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No more couple arrivals. Last year oneplus launched the OnePlus 9 and 9 pro, a strategy that the company has maintained since the OnePlus 7 Pro. For this 2022, the commitment to the high-end is the OnePlus 10 Pro, a model that is not accompanied by a lower variant. The surname Pro again denotes intentions : this mobile wants to be one of the best among the top-of-the-range models.

With an increasingly narrow margin for improvement, the OnePlus 10 Pro is presented as a refinement of the previous model , rather than as a new and disruptive evolution. Go through our analysis table the most current OnePlus bet, to be able to check if the improvements they have added have been enough, or if ambition has been lacking in the first OnePlus that arrives without hiding that it is OPPO’s cousin.

OnePlus 10 Pro data sheet

Design: different and with an air of the past

The OnePlus 10 Pro has a new design language on its back. The glossy finish of the OnePlus 9 generation is left behind to return to a matte paint inspired by the sandstone finish that we saw in some of the versions of the OnePlus One. It is a mobile phone finished in glass and aluminum, and to the touch It is the most slippery we have experienced in a long time . The mobile slides through the hand very easily, so we recommend putting a cover on it (it is included in the box).

On the other hand, it has a strange feeling : it gives a certain sensation of fragility , despite not being excessively thin. There are already those who have verified that something breaks easily that, without making the cafre, should not happen. However, the construction does lack robustness, despite the fact that the materials used by the company are correct.

There is another very curious detail about the construction. OnePlus does not certify it as IP68, but in the United States, the variant sold by T-Mobile does have this certification. This shows us that the terminal is waterproof but that, to avoid certification in other countries and not increase costs, it is not registered as such in the European variants. We do not recommend getting it wet as it will not be covered by the warranty, but it does have this feature.

Its rear part is also starring the huge camera module, finished in ceramic. For tastes, colors, although the intention is good. The OnePlus 10 Pro does not look like any rival when we look at it from behind, although we must emphasize that the rear module catches dust quite easily . On the other hand, the positive side is that it barely protrudes from the body of the terminal, despite being so large and striking.

The OnePlus keypad, one more generation, has an extra element to talk about. On its right side (looking at it from the front), we find the power button and the Alert Slider . The power button is in a good position , so your thumb will rest directly on it. Not so accessible (nothing accessible with one hand, rather), there is the Alert Slider, a button with three positions that allows us to silence the OnePlus, put it on vibration or sound.

Despite its location, it still seems to us to be one of the best solutions that can be implemented on Android . Drink from Apple’s mute button, improving it and adapting it to Android’s sound modes. In addition, it is a rough button, to facilitate the traction of the thumb through the button. On the opposite side, we have the volume button, a bit high, but in a good position.

The upper and lower parts hold no surprises, with an upper part without relevant elements and a lower part with the nanoSIM card tray, USB C port and speaker. The aluminum that covers the sides is matte and quite clean, a point that we quite liked at the design level.

If we turn it around, we have no surprises of any kind. We are facing the same panel as the OnePlus 9 Pro , so the frontal use is identical and we keep the hole in the screen in the upper left corner of the terminal. The frames are very well used, and the front speaker is diluted in the upper part of the front frame.

It is a curved mobile, so it is easy to hold and the all-screen effect is enhanced when looking at the front. It is not completely symmetrical (by just a few millimeters) on the upper and lower edges, although the chin is not excessively high.

With its 6.7 inches, it is difficult to be compact. However, it is not one of the heaviest or bulkiest high-end mobiles . This is how it is at the level of compaction compared to its main rivals in the segment.

Xiaomi 12 Pro163,674,68,22086,734.600122.05100.08

	Height (mm)	Width (mm)	thickness (millimeters)	Weight (grams)	Screen (inches)	Battery	Surface (cm²)	Volume (cm3)
OnePlus 10 Pro	163	73.9	8.6	200.5	6.7	5,000	120.46	103.6
iPhone 13 ProMax	160.8	78.5	7.65	238	6.7	4,352	125.59	96.07
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra	165.1	75.6	8.9	228	6.8	5,000	124.82	11.09
Motorola Edge 30 Pro	163	75.9	8.79	196	6.7	4,800	123.17	108.75
Sony Xperia 5III	157	68	8.2	169	6.1	4,500	106.76	87.54
Xiaomi 12	152.7	69.9	8.16	180	6.29	4,500	106.73	87.09

We can highlight that, despite having a 5,000mAh battery, it is not heavier than its direct competition . In fact, it is lower in weight compared to almost all its rivals, with the exception of the Motorola Edge 30 Pro. It is far from compact, but it hardly exceeds 200 grams in weight.

Screen: an “old” acquaintance

Arriving at the panel we can start to tell you something: the OnePlus 10 Pro is a camouflaged OPPO Find X5 Pro. In fact, only the cameras and the finish separate them (the OPPO is ceramic), because the rest of the elements are exactly the same. The screen is the same as the OPPO screen, which, in turn, is the same as the one we saw on the OnePlus 9 Pro.

We are thus facing a 6.67-inch AMOLED panel with Quad HD+ resolution and second-generation LTPO technology . It has a color depth of 10 bits and, in this generation, OnePlus has wanted to improve the calibration.

We still have an intense mode calibrated in DCI-P3 and a Natural mode calibrated in sRGB , with the option of a Pro mode that only allows us to change the white balance of the panel.

Our recommendation is to use Pro mode and slightly adjust the white balance if you are not convinced by how warm it becomes (generally, the better calibrated a panel is, the more the balance tends to warm). A good general calibration , with a good degree of customization.

We also have the ‘Natural Screen’ mode, OnePlus’ ‘True tone’ to adjust the color temperature according to ambient light. It also has a ‘Visual Comfort’ mode, which doses the blue light emitted by the panel so that our eyes are not damaged. Regarding the reproduction of content, we can activate the increase in peak brightness in HDR content , as well as force the image sharpness to be increased through software.

If we talk about the refresh rate, according to OnePlus it can range between 1 and 120 Hz. In our tests we have not been able to lower it below 10Hz, and there are no intermediate values ​​​​such as 24, 48 or 50 FPS programmed. If we play a video at 24 FPS, it will do so at 30 FPS, and if it is a video recorded at 50 FPS, we will play it at 60. As soon as we touch the panel it goes up to 120 Hz, so the experience is quite good, although not excellent .

But let’s talk about one of the most frustrating points of this OnePlus: its curves. It is a panel that we already know, that we have tested in the previous generation and that we recently tested in the Find X5 Pro. There is something untuned at the software level in this 10 Pro, because the curves are more frustrating than usual . Doing a quick test on the panel, we verified that it responds 100% in curves, and that OnePlus neither gives an option nor has it programmed that there is a dead zone.

That means that, when you grab the panel and touch the curve (something normal, on a curved mobile), it already detects it as a touch. We’ve inadvertently drifted back, had trouble taking photos (the shutter doesn’t work if it detects another screen tap), and had to constantly change grips to get the panel to work properly. This has an easy solution through software but, at the time of reviewing this OnePlus, the curved screen is quite a frustrating problem.

Yield: The Champion of Sustained Yield

Very few manufacturers are managing to keep the power of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 at bay. There are those that give everything in benchmarks, but then drop in performance after a few minutes. This is not the case with this OnePlus 10 Pro, the fastest Android high-end that we have tested to date. Our version is the 12 + 256 GB one, top-of-the-line hardware that can handle anything we throw at it .

To cool itself, it uses what OnePlus calls a “3D passive cooling system”. It is a system made up of five layers, with a vapor chamber that combines materials such as copper and graphene. Beyond the technical, OnePlus has managed to cool the 10 Pro very well . It exceeds 40 degrees when we demand it, but it doesn’t go too high, so it doesn’t burn.

Performance in demanding games is excellent. The phone heats up quickly, but once it warms up it stays the same and the frame rate remains stable. The OnePlus 10 Pro is the perfect example that numbers are not everything. In fact, on Geekbench, it has given a markedly lower single-core score compared to rivals such as the Xiaomi 12 Pro, despite the fact that the OnePlus performs much better .

As you can see, in a CPU stress test for 15 minutes there was hardly any performance drop . Similarly, in the 3D Mark GPU stress test (Wild Life Stress Test) passed cold, it has remained spectacular. In the graph we can see that the performance is sustained in the first part of the test and that, although there is a drop later, it is not notable.

The temperature has risen from 25 to 42 degrees in 20 minutes of testing , proving to be one of the best performance exponents. The OnePlus 10 Pro is a mobile to enjoy for hours, no matter how we use it.

A good biometric system

In the OnePlus 10 Pro we find the old reliable of biometrics: fingerprint reader under the screen and facial recognition system. The fingerprint reader is immediate and has hardly any error rate . In fact, in this week of use it has not failed us. It also works with a slightly wet finger, so we won’t have any major inconvenience unlocking the phone with the reader.

We can use the fingerprint reader to lock applications, create a ‘safe’ with the contents that we want to hide and even as quick access to some applications.

Where we have been surprised to find more problems has been in facial recognition. When it works, it works very quickly, but it has failed us more than we would like , especially in low light. We have configured it a couple of times and, although it has improved, it is a bit far from its direct competition.

Software: what’s going on here?

Talking about OnePlus is (or, rather, was) talking about OxygenOS. It was a clean ROM, similar to AOSP but with interesting additions and by far one of our favorite customization layers. Since the arrival of Android 12, OxygenOS has merged its code with ColorOS, but the union has not gone well .

ColorOS 12 is a ROM that we like, with a neat and polished interface, but OxygenOS 12.1 is more similar to an unfinished beta , with an interface, performance and user experience far below the ROM from which it drinks.

Starting with the launcher, the icons are very Asian , something that we don’t quite understand, since the ColorOS icons in Europe respect the Material Design lines (flat, minimalist design), while OnePlus’s own icons are reminiscent of those that we saw in Chinese layers a few years ago. Except for the aesthetic aspect, the launcher is exactly the same as ColorOS, although it includes a particularly annoying OnePlus Shelf active by default.

This is a panel with weather information, app shortcuts, step counter and more, but its location doesn’t make much sense. Historically the OnePlus Shelf was on the left side of the desktop. Now that place is taken by Discover, so the Shelf has been activated from the right side of the notification bar . In practice, it is very easy to accidentally activate this screen, when we simply want to check our notifications. Luckily, it can be disabled in the initial setup.

We also do not understand decisions related to theming. In ColorOS 12, when we change the wallpaper, the Android 12 auto-theme wizard is activated, adapting the system accent color to the wallpaper itself , a great feature. In OxygenOS 12 we have the exact same ‘customisations’ submenu as in ColorOS 12, but there is no trace of the automatic themes per wallpaper. We can change the accent color by hand, but it is not explained that in the ROM that should be more similar to the Pixel they have swept this option.

We have also found various bugs and performance issues . Hitting the power button and the screen not responding, applications that have been frozen, others that have closed… An experience similar to the one I had, years ago, with the OnePlus Open Beta, in which the They understand these kinds of mistakes.

Of course, being a version of ColorOS, it has its silver lining . Personalization is very rich, with several options for Always On Display mode, support for third-party icons in the stock launcher, gaming mode, etc. We also have a ‘special functions’ mode that allows us to configure a OnePlus-specific focus mode , use smart search in the system (to search web content in the launcher itself), etc.

OnePlus, now a sub-brand of OPPO, has wanted to give ColorOS some brushstrokes to differentiate itself, but the painting was already well painted and these brushstrokes have been left over . Knowing the history of OnePlus updates, it shouldn’t take more than a few OTAs to solve these problems, but it is surprising that such a software-focused terminal reaches the international market with these problems.

Autonomy: the new Snapdragon is very hungry

As we told you a few lines ago, the OnePlus 10 Pro shares 90% of the hardware with the OPPO Find X5 Pro, so we find the same 5,000mAh battery with 80W fast charge . If we add to this that the ROM is the same, the results are practically identical. We are talking about six hours of screen on average, being able to reach seven if we use a lot of WiFi, and staying at about five and a half if we use it a lot.

It fully charges in just half an hour, so the figures are generally good. Yes, we have noticed that the consumption at rest is not too optimized , and that is that the terminal continues to use up the battery even if we do not touch it. Although it is a section that can be improved, practically nobody should have problems getting to the end of the day with this device.

To put the icing on the battery, this mobile has a 50W wireless charging system, good figures to charge the phone quickly and away from cables.

Sound: powerful and up to par

The sound of the OnePlus 10 Pro is exactly the same as that found in the OPPO Find X5 Pro. Two stereo speakers that sound quite loud , but are not the best on the market. We liked the equalization work, but the distortion in the high volume ranges is quite high. We notice it both in music and when playing series or movies, in which the dialogues stop being clean as soon as we go from 70/80% volume.

Cameras: no evolutions in sight

Photography has been the Achilles heel of OnePlus phones for generations, signing a collaboration with Hasselblad last year to promise an improvement in colorimetry and general calibration of images. Last year we saw how this collaboration, although it brought some improvement, was more oriented to the commercial side than to results. This year we have more of the same .

If we talk about hardware, the OnePlus 10 Pro has three sensors. It dispenses (thanks, OnePlus) with the two-megapixel monochrome sensor, to keep a triple camera system very similar to the one we saw in the last generation.

• Main sensor: Sony IMX789, 48 megapixel resolution (shot at 12 MP with Pixel Binning), f/1.8 aperture, 23mm, 1/1.43″ sensor size, 1.12µm pixel size, multi-directional phase detection focus (PDAF) ), laser autofocus and OIS.
• Ultra wide angle sensor : Samsung JN1, 50 megapixel resolution (shot at 12 MP with Pixel Binning), f/2.2 aperture, 14mm, 1/2.76″ sensor size, pixel size, 0.64µm, autofocus.
• Telephoto sensor : 8 megapixel resolution, f/2.4 aperture, 77mm, 1.0µm pixel size, PDAF, OIS. Three optical magnifications .

It repeats the same main sensor and lens, changes its ultra wide angle for a more modern, but smaller one , and repeats the telephoto lens. OnePlus has not wanted to make a leap in photographic hardware, so everything is left in the hands of the processor.

camera apps

We forgot about the OnePlus look on the 10 Pro’s camera. The app is now OPPO’s, which isn’t exactly bad news. At the structure level, everything is in its place and, if any element of the horizontal carousel does not convince us, we can change its place and even add new modes to it.

In the standard shooting mode we find access to HDR, artificial intelligence mode (hello, oversaturation) shooting mode without Pixel Binning and quick options, such as the timer or change the aspect ratio (crop). Google Lens is perfectly integrated in the lower left corner.

Within the configuration options, we find the classic guides, we have a level indicator (very useful) and the option to shoot in HEIF format to reduce the file size. Luckily, the watermark is disabled by default , although we can add and customize the one we want, with our author name, location, date and time, etc.

Finally, we have a Pro mode, which allows us to adjust ISO, shutter speed, general brightness, white balance and manual focus. Within it, we find shooting in RAW and ‘RAW Plus’ , an “enhanced” RAW by OnePlus, which we will talk about in the camera results.

daytime photography

The main sensor again gives us very similar results compared to what we saw the previous generation, although the processing seems to have taken a leap back . The Pixel Binning is bringing several manufacturers upside down, and OnePlus is one of them. The photographs of the OnePlus 10 Pro are not too rich in detail, they abuse sharpening (forced detail digitally) and the lines and strokes are somewhat dirtier than expected in a high range.

As we always indicate, the lack of detail is appreciated when enlarging the .