The smartphone market is full of handsets in the sub-20,000 range, which include handsets with 5G, high resolution camera, super fast charging, stereo speakers and even IP rating. Will Oppo K10 be able to keep itself in this race? Let’s find out.
Oppo K10 price in India
Oppo K10 The price of 6 GB RAM variant of this phone in India is Rs 14,990. Its 8 GB RAM variant is priced at Rs 16,990. Both these variants have 128 GB of storage. The phone comes in Black Carbon and Blue Flame color options.
Oppo K10 design
Despite being a low-budget phone, Oppo has made the look of this phone quite attractive for this price segment. I really liked its bright and dynamic look in blue color. The frame of the phone has a matte finish and the back panel also has the same element in most parts. Its smooth texture does not allow fingerprints to appear easily. As per Oppo’s claim, I also tried scratching its back panel with my fingernail but no marks appeared on it. Even without a case, it probably won’t give you any trouble.
Its rectangular camera module is reminiscent of the Oppo A76 but there is a separate glowing area around the camera bump. There are some things written here like ‘Super Performance’ and ’10-K’. Oppo says that this is just a part of the phone’s design, while I was initially thinking it was connected to the name of the phone.
The headphone jack is given at the bottom of the Oppo K10. The speaker is also there, but the earpiece is used for stereo sound. The fingerprint sensor is given in the power button.
The phone has a 6.59-inch LCD display with Full HD Plus (2412×1080 pixels) resolution and 90Hz refresh rate. It is a standard looking beautiful panel. Brightness and colors are quite good. There is a cutout for the selfie camera, which looks quite modern. You will find thick bezels around the entire display.
Oppo K10 comes with a transparent case and a 33W SuperVOOC charger along with some other accessories in the box. The quality of the case is quite good, it gives protection to the display from all sides. It also protects the edges and ports of the rear camera. The finish of the phone is quite smooth, so this case prevents the phone from slipping from the hand.
Oppo K10 specifications and software
The IP54 rating given in Oppo K10 is one of its special features, because in this price range, most of the competitors have IP53 rating. In terms of dust protection, it will perform like other smartphones, but in terms of water protection, it should be better.
The company has used Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 processor in it. It does not support 5G connectivity, but is quite powerful. You will also find the same processor in handsets like Realme 9i and Redmi Note 11. Apart from this, the phone also has features like dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5, GPS and FM radio. Its battery capacity is 5,000mAh. It gets charged very fast with 33W fast charging. A dedicated microSD card slot is also provided in the SIM tray. It supports up to 1TB of storage.
The Oppo K10 smartphone comes with Android 11 based ColorOS 11.1. There are many pre-installed apps in the phone but most of them can also be removed. Some apps provided by Oppo like Theme Store and Game Space are sometimes seen sending spam notifications. Oppo has not promised updates for a long time. Therefore, it cannot be said whether there will be any update after Android 12 or not.
Oppo K10 performance and battery life
The 6GB variant of Oppo K10, which I have tested, performed very well during the review. The phone was quite fast in normal use and the fingerprint sensor never failed. It also has face recognition, which works well even in low light. RAM expandable feature is also provided in K10 which is set to 2GB by default. But I did not feel the need to increase it. By the way, it can also be expanded up to 5GB.
Watching and listening to videos was a pleasure with the phone’s display and speakers. But the left and right channels are not well balanced. The primary speaker seems a lot louder than the earpiece, but it is better than the absence of stereo sound. The display is easily readable even in direct sunlight.
The gaming performance of the phone is quite good. However, most of the heavy games like Asphalt 9: Legends and Call of Duty Mobile did not give the best experience. The visuals were a bit disappointing. Then after setting the graphics to ‘Very High’ settings, the visuals of Call of Duty improved a bit. Most of the advanced graphic settings were not available.
In terms of battery life, the Oppo K10 performed well. I was able to use the phone for almost two full days on a single charge. The phone also performed well in our HD video loop test and lasted for about 15 hours. This is not the best, but it is quite good. The battery can be charged quickly. The phone gets fully charged in about an hour.
Oppo K10 cameras
The Oppo K10 has a 50-megapixel main camera, along with depth and macro shooters. You don’t get an ultra-wide camera, which could be a disappointment. I would have preferred an ultrawide camera instead of the phone’s other two 2-megapixel cameras. This isn’t just the case with the K10. Recently, Realme 9 5G A similar thing was seen in 2018 when the ultrawide camera was missing from the phone. There is a 16-megapixel camera on the front for selfies.
The camera app seems standard, similar to what we’ve seen on recent Oppo phones. There are a few features on this phone that I haven’t seen before. One of them is the AI Palette feature. You’ll find it in the Edit menu of the photo gallery. Through this, you can apply different color tones to the photo. This is very useful for those who like to edit their photos more. Apart from this, there is an AI re-touch slider through which the level of beautification on people’s faces in photos and videos can be adjusted. But this only works on the rear camera. The phone also has Oppo’s Bokeh Flare Portrait filter which we saw in the Oppo Reno series.
In good light, the main camera was able to capture good-looking photos. In direct sunlight or slightly backlit, the Oppo K10 struggled a bit with exposure. However, landscape shots were good. Close-up shots taken outdoors were also good. The macro camera did not impress with its quality.
Low-light landscape shots had good colours but lacked details. There was a blooming effect when taking photos in front of a light source, which was fixed after turning on the night mode. However, even after this, there was no significant difference in details. Close-up shots taken in low light were also good.
Selfies taken outdoors were good. The camera was saving them at the full 16 megapixels. Edge detection was not very good in shots taken in portrait mode. Selfies taken in low light were average and lacked details.
The Oppo K10 smartphone can only shoot videos up to 1080p. You will not get stabilization in it. There is no separate stabilization mode even if you keep the resolution up to 720p. Talking about the quality, the videos being recorded were usable in daylight, but this was not the case at night.
Verdict
Oppo K10 is the latest smartphone launched in terms of design and specifications. Oppo A96 It is quite similar to Poco M4 Pro 5G. The stereo speakers, macro camera and IP54 rating in the phone make it seem more value for money. The battery life of the phone is quite good. You will like its fast charging, attractive display and all-round performance. The price of the phone is also good, but keep in mind here that 5G options are also available in the market at this price. For example, Poco M4 Pro 5G comes as a good option, which has an IP53 rating. Redmi Note 10S A bit old but still a good phone for the same price as the K10.
The biggest weakness of Oppo K10 is its poor video recording performance and the absence of an ultrawide camera. If you are not very interested in photography or videography, then this can be a good option for you. The base variant of Oppo K10 gives the best value.