At its global launch event in New York, OnePlus launched its new high-performance smartphone, the OnePlus 10T. As with other “T” series handsets, it aims to excel at a few key features while bringing maximum value (features for the price), something that OnePlus has built its brand on.
“The OnePlus 10T takes our signature fast and smooth performance to the next level at an extremely
competitive price point”, says OnePlus founder Pete Lau.
To achieve this aim, OnePlus has focused on several things, but if we had to boil it down, it would come down to excellent computing platform performance and swift battery charging.
According to OnePlus, many users want extreme performance (at a reasonable price), and that’s essentially what this phone is designed for. Of course, other aspects of the phone are well implemented and feel great, but they might be slightly less well-rounded or luxurious when compared to the OnePlus 10 Pro.
The Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 needs no presentation from a computational power standpoint. We’ve covered the original Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 (non-plus), and we’ve shown the “plus” version of this platform to increase speed and power efficiency, so follow the links to learn more about these two processors.
When RAM and storage are concerned, there are two 10T variants, one with 8GB RAM and 128 GB storage, and another with 16GB RAM and 256GB storage, for $100 more.
Such performance is excellent for gaming, which is an ideal use case for such a powerful phone. However, remember that higher performance might also be felt in other compute or graphics intensive apps, even though they might not get mentioned in OnePlus’ communications.
“We’re going to serve and super-serve this gaming use case really well, which we believe this phone does really well” said Christian Anderson, VP at OnePlus North America.
OnePlus has also focused on sustained performance, which is materialized by the “most powerful cooling system ever in a OnePlus smartphone.” That is due to a larger vapor-chamber heatsink made with the latest manufacturing tech.
In any case, we’ll have to see the sustained performance benchmarks, but it’s a good sign that OnePlus is promoting this feature.
Intense compute performance equates to higher battery usage, and that’s why OnePlus has worked hard on battery charging speed. If you spend significant time playing the latest games at high resolution, getting a “full day battery” is impossible no matter your phone.
If we accept the reality that charging will be required, we might as well recharge as fast as possible. That’s where the 150W SUPERVOOC Endurance Edition charging from OnePlus comes into play. With it, it’s possible to charge from 1% to 100% in only 19 minutes. That’s insanely fast.
150W is the maximum charging speed that any OnePlus 10T can support out of the box and with the included fast-charger. However, 150W applies to European-style 220V power outlets. If you plug the charger into a US 110V, the maximum wattage goes down to 120W, which is still very fast.
Other OEMs have shown specialty phones with extreme charging speed as well, but big brands tend to charge at a much lower rate, typically going from 25W to 45W at the high-end, which is many times slower.
Even if you don’t care about the extreme performance, a frequent traveler or road warrior would appreciate the battery charging aspect of this handset. You could quickly replenish the phone in minutes before boarding a flight.
OnePlus even launched an 80W in-car charger, the highest we’ve had our hands-on to date. Fast-charging the 4800 mAh battery is something everyone can benefit from, not only gamers or tech enthusiasts.
From a design standpoint, the OnePlus 10T uses a design language similar to our OnePlus 10 Pro, although there are slight differences like the smooth design of the camera bump.
The big difference is the disappearance of the notification slider button, and that one has caused some noise on the internet. It’s understandable that, to OnePlus hardcore fans, the removal of this iconic feature is unthinkable.
The good news on that topic is that during the global media briefing we attended in NYC, OnePlus’ development team committed to working hard to bring the slider back in the future (= “you’ve been heard”).
At the moment, OnePlus said it had to let that slider go to accommodate the better cooling, faster charging, and the increased number of antennas. Without any insights into their industrial design and cost pressure process, we can’t pass a judgment, but from our experience, it seems like it was a difficult decision.
We mentioned the phone had more antennas, including some in the center of the back cover. That’s because OnePlus wanted to ensure optimum communications, including when you hold the phone by the four corners to game.
Typically, the antennas are located along the edges or at the corner (or both!). That way, some antennas are not covered while holding the phone.
The 6.7-inch FHD+ AMOLED display features 60, 90, and 120 Hz refresh rates, high brightness (950 NITs), and HDR10 compatibility. Its resolution might not be the highest on the market, but even most high-end phones aren’t entirely using their pixel density.
The OnePlus 10T launches with Oxygen OS 12.1, which OnePlus’ customization layer on top of Android 12. However, the company has launched Oxygen OS 13, coming to the OnePlus 10 Pro first before making its way to the OnePlus 10T (date TBD).
The 8/128GB version comes with an MSRP of $649, which should give it an incredible perf/dollar ratio, making it very enticing for gamers who don’t want to compromise performance but have a tight budget.
For $100 more ($749 MSRP), you get the 16/256GB model, which we recommend if you want to download lots of HD movies, shoot a lot of videos or run a lot of heavy apps. Stay tuned for our complete review of the phone! The OnePlus 10T is shaping out as an attractive, high-performance phone for the masses.
