The OnePlus 10 Pro 5G is finally on sale in the India, US, UK, and Europe.
The OnePlus 10 Pro is the next flagship phone from OnePlus, and it’s now official. In our review, We found that one of its best features is the camera system in the phone. In this piece, we explore the OnePlus 10 Pro 5g camera,
Suddenly, it looks like there won’t be a normal OnePlus 10 this year, though the company has now confirmed a 10R variant for India. After an starting bother, the 10 Pro’s striking redesign and specs were enough to win it one of our coveted Best of CES Awards earlier this year.
The modern flagship officially launched in China in January and as of late March it’s finally gone worldwide. So what does it bring to the table and what on earth happened to the normal OnePlus 10?
Read | Google Pixel 7 Pro: Color, New Processor & images
When is the OnePlus 10 5G release date?
OnePlus launched the OnePlus 10 Pro in China on 11 January, after first revealing the phone at CES 2022.
A few months later on 31 March, the company formally launched the OnePlus 10 Pro globally, with key markets being North America, India, the UK and Europe. The phone is available to buy now in all of those.
It’s worth reiterating that OnePlus isn’t planning a regular 10 this year. There are no plans for other phones in the OnePlus 10 5g series.
As the company has since confirmed a launch for the OnePlus 10R in India, fueling hopes for the rumoured 10 Ultra later in the year.
What new features are in the OnePlus 10 Pro 5G?
OnePlus 10 Pro, the latest and greatest flagship phone from OnePlus, has finally arrived in India after being a China-exclusive for a while.
This is OnePlus’s answer to the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra and others like the iQOO 9 Pro, Motorola Edge 30 Pro, and the Realme GT 2 Pro. OnePlus 10 Pro 5g price in India starts at Rs 66,999. This is for a version with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage.
A version with 12GB RAM and 256GB storage is available for Rs 71,999. While we work on our full review, here’s a quick first look at the OnePlus 10 Pro.
The OnePlus 10 Pro has a glass back. This is Corning Gorilla Glass 5. The phone comes in two colourways-Volcanic black and Emerald Forest. The black version has a matte frosted finish while the green version is sparkly with anti-glare finish.
Both are resistant to fingerprints, OnePlus says. The “big” camera module is covered in ceramic.
The outer frame is made of metal. You get OnePlus’s hallmark alert slider in this phone. The OnePlus 10 Pro 5g measures 8.5mm and weighs 201g.
The front remains largely unchanged from the OnePlus 9 Pro. You get a 6.7-inch 1440p AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate.
The screen features dual colour calibration for seemingly better accuracy and Corning Gorilla Glass Victus protection. Biometrics are handled by an in-display fingerprint scanner. OnePlus is launching the OnePlus 10 Pro 5g globally with OxygenOS 12.1 based on Android 12 (in China uses ColorOS 12.1). The primary (48MP, Sony IMX789) and tertiary (8MP telephoto) cameras in the OnePlus 10 Pro are being carried over from the OnePlus 9 Pro.
Rounding off the package is a 5,000mAh battery with 80W SuperVOOC wired and 50W AirVOOC wireless charging.
Design
On the front, you’ll find a 6.7in curved display – similar to previous Pro entries – with a punch-hole selfie camera in the top-left corner.
Officially, there’s no IP rating for dust or water-resistance. However, a carrier-exclusive model in the US does have an IP68 rating – basically the best around – and OnePlus has confirmed that there are no build quality differences between that model and the others. So it sounds like the phone would meet the IP68 standards, but OnePlus didn’t want to pay for certification, though we can’t say that for definite.
It’s 8.55mm thick and 163 x 73.9mm across the front, weighing in at 200.5 grams.
Battery
As for charging, the phone supports 80W wired charging – the fastest yet from OnePlus – and 50W wireless, along with reverse wireless too.
Moving on, we’re getting a 5000mAh battery; a decent improvement from the 4500mAh cell in the 9 Pro.
Interestingly, these are branded SuperVOOC and AirVOOC, respectively. Those are the brand names for Oppo’s charging standards, as opposed to OnePlus’ own Warp Charge – yet another small shift as Oppo moves to incorporate OnePlus more closely into the parent brand.
Camera
As for camera, that large and unusual 10 Pro module packs in three rear shooters: a 48Mp primary sensor, a 50Mp ultra-wide lens and an 8Mp telephoto lens (though this isn’t a high zoom periscopic lens as we’ve seen on some rival flagships). As before, all three come with Hasselblad branding.
Finally, a new Movie Mode allows you to adjust ISO, shutter speed and more, both before and during video capture. You’re also able to record video in LOG format.
Read | 10 Best Camera for YouTube Vlogging
On the front, the 10 Pro has a 32Mp punch-hole camera – that at least is an upgrade, with double the resolution of the 9 series’ selfie shooters.
Software
The initial plan was to make the front-end user experience universal across OnePlus and Oppo phones too, but despite the Chinese 10 Pro running ColorOS 12.1, globally the phone has retained an OxygenOS-based user experience, in a decision to partially walk back the unified OS approach, as detailed in a post by Lau issued in February 2022.
That’s not to say the experience doesn’t feature some Oppo-born ColourOS touches, like the HyperBoost Gaming engine, as well as a few other light tweaks here and there.
Gaming performance: HyperBoost Gaming Engine
Push the limits with the all-new HyperBoost gaming engine. Accelerating the GPU and CPU, HyperBoost unlocks next-level gaming. The GPA Frame Stabilizer also ensures ultra-stable and smooth frame rates, for up to 4 hours of intense FPS gaming.
GPA Frame Stabilizer
Designed to ensure ultra-stable and smooth frame rates, lag and frame drops are a thing of the past. Elevate your gaming experience. From powerful haptics to hyper-fast response, enjoy maximum control.
O-Sync
Designed to dominate the competition, O-Sync increases the sync speed between the processor and display by 3 to 6 times. Speed wins games. With support for major titles, including PUBG Mobile and League of Legends: Wild Rift, overclock your response speed by 30ms and unleash new levels of performance.
1000 Hz Touch Sampling Rate
Designed to give gamers the winning edge, the OnePlus 10 Pro 5g employs up to 1000 Hz Touch Response Rate.
4D Haptics Motor
A new benchmark, experience cutting-edge haptics with our customized next-gen X-axis linear motor. Our most powerful haptic motor ever delivers next-level immersion in apps, photography and supported games.
Faster loading
Wait less, get in the game faster.
Lightning-fast start
Intelligent system scheduling opens games without impacting power consumption.
OnePlus 10: Pro & Cons
Pros
- Good price
- Fast charging with a charger in the box
- Sleek build and software
- Battery easily lasts a day
Cons
- No 5G on AT&T
- Camera lags behind the competition
- No official IP rating for unlocked version
Those are some major considerations, and they keep me from freely recommending the 10 Pro to just anyone looking for a premium Android phone. But I’m encouraged by the direction the company is taking with the 10 Pro, and if this is indeed the new OnePlus, I like where it’s headed.
How much does the OnePlus 10 Pro Price?
Here are the Indian, US, UK, and European prices for the 10 Pro:
- 8+128GB – ₹66,999/ $899/ £799/ €899
- 12+256GB – ₹71,999/ £899/ €999
The OnePlus 10 Pro’s in-display optical fingerprint sensor is fast and responsive
The OnePlus 10 Pro uses this year’s top Qualcomm chipset, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. At launch, the only variant sold in North America will be the 128GB version with 8GB of RAM — OnePlus says its 256GB / 12GB RAM will be available in the US at a later date. These specs offer plenty of processing power for day-to-day tasks.
It’s just sub-6GHz 5G, no super-fast millimeter wave (mmWave), which isn’t a problem for the vast majority of people. There’s full low- and mid-band 5G support on T-Mobile and Verizon, but the 10 Pro doesn’t work on AT&T’s 5G network, and there’s no plan to add support for it at a later date.
OnePlus 10 Charging: Did 10 Pro charge faster?
There’s more good news on the battery front: the OnePlus 10 Pro supports fast charging, and there’s a fast charger provided right in the box. You definitely won’t get that with a Samsung or Google phone. In the US, the phone supports 65W charging, while other regions can charge at up to 80W.
OnePlus says that this only accounts for a two-minute difference in the total time it takes to charge the phone, and realistically, 65W is plenty fast — just over 30 minutes to bring the battery from 0 to 100 percent. At no point while I was testing this phone did I wish that it would charge faster.
All this is to say, you probably won’t need to recharge the 10 Pro in the middle of the day unless you spend a lot of time gaming or streaming video. But if you do need to top the battery off, you’ll be able to do so quickly and without having to spend another $30–$50 to get a fast charger.
OnePlus 10 Pro Major OS updates and Version
With a Pixel or Galaxy phone running Android 12, you can choose a color palette inspired by your wallpaper to apply to system-wide controls and app icons. OnePlus offers a fair amount of personalization options, but they’re a little more limited, and they all have more of a “OnePlus” flavor to them. You can have the phone sample colors from a photo in your camera gallery and apply them to a stylized, graphic wallpaper.
It’s neat but a decidedly different vibe — one that’s a little more grown up and a little less playful. OnePlus has boosted its support policy to provide three major OS updates and four years of security updates for the 10 Pro. That’s not as good as what Samsung and Google offer, but it’s getting closer. Google also promises three major OS updates for its own devices but has extended security support to up to five years.
Samsung still offers the best support among Android device makers, with four years of OS upgrades and five years of security updates. OnePlus isn’t matching that, but it’s taking a step in the right direction.
OnePlus 10 Pro Camera Review: Three rear cameras with more specs
There are three rear cameras on the 10 Pro. The fourth cutout on the camera bump belongs to the flash, not a silly monochrome sensor or something like that. There haven’t been any major updates to the rear camera hardware compared to the 9 Pro, but the selfie camera is upgraded with double the resolution.
Read | 7 Best Cheap Camera for YouTube Videos
- Main: 48-megapixels f/1.8 with OIS
- Ultrawide: 50-megapixel f/2.2
- Telephoto: 8-megapixel f/2.4 with OIS
- Front: 32-megapixel, fixed focus
This isn’t exactly the same camera framework as last year, and there are a few software-based changes. There’s now an alternative to shoot in HEIF (High Efficiency Image Format), a compressed still photo format with 10-bit color that Apple has also adopted. It’s not on by default, but you’ll empower it for all three rear cameras.
Read | 10 Best video recording camera for YouTube videos
The 10 Pro can shoot 8K video at 24p, but with a decently heavy crop, and offers 4K shooting up to 120p for slow motion.
OnePlus has introduced a new RAW shooting mode, too, called RAW Plus, which is accessible in the camera app’s Pro mode. It’s a computational RAW mode, like Apple’s ProRAW and Samsung’s Expert RAW.
he RAW Plus file sizes aren’t substantially bigger than the standard RAWs either, which leads me to believe it’s not compiling a lot more information into that computational RAW file. Maybe this feature is a work in progress.
In any case, RAW Plus gives you standard DNG files. So you can tinker with them in any RAW processing software like Lightroom or an app like Snapseed.
There are a few more additions to the camera feature set, including three new color filters called Master Styles named for Hasselblad ambassadors, a long exposure mode, and manual exposure controls for video recording. OnePlus has also tweaked its image processing for noise reduction and dynamic range.
Night mode photos are weirdly over-brightened, and the camera sometimes has a tendency to overexpose images, even in moderate indoor lighting. Portrait mode photos look okay, but side by side with the S22 Plus, it’s obvious how much further ahead Samsung is.
Also Read | When preferring the best TV for 4K Movies
It’s tough to recommend this phone when the Pixel 6 Pro is right there
Camera quality and 5G compatibility are likely major considerations for someone buying a premium Android phone in 2022, so it’s a shame that the OnePlus doesn’t measure up in those categories. But there’s a likability factor, too.
And depending on your priorities, that might be more important than taking better portrait mode photos. The new OnePlus has some more work to do, but it definitely knows how to make a likable phone that feels one of a kind.
One Comment