Last year’s OnePlus 9 Pro was one of the best smartphones of 2021 and now OnePlus has released its latest flagship smartphone, the OnePlus 10 Pro.
With an all-new display, an improved camera system, and a new revision of Oxygen OS, it’s clear that OnePlus are never happy to just settle. But the real question is, was it worth the wait?
Internal & Display
The OnePlus 10 Pro display comes in at 6.7 inches just like last year’s OnePlus 9 Pro but with an all-new QHD (1440p) display. The OnePlus 10 Pro comes out of the box with a satin finish on the back, that OnePlus claims is fingerprint-resistant. During our unboxing of the device, we found this statement to be surprisingly accurate. While looking at the rear of the handset, it’s clear that OnePlus has taken some inspiration from the Samsung Galaxy S21 with its protruding triple Hasselblad camera setup, finished with a gloss glass casing, which strikes a strong contrast between the camera and the rest of the device.
The OnePlus 10 Pro also comes with the same dynamic refresh rate as the last generation. The display can adapt from 1hz all the way to 120hz which means that you’ll get a much smoother user experience with the device across a range of different apps.
This is all powered by the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor, which is a step up from the OnePlus 9 Pro’s Snapdragon 888. The OnePlus 10 Pro comes with Corning Gorilla Glass Victus on the front, and the rear (camera housing) has Gorilla Glass 5. Now we found this to be an interesting approach, as keeping the Victus glass throughout the device would not only be consistent in its design, but also offer a higher standard of protection to prevent chips and scratches obscuring the camera's function in the event of a drop. Though settling for Gorilla Glass 5 still isn’t a bad thing, as the glass is drop resistant from up to 1.6 meters.
Camera
The OnePlus 10 Pro features three cameras: a 48MP main lens, an 8MP 3.3X telephoto lens and a new 50MP 150-degree ultrawide lens. As well as the rear camera setup, the OnePlus 10 Pro also houses a 32MP selfie camera, which is a huge step forward from the OnePlus 9 Pro’s 16MP selfie camera.
Another focal point around the camera is its video capabilities. The OnePlus 10 Pro supports 1080p, 4K and 8K video recording at various frame rates, as well as a slow-motion recording mode (amongst a variety of other camera features). Now, this is all amazing tech… but you’re probably trying to figure out if this is exactly what was on last generation’s OnePlus 9 Pro, and it is - but there’s more. The OnePlus 10 Pro has introduced a dual perspective recording mode. This new feature allows users to film both front and rear perspectives simultaneously to capture twice the action. Now, this is huge if you’re like us and use a OnePlus phone for content creation: Vlogs, Phone unboxings and more. However, it doesn’t just stop there. In conjunction with their dual perspective mode, OnePlus has also introduced a long exposure and fisheye mode, yes you heard correctly - fisheye mode. We were really impressed by this new camera mode when it was first revealed at MWC Barcelona 2022.
Battery
The OnePlus 10 Pro comes with a 5000mAh battery which is a 500mA upgrade from its predecessor, alongside 80W wired fast charging and 50W wireless charging. The fast charging can take the OnePlus 10 Pro from 0-100% in just 32 minutes and while this is 3 minutes slower than the OnePlus 9 Pro, the battery is 500mA larger and therefore keeps it charged for 107h compared to the OnePlus 9 Pro’s 86h in (GSM Arena’s battery life endurance testing. The OnePlus 10 Pro also supports reverse charging, a new feature in the Pro range that is also seen on the OnePlus Nord CE 2, which we also unboxed and reviewed. What’s interesting about the OnePlus 10 Pro is that they’ve now adopted Oppo’s ‘Supervooc’ fast charger instead of the Warp charging we’re used to from OnePlus. This is due to the merger of Oppo and OnePlus.
As a result of this change, OnePlus has abandoned the use of USB-C to C cable and reverted to USB-C to A. Now whilst this is by no means a deal-breaker it does mean that OnePlus users can no longer use their old OnePlus cable accessories if they want to make use of the 80W fast charging. With that said, OnePlus are still including chargers and cables in their boxes so there’s no need to be concerned.
Software
The OnePlus 10 Pro comes with an abundance of brand-new software upgrades from the last generation. The OnePlus 10 Pro has Android 12 at the heart of its own Oxygen OS 12.1. One of the primary talking points behind this OS is Work-Life Balance 2.0. In this mode, the handset can differentiate between work and home through AI location, and whether it’s on a home or work WIFI network. Once this is enabled, users at work will receive no notifications from none work-related apps to increase work efficiency. Likewise, users at home will receive no notifications from work-related apps.
Oxygen 12.1 has introduced gesture controls for shortcuts at your fingertips. Whether you want a two-finger swipe to screenshot or a three-finger swipe to make use of OnePlus’ new scrolling screenshot to capture an entire webpage, the gesture controls are a massively useful tool. As well as practical tools, there are a lot of customisation options with the OnePlus 10 Pro, one of our favourites here at C247 is customisable fingerprint animations, where you can alter your unlocking experience. While subtle these options make a huge difference in an everyday user experience.
OnePlus have created yet another incredible device that only compliments the current OnePlus line-up. Let us know what you think of the OnePlus 10 Pro below! Make sure you stay tuned to see our hands-on unboxing and review of this device by subscribing to C247 YouTube.
