OnePlus has one thing to show. The firm is the Android underdog, however now that it’s beneath the umbrella of an even bigger brother—its mum or dad firm, Oppo—it must act prefer it belongs within the quantity three spot. The OnePlus 10 Pro was a powerful flagship launch, although it anxious us that OnePlus launched just one variant and at such a excessive worth. It seems that’s as a result of OnePlus had plans for this: the 10T, which is like the ten Pro, however extra positioned for what the corporate calls “ultimate performance.”

The OnePlus 10T is solely an influence consumer’s gadget. It affords the most recent bump up in Qualcomm’s processing energy and has essentially the most RAM accessible on a OnePlus telephone for those who’re keen to pay for it. It homes a smaller battery than the ten Pro, however it’s extra environment friendly and fees means quicker. It’s additionally outfitted with a greater digital camera sensor than the ten Pro, which produces evening pictures virtually as clear because the Pixel 6’s. But essentially the most thrilling a part of the OnePlus 10T is that the corporate is again to its signature “budget” pricing. This well-equipped premium Android smartphone begins at $650, a lot lower than what the ten Pro value proper out of the gate, and even lower than Samsung and Google’s present crop of high-powered flagships.

The quantity slider is gone however not forgotten

If you’re searching for an enormous Android telephone, the OnePlus 10T must be in your radar. It’s longer than the Samsung Galaxy S22+ by about .2 inches, although it’s additionally barely narrower, so it doesn’t really feel as cumbersome. I desire “taller” smartphones as a result of they offer me a neater grip.

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The OnePlus 10T comes in two colors: Moonstone Black and Jade Green, the latter of which I wish OnePlus sent me for review. It just looks so nice in renders, but I can’t speak to it here. Instead, I got the Moonstone Black variant, which has an attractive textured back that, thankfully, doesn’t slip and slide around like those other glass-backed phones making the rounds. The Jade Green variant is not textured.

Before we move on: Yes, the volume slider on the OnePlus 10T has gone the way of the dodo, at least on this particular model. The volume slider had became a defining feature of the OnePlus devices, since it made it simple to switch between ringer profiles—like on the iPhone. OnePlus even released a statement acknowledging the removal of the volume slider, claiming it was “a necessary trade-off” for the overall design of the 10T. OnePlus says the omission was to make room for “high wattage charging, a large battery capacity, and better antenna signal.” The company even noted how much physical change had to be done to the device to remove that slider:

Our design team increased the layout utilization rate of the OnePlus 10T’s motherboard to 78%, up from our typical standard of 74%. While the alert slider appears to be a very small component, it actually has a relatively large impact on the device’s motherboard area – taking up 30 mm2.

In exchange, you get SUPERVOOC Endurance charging capabilities, which OnePlus hopes will tide you over until it can figure out how to bundle all that and the volume slider. The company promises it “plans to overcome this technical and design challenge” on its future devices to retain its signature alert slider.

Hallelujah for that. Seriously—I’ve been using a OnePlus 9 for over a year and used a OnePlus 8 before that. It’s much simpler to switch it off with a quick thumb slide rather than navigate to the volume controller in Android to ensure that the ringer is off or that the phone is entirely silent. Life is better with a physical alert slider. But we can’t give the 10T points for it.

The OnePlus 10T has a 6.7-inch Full HD+ display with a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate and a peak brightness of 950 nits, though it only comes in when it’s on auto brightness mode. Otherwise, it’s a maximum of about 509 nits adjusting it manually. As for the refresh rate, you can dial it down to 60Hz when it needs a battery boost. It’s nice to have that option for days when you might be out and don’t require that smoothness.

OnePlus’s displays aren’t as vibrant or saturated as a Samsung Galaxy’s AMOLED one. But the OnePlus 10T’s display is HDR10+ certified, so colors appear bright and balanced. Different screen color modes are also available in the settings panel, including a Pro mode that ups the gamma to make the screen brighter. I don’t know that many people will venture into this part of the settings panel, but it’s nice to see it offered.

If you plan to play games or read while watching a streaming video with picture-in-picture, the OnePlus 10T is a perfect size, provided you don’t mind the large screens that come on premium Android phones. The display size of the OnePlus 10T is about standard for premium Android smartphones in this category. Only the Galaxy S22+ is smaller than the OnePlus 10T, but by a measly .1-inch, while the Google Pixel 6 Pro and OnePlus 10 Pro are the same screen size.

OnePlus’s in-display fingerprint scanners have been a welcome respite from the inconsistent experience on the Pixel 6 Pro. The OnePlus 10T feels just as responsive as the last three OnePlus devices I’ve tested, though it feels less forgiving of the side thumb than those other phones. The 10T can also do Face Unlock, which I found to be responsive indoors, but a little less on the mark when wearing a hat and mask. I wish Android were clearer about when the feature is in use, akin to iOS’s Face ID, which pops up a little icon so you know that the unlocking mechanism is doing its job.

Stability in Snapdragon

I used the OnePlus 10T on the Mint SIM network throughout this review. OnePlus says it placed components within the body to ensure antenna performance was its most potent and so far, so good.

The OnePlus 10T is powered by a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor. It has two configurations: 8GB of RAM with 128GB of storage or 16GB of RAM with 256GB. OnePlus sent me the latter variant, and the RAM count seems a bit overkill for a device this size. Granted, I’ve been operating with a minimum of 12GB for the last two years, and it’s helpful with situations involving augmented reality, for instance. It’s also beneficial to have that extra runway as the phone ages. But doubling the RAM also increases the pricepoint by about $100, so the OnePlus 10T jumps to $750. The Pixel 6 Pro starts at the same price, but with only 128GB of storage space, which is not enough for a power user.

The Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 is technically the bump-up to the regular Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 that launched earlier this year on competing flagships like the Samsung Galaxy S22 and its predecessor, the OnePlus 10 Pro. The benchmark numbers were slightly better on this than on those two smartphones, but not by much. The Geekbench numbers for the 10T were only higher by about 200 points. What stood out was how the processor performs alongside the Google Tensor chip in the Pixel 6a. The Compute benchmark numbers were better for Google’s decidedly mid-range Pixel. That benchmark looks at a system’s ability for tasks like image processing and video editing.

Anyway, there is no palpable difference in performance between the two devices as I used them. They both play games and can handle the annoying tasks I throw at them, like switching rapidly between apps using Android’s multitasking menu. As I alluded to earlier, my favorite ability is having a streaming video in picture-in-picture while checking in on Pokémon Go in the background. The OnePlus 10T can most likely handle what you throw at it.

The OnePlus 10T boasts a very PC-like feature: a 3D Cooling System that the company says is its “largest and most advanced ever.” I will say that the 10T didn’t feel as hot as some of the other flagships I tested this year, but I also didn’t review this smartphone during a heatwave.

The Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 boasts better battery life than its predecessor. Indeed, the OnePlus 10T pulled in impressive numbers. The 4800 mAh battery lasted almost as long as the Pixel 6a’s smaller 4410 mAh battery and even longer than the two smaller Galaxy S22 models, which also have smaller batteries. It lasted 17 hours and 39 minutes in Gizmodo’s battery rundown test, which is also on par with how the OnePlus 10 Pro’s 5000 mAh battery performed. Only the smaller-sized Pixel 6 outlasted the OnePlus 10T in this year’s flagship battery tests.

It’s a super fast charger

OnePlus has always been a harbinger of proprietary fast-charging abilities. Despite the exclusive nature, I tend to gravitate toward these technologies because I am busy and want a phone that moves fast. The OnePlus 10T boasts “boosted” charging abilities using SuperVOOC Endurance charging, which the company says can deliver up to a day’s worth of use in just ten minutes on the cable.

Before we get to the results: VOOC stands for Voltage Open Loop Multi-step Constant-Current Charging, a charging standard implemented by the Oppo family of devices. It’s already in use on Oppo and RealMe devices sold overseas. Oppo announced the 10T’s SuperVOOC ability earlier this 12 months at Mobile World Congress. It makes use of a “Battery Health Engine” to optimize charging primarily based on how a lot power it wants and the battery’s total chemistry. Oppo additionally guarantees that the battery will keep 80% of its authentic capability over its lifespan whereas providing quick charging speeds. But that latter declare can solely be put to check after a minimum of 4 years of charging the 10T.

At the very least, it’s a hell of a quick charger. The OnePlus 10T slurped up 16% battery in two minutes on its SUPERVOOC-compatible charger and 40% battery in simply 8 minutes. It took quarter-hour for the telephone to cost absolutely, about 75% of the way in which by way of. The solely caveat is that you simply want the precise 160W charging brick (restricted to 125W within the U.S.) and signature crimson cable to get these numbers. But it was good not having to attend round for this smartphone to cost.

Great cameras, however not the Pixel’s

The OnePlus 10T has three cameras on the again, together with a large twin LED flash. The major digital camera is a 50-MP Sony IMX766 sensor with OIS and an aperture of f/1.8. There’s additionally an 8-megapixel ultra-wide digital camera with an almost 120-degree discipline of view and a 2-MP macro digital camera. The front-facing digital camera is a 16-megapixel lens with an aperture of f/2.4. OnePlus didn’t accomplice with Hasselblad for this specific digital camera configuration prefer it did with the previous few generations of its flagships.

The OnePlus 10T appears tuned in the identical vein as its predecessors. The colours are yellow-toned in comparison with the Pixel 6 Pro’s blue-tone hues, and I dialed down the colour temperature on some photographs earlier than sharing them on social media. The 10T’s firming will be aggressive, and it additionally appears to alter relying on the main focus.

However, I used to be impressed with the general enhancements OnePlus has made to the cameras. Daytime pictures are totally different than on the Pixel 6 due to that shade tuning, however typically I most popular the 10T’s richness to the Pixel 6’s bump in readability. OnePlus nonetheless affords shade filters constructed into the digital camera app, and there’s a “high megapixel” mode if you wish to faucet into the uncooked skills of the 50-MP sensor.

Where the 10T notably improved was with its evening shot capabilities. There’s a “tripod mode” you could toggle on whilst you’re capturing in evening mode, and it’ll hold the shutter open for about 30-seconds to soak up gentle. It’s not as vibrant or clear because the Pixel 6’s capabilities, as Google’s digital camera app will hold the shutter open for as much as 5 minutes for those who let it. But with each new enchancment OnePlus makes to its low-light capturing skills, I really feel much less regretful not having a Pixel available.

Phones with various kinds of lenses are useful nowadays. You by no means know once you want a macro shot of one thing small or when the clouds are so unimaginable you desire a wide-angle shot of their magnificence. My grievance with the OnePlus 10T—which nonetheless bothers me on the OnePlus 9—is that the first digital camera is just too angled in its discipline of view. I usually depend on the 2x zoom-in to get a shot that feels flat, which doesn’t all the time produce the perfect picture. Also, the portrait mode stays subpar in comparison with the Pixel’s skills.

The OnePlus 10T is superb for video. The telephone can shoot 4K, 1080p, and 720p movies at a most of 60 frames-per-second (fps). It can do sluggish movement and time-lapse. There’s additionally a film mode buried within the digital camera settings that offers you extra performance to regulate issues like shutter pace and toggle-on LOG, which helps protect dynamic vary. I’ll seemingly by no means use that characteristic, however this integration makes it clear that OnePlus goes after the fanatic crowd.

Oxygen OS: The Oppo impact

I attempted arduous to not fret over the approaching adjustments to OxygenOS primarily based on leaks and rumors. But alas, I’m worrying. The onboarding expertise to get the OnePlus 10T’s Home display screen trying like I need is so overwhelming that I’m nonetheless taking child steps. OnePlus’s OxygenOS 12.1 is predicated on Android 12, however you get little or no of Google’s Material You-stylings. The upside to being an Android consumer: you’ll be able to change issues for those who don’t like them or strive on one other launcher if the one your smartphone ships with doesn’t swimsuit you.

OnePlus will push out OxygenOS 13 in only a bit, which launches first on the OnePlus 10 Pro. It will roll out to the OnePlus 10T later this 12 months and have all the identical perks as Android 13, together with audio switching capabilities, quick pairing, and enhanced safety and privateness options. I’ll have extra on that when it launches.

In phrases of Android updates, OnePlus guarantees three main Android updates and 4 years of safety updates. It’s on par with Samsung’s choices, and solely Google’s Pixel lineup will give you extra assist.

Almost an awesome deal

OnePlus appears to be positioning itself because the “great deal!” among the many Android heavyweights already competing, and, apparently, its “ultra” model is priced decrease out of the gate than the flagship it launched earlier this 12 months. Indeed, the 10T is a deal: it’s packed to the gills with all the pieces OnePlus is understood to supply, together with quick charging and extra digital camera capabilities than what to do with. It additionally affords an extended battery life that outlasted one other final flagship, the Galaxy S22 Ultra.

The OnePlus 10T stays a viable selection for anybody exhausted by the pricing of Samsung’s smartphones or who isn’t drawn to Google’s Pixel flagship merely primarily based on its digital camera capabilities. It’s a marvel if the corporate will have the ability to transfer sufficient items by the point the Pixel 7 arrives, nonetheless. That telephone is due someday in October if rumors are to be believed, whereas the OnePlus 10T received’t be on sale till Sept. 29. There are additionally no service bulletins presently, which might make this nice deal tougher to abdomen for some of us.