OnePlus 10R Review (Endurance Edition): Smartphone with a difference

OnePlus 10R review Summary:

Editor’s rating: 3.8/5

OnePlus has been one of the few smartphone brands that have taken charging seriously. The brand has offered 65W or 80W fast charging in the past but with the recently launched OnePlus 10R 5G going beyond 100W to offer a whopping 150W fast charging speed. It claims to charge a 4700mAh battery from 0 to 100% in mere 15 minutes. The brand promises not just a strong battery and quick charging, but a fast processor, a good amount of RAM and ROM, a bright display, and more with this device. Is OnePlus 10R 5G worth the bucks you will have to pay for it? Read on to find out.

OnePlus 10R Review: Design

The OnePlus 10R Endurance Edition comes in a single Sierra Black colour for the topmost 150W charging variant. The device looks sharp and attractive in black color and has a matte finish on the back with an edgy rear camera design. It has an aesthetic look due to its flat edge style design that was recently seen on Oppo F21 Pro and looked beautiful there too. The plastic finish does raise some questions about the durability of the smartphone, but its in-hand feel and build quality seem decent.

The matte finish of the rear panel keeps smudges at bay and the buttons on the side are clicky as well. The backside has a OnePlus logo at the bottom right corner. The right edge has the power button whereas the left edge has volume rockers. The bottom edge has a SIM tray, USB Type-C port, and speaker grille.

The smartphone is sleek to hold (with the thickness being 8.2mm) but the camera lenses protrude at the back which doesn’t give it a perfect balance on a flat surface. There is a large 6.7-inch screen at the front with a slight bezel around it. The screen is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5 which is a relief. There is no official IP rating and no headphone jack which is worrisome. If you can ignore that, it scores well in design and built quality areas.

OnePlus 10R Review: Display

OnePlus 10R sports a 6.7-inch 10-bit AMOLED display panel. The size of the screen is good making it a treat to consume content.  The display is bright and the colours look vibrant. HDR10 support makes sure detailing is good even in dark/low-light scenes of the content you are streaming.

The display is supported by a 120Hz refresh rate and this has made the scrolling smoother. OnePlus has incorporated adaptive refresh rate to technology which lets you get more juice from the battery. The display is visible under direct sunlight (950 nits) and the 720Hz touch sampling rate makes it quick and highly responsive. There is support for DCI-P3 color gamut and sRGB as well which makes the content watching experience even better.

OnePlus 10R Review: Battery

The battery tech is the most important selling point of the OnePlus 10R. The smartphone comes in two battery variants- a 4500mAh battery with 150W charging called the Endurance Edition and a 5000mAh variant with 80W fast charging. We received the top 150W charging edition and it comes with a 160W charger bundled inside the box.

The charger refills the battery from 0 to 100% in mere 16-17 minutes if you switch on the rapid charging mode from the battery settings menu. OnePlus has included a battery health engine only for the 150W model to extend the lifespan of the battery and increase charging cycles.

Otherwise, the OnePlus 10R 150W’s battery lasted for a day and a half with moderate to heavy usage. So, we can comfortably say that battery life and charging speed are the two strongest aspects of this smartphone.

OnePlus 10R Review: Camera

The OnePlus 10R 5G has a triple camera setup at the back. It includes a 50MP IMX766 sensor with OIS, an 8MP ultrawide sensor, and a 2MP macro lens. There is a 16MP selfie lens at the front.

The camera interface is similar to what other OnePlus phones have with important controls on the left side, with a three-dot button sliding out to reveal more options.

The main 50MP camera captures crisp and precise photos in daylight as well as low light. The photos have a good dynamic range and are full of details. The main camera delivers colour which should appeal to appealing to those who prefer punchy colours over natural tones. I lean towards natural tones.

The camera handles exposure metering well as we didn’t see any instance where highlights have crushed shadows. The images shot in low light conditions are surprisingly bright while keeping noise at bay. The low-light images are decently sharp as well. The skin tones look boosted which might be a problem for some.

The 8MP ultrawide sensor works fine but detailing in low-light photos is reduced. The images are exposed well in daylight but the dynamic range and color tones look very different from the photos clicked by the 50MP sensor. Edges especially have very less details.

The 2MP macro lens clicks images from a 4cm distance and the quality of these images is strictly average. There is no autofocus and sometimes the clicks look very inconsistent. These photos are loaded with noise and deliver limited details. Clicking a good shot was a matter of hit or miss with this 2MP sensor.

Coming to the 16MP selfie camera, gives good selfies but the subjects look a bit overexposed. There is a dream-like effect when shooting during the day and the selfies were not sharp or detailed enough to be appreciated. Overall, the images clicked with a selfie camera look flat most of the time. The real skin tones are not detected well and though there is an image stabilizer, the noise and blur in low-light selfies cannot go unnoticed.

Talking about the videos, the OnePlus 10R 5G’s main camera captures decent 1080p videos in daylight. Videos captured at 60fps looked slightly smoother but there was no stabilization.

OnePlus 10R Review: Performance

The OnePlus 10R 5G is powered by MediaTek Dimensity 8100 Max chipset which makes the phone fast and efficient. Combined with 12GB RAM, the apps load quickly, run smoothly in the background and gaming is also decent. We have the 256GB storage variant which is adequate space to store anything we want.

Day-to-day tasks like calling, messaging, social media browsing, watching videos, and more run smoothly due to this thanks to the able chipset. Having said that, some apps though can pose a problem like BGMI mobile which had to be restarted after switching to it the messaging app.

The device comes with a Hyper Boost gaming engine and GPA frame stabilizer which helps in maintaining high frame rates while rigorous gaming sessions. Games run well in with high frame rates and HD graphics. The smartphone has one of the most powerful 3D cooling systems but still gets a little warm at times.

In terms of OS, the OnePlus 10R 5G runs Android 12 with Oxygen OS 12.1 which has all OnePlus elements like Shelf, Canvas, Lockscreen, etc. In recent times, the OnePlus Oxygen OS looks a lot similar to Realme’s UI. You will find a variety of widgets that can be pinned on the home screen and loads of options for customizations.

The phone had only 2 preinstalled third-party apps- Netflix and Spotify and they are most useful. But if not, they can be easily uninstalled. The problem lies with OnePlus branded apps like Clone Phone, Community, etc, which cannot be uninstalled. Still, OS mostly looks clean and user-friendly. OnePlus has promised 3 years of Android updates which is decent.

Connectivity options are also vast like WiFi 6, and Bluetooth 5.2. NFC, GPS, and more.

OnePlus 10R Review Verdict: Should you buy it?

OnePlus 10R is a smartphone that has a lot to offer if you want to upgrade your smartphone experience. Its charging speed is the fastest, the processor is fast, RAM and ROM huge and it has a long battery life too, so you can go for it if all this satisfies you.

However, the phone is on the pricier side compared to the likes of the Realme GT Neo 3 which offers almost identical specs and features. It also doesn’t have a headphone jack or a good selfie camera, which might be a downer for some. All in all, the OnePlus 10R can be your choice if you are a die-hard OnePlus enthusiast or if consider buying another better-value-for-money smartphone.

OnePlus 10R FAQs

1. What are the OnePlus 10R weight and dimensions?

The OnePlus 10R measures 163.3×75.5×8.2mm and weighs 186 grams.

2. Does the OnePlus 10R feature an in-display fingerprint sensor?

Yes, there is an in-display fingerprint sensor in the OnePlus 10R.

3. Does the OnePlus 10R have a heart rate sensor?

Yes, it supports a heart rate sensor.

4. Does the OnePlus 10R support a Liquid/Vapor cooling system?

Yes, the OnePlus 10R has a 3D Passive Cooling System.

5. How much time does the OnePlus 10R take to charge from 0 to 100%?

The OnePlus 10R comes with an 80W SuperVOOC charger that charges the 5000mAh battery from 0 to 100% in 32 minutes.

6. Does the OnePlus 10R has a dedicated gaming mode?

OnePlus 10R comes with a HyperBoost Gaming Engine.

7. How is outdoor visibility? Does the OnePlus 10R have an option for automatic brightness?

The display has up to 950 nits brightness. It does have adaptive brightness.

8. Does the OnePlus 10R has Gorilla Glass protection?

Yes, the OnePlus 10R has Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection.