OnePlus 10R review

Best Prices Today: OnePlus 10R

The OnePlus 10R is best thought of as an affordable version of the flagship OnePlus 10 Pro with some differences in the design, internals and charging specifications. At the time of this review, the device is available only in India but is expected to launch in select markets worldwide.

It’s worth noting the phone is almost identical to the Realme GT Neo 3 – OnePlus and Realme are owned by Chinese tech giant BBK Group.

Design & Build

• Thin and light
• Plastic design
• No IP rating

The 10R has a new boxy design and is unlike any OnePlus device you might have seen till now. The phone weighs 186g and is about 8.2 mm thick. The build quality is decent but does feel plasticky and not quite the premium feel you would expect on OnePlus devices. Surprisingly I found the build quality of the Realme GT Neo 3 to be slightly better as it features a glass back. Even the OnePlus 9RT feels more premium than the 10R.

While the 10R should be comfortable to hold and use for most users, those with small hands might find it unwieldy. It feels almost impossible to believe that OnePlus decided to omit the familiar alert slider on the 10R which most OnePlus users swear by, a hardware feature also absent from the OnePlus 10T. The phone does not come with any IP rating either.

The matt back doesn’t attract fingerprints, but the camera bump is noticeable and tends to attract dust and smudges due to the glossy finish of my review unit’s Sierra Black colour. The SIM tray at the bottom lets you use two nano-SIM cards in a Dual SIM configuration. The 3.5mm headphone jack is missing but an adapter in the box would have been nice to have considering the brand includes a charger and a protective case in the package. The case is of decent quality surprisingly and should protect the device for a reasonable time frame.

Display & Speakers

• Large OLED screen with 120Hz refresh rate
• Fantastic viewing experience
• Stereo speakers with Dirac audio

The phone packs a large 6.7-inch Full HD+ Fluid OLED 120Hz display with HDR10+ support. The refresh rate can be manually configured to 60Hz or 120Hz. It’s an excellent viewing experience with extensive options in the settings to configure the display, which is made from Gorilla Glass 5. The device uses an in-display fingerprint scanner which works well and is covered by a pre-installed screen protector.

Dark Mode is available, and an always-on display can be enabled from within the settings. My favourite feature is the Canvas wallpaper which lets you generate a sketch from any photo in your gallery.

There are minimal bezels around the display and in the middle at the top of the screen is a 16Mp punch-hole selfie camera. The audio from the stereo speakers does get quite loud with one of the speakers down-firing near the USB-C port and the other at the top. The audio quality could be better and sounded tinny at times. Dolby Atmos support is glaringly missing but there is Dirac audio instead.

Specs & Performance

• Powerful Dimensity 8100-MAX chip
• High performance mode
• Large vapour cooling area

The phone is powered by the Mediatek Dimensity 8100-MAX processor that offers enhanced thermal control and reduced power consumption. It also features the HyperBoost gaming engine for improved gaming performance.

This chip is paired with 8/12GB of RAM and 128/256GB of storage. The variant I tested in this review comes with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. There was no noticeable lag during regular usage and the performance according to benchmarks is almost as good as the Snapdragon 888 flagship chip of 2021’s OnePlus 9 Pro. In regular day-to-day usage, the 10R is snappy and wickedly fast even while running resource-intensive applications. Thermal performance is noticeably good thanks to the plastic body and vapour cooling.

The phone boasts a large vapour cooling area which helps the phone dissipate heat faster than usual. Even after extended periods of heavy usage, the 10R doesn’t get noticeably hot. Only during high-speed charging does it get mildly hot at the back, which is not surprising.

Benchmarking the phone with the popular Geekbench and GFXBench apps shows the 10R can hold its own against phones much more expensive.

Cameras

• Impressive primary 50Mp camera
• Average ultrawide and macro camera
• Average selfie camera

The main camera is a 50Mp sensor with f/1.8 aperture and images are shot at 12Mp by default, but an option to shoot in full 50Mp resolution too. Photos taken in daylight or under good lighting conditions come out well with not much to complain about. Images captured on the main camera are very good and contain a lot of detail. Low light performance is good too.

But I can’t say the same about the 8Mp ultra-wide camera, which delivers average images and seems like a downgrade from the OnePlus 9RT’s 16Mp sensor. The 2Mp macro camera is also a very mixed bag.

The front-facing 16Mp camera does not live up to the expectations and images are washed out and noisy. This is more evident in low light.

The various camera modes are self-explanatory in the camera UI and easy to use. Night mode gets enabled automatically if the light is not sufficient, while AI enhancement is available and detects the surroundings to optimise the image, although it did not make a huge difference.

Battery Life & Charging

• Insanely fast 150W charging
• Impressive battery life
• 80W version available at a more attractive price

There are oddly two version of the 10R available with different battery capacities. Both use split cell technology, where the overall capacity of the battery is made up from two identically sized smaller batteries. This allows for safer charging at the fastest possible speeds.

I reviewed the higher-end model with 12GB RAM and 256GB storage that has a 4,500mAh battery and 150W wired charging. I managed to charge the phone from 0 to 100% in around 20 minutes, which is an incredible feat. Showing off the phone’s charging time to friends could very well become your new favourite pastime. One of the best things about this phone is watching the battery percentage increase in real-time in front of your eyes while plugged in. It is incredible and I will surely miss it on other devices. What is even more impressive is that the phone does not heat up considerably while charging.

You can also get a 12GB/256GB model with 80W charging and a larger 5,000mAh battery, or an 8GB/128GB version also with 80W and 5,000mAh.

In terms of battery life, the 4500mAh built-in battery I tested can last an entire day with heavy usage with 120Hz refresh rate enabled and can go longer if set with 60Hz and heavier usage. There is a high-performance mode which offers a boost in performance by sacrificing battery life and a further option to turn off rapid charging for those who are concerned about battery health.

OnePlus includes a SuperVOOC power adapter in the box and it is rated at 80W or 160W depending on the model. Wireless charging is not built in to the phone though but would have been nice to have considering many devices from the competition offer it in the same price range.

Software and Apps

• Runs Android 12 out of the box with no bloatware
• OxygenOS is feature-rich but needs improvement
• Three Android updates promised

The 10R runs OxygenOS 12.1, which is based on Android 12, and the overall interface is smooth and lag-free. OxygenOS in its current form is very similar to ColorOS or Realme UI, a result of parent company BBK group bringing all three software skins closer together in their development. Pleasingly, there are only two pre-installed third-party apps, Netflix and Spotify, which can be uninstalled.

There are a few OnePlus apps such as Clone Phone, Store, and Community which can be removed too. The split-screen feature which is supported on most apps lets you have 2 applications open side by side, and there is also a quick launch which lets you launch apps from the unlock screen. In addition to several gestures, there is a flip to mute option, and tap or raise to wake the screen.

While the UI is easy to navigate there are still some minor bugs and quirks I encountered from time to time. I accidentally landed on the OnePlus Shelf widget screen while trying to pull down the notification tray more than once, as the Shelf is now invoked with a swipe down from the top right.

When benchmark testing using Geekbench ML, the phone would just freeze at 60% unless the phone was switched to high-performance mode. The benchmark scores are slightly higher when in this mode.

The company has shipped more than one software update since I started using the device and these did admittedly bring performance improvements and bug fixes.

OnePlus has promised three major Android updates and four years of security updates which is better than some competitors but behind Google and Samsung.

Price & Availability

The OnePlus 10R was launched in India in April 2022 and is available in two colours and three configurations.

• ₹38999 ($492/£409) for the 8/128 GB version with 80W charging
• ₹42999 ($542/£451) for the 12/256GB version with 80W charging
• ₹43999 ($555/£461) for the 12/256GB version with 150W charging

The model tested in this review is the high-end 12GB/256GB version with 150W charging support. This version comes only in the Sierra Black colour, with other models available in Forest Green.

It’s available to buy direct from OnePlus or Amazon in India.

Verdict

The OnePlus 10R is not the traditional OnePlus phone users will be tempted to upgrade to but is aimed at bringing a new set of users to the brand. The 150W fast charging is not a gimmick and works well every single time, and the novelty hasn’t worn off for me even after using the device for several weeks.

In terms of features, the 10R is fully loaded and there is not much one can complain about except for the mediocre camera performance and minor software glitches. Unless the above are deal-breakers for you, the OnePlus 10R is a great all-rounder and worth considering. In terms of the competition, you could consider other mid-range phones Realme GT 3 Neo, Xiaomi 11T Pro 5G, or Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G.

Specs

• Oxygen OS 12.1 based on Android 12
• 6.7in Full HD+ (2412×1086) 20.1:9 Fluid OLED, 120Hz display
• Mediatek Dimensity 8100-MAX 2.85GHz octa-core processor
• Mali G610 GPU
• 8/12 GB RAM
• 128/256 GB UFS 3.1 internal storage
• 50Mp f/1.8 rear camera
• 8Mp f/2.2 ultra-wide
• 2Mp macro
• 16Mp f/2.4 selfie camera
• Dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax
• Bluetooth 5.3
• GPS
• 5G
• USB-C
• 4500/5000mAh non-removable battery
• 80/150W wired charging
• 75.5×163.3×8.2mm
• 186g
• Sierra Black, Forest Green

Best Prices Today: OnePlus 10R