OnePlus is back with another mid-cycle update to its top Android phone, this time with the fast-charging 10T phone, which can fully power up in less than 20 minutes without destroying its battery life.
After a two-year hiatus, the “T” series of phones has once again released new technologies in the middle of the year, this time with a 150W charge, more than five times the power of Apple’s best iPhone.
The OnePlus 10T costs £629 ($649), undercutting fast-charging rivals from Xiaomi and other Chinese smartphone makers that typically cost around £1,000.
The molded glass back feels smooth – it slides on non-flat surfaces if you’re not careful. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian
On the outside, the 10T follows a familiar formula. Shiny metal sides meet glass front and back. The back plate now completely wraps the bulk of the camera in a smooth piece of glass, similar to parent company Oppo’s Find X5 Pro.
The 6.5-inch screen looks great and has a high refresh rate of 120Hz, which keeps things smooth. It’s a little less bright than the old 10 Pro and some of the main rivals, but it’s otherwise excellent.
OnePlus’ unique alert slider, which quickly switches the phone between silent, vibrate and ring, and has been a fan favorite for years, is nowhere to be seen, which is a shame.
Specifications
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Display: 6.5 inch 120 Hz FHD+ OLED (393 ppi)
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Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1
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RAM: 8 or 16 GB of RAM
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Storage: 128 or 256 GB
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Operating system: OxygenOS 12.1 (Android 12)
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Camera: 50MP main, 8MP ultra-wide, 2MP macro; 16 MP selfie
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Connectivity: 5G, eSIM, wifi 6, NFC, Bluetooth 5.3 and GNSS
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Water resistance: none
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Dimensions: 163 × 75.4 × 8.8 mm
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Weight: 203.5g
A full charge in just over 19 minutes
SuperVooc 150W charging may have a stupid name, but it’s certainly fast. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian
The 10T has Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chip, which on paper is 10% faster than the regular 8 Gen 1 processor used in top Android phones earlier this year.
It’s certainly fast and responsive, but the biggest improvement is that the chip is 30% more power efficient, which helps conserve battery life and keeps the phone noticeably cooler running.
Battery life is good but not great, lasting around 36 hours between charges, with the screen on for around six hours using a mix of messaging and media consumption apps. That’s seven hours less than the 10 Pro, but the same as a Google Pixel 6 Pro.
What the 10T may lack in endurance, it makes up for in both charging speed and battery life. Using the included USB-C power adapter, the phone will fully charge in just over 19 minutes from 1%, and does so consistently without heating up, unlike Xiaomi’s closest rival.
Its enormous charging speed doesn’t hurt the battery either. OnePlus rates it for 1,600 full charge cycles while retaining at least 80% of the original capacity, double that of most rivals. That means the battery should last over 6.5 years if charged every day and a half, so you probably won’t need to replace the battery over the life of the phone, which can’t be said for most telephones
sustainability
The phone does not contain recycled materials, but is generally repairable by OnePlus, with a replacement battery costing around £20 plus labour. The company operates an exchange scheme and is included in parent company Oppo’s annual sustainability reports.
OxygenOS 12.1
The OnePlus in-display fingerprint scanner is very fast and accurate for unlocking the phone, but it’s placed a bit too low on the screen. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian
The 10T runs the same Android 12-based OxygenOS 12.1 software as the 10 Pro from April, not the recently announced Android 13-based OxygenOS 13. OnePlus will provide bi-monthly security patches for four years from launch and three major Android version updates. including OxygenOS 13 later this year.
For now, it has the same sleek look and similar issues as before, so check out our 10 Pro review for more.
camera
The OnePlus camera app is quite simple to use with some useful tools to get the best shot. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian
The 10T’s camera system is a downgrade from the 10 Pro, eschewing the Hasselblad technology of previous OnePlus smartphones and abandoning the telephoto camera. It still has a 50-megapixel primary camera and an 8MP ultra-wide-angle camera, plus a 2MP macro camera that can be safely bypassed.
The 50MP main camera is quite good, capturing photos with a good level of detail, reasonable color balance and dynamic range. With a little effort you can get some really nice pictures. It gets a little grainier than the best cameras in low light, but portrait mode, night mode and other great features work well. Video captured up to 4K at 60 frames per second is also decent.
The ultra-wide camera is weaker, however, and struggles with detail and dynamic range, often making scenes look significantly darker than the main camera. The digital zoom isn’t great either, obviously producing images magnified beyond 2x. The 16MP selfie camera produces detailed images, but lacks dynamic range, turning a bit washed out in bright light.
Overall, the primary camera is decent for the price, but it’s nowhere near the best in the business, and it can’t compete with the 10 Pro or cheaper rivals like Google’s Pixel 6a.
price
The OnePlus 10T costs £629 ($649) with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, or £729 with 16GB and 256GB, shipping on August 25.
In comparison, the OnePlus 10 Pro costs £799, the Google Pixel 6 £599, the Pixel 6a £399, the Samsung Galaxy S21+ costs £949 and the Xiaomi 12 Pro £999.
verdict
The OnePlus 10T is a good phone at a cheaper price, one that undercuts most of its close rivals. But corners have been cut to get to that price, so how good it is will depend on what your priorities are.
It really loads so fast that it changed the way I thought about using it. I no longer needed to charge it overnight because it was full again in the time it took me to brush my teeth.
It also has a better chip, excellent performance and a big, fast screen.
But that display is less bright than the flagship models, and the camera is a marked downgrade from the brand’s previous highs. The removal of OnePlus’ unique alert slider makes the phone more generic and feels like brand erosion by parent company Oppo, which is a shame. Four years of software support is also a bit short for 2022, when major rivals offer at least five.
Buy it for the performance and charging, not the camera, and the OnePlus 10T is a good phone with the best specs at a very competitive price. But with extremely good mid-range phones like the Pixel 6a costing £400, is that enough?
Pros: Excellent performance, good software, reasonable battery life, full charge less than 20 minutes, long battery life, decent screen, reasonable price.
Cons: No optical zoom, weak ultra-wide camera, useless macro camera, no water resistance rating, no alert slider makes it feel more generic, only four years of updates.
The phone is available in this hospital green color, which is a fingerprint magnet, or the more interesting textured black. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian