OnePlus 10T 5G Review – Focused Powerhouse Speedster

The latest flagship grade phone from OnePlus, the rather quaintly named OnePlus 10T 5G is an interesting design with an unusual mix of specifications wrapped in a rather fetching looking Jade Green chassis that has the latest Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 CPU under the hood and a 120Hz AMOLED display but is it worth the money? We put it through its paces in our OnePlus 10T 5G review to find out!

 

@hitechcentury A firsthand look at the new @oneplus 10T 5G that’s coming to Malaysia! Love the smoothness of OxygenOS and the phone handles like a dream! #techtok #sembanggadget #oneplus #oneplus10T #tech #fyp #malaysia #smartphones #android #oxygenos ♬ Blade Runner 2049 – Synthwave Goose

 

OnePlus 10T 5G review – build and design

The OnePlus 10T 5G is their latest flagship design for Malaysia and at first blush has the size and heft befitting its pedigree. For Malaysia, OnePlus is only shipping in one configuration in a colourway that they call Jade Green that resembles a very muted shade of teal.

The backplate itself is done up in the aforementioned shade of Jade Green with the OnePlus logo boldly emblazoned in the middle rear portion. What immediately draws the eye in on the backplate is its triple camera array taking up most of the upper left quadrant arrayed in a 2 by 2 configuration with the LED camera flash taking up one corner. While the backplate does look and feel reasonably classy with its mirrored finish and Gorilla Glass 5 coating, it’s unfortunately a fingerprint magnet. 

The side frames feel somewhat plasticky though the reflective silver finish does help it pass casual inspection as something other than polycarbonate. On its right is a power button while the left holds a volume rocker. 

Up top, the phone is mostly bare save for a tiny whole for the microphone and speaker while the base has a USB-C port for docking and charging duties, a nano SIM card tray and a grille for one of a pair of stereo speakers. One thing to note here is that the OnePlus 10T 5G lacks wireless or reverse wireless charging so you’ll need to be fairly diligent toting the charger and cable with you if you are wont to drive your phone hard with work and gaming.

Where OnePlus has lavished the most attention is its display with the phone featuring a flat 6.7-inch FHD+ AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate, a tiny punch hole up top for the 16MP selfie camera, a small grille for the other half of its stereo speaker setup and an under-display fingerprint reader in the lower quadrant of the display for biometrics though facial recognition is also an option.

Perhaps as a cost cutting measure, the display can only switch between 60Hz, 90Hz and 120Hz refresh rates though only 60Hz and 120Hz options are manually selectable in the menu settings. The display is also sheathed in Gorilla Glass 5 for resistance against nicks and scrapes.

Overall build quality is suitably premium indeed with a pleasant heft  and feel. Bar the flat display,  the corners and sides of our OnePlus 10T 5G review sample are all gently rounded to make it easier to grip one-handed. 

Out of the box, OnePlus issues the phone with a massive 150W SuperVOOC charger that feels incredibly dense along with a USB-C charging cable. Seeing the fact that you’re getting a compatible fast charging out of the box combined with the solid build quality, the OnePlus 10T 5G already takes a solid lead out of the starting gate save for a particularly odd quirk in design. 

As far as the official literature implies, all variants of the Oneplus 10T 5G have an IP54 dust and splash resistance rating. However, only selected variants sold in other regions explicitly state an IP54 rating.To be clear, this isn’t as robust as an IP68 rating and only merits a very modest ability to resist a splash or two of water. In any case, it’s still a prudent measure to avoid using it near any large body of water.

OnePlus 10T 5G review – Benchmarks and Performance

In terms of hardware, our OnePlus 10T 5G review sample for the Malaysia market is armed for bear with performance that can give other flagships a run for their money. You get the latest and most powerful processor from Qualcomm’s foundries for 2022 – the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor paired with a whopping 16GB LPDDR5 RAM paired with up to 7GB virtual RAM and 256GB of non-expandable UFS 3.1 storage. 

Running under the hood is Android 12 overlaid with their OxygenOS 12.1 out of the box though they’ve stated that the upcoming OxygenOS 13 will be available in the future for the phone in addition to official support for three years worth of Android updates and four years of security patches.

Here’s how it stacks on paper:

Price	RM3,199
Display	6.7-inch 120Hz Fluid AMOLED FHD+ (2,412 x 1080 pixels), 20.1:9 aspect ratio, 394ppi
Processor	Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1
OS	Android 12 w/ OxygenOS 12.1
Memory	16GB LPDDR5 RAM/256GB UFS 3.1 storage
Camera	50MP F/1.8 w/ PDAF and OIS + 8MP F?2.2 ultra wide + 2MP macro camera [rear] / 16MP [front]
Battery	4,800mAh w/ 150W SuperVOOC
Size/Weight	163 x 75.4 x 8.75mm / 203.5g

It’s immediately obvious that from a performance and cost standpoint, our OnePlus 10T 5G review sample is an exceptionally powerful machine with its Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 CPU. Save for a few exotic gaming-centric Android phones, there’s little else in the market that has 16GB LPDDR5 RAM and an SD8+ Gen 1 CPU at this price point. Naturally, all this hardware doesn’t mean much if it can’t keep its heat under control and fortunately, OnePlus have kitted the design out with what they refer to as a Cryo-Velocity Vapor cooling system combined with layers of graphite and copper foil for superior heat venting properties.

When subjected to synthetic benchmarks, our OnePlus 10T 5G review sample scored the following benchmarks:

3DMark Wild Life	Maxed out
3DMark Wild Life Unlimited	10,918
3DMark Wild Life Extreme	2,777
3DMark Wild Life Extreme Unlimited	2,748
Geekbench 5 Single core	1,018
Geekbench 5 Multi core	3,545
Geekbench 5 Vulkan	6,397
Geekbench 5 OpenCL	6,458
PCMark Work 3.0	13,352
PCMark Battery Life	N/A (Estimate 16 hours before time-out)

These results are easily among the best on test and are borne out under practical field testing with it handling the likes of Genshin Impact and Call of Duty Mobile at the highest settings without issue. The provided Cryo-Velocity Vapor cooling system is of note and even under intensive, sustained gaming sessions, the phone remained relatively comfortable to wield if slightly warm. 

The AMOLED display is a delightful affair with beautiful colour reproduction, deep blacks and sufficient brightness to make it fairly viewable outdoors. The display’s refresh rate isn’t granular like higher end displays and dials between 60Hz, 90Hz and 120Hz depending on what’s happening on screen automatically.

Animations are pleasingly smooth though the 120Hz refresh rate is dependent on content and is primarily prevalent when scrolling through the menus with YouTube usage dropping it down to 30Hz and up to 90Hz for the Chrome browser with some games prevaricating between the two.

While the display is delightful, the provided stereo speakers aren’t the loudest on test nor the most detailed but otherwise do a serviceable job.

In terms of endurance, our OnePlus 10T 5G review sample set with a 120Hz refresh rate and a fairly standard usage profile of web browsing, social media use, modest use of the camera and some light gaming managed to last through a full day of usage though a prudent top-up is needed at sundown to make it on the commute home. Unfortunately, our OnePlus 10T 5G review sample was unable to fully complete a PCMark battery life test due to a quirk in software but it was easily able to last a good 15 plus hours in the benchmark before the test timed out.

Fortunately, charging it is a cinch and assuming you have access to a plug point, you’re able to charge it using the bundled charger from dead zero to full in 19 minutes; exactly what it said on the tin.

On a side note, the bundled 150W SuperVOOC charger also plays nicely with the USB Power Delivery standard and can charge other smartphones and gear albeit at lower 45W charging speeds as SuperVOOC tech is a proprietary affair. There’s no wireless charging or reverse wireless charging available here with the OnePlus 10T 5G though so you’ll need to tote around the cable and charger or a power bank if you want to top it up in the field.

OnePlus 10T 5G review – Cameras

The OnePlus 10T 5G has a triple camera setup that straddles the line between what is expected of a midrange workhorse phone and a flagship that consists of a primary 50MP camera with optical image stabilisation and Sony’s IMX766 sensor, a secondary 8MP ultra wide angle camera and a 2MP fixed focus macro camera on the back as an afterthought to capture 12MP stills at up to 10x digital zoom.

To be clear, there’s no optical zoom available on the phone and it’s primarily sensor cropping to mimic the effect and up to 4K@60fps video capture for the main 50MP camera. Up front, the phone has a single 16MP camera that can also take up to 1080p video. 

As you’d likely surmise, most of the grunt work is undertaken by the primary 50MP camera that’s supported by AI and delivers the best results with excellent shots with good detail and colour rendition in daylight, with decent shots after dark or indoors though anything beyond 2X digital zoom has a soft look on close inspection. The ultra wide camera is underwhelming at best and delivers best results in daylight. Selfies and video calls are adequately handled by the front-facing 16MP camera though a camera light or daylight conditions are advisable for best results.

Image quality isn’t one of the strengths of the OnePlus 10T 5G though it can deliver relatively good shots and video for the majority of mainstream users.

Should you buy the OnePlus 10T 5G?

As it stands, the OnePlus 10T 5G is a specialist design that prioritises performance. In that regard it succeeds with a vibrant and smooth AMOLED display paired with a powerful trifecta of a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 CPU, a huge amount of RAM and exceptionally fast charging to keep it powered.

There’s still a few concessions to keep it at its RM3,199 price tag with its modest camera performance and lack of wireless charging but these are likely not concerns for its intended target market of enthusiasts, early adopters and gamers. If you prize speed and performance over other concerns, the OnePlus 10T 5G ought to be tops on your list.

OnePlus 10T 5G review sample courtesy of OnePlus Malaysia. To purchase please visit https://www.oneplus.com/my/10t