“The OnePlus 10T relies on the most recent Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and really fast wired charging to draw attention, but the remaining of the phone disappoints, and fails to compete wth each dearer and cheaper alternatives.”
Pros
- Latest Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor
- 20 minutes to charge the battery
Cons
- Plastic chassis
- No alert slider
- No wireless charging
OnePlus says it “never settles,” and the T-versions of its old phones proved it! OnePlus T devices would update an existing OnePlus phone with recent technology after about six months to be sure it provided the very best possible value. The OnePlus 10T follows this basic formula, but don’t mistake it for an upgraded OnePlus 10 Pro. It’s definitely not — and is in just about all other ways a marked step down from the ten Pro.
Design
The OnePlus 10T is less of a ten series and more a Nord series smartphone. By which I mean, don’t buy it expecting to get the complete premium experience you get with the OnePlus 10 Pro, and as an alternative bank on something just like a high-class mid-range model that might top the Nord line. While it has glass on the back, the chassis is product of plastic — and that’s an enormous problem.
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Once you hold the OnePlus 10T, the one constant touch point is the frame. And that frame has that borderline unpleasant warm plasticky feel you get with the Nord 2T. It’s somewhat forgivable on the Nord since it’s an affordable phone, but at nearly twice the Nord’s price, it’s a much greater issue for the OnePlus 10T. It’s not start.
OnePlus will point to the glass back and the integrated camera module as evidence this can be a premium phone, but even that doesn’t have the identical quality finish because the OnePlus 10 Pro. The glass on the green model has an oddly plastic feel and gets covered in smudges. The black model can also be glass, nevertheless it has an unusual, and never all the time very pleasing, texture to it. It’s not an unsightly phone, though. The integrated camera module carried over from the ten Pro still looks interesting, and the green color is eye-catching without being gaudy.
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Surprisingly, OnePlus has taken the choice to remove the alert slider from the 10T, and its absence hurts. Not only is it very useful on the ten Pro and all other primary OnePlus phones for the reason that OnePlus One, nevertheless it makes these phones uniquely OnePlus. Only the Nord OnePlus phones have ignored the alert slider, presumably to chop costs, making its disappearance on the 10T bizarre and misjudged. In line with OnePlus, it wouldn’t fit contained in the phone as a result of changes to the antenna system — not less than without making the phone thicker.
The 10T’s haptic engine can also be disappointing. By default, the system-wide vibrations are turned off, but, turn them on, and the noisy buzzes generated make the phone sound just a little hole. The OnePlus 10 Pro’s wonderful haptic engine feels completely different, much more tactile and pleasing. Plus, it’s fully energetic right out of the box. It’s one other corner cut for the 10T, as is the fingerprint sensor, which is ready quite low within the screen. It’s fast and reliable, but the position is more awkward than its implementation on the ten Pro.
Andy Boxall/Digital Trends
Andy Boxall/Digital Trends
OnePlus 10T (left) and OnePlus 10 Pro (right) Andy Boxall/Digital Trends
OnePlus 10T (top) and OnePlus 10 Pro (below) Andy Boxall/Digital Trends
The OnePlus 10T isn’t ugly, it’s not that heavy, it’s comfortable enough to carry, and it looks pretty in green. Nevertheless, the plastic chassis makes it feel low-cost (which it’s not), the glass gets very smudgy, the haptics don’t reflect the corporate’s best efforts, the fingerprint sensor is just too low on the screen (again), and the dearth of the alert slider robs it of virtually all remaining OnePlus-ness.
Performance
OnePlus calls the 10T its performance flagship phone, while the ten Pro is its camera flagship. Backing this up is a switch from the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 within the 10 Pro to the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor within the 10T. The Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 is an excellent processor, and it has really impressed with its ability within the Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro and Zenfone 9. Qualcomm claims a rise in performance and efficiency over the 8 Gen 1. Once you don’t push the 10T, it does look like less power-hungry than the 8 Gen 1, suggesting it manages apps and background activity thoroughly.
Andy Boxall/Digital Trends
You may buy the OnePlus 10T with as much as 16GB of RAM, too, the primary time Oppo has offered such an enormous amount of memory, which makes the phone able to running greater than 30 apps within the background at the identical time. Mix this with the large power of the Snapdragon processor, and the 10T is a multi-tasking monster. I haven’t manually closed any apps on the 10T since I began reviewing it, and there have been no noticeable speed issues when reopening them.
There’s absolute confidence about its gaming prowess either, with Asphalt 9: Legends and Diablo Immortal looking superb and providing masses of speed and smooth performance. The back of the phone, particularly across the camera module gets moderately warm whenever you play games like these for half-hour or more, nevertheless it’s never too hot to the touch. There is a large amount of performance potential within the OnePlus 10T.
All that said, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 isn’t exactly ancient and ponderous. In point of fact, the small advantages provided by the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 don’t really outweigh the compromises in design and materials on the 10T over the ten Pro.
Camera
Hasselblad has not been involved with the OnePlus 10T’s camera system, so there’s no Hasselblad branding on the back and no Hasselblad tuning inside either. You get a Sony IMX766 50-megapixel most important camera and an 8MP wide-angle camera, plus an almost entirely pointless 2MP macro camera. It’s a 16MP selfie camera within the central hole-punch cutout within the screen.
Andy Boxall/Digital Trends
OnePlus is true — this isn’t a flagship camera phone. It takes photos identical to Nord phones, and various Realme and Oppo phones too, through an appropriate most important camera and a disappointing wide-angle camera. Shoot with the AI Mode’s scene recognition energetic and expect very shiny and vivid colours, amped up beyond what’s natural. The 50MP camera works well on sunny, shiny days, but is way less joyful when lighting is difficult, and it doesn’t expose detail in shadows well in any respect.
The 8MP wide-angle camera doesn’t have the resolution to capture much detail, photos can appear washed out, and when it’s faced with colourful scenes it has an odd tone that ruins images. The camera may be unreliable when doping up close, because it sometimes captures a extremely good photo, but at other times refuses to concentrate on the topic in any respect. Portrait mode impresses and edge recognition is very accurate. We noted the identical with the OnePlus Nord 2T in a recent camera comparison, but don’t be too surprised because the 10T and Nord 2T share the identical most important and wide-angle cameras, but not the identical price.
There’s no optical zoom feature, however the camera app provides a shortcut to a 2x digital zoom mode, which isn’t as disappointing as chances are you’ll fear. Selfies are decent too, with good skin tone and an accurate portrait mode. The OnePlus 10T’s camera system takes good photos in good conditions, but lacks sparkle and accuracy, and doesn’t have any special features in any respect. It won’t appeal to those that wish to do greater than just share a picture on social media.
Screen and audio
The OnePlus 10T’s 6.7-inch screen is similar size because the OnePlus 10 Pro’s, however the specification is lower. It’s not an LTPO 2.0 AMOLED but a Fluid AMOLED panel, which implies it might not return the promised efficiency advantages of the ten Pro’s screen, which might adjust from 1Hz to 120Hz. As an alternative, the 10T switches between 60Hz, 90Hz, and 120Hz depending in your activities. The resolution is lower at 2412 x 1080 pixels, nevertheless it does still display a billion colours, supports HDR10+, and has a maximum brightness of 1,000 nits.
Andy Boxall/Digital Trends
You almost certainly won’t notice the difference in resolution during day-to-day use, however the cooler tone and lack of vibrance are much more problematic whenever you put it next to the OnePlus 10 Pro, where watching video is more exciting and enjoyable. The flat screen design introduces more reflections whenever you use it outside, where the viewing angles aren’t as wide either. The screen is nearly shiny enough for sunny days, but expect the adaptive brightness to frustrate because it continuously turns the brightness down, presumably as a part of the phone’s unending quest to save lots of battery power.
Speaker performance is sweet, and it sounds very just like the OnePlus 10 Pro, but Bluetooth audio has taken a step back because the phone doesn’t support AptX Adaptive just like the 10 Pro. You’ll should make do with AptX HD as the best quality wireless audio standard, which is able to probably be wonderful for most individuals, however the downgrade goes against the “performance” angle OnePlus is pushing with the 10T. I haven’t experienced any problems with calls, or with 4G, 5G, or Wi-Fi connectivity, and all works as you’d expect.
Software
Just like the OnePlus 10 Pro, the 10T uses OxygenOS 12 built over Android 12 — and the experience is similar, warts and all. On the plus side, I haven’t had any problems with apps, and it’s never slow in any way. Nevertheless, there are just a few bad parts. Notifications are spotty. For instance, when recent notifications arrive, the always-on screen preview normally shows old messages, and dismissing them from the lock screen is usually unattainable.
It’s very closely related to Oppo’s ColorOS software, and due to this fact is obsessive about system notifications (the whole lot from the battery status to pinning messages clutters up the notification shade) and deep customization. The power to alter the best way OxygenOS looks and operates is wonderful, however the default settings are biased towards saving battery, so helpful features just like the always-on screen are disabled by default. The software isn’t unpleasant to make use of, nevertheless it never feels welcoming or well-designed and wishes time and patience to get it best for you.
OxygenOS 12 rarely misses out on a possibility to bother either. When transferring photos from the phone to my computer using a USB Type-C cable for this review, the 10T refused to point out the choice to modify from charge mode to data transfer. Normally, the little pop-up menu in OxygenOS and ColorOS is one in every of the highlights of the software, because it’s very clear what it does. On the 10T, I needed to activate Developer Mode and force it to transfer data, which is hardly probably the most user-friendly solution, because the system search wouldn’t show any relevant ends in my efforts to prompt the menu to look. I’m using the phone ahead of release, but have never encountered this with any OnePlus, Oppo, or Realme phone before.
The software isn’t unpleasant to make use of, nevertheless it never feels welcoming or well-designed.
The difficulty with OxygenOS is it’s competing with Google’s excellent Pixel software, Asus’s ZenUI, and Nothing’s NothingOS — all of which prioritize simplicity, speed, and neat design over superfluous apps, irritating customizations, and unnecessary modes. Samsung’s OneUI is similarly complicated but manages to frustrate less by having well-judged default settings and a brilliant visual design. Of all of the smartphone software I exploit often, OxygenOS, ColorOS, and RealmeOS — all of those are mainly the identical — are those I look ahead to living with least of all.
Battery
A 4,800mAh dual-cell battery lives contained in the OnePlus 10T, and it comes with 150W wired fast charging through the use of the included SuperVOOC charging block and USB Type-C cable. Use the phone normally — with general app and social networking use, emails, the camera, and maybe a brief gaming session — and also you’ll get a day-and-a-half between charges. Play intensive, high-end games for about half-hour and expect the battery to fall by 10%. You’re unlikely to get two full days out of the 10T’s battery unless you select not to the touch the phone in any respect.
Andy Boxall/Digital Trends
OnePlus’s pitch for the 10T is all about performance, and a part of that’s the super fast charging speeds. The 10T is just concerning the fastest charging phone available within the U.S., and even faster than the OnePlus 10 Pro. Nevertheless, the OnePlus 10T’s charging is just a little bit complicated. Within the U.S., the OnePlus 10T charges at 125W and takes about 20 minutes to charge from almost flat to 100%. The phone supports 150W charging within the U.K., leading to zero to 100% in 19 minutes, in response to OnePlus.
The U.S. doesn’t get the complete 150W charging speed as a result of the restrictions of its AC power outlets, and on the time of writing we haven’t been capable of test the complete U.K. charging speeds as a result of an impending software update, but OnePlus says it’ll be available at launch. Adding to the confusion is the included power block is marked as a 160W unit, and that if you happen to use a USB Power Delivery block it’ll charge the 10T at about 45W.
Andy Boxall/Digital Trends
Twenty minutes of charge time is undeniably fast, and the advantages of doing so may be life-changing. However it only takes about half-hour to totally charge the OnePlus 10 Pro, so whether lives can be further modified by shaving 10 minutes off that point with the 10T may rely upon how hectic your lifestyle is.
I’ve also had some issues with the “intelligent” charging system, which I haven’t experienced on the OnePlus 10 Pro. At this stage, the OnePlus 10T hasn’t been excellent at predicting my use patterns, leading to a partially charged battery if left on charge overnight. This may occasionally improve over time, nevertheless it hasn’t yet. Perhaps more disappointing is the dearth of wireless charging, a feature found on phones that cost half of the 10T, and just about all flagship phones.
Price and availability
The supply of the OnePlus 10T varies depending on where you reside. Within the U.S., it costs $649 for the 8GB/128GB model and $749 for the 16GB/256GB model and can be available for pre-order on September 1, then on sale on September 29.
Within the U.K., you possibly can get the phone a month earlier, as pre-orders open on August 3 and can be ready for an August 25 final release. The 8GB/128GB model costs 629 British kilos and the 16GB/256GB version is 729 kilos.
Our take
What an odd smartphone the OnePlus 10T is. In a way, it’s an evolution of a phone that doesn’t exist because nobody wanted it. And in one other way, it’s like a Nord phone has escaped from its end of the factory, then by chance been released without the appropriate branding and at a laughably high price in several parts of the world.
The one real reason to contemplate buying the OnePlus 10T is the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor, but when that’s your most important criteria, I’ll point you towards the Asus Zenfone 9 as an alternative. It’s significantly better. Yes, the 10T’s fast charging may be very fast, nevertheless it’s not drastically faster than the OnePlus 10 Pro, identical to the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 isn’t that much faster than the 8 Gen 1.
There’s nothing really fallacious with the OnePlus 10T. It really works well enough, and to a certain extent, matches the OnePlus T series criteria. Nevertheless, for not loads more cash you possibly can get the ten Pro which is product of higher quality materials, the screen is more attractive, the camera takes higher photos, it has the alert slider, and people lovely haptics, too. Or, for quite loads less money, you possibly can get phones that miss out on the flagship chip but do the whole lot else equally well or higher. It puts the 10T in limbo, where it simply can’t be advisable.
Is there a greater alternative?
Yes, loads. OnePlus has reduced the worth of the OnePlus 10 Pro to $799 within the U.S., and if you happen to’re committed to purchasing a OnePlus phone, we’d recommend buying this as an alternative of the 10T. The Google Pixel 6 is about to get replaced by the Pixel 7 but continues to be a superb purchase, or you possibly can just wait for the Pixel 7 itself. If you ought to save just a little money, the Pixel 6a can also be advisable, and the Apple iPhone 13 must be considered too. All these phones have higher cameras, similar or higher screens, and more premium materials/designs — but miss out on the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 and the very fast charging. As an alternative, they provide higher overall value.
Should you’re set on owning a phone with the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, then take a take a look at the Asus Zenfone 9. It’s a more interesting, more premium, and better-equipped phone. Should you want it for gaming, the Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro matches the bill perfectly. Within the U.K., consider the Nothing Phone 1, which is cheaper but feels dearer than the 10T. And while it doesn’t have the highest Qualcomm chip, the camera and screen are equal to — or just a little higher than — the 10T. Also, take a take a look at the Realme GT 2 Pro, which is closely related to the 10T, however the camera has more interesting features and higher performance.
Should you actually need a phone that’s identical to the OnePlus 10T, buy the OnePlus Nord 2T. As an alternative of 629 kilos within the U.K., it costs 369 kilos. The battery charges in 25 minutes, it has mainly the identical camera, the identical software, a 90Hz flat screen, a glass back and plastic chassis, and doesn’t have the alert slider either. Sure, it’s a MediaTek Dimensity 1300 chip and never the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, nevertheless it’s loads cheaper.
How long will it last?
OnePlus will deliver three years of major Android updates and 4 years of security updates, plus the phone will get Android 13 with OxygenOS 13 before the top of 2022. The phone has an IP54 rating for basic water and dirt resistance, protecting against rain and sweat, but not if you happen to drop it in water or put it under the faucet. The Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 gives the phone loads of longevity, so provided you don’t suddenly wish to take higher photos, three years before upgrading sounds reasonable.
Do you have to buy it?
No, buy a less expensive alternative or spend just a little more to get the OnePlus 10 Pro.
Editors’ Recommendations
