The company’s new OnePlus 10T 5G It is quite attractive. The company keeps the ‘T’ smartphones for mid-year launch. But there is no OnePlus 10 here. This phone OnePlus 10 Pro is newer than the OnePlus 10 Pro and has some features that can be called modern, as it has been launched as a successor to the OnePlus 10 Pro. The base variant of the phone comes for Rs 49,999 which comes with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage. Above this, there is a model with 12GB RAM and 256GB storage which comes for Rs 54,999. If you want to go even higher, then there is also a variant with 16GB RAM and 256GB storage which costs Rs 55,999.
So what exactly are you getting from the company? Is it the same old phone or has OnePlus found a new way to stand apart? Here are our first impressions of the OnePlus 10T 5G.
Instead of the big box of OnePlus, the company has now given a standard design. It contains a protective case, a Red Cable Club membership card, some stickers and a big letter for the phone from the company. Along with this, a 160W charger and a red USB Type-C cable are available.
You will find similarities with OnePlus 10 Pro 5G in the camera arrangement of the smartphone, but the rear panel of the phone is quite protruding. You will also notice how much its rear panel reflects. The volume buttons are given on the left and the power button is on the right. There is no alert slider here. Small speakers and mic holes are available on the top. Dual SIM tray, USB Type-C port and primary speaker are available at the bottom.
The OnePlus 10T 5G doesn’t feel very premium to me, even though its rear panel is made of glass. It is quite thick at 8.75mm and quite heavy at 203.5 grams. It comes in a lightly textured Moonstone Black finish as well as a glossy Jade Green. We got the Jade Green variant.
All variants of the OnePlus 10T 5G support 150W charging. If you are concerned about safety, the company has given a complete list of measures taken for this, which we will talk about in the full review. You can also charge other devices with it, including laptops, as it comes with USB-PD support up to 45W.
During the setup process, you will get options for privacy and personalization. You can choose the system font, set up security, and even practice navigation gestures. It comes with pre-loaded apps like Netflix, OnePlus Community, and Game Manager. The unit comes with Android 12 based OxygenOS 12.1 with the July security patch. If you dig deep into the settings, you will find some personalization options. The company has announced OxygenOS 13, but unfortunately the 10T 5G does not come with it.
The company has described the design of this phone as weightless, which means that it will be useful and more precise. The company has removed the alert slider, which was the most visible feature to differentiate it from other Android players. That simple switch used to take up a lot of space in the body, and the company says that it preferred to invest that space in battery capacity. Apart from this, better cooling and antenna are also included in it. It seems that the company has also tried to save some costs, but after removing the 3.5mm headphone jack a few years ago, I still don’t see how things have become better for any user.
Apart from all this, the company has also not provided wireless charging, an official IP rating and e-SIM support, for which the company thinks that its fans will live without these features. Even the Hasselblad camera branding has been removed. The company says that the 10 Pro 5G is still a flagship option for those who want better camera capabilities. While the 10T 5G will be more liked by those who give more priority to gaming and fast charging.
The phone is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 SoC with improved cooling system, 16GB LPDDR5 RAM and up to 256GB UFS 3.1 storage. For the top end variant, the company says that you can run up to 30 apps simultaneously in the background so that you can resume from where you left off.
The phone’s 6.7-inch Fluid AMOLED panel has a full-HD+ resolution, 120Hz peak refresh rate, and an integrated fingerprint sensor. The edges are thin all around and there is no thick chin. The display supports HDR 10+ and is made of Gorilla Glass 5. The OnePlus 10T 5G also has a 4800mAh battery, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.3, NFC, and GPS.
Its main rear camera has a 50-megapixel Sony IMX766 sensor with OIS which comes with f/1.8 aperture. Along with this, a basic 8-megapixel ultra-wide camera and a 2-megapixel macro camera are also available. The front camera is 16-megapixel. These specifications are not very good, but the company promises photos and videos with rich details on the basis of 10-bit color capture support and better processing algorithms. Video recording can be done up to 4K 60fps.
The company’s most recent launch, the 10R, looks similar to the Realme GT Neo 3 and doesn’t fit the OnePlus template at all. Now the 10T 5G has been launched in a similar fashion, which again raises the question, who is this phone for? Where does it fit in with the heavily discounted OnePlus 10 Pro 5G? Are the tradeoffs worth it? And most importantly – is OnePlus still OnePlus?
Apart from all this, we are in the process of testing the 10T 5G to see how it balances processor power with camera quality, battery life, charging speed, design and OxygenOS experience. Stay tuned to Gadgets 360 for a detailed review coming soon.