent, and the 10T should be OK after four years of security updates.
The 10T’s camera is an afterthought, which is great. It sports a 50-megapixel primary camera, an 8-megapixel ultrawide, and a 16-megapixel selfie camera. Low quality and fixed focus make the 2-megapixel macro camera on the rear panel almost unusable. You’ll love it if you enjoy wondering whether your shot will be in focus. OnePlus could have added a close-focusing ultrawide but didn’t.
OnePlus spokeswoman Spenser Blank said the firm wants to market it differently from the 10 Pro. Using the Hasselblad brand surely isn’t cheap, and it hasn’t enhanced OnePlus’ cameras much. Little loss.
All of this means that the 10T’s cameras are average: excellent in good light, okay in low. The camera needs a few tries to obtain the proper photo, but it does. First, exposure may vary; I shot three overexposed photographs of my spouse and kid before getting one with the proper exposure and skin tones. Its shutter speeds are fast enough to capture moving objects in moderate illumination sharply. Night mode brings out color and detail in static subjects in low light. Video exposure is a touch wonky, but 4K/60p clips seem fine.
I like that the OnePlus 10T doesn’t try to please everyone. There’s not much else in the US at the same pricing. It’s more than the $599 Pixel 6, but the screen is larger and has a 120Hz refresh rate. You won’t get fast charging on the Pixel 6.
