There was a time when buying a OnePlus meant going (at least a little) against the tide. The company founded by Carl Pei and Pete Lau owed its fortune, especially among enthusiasts, to a strong and distinctive identity as a technology underdog. How we had already found with the OnePlus 10Pro model, that identity no longer exists, quickly eroded by the merger with the parent company Oppo. The 10 Pro model had already marked the definitive Oppo-ification of the brand, the new 10T further consolidates the process.
There is a detail that indicates what the new priorities are under Oppo leadership, and it is the absence (for the first time ever) of the Alert Slider button: the button had become over the years a distinctive feature of OnePlus and allowed you to switch to silent mode or vibration with a quick movement of the thumb. A detail as small as it is identity, in a market Android in which design and function approval is now almost total.
On the 10T model, that button has disappeared to make room for more antennas and the components needed to enable 150W super-fast Supervooc charging, the most relevant functionality of the new smartphone. In other words, it was decided to remove a cornerstone of the OnePlus experience to make room for a functionality developed by the parent company, already tested on the 10R model (which is not in Italy) and already seen above all on the GT Neo 3, smartphone presented in June by Realme, other successful brand that is part of the large family of BBK Electronics.
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OnePlus 10T, performance and battery
The dilution of the OnePlus brand with the multiplication of models and price ranges covered has led to rapid and concrete sales results, with more than 10 million units sold in 2021, without sacrificing excessively the qualitative and technological level which is on par with that of the products of Oppo and Realme. To contribute to this result, however, was above all the Nord series of medium-low range models. When it comes to flagship models like this 10T, it remains one question: why buy a OnePluswhen the Realme or the mid-level Oppos with very similar characteristics cost less?
Like the 10 Pro, the 10T still does not offer a valid answer to this question: in a week of testing, the smartphone behaved as it should, the performance of the Snapdragon 8+ Gen.1 processor is excellent and contributes to an always fluid user experience. The battery and the recharge are truly remarkable: the charge lasts a long time, but above all it really only takes 20 minutes to get to 100%. It is the aforementioned 150W Supervooc Endurance Edition technology, which, however, had already been seen in June on the Realme GT Neo 3. And precisely: that model in the 256 GB and 12 GB of RAM version costs 649 euros, while the OnePlus 10T with the same memory allocation and 16 GB of RAM rises to 819 euros.
On its side, this 10T has a slightly larger battery (4800 mAh) and a very advanced heat dissipation technology (but still very similar to that of the Realme): thanks to the 3D Cooling System, the smartphone does not heat up even during fast charging, and especially while playing games. We have seen the advantage of the cooling solution in these hot days. Many smartphones, especially iPhones, compensate for the increase in temperature by lowering the screen brightness, thus sacrificing full sun readability. On the OnePlus 10T this has never happened, not even using it on the beach, while we were taking some pictures for this review.
The display and cameras
The similarities of the OnePlus 10T to the Realme GT Neo 3 are not limited to the charging system. The display is exactly the same, that is a 6.7 “AMOLED with refresh rate up to 120 Hz, HDR10 + and Gorilla Glass 5. The camera equipment is also almost identical: under the main lens there is the same 50 MP Sony IMX766 sensor, with an aperture of F / 1.8 in this case; the secondary camera is instead an ultra-wide angle with an excessively low resolution of 8 MP. The triptych (on both devices) closes with a macro lens of only 2 MP, almost useless. Finally, the 16 MP front camera is also the same.
The OnePlus T line usually had the task of refining some features of the previous models and updating the line with the latest technological innovations. From a photographic point of view, however, this OnePlus 10T marks a step behind to the previous model, which in our opinion cannot be justified by the mere absence of the wording Pro.
The photos taken with this smartphone are good (as long as you keep the AI function off, which otherwise saturates a lot) but they don’t impress. The wide angle photos suffer from the excessive qualitative difference between the main and secondary sensor, while on the yield of the 2 MP macro lens we spread a pitiful veil.
Compared to the 10 Pro model, the marchio Hasselblad, which in the meantime has ended up on Oppo’s flagship models, and therefore all the camera customizations and filters that OnePlus had developed in collaboration with the historic photographic brand. The company justified the choice by citing price reasons: the absence of the Hasselblad sticker would have allowed, together with others compromisesto keep the price of the 10T lower than the Pros.
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Conclusions
Even at a lower price than the 10 Pro models, one wonders if the new OnePlus 10T are really worth it 719 euros for the 8-128 version and 819 for that 16-256. In the past we would have justified this price discrepancy compared to Realme’s cousins or Oppo’s mid-range precisely by virtue of the uniqueness of OnePlus and in particular of the OxygenOS. However, the latest versions of the Android 12-based operating system have scored a clear approach to Color OS of the parent company, although the company has ensured that the two firmware will not merge, but will continue to share only some portions of code.
The only version of the OnePlus 10T that we think can find its own space is the more expensive one, with 16 GB of RAM, which can please those who play a lot: i gamers they can make the most of the cooling system, the large battery and the positioning of the antennas for better reception when you grab the phone with two hands horizontally. For the rest, the 150W fast charging is interesting, but there is no point in spending more compared to many other Android models of the same range only to charge the battery in 20 minutes instead of 30.
OnePlus 10T, the strong points
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The charging 150W: the phone recharges to 100% in about twenty minutes
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The system of cooling down: the smartphone does not heat up during charging and while playing; resists better even in the sun
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Lo screen has flat edges, which we much prefer to the rounded edges of the 10 Pro model
OnePlus 10T, the weak points
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The mix of cameras: there is no zoom, the 2 MP macro is useless, the ultra-wide angle is only 8 MP and the qualitative difference with the main 50 sensor is very noticeable
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Was removed the Alert Slider for quick activation of silent mode: it was a typical feature of the OnePlus brand