OnePlus recently launched its latest OnePlus 10R 5G smartphone in India and it lies below the OnePlus 10 Pro 5G. The OnePlus 10R has a bunch of features and powerful specs such as the all-new MediaTek Dimensity 8100-MAX and a whopping SuperVOOC 150W fast charging support. You also have its impressive 50 MP OIS camera and 120 Hz fluid AMOLED display which are some more primary highlights of the smartphone. Here’s what we have to say about the OnePlus 10R 5G in the review.
OnePlus 10R 5G Specifications
- Display: 6.7-inch AMOLED 10-bit color display, Full HD+ resolution (2,412 x 1,080 pixels), 120 Hz adaptive refresh rate, 360 Hz touch sampling rate, 100% DCI-P3 color gamut, HDR10+, Corning Gorilla Glass 5 (front)
- Software: OxygenOS 12.1 interface, Android 12 operating system
- CPU: 5nm MediaTek Dimensity 8100-MAX octa-core SoC clocked at 2.85 GHz (Cortex-A78 processor), AI APU 5.0
- GPU: Mali-G610 MC6 Graphics
- Memory: 8 GB OR 12 GB LPDDR5 RAM
- Storage: 128 GB OR 256 GB UFS 3.1 internal storage
- Main Camera: Triple cameras (50 MP f/1.8 Sony IMX766 OIS camera + 8 MP f/2.2 ultra-wide camera + 2 MP f/2.4 macro camera), Optical Image Stabilization, 4K Video Recording, dual-LED flash
- Selfie Camera: 16 MP f/2.4
- Others: In-display fingerprint scanner, Face Unlock
- Cellular: 5G network, dual SIM, dual standby support
- Battery: 5,000 mAh battery (2x 2,500 mAh, non-removable)/ 4,500 mAh battery (150W model)
- Charging: 80W fast charging, 150W SuperVOOC fast charging (12 GB + 256 GB model)
- Price: ₹38,999 (8 GB + 128 GB), ₹42,999 (12 GB + 256 GB), ₹43,999 (12 GB + 256 GB + 150W charging)
Design, Display and Build
On the design front, it looks like OnePlus has revamped its design from its predecessor, however, it does not surprise us at all. The overall design has been flattened rather than curved as you see in the older generations, the back and the side frames are plastic/polycarbonate built which wasn’t expected, no sign of having a glass or metal on the exterior. Something similar to what happened to the current iPhones, the flat design has been a trend. Since you don’t see a glass or metallic back, the OnePlus 10R 5G is a letdown in its segment in terms of design, for those who have used previous OnePlus phones.
The new design of the OnePlus 10R 5G gives you a quite firm grip and the good thing about this smartphone is it’s now slightly slimmer (8.2 mm) and lighter (186 grams) than its predecessors (OnePlus 9R and OnePlus 9RT 5G). It certainly feels light and slim, but it still doesn’t feel like to be holding a premium smartphone due to its underwhelming design.
We got the Sierra Black model which has a dual-tone design with one being textured and one matte-finished while the other one comes in the same design in Forest Green color.
OnePlus 10R 5G uses a far better display with a size of 6.7-inch fluid AMOLED and 10-bit color depth (1B colors). The resolution is Full HD+ (2412 x 1080 pixels, 394 ppi) along with a refresh rate of 120 Hz and an aspect ratio of 20.1:9. The Fluid OLED display uses an adaptive refresh rate of 60 Hz / 90 Hz / 120 Hz and a touch response rate of 360 Hz (hardware-based), and 720 Hz (software-based).
Other display features include an sRGB, DCI-P3, HDR10+, and 10-bit color depth which provides a better overall display quality. The display is quite stunning and offers one of the best quality in its class. The screen is protected by scratch-resistant Corning Gorilla Glass 5, but we didn’t find any certification of water-proof protection on it.
Some OnePlus users may find it disappointing due to its elimination of the Alert Slider, yes the OnePlus 10R doesn’t come with an Alert Slider, the one that is present on all previous OnePlus smartphones. You get the fingerprint scanner under the screen and it works reasonably well.
The right side has only a power button while the left side has two separate volume controls. The bottom side has a USB Type-C port for fast charging, data transfer, and audio output, as well as a loudspeaker (stereo), microphone (one more at the top), and dual SIM tray. The tray supports dual SIM cards with 5G functionality and dual standby, no microSD slot is available on the phone.
Software and User Interface
Just like the OnePlus 10 Pro 5G and the recently launched OnePlus Nord CE 2 5G, the OnePlus 10R 5G also runs OxygenOS 12.1 based on the Android 12 operating system. The OxygenOS 12 is the latest custom UI from OnePlus and packs a whole lot of features on top of the native Android 12 ones. The OxygenOS is currently one of the best Android interfaces free from bloatware and offers better customizations and features.
OxygenOS 12.1 uses the Android 12 with a security patch dated 5th March 2022, OnePlus promises three years of Android OS updates and four years of security updates for its OnePlus 10R 5G smartphone.
The Oxygen OS 12 has lots of added features on top of Android 12, you do get customizations and features in the Oxygen OS as well as security updates. One such feature liked is the Shelf that shows you a tiled view (or card view) of the apps, weather, notes, music, fitness tracking, and more.
About the pre-installed apps, only the essential Google apps, Netflix, and a few OnePlus apps came with the phone, the rest is just clean, no third-party apps are installed as you see on certain smartphones. You will also find traces of OPPO’s ColorOS inside the settings page, a few familiar features in the camera app and so.
The user interface is clean, smooth, and lag-free, the experience overall is good and feels smooth due to its 120 Hz refresh rate. You can tweak the UI with the various Oxygen OS customizations and optimizations.
Hardware, Performance, and Gaming
You get something new on this phone, the OnePlus 10R 5G is powered by the all-new 5nm MediaTek Dimensity 8100-MAX which is quite similar to what we saw on its rival realme GT Neo 3 recently. The Dimensity 8100-MAX is a flagship SoC, you can see the CPU-Z screenshot that shows you a glimpse of the processor.
The MediaTek Dimensity 8100-MAX is clocked at 2.85 GHz along with Mali-T610 MC6 (6-core) GPU for smooth gaming. The CPU is among the major highlights of the smartphone alongside its 150W (and 80W) fast charging.
About the CPU, the MediaTek Dimensity 8100 5G is a fast SoC manufactured in a 5nm process consisting of 4+4 core configurations, four high-performance cores ARM Cortex-A78 cores clocked at 2.85 GHz, and four power-efficient ARM Cortex-A55 cores clocked at 2.0 GHz.
The performance of the SoC seems faster than its predecessor (OnePlus 9R) and appears to be quite similar to the Snapdragon 888. The Dimensity 8100-MAX is also one of the most power-efficient premium chipsets in the segment leaving behind the Snapdragon 870 and Snapdragon 888.
One of our Geekbench 5 benchmarks scored 884 points in a single-core CPU benchmark and 3,539 points in a multi-core CPU benchmark. The GPU has scored 3,748 points which means it has enough power to handle high-end GPU tasks. The OnePlus 10R 5G uses an advanced cooling system, it has high-performance graphite technology to control thermals. It has a big vapor chamber cooling area of 4,129 sqmm which improves heat dissipation.
For gaming, it packs the Mali-T610 MC6 GPU which is a 6-core GPU and is best suited for gamers. The gaming performance is impressive, it handles games very smoothly and is free from lags on the default settings, even at max graphics settings the gameplay appears to be smooth and the phone feels cool. Some games we tested are Battlegrounds Mobile India, Asphalt 9 Legends, Shadow Fight 4, and a few others.
The OnePlus 10R 5G comes in two RAM and storage variants, and one more with fast-charging capabilities with a slightly lower-sized battery. The 8 GB RAM and 128 GB storage is the base variant while the 12 GB RAM and 256 GB storage is the top variant, no microSD support is found on the phone. Both these variants support 80W fast charging. You will also find RAM expansion technology that helps you increase the RAM to an extra 7 GB making a total of 19 GB of RAM on the phone (12 GB RAM variant).
The other variant with the same 12 GB RAM and 256 GB storage has a battery of 4,500 mAh capacity and offers a whopping 150W fast charging. This is the fast charging variant among all three and it certainly leaves behind many smartphones in terms of charging speeds.
The price for the OnePlus 10R 5G starts at ₹38,999 for its base variant 8 GB RAM + 128 GB variant, ₹42,999 for 12 GB RAM + 256 GB variant, and ₹43,999 for 12 GB RAM + 256 GB variant with 4,500 mAh battery and 150W SuperVOOC charger. You do get some discounts that get you a flat ₹2,000 cut using bank offers.
Cameras
You will find a total of three rear cameras on the OnePlus 10R 5G, the primary camera has been upgraded while the secondary cameras seem toned down compared to its predecessor. The OnePlus 10R 5G has a 50 MP camera utilizing the Sony IMX766 (versus the 48 MP IMX586 on OnePlus 9R), however, degraded 8 MP ultra-wide-angle and 2 MP macro cameras on paper. The 16 MP selfie camera appears to be identical to the older generations.
No telephoto lens is available on the phone, but it still has the OIS which plays a massive role in photography. The camera supports Optical Image Stabilization (OIS), EIS, 4K video recording (at 30 fps), 1080p slow-motion recording, along with a dual-LED flash.
The camera app is well designed making it easy to find what you are looking for. The interface offers very decent features, you get 50 MP camera mode, portrait mode, Pro, Pano, Macro, Slow-mo, Time-lapse, Dual-View Video, Movie, AI filter, HDR, and Night mode.
The primary camera performs very well in the daylight and appears to be slightly better than the one we saw on the predecessor OnePlus 9R, you can say it’s identical to that of the OnePlus 9RT, although you won’t find anything, particularly eye-popping. The primary camera takes impressive shots, thanks to its OIS and newer IMX766 sensor, the results are bright and crisp and offer detailed quality.
OnePlus 10R 5G Camera Samples
Battery Runtime and Charging
There’s one thing you will absolutely like about this phone, that is its 150W SuperVOOC fast charging which is available only with the 12 GB RAM and 256 GB storage variant and comes in a battery size of 4,500 mAh while the other two variants i.e. 8 GB RAM and 128 GB storage offer 80W fast charging which is still faster than the 9R/9RT 5G and a bunch of other smartphones as well. You get a Type-C charger in the box, either 80W or 160W (the phone is 150W rated) depending upon the model you choose.
Moving to the battery size, the OnePlus 10R 5G packs a 5,000 mAh battery in two variants and a 4,500 mAh battery in one variant for the 150W charging. This is a dual-cell battery with 2,500 mAh each (2S1P) making a total of 5,000 mAh and surprisingly, the phone supports 80W SuperVOOC fast charging that takes about half an hour to charge fully. You can expect a battery life of a day and a half on moderate use, and extend up to 2 days if your usage is below normal or minimal. But with the fast charging capabilities, you don’t have to worry, do you?
The 150W fast charging is almost as fast as the charging you see on realme GT Neo 3 which also has 150W charging support and currently, they are the only two smartphones available in this segment that feature the fastest charging, it’s even faster than that of its premium flagship OnePlus 10 Pro 5G.
To give you a peek, the 4,500 mAh battery can be charged in 10 minutes and you will get the full day of power, as per OnePlus India. The 80W charger charges the phone from 1% to 100% in about 32 minutes. You can expect to charge the phone in less than 18-20 minutes via its 150W charger.
Verdict
The OnePlus 10R 5G has a brilliant 10-bit Fluid AMOLED display, a flagship-grade performance with its Dimensity 8100-MAX CPU, and among the fastest charging you will see in its class, the 150W is something you will enjoy. On top, the 50 MP OIS camera takes exceptional shots, other features like, RAM extension, stereo speakers, powerful gaming performance, and OxygenOS perks make the smartphone overall excellent performer in the segment. Such features are quite identical to the rival realme GT Neo 3 which is slightly lesser in terms of pricing (₹36,999 vs ₹38,999). But if you want to stick around with the OnePlus brand, you won’t go wrong with the OnePlus 10R 5G, it certainly has everything you need aside from its polycarbonate design, however, if you want bang for the money, you can consider its identical twin realme GT Neo 3.
