OnePlus 10 Pro Review: Getting back to form

OnePlus 10 Pro is a comeback for OnePlus. Now, we understand that the statement may be controversial depending on where you stand. Currently, with the recent merger with Oppo, OnePlus has found itself in all of those situations. But what about the OnePlus, where there is credit, the ability to take credit, user feedback seriously and turn it into a compelling product, which only gets better with time, remains firmly intact today. The OnePlus 10 Pro doesn’t live up to expectations by improving the OnePlus 9 Pro in almost every understandable way, but it does surpass them by delivering all of this under tremendous pressure.

Performance and battery life

It’s kind of awesome because OnePlus 9 Pro can rarely take. It was often too hot to handle. It’s no secret that today’s high-end chips – especially those from Qualcomm – tend to run hot. As the phones get smoother day by day, the coldness becomes harder to manage. The OnePlus 10 Pro has a comprehensive 5-level 3D passive cooling system and, as far as we can tell, from working the phone for more than twenty days as our daily driver, it works. This does not mean that 10 Pro is not hot. It does, but not as fast as the 9 Pro.

Every time it’s going to be fun, say, when you’re playing a graphics-intensive game like Genshin Impact or Fortnite, or recording a high-resolution 4K video, the OnePlus seems to have some built-in thermal caps on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip, To protect the phone from overheating. This has also been done wisely. Without a benchmark you will rarely notice it. The 10 Pro on AnTuTu doesn’t score as high as an iQOO 9 Pro (review) or even the Motorola Edge 30 Pro (review).

Also read | OnePlus 10R 150W First Impressions: All Charged Raring up and go

But you don’t buy a phone to run the benchmark. You buy it for its real-world performance. We’re pleased to announce that the OnePlus 10 Pro performs exceptionally well, on all fronts, whether it’s basic work or high refresh rate gaming. When you’re shooting, the phone will automatically reduce the screen brightness, but it doesn’t stop recording (9 Pro will notoriously drop this type of case). Throttling statistics were within the allowable limits during our testing. It does all this consistently, too, without any gaps or stuttering. OnePlus phones have long been honored for their fast and smooth durable performance, and the 10 Pro lives up to that name.

The battery is now 5,000mAh, an increase of 500mAh over the 9 Pro, and with the next-generation chip and smart (er) cooling efficiency, the results speak for themselves. The 10 Pro is a reliable phone all day. Sometimes you can extend it well the next day thanks to some of the best standby times we’ve seen on any phone in its class. You are also getting fast charging updates. The 10 Pro 80W SupervioOC supports wired charging (the 9 Pro 65W is on top). OnePlus claims that the bundled charger – which is not Power Delivery (PD) – can charge the phone 1-100% in 32 minutes. In our experience, it took about 40-minutes to do this, which is still fast enough. You will also find AirVOOC Wireless and Reverse Wireless charging up to 50W on this phone.

Haptic motor demands a special mention. 10 Pro not only packs some great haptics on the market today, but OnePlus also designs dedicated audio effects এবং and animation যা to make the interaction even more fun and immersive.

Design and display

The phone’s 6.7-inch 10-bit 1440p curved AMOLED display is just as impressive. It may look like it’s being carried from the 9 Pro, but there are a few major upgrades. The panel is a second-generation LTPO that can go from 1Hz to 120Hz depending on the content available, and the dual color calibration features that are said to be calibrated at 500nits and 100nits to show more accurate colors across multiple brightness levels. It can pick up 1300nits and supports HDR10, HDR10 + and HLG playback. There is also Corning Gorilla Glass Victus protection.

The in-display fingerprint reader – which is still optical – has been moved a bit higher, making it more convenient than the 9 Pro’s implementation. It’s fast and accurate.

Rounding of the multimedia package is dual speakers that support for Dolby Atmos. These are nice and loud with a clean mid, although the alloy reaction can be a bit better. No headphone jack.

Like almost everything on this phone, its design is a refresher driven by user feedback. You’ll find Corning Gorilla Glass (version 5) on the general suspects, the back and the metal frame, but it has all been put together with more attention to detail. The biggest upgrade is the weight distribution. OnePlus 10 Pro is a big phone (201g, 8.55mm) but it is well balanced and does not reduce your weight. It’s nice to hold and move, although the warning slider could be a bit low. The backplate has a textured matte finish that shines in direct sunlight and resists fingerprints fairly well. The Emerald Forest version, we have for review, has a glossy frame. The black of the volcano is completely matte.

Perhaps the most polarizing bit of the OnePlus 10 Pro’s design is its huge stovetop burner-style camera assembly. It is made of ceramic and fuse with frame at one end. We have to say it takes a while to get used to it but in the end it grows on you. Then again, this is all subjective. Whatever the case, you’ve probably never seen a smartphone design like this before, so the 10 on 10 is definitely a must for uniqueness and thinking out of the box.

Cameras and software

Behind that stand-out assembly are three extremely powerful camera sensors, all basking with great potential, at least on paper. At the same time, OnePlus’s ongoing partnership with Hasselblad – now in its second year – promises better color tuning and access to some iconic features like XPan mode (fixing it from outside the 10 Pro gate) which brings a hint to those who Fancy exclusivity and nostalgia for them. Like the wide and telephoto 9 Pro:

– 48MP Sony IMX789 sensor behind 23mm-equivalent 7P lens with f / 1.8 aperture, OIS, and phase detection autofocus. It can record up to 4K 120fps or 8K at 24fps.

– 8MP sensor behind 76mm-equivalent f / 2.4 lens with OIS and PDAF for optical zoom up to 3.3x. It can record up to 1080p 30fps.

The Ultravide camera is getting a refresh with a new 50MP Samsung ISOCELL JN1 sensor paired with a more comprehensive 150-degree field-of-view lens. You can shoot at full 150-degrees (including fishye) or up to 110-degrees (with distortion correction). Although there is no autofocus, which means it cannot be doubled as a macro (as in 9 Pro). It can record up to 4K at 30fps.

There are also some new camera chops, such as the ability to shoot in 10 bit colors across the entire Triple Camera system and up to 12 bit color in Hasselblad Pro mode. OnePlus 10 Pro also gets support for Raw + which means you’ll be able to save to RAW and a processed JPEG at the same time. There are some new filters to explore inside the camera app. In a word, 10 Pro loads in the case of camera specs. While their effectiveness may vary depending on your skills and all-round compression, this is a case study of how far the smartphone camera has come.

Still photography on the 10 Pro, especially with wide and telephoto, is slightly better than the 9 Pro. The phone makes brighter, sharper, and more colorful photos, in general, with better details and wider dynamic range. The colors are warm and pleasing by default. HDR may be good, but it’s not a deal breaker. Depending on the scene, low light photos are competitive with or without night mode.

The Ultravide is more whimsical than useful, especially when you compare it to the 9 Pro. The lack of autofocus is evident because the photos become softer regardless of the light. The colors also get a bit cooler when shooting with this camera. That said, the wide range of opportunities, even if it’s weird, is fun and gives you the freedom and flexibility to explore your creative side. We’ll take it as a pro.

There is no doubt that OnePlus 10 Pro wanted to make a camera phone for professionals, more so in videography, which is why the phone probably exports video footage in Rec2020 format (not the more common Rec709) for brighter and natural colors. That they would love to edit and make the most of the post. For everyone else, though, it can be an overkill.

The front 32MP camera is a step-up compared to the 9 Pro in every sense of the word for still photography, but it’s still at the top at 1080p 30fps, which seems rather strange for a flagship phone with such huge photography ambitions.

Although the OnePlus 10 Pro is a step in the right direction. Over the years, OnePlus phones have become obsessed with inadequate cameras. The 10 Pro gets most things right which makes us optimistic about what OnePlus will do next.

Similarly, countless fans and enthusiasts are optimistic about the future of OxygenOS. Those who are keeping track will know that OnePlus is planning to combine OxygenOS and ColorOS to create a unified operating system. Those plans were scrapped after receiving feedback from the OnePlus community. With the upcoming OxygenOS 13, OxygenOS will return to its familiar look and feel – light, clean and close to stock Android – OnePlus has confirmed, though it will continue to share codebase with ColorOS. The argument is that this will allow for a quick update rollout.

The software experience on the OnePlus 10 Pro – which is Android 12-based OxygenOS 12.1 – although it borrows some things from ColorOS here and there, is significantly less swollen and almost no spammy notifications. It also retains its uniqueness, with features like OnePlus Shelf and Scout, Work Life Balance, Granular Personalization with multiple layers of Dark Mode, and Private Safe to name a few. The experience, overall, is nice and fluid. The phone deserves three major OS and four years of security updates.

ONEPLUS 10 PRO | Will you buy it?

The OnePlus 10 Pro is a major upgrade to almost all departments over the 9 Pro. The design is new. Build quality top and weight distribution, spot on. The screen is better in color than ever before and provides a satisfying multimedia experience. The louder the speakers, the harder the haptics. The software is clean and well optimized. Performance and battery life are also tough. 10 Pro also supports 5G bands (2 vs 9 in 9 Pro). The camera, where there is room for improvement, holds up well for the most part, especially in stills.

Despite so many upgrades, prices haven’t really risen much. Prices for the OnePlus 10 Pro in India start at Rs 66,999 for a version with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage. A version with 12GB RAM and 256GB storage will give you a refund of Rs 71,999. It is very competitive for a flagship phone in 2022 so OnePlus has priced the phone well.

iQOO 9 Pro, Realme GT 2 Pro, Motorola Edge 30 Pro and Samsung’s Galaxy S22 and S22 + (review) are all great phones that 10 Pro has to compete with. While it’s true that it’s pale in one way or another next to this All-Star combination, but collectively, it shines as a healthy package that should appeal to both OnePlus fans, both long-term and new. We won’t go so far as to say that OnePlus is completely back, but 10 Pro is definitely the beginning of a whole new journey and at least it’s a great start.

Also read | OnePlus 10 Pro First look at the design, space, top features and more

Professional	Cons
Premium design and build	No official water-proofing
Bright, contrast-rich display	No expandable storage or headphone jack
Beautiful haptics	Ultravide cameras lack autofocus
Fast performance	Videography could be better
Clean software
Great battery life
Competitive cameras