OnePlus 10 Pro review: Unmissable OPPO influence, in both good ways and bad

Despite running OxygenOS, the OnePlus 10 Pro cuts corners on the essential OnePlus experience. How is the new experience like? Let's find the answer

OnePlus 10 Pro 5G is a maiden OnePlus premium flagship smartphone to launch after its integration with OPPO. With premium glass-metal construction and top-notch specifications, the OnePlus 10 Pro 5G has the classic OnePlus underpinnings. However, one can clearly see OPPO’s influence on the smartphone on the interface side. This is despite the phone running on the OxygenOS interface, which has been core to the OnePlus experience. So, how does the integration change the scheme of things for OnePlus. Importantly, how is the experience using the OnePlus 10 Pro?  Let’s find out:

Design

The OnePlus 10 Pro 5G looks similar to the OnePlus 9 Pro (review), except for the design of the rear camera module. It boasts a premium construction with glass on the front and the back, and an aluminium chassis. The glass on the front and back has a two-side curved profile with smooth contours that make the phone easy to handle and operate. The smartphone comes in two colourways – volcanic black and emerald forest. The emerald forest (review unit) colour sparkles despite featuring an anti-glare coating on the back glass cover and, therefore, looks novel.

The phone is neither heavy nor bulky, but appropriately built for comfortable use. It is sturdy and boasts Gorilla Glass Victus protection on the front and Gorilla Glass 5 protection on the back. Moreover, the OnePlus 10 Pro 5G is IP68-rated for water and dust resistance. Therefore, the phone has a chance at surviving in the face of water and dust but it is strongly advised not to intentionally put its ingress protection capability to test by doing so.

The only thing odd about the design is the rather expanded rear camera module. It does not look bad and boasts ceramic coating for resistance against everyday abuse, but the generously spaced triple-camera array seems like an afterthought in the overall design language.

Display

The OnePlus 10 Pro sports a 6.7-inch QHD+ AMOLED screen of 120Hz refresh rate. It is a LTPO 2.0 panel for adaptive refresh rate, which scales between 1Hz and 120Hz based on on-screen content requirements. Theoretically, the LTPO tech saves battery without compromising on performance. In practice, however, the benefits are minimal and apparent only on the battery efficiency. On performance, it is about interface level optimisations to make the most from this tech. Unfortunately, the OxygenOS 12.1 seems inapt in its current form simply because many apps, including the commonly used ones such as Twitter, Instagram, Slack, etc. suffer random stutter. That said, the overall display experience is smooth on most counts but there are occasions where the inconsistencies hurt the user experience.

As for the value-added features, the display on the OnePlus 10 Pro cuts corners on some features available with the predecessor to make room for others. Therefore, it may seem to be a step down from the predecessor but it is not. It is a 10-bit display with HDR10+ certification. It boasts a brightness of over 1000 nits for class-leading sunlight legibility. Moreover, the display gains a new contrast adjustment algorithm to adjust it at two brightness levels. Besides, there are tons of other features like ‘Image Sharpener’, ‘Video Color Enhancer’, and ‘Bright HDR video mode’. These features make use of the display’s peak potential and improve the phone’s multimedia rendering capabilities. Important to note, only a few apps such as Instagram, Prime Videos, Netflix, VLC Player, YouTube, etc. are optimised to take advantage of these features.

One of the predecessor’s display features missing here is the Motion Estimation Motion Compensation (MEMC) tech, which interpolates extra frames to artificially smoothen the video thus improving the multimedia experience, especially while watching fast-paced content available on over-the-top apps. In everyday use, however, the lack of it does not hamper the experience.

Camera

The OnePlus 10 Pro boasts a stellar camera system, supported by several value-added features -- aimed at both amateurs and pro. It is a differently tuned camera system and, therefore, requires some learning. However, it does not take long to acknowledge the strength of the imaging system once you are familiar with its functioning and capability.

Starting with the primary camera sensor, it is a capable performer that works effortlessly irrespective of lighting conditions. It is quick in fixing focus, captures the frame with almost zero shutter lag, and is tuned to capture natural colours, resulting in a true-to-life imaging experience. Complementing the primary sensor is a 150-degree ultra-wide-angle sensor. It matches the like of primary sensor in daylight conditions with regard to quality, details, and colours. Importantly, there is a colour symmetry between the primary and the ultra-wide-angle camera. The ultra-wide-angle sensor is set to capture shots in 110-degree field-of-view (FoV) by default. There is a dedicated 150-degree mode in which it goes really wide, but with some distortions on the sides. If distortion is not much of a concern, there is another view in the 150-degree mode named fisheye that replicates the look of traditional fisheye lenses, providing a fresh perspective when shooting. Rounding up the camera system is the telephoto lens, which enables up to optical zoom capability. It adds versatility to the package, but is good for use in daylight conditions only.

Coming to the value-added features, there are tons of it. For starters, the OnePlus 10 Pro is among the few smartphones capable of shooting stills in 10-bit colours. Importantly, it can do so through all three available camera sensors on the back. For perspective, 10-bit means about a billion colours in a frame. Most smartphones use 8-bit colour processing, which has about 16 million colours. Moreover, the OnePlus 10 Pro uses DCI-P3 colour gamut. The 10-bit colour processing and DCI-P3 colour gamut result in pleasing colours with negligible colour banding.

Another pro-grade feature is the new Hasselblad manual mode. Unlike the predecessor, the Hasselblad manual mode is available for all three sensors on the rear. Moreover, it is not just about colour tuning this time around. OnePlus has added a new feature RAW+ in the Hasselblad manual mode that lets you shoot in up to 12-bit RAW while retaining all computational photography elements from the OnePlus 10 Pro, such as improved dynamic range and noise reduction.

The list of interesting value-added features extends on to the video side too. The OnePlus 10 Pro boasts a manual mode for videos named ‘Movie Mode’. It lets you adjust ISO, shutter speed, and white balance before and during filming. While manual mode for videos is common in most smartphones, OnePlus’ iteration is different because it comes with new tools and functions. For example, the Movie Mode on the OnePlus 10 Pro has an option to record videos in a LOG format. In this format, there is no pre-set picture profile. Therefore, it can easily be processed for colours in post-production.

There is a lot available with the OnePlus 10 Pro to explore and experiment. Importantly, it is as good for traditional use cases as it is for all new ones. That said, the OnePlus 10 Pro delivers a fresh experience with regard to imaging.

Performance

The OnePlus 10 Pro is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 system-on-chip, paired with up to 12GB RAM (LPDDR5) and 256GB internal storage (UFS 3.1). It ships with Android 12-based OxygenOS 12.1 interface, which is heavily reminiscent of ColorOS12. Nevertheless, the performance is nothing less than what you expect from a premium flagship smartphone. From graphic-intensive games to multimedia editing, there is nothing that the phone could not handle. It warms up at times, but not to a point where it becomes too hot to handle.

Coming to the interface, it is called OxygenOS but it is not. From camera to settings, the entire interface is a copy of ColorOS12 disguised in red colour to look like OxygenOS. Not a bad thing, but the interface is far from perfect and marred with inconsistencies. For example, some widgets get cropped when resized, display scaling is not consistent, font scaling is not consistent, and apps keep crashing. If it matters, the interface is still clean and free from unnecessary bloatware.

Battery

The OnePlus 10 Pro is powered by a dual-cell battery of a combined 5,000mAh capacity. With moderate usage, the phone sails through a day on a full charge with a display set to QHD+ resolution at 120Hz refresh rate. The phone ships with an 80W fast-wired-charger, which replenishes the completely drained battery fully in about 40 minutes. Unlike the OnePlus 9 Pro charging adapter, it is not a universal charger. The OnePlus 10 Pro supports 50W fast wireless charging, too. The phone takes about an hour to charge through OnePlus Warp Charge 50 Wireless Charger (sold separately). Wireless charging warms up the phone’s back side but not so much as to make it uncomfortable to use.

Verdict

Priced Rs 66,999 onwards, the OnePlus 10 Pro is an undersell compared to premium smartphones from established brands such as Samsung and Apple. It, however, seems a tad expensive compared to premium flagship smartphones from other Chinese brands such as Xiaomi and Realme. That said, the OnePlus 10 Pro is not about its price but what it brings to the table. It is a different kind of smartphone with a unique camera system, dazzling display, bold design, and swift performance. It, however, does not feel like a OnePlus smartphone simply because its user experience is heavily influenced by OPPO. While at some places the phone shines because of OPPO features, there are many bland experiences too. Therefore, consider the OnePlus 10 Pro for the novel experience backed by classic OnePlus strengths in areas like design and performance.