OnePlus 10 Pro test: the model of reconciliation?

The past few months have been quite hectic for OnePlus. After diversifying its offer, the brand was absorbed by Oppo and many predicted a disastrous fate for it. However, his detractors may have been a little quick to bury him. The OnePlus 10 Pro is indeed proof that this rapprochement has not only been positive. It was healthy. We explain why.

A look that will not be unanimous

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The choices made by OnePlus in terms of design will not be unanimous. Some will love it, some will hate it.

Few surprises up front. There is a gigantic borderless curved screen. A screen that extends over the entire front of the device and is just cut by a small punch wedged in the upper left corner. The chin is almost non-existent and it is no thicker than the top border.

The back will undoubtedly be subject to debate. OnePlus has opted for a brushed glass plate, a black or green colored plate depending on the model. Very soft, it also has the merit of being little messy. So far, then, all is well. But then there is the photo module. Huge, it extends over a good part of the plate and from the edge. More intriguingly, OnePlus has not opted for glass, but for polished and shiny ceramic.

If, on the black model, this plate will have no trouble being forgotten, it will be quite different for the green version.

The choice of OnePlus will probably not be unanimous, but it turns out to be quite logical in the end. It is indeed not only motivated by an aesthetic concern. The offer is also more solid on the shutter of the photo.

The finishes, for their part, are perfect and you can feel the care taken by the brand in the construction of its phone. A phone which, on the other hand, does not have IP certification. A choice mainly motivated by the cost of the latter. In fact, there is indeed the presence of insulation on certain parts of the phone, such as the card hatch. That being the case, it will be best to avoid exposing the phone to the elements, if only for warranty concerns.

Few surprises in terms of ergonomics. OnePlus has aligned itself with its older models. The alert slider is therefore always present.

Overall, the grip is pleasant, despite the weight of the phone. It indeed reaches 200 grams and it will therefore not fall into the featherweight category.

A screen to die for

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OnePlus has always attached great importance to the screen of its devices. Including in the mid-range segment, as we saw with the OnePlus Nord CE 2. It is therefore no surprise that we find a very good quality panel on board the OnePlus 10 Pro.

The panel in question is of the Fluid AMOLED type and it reaches a diagonal of 6.7 inches. We are on 2nd generation LTPO, and that also means that it benefits from a variable refresh rate. Rate which will be between 1 and 120 Hz. Better still, OnePlus has opted for a 10-bit screen, a screen which also benefits from O Sync technology. A technology aimed at improving touch response time. And then there’s what the brand calls Dual Color Calibration.

Normally, the screens of our smartphones are calibrated for a single level of brightness. This means that if you exceed this threshold, or if you lower it, your device loses precision. To correct this problem, OnePlus has opted for a double calibration on two brightness levels: 100 and 500 nits. We will salute the effort.

The OnePlus 10 Pro also offers Adoptive Brightness AI. Either an intelligent system that will adapt the brightness of the panel to our habits. Concretely, if you tend to set it higher than normal, the phone will remember this choice and it will increase it for each of the scenarios pre-recorded by the company’s engineers.

In practice, this slab is strictly unassailable. Do you like watching movies and series on your phone? No problem, you’ll be amazed. Even more so if the content follows and gives pride of place to high definition and HDR. Games are your thing? Again, you have nothing to worry about. The OnePlus 10 Pro will give you the best possible experience.

But be careful, because this screen is not only aimed at playful uses. It will also allow you to work on your photos in the best possible conditions – especially since the new OnePlus smartphone does not just display 10-bit. No, he can also film and photograph in this format.

The power at the rendezvous… and a perfectible autonomy

Without the slightest surprise, the OnePlus 10 Pro is powered by the latest high-end chip from Qualcomm, and therefore by a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. Which is supported, as desired, by 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage, or by 12 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage.

If you’ve ever had a smartphone equipped with this chip in your hands, then you know that it does wonderfully in all tasks, including the most demanding ones. Whether in everyday use or on the fastest games, the new OnePlus flagship will not show the slightest sign of weakness. And this even on the most demanding games, such as the essential Genshin Impact.

Especially since behind, there is a pack of very useful functions, functions designed for players: the HyperBoost Gaming Engine. It will activate itself when launching a game and it will intervene on two points: the number of FPS and the tactile response. Our games will therefore gain in fluidity.

No particular concern about heating. It remains controlled, even over long gaming sessions.

Then there is autonomy. And there, on the other hand, the balance sheet is half-tone. The 5000 mAh battery on board the OnePlus 10 Pro will allow it to last a long day, but little more.

That being the case, is it really OnePlus’ fault? Not necessarily. All smartphones under Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 that have passed through my hands had reduced autonomy compared to the Snapdragon 888. It therefore seems that the problem comes from the SoC.

Good news, however, this slight drop in autonomy is compensated by the charging power. The OnePlus 10 Pro benefits from SuperVOOC 80W and AirVOOC 50W. In the first case, the smartphone will only need half an hour to regain 100% of its battery capacity. In the second case, it will take him only 47 minutes. Which is remarkable for wireless charging. On the other hand, it will be essential to acquire the dedicated charging station. A station that we could not test.

Another point that is important: if you leave the phone charging for 15 minutes, you will recover more than 60% battery and therefore a working day of autonomy.

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Finally something solid in the picture!

OnePlus and photography have always been complicated. In the past, you usually had to wait two or three software updates for the brand’s devices to be able to take decent quality photos. But that was before Oppo. And that was also before Hasselblad.

At the rear, there are three sensors.

The main sensor is an IMX789 and it reaches 48 million pixels of definition. The lens is equivalent to a 23 mm and it consists of 7 parts, with an aperture of f/1.8 and an EIS coupled to an OIS.

The secondary sensor is provided by Samsung. It is an ISOCELL JN1 of 50 million pixels. It is associated with an ultra wide angle consisting of 6 parts and offering a field of vision of 150°. A first on a smartphone.

The third sensor is a little less well defined. It does not exceed 8 million pixels and it is crowned with an optically stabilized telephoto lens (OIS), a telephoto lens with an aperture of f / 2.4 and offering a 3.3x optical zoom.

A great flexibility on paper therefore. Especially since these three sensors can shoot in 10-bit. And as we will see, the results live up to the promises made by OnePlus.

The wide angle is formidable in bright light. It is capable of generating very sharp images, with a nice dynamic in the shadows and in the highlights. The colors are also very natural, which is not surprising. The partnership between OnePlus and Hasselblad focused precisely on this dimension.

Focusing is both fast and precise. I did not manage to fault the OnePlus 10 Pro once during this big week of testing, even on these complicated scenes. OnePlus has also worked a lot on restoring depth of field. The phone will therefore be able to generate bokeh that is both soft and natural.

At night, we keep correct performances, with a downside however: the management of flares . The OnePlus 10 Pro is very sensitive to glare and therefore it will be better to exclude street lamps and harsh lights from its compositions.

The OnePlus 10 Pro has the particularity of being able to capture photos with a field of vision of 150° on the ultra wide angle. A mode which must however be activated manually through the photo application and which will delight lovers of fish eyes optics. Otherwise, the field of vision will be a little less and it will tend more towards 110°, with the key being a good mastery of distortion thanks to an AI specially developed for the occasion.

Once again, the performance is there. The phone is capable of generating sharp images and recovering plenty of detail in shadows and highlights. At least in broad daylight. At night, we lose a bit of quality and we also have to deal, in some cases, with ungraceful light artifacts. Like the wide angle, the ultra wide angle is indeed sensitive to glare.

The colors, for their part, remain neutral. Nothing to say either about the white balance which is consistent.

The telephoto lens offers an optical zoom level of 3.3x. And it must be recognized, it is very practical on a daily basis. Thanks to this focal length, it will indeed be easier to get closer to your subject.

The performances, they remain very correct once again. The phone will be able to recover many details of the scene photographed, even in shadows and highlights. The colors remain natural, and they match what the other two focal lengths offer.

The digital zoom works well too. It will be possible to go up to 10x without too much difficulty and without too many losses. At least on condition that the light is there. At night, it will be better to stay on the optical zoom. A zoom that will however lose sharpness.

The OnePlus 10 Pro is very effective on portraits, whatever the light conditions. Day and indoors, it will give the best. On the program, sharp images, extended dynamics, reliable focusing, precise cutting and natural blurring. Day and night with previous models. The x3, on the other hand, lacks a lot of bite and it will be better to stay on the 1x magnification.

If you have had the opportunity to test one of the latest Oppo, then you will no doubt be surprised to find the three Master filters present on the Find X5 Pro in the photo application. Filters developed by Yin Chao, Ben Thomas and David Peskens, ambassadors and personalities close to Hasselblad.

Serenity will thus be particularly suitable for portraits. Eclat will give an unreal side to your scenes. As for Emeraude, it is particularly suitable for landscapes, even if you are free to use it in many other cases. And these filters will remain available regardless of the chosen focal length.

The XPan is also inherited from Oppo’s Find X5. It allows you to shoot in a very elongated format. The proposal is interesting on paper, but the realization leaves something to be desired. Images produced using this mode tend to lose sharpness.

[SELFIES]

For selfies, we can count on an IMX615 sensor of 32 million pixels. A sensor coupled to a wide angle.

And once again, the quality is there. The images generated are sharp, with a beautiful dynamic and natural colors. The cut is precise, even on the hair, and the background blur is quite soft.

The OnePlus 10 Pro also has advantages in the field of video. He even managed, once again, to pleasantly surprise me. The rendering is very flattering, with ubiquitous sharpness, extended dynamics and beautiful colors. Stabilization is not bad either and we can once again salute the efforts made by the company.

Regarding the platform, it will also be necessary to rely on pro modes for photo and video, with the added bonus of the possibility of shooting in RAW+ to generate images in 12-bit, but also of filming in LOG to then facilitate the process of calibration.

A platform that should (ultimately) not change

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OxygenOS has always been a popular platform. Many were therefore surprised to see reports of a merger between OnePlus’ overlay and Oppo’s. However, it seems that this project has been put aside for the moment. According to the information given by a representative of the brand, OxygenOS should indeed not be abandoned immediately.

On the other hand, OxygenOS and ColorOS now use the same technical base. So there are many similarities between the two platforms.

I am thinking in particular of the personalization functions. Just like on the latest Oppo devices, you will be able to take control of many interface elements. Like the colors, the appearance and the size of the icons or the names of the shortcuts. If you wish, you can even make them disappear to keep only the visual icons. All functions related to screen time are also present.

On the other hand, and it’s a shame, the gestures specific to ColorOS are not part of it. Like the gestures to split the screen in two or reduce the display of an application to a window. In this field, OxygenOS will be a little more conventional.

However, beyond these similarities, OxygenOS also offers several new functions.

Functions like Shelf for example. To make it appear, it will be necessary to perform a simple swipe from top to bottom from the right area of ​​the screen. OxygenOS will then show you a list of widgets. Fully customizable list. You will be able to inquire about the weather of the day or even the number of steps covered during the day.

You will also have to rely on Scout, the platform’s own search engine. Thanks to it, you can find applications, contacts or even perform quick operations, all without having to open the associated applications.

Big work also on the dark mode. Three different degrees are offered to suit all tastes: improved, medium or mild. That’s pretty generous of OnePlus.

You will also have to rely on Work Life Balance 2.0, a system that will allow you to configure a working time and at the same time reduce the volume of notifications generated by your applications.

To conclude

OnePlus is taking an important step this year. That of ten years of existence. A whole decade that has not been easy for the brand.

After creating a privileged relationship with its fans, the company disappointed many by embarking on a strategy of diversification, a strategy that resulted in an increase in its prices. To which were added disappointing photo performance.

But today, OnePlus is entering a new era. If the merger with Oppo has raised many questions, many concerns, it would ultimately seem to be beneficial for the manufacturer. It is indeed the first time that a device from the brand manages to impress us in the field of photography. At least when it comes out.

And that is undeniably a good thing. This is a good thing because it proves that OnePlus devices will be able to directly benefit from all the R&D of the Chinese giant. This will result in a better experience for users.

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