What brings all of this down is the image quality. OnePlus hasn’t changed the main 48-megapixel main camera from last year but says it improved the noise reduction, resolution, and dynamic range. In a vacuum, yes, the results from this OnePlus phone can look very good—and I can see some improvements. But it can fall spectacularly short, especially in low-light scenes with Nightscape mode (see the skyline photo comparison above). Too many photos just look fuzzy and not as tack-sharp as the likes from the Pixel 6 Pro and Galaxy S22+, or even the OnePlus 9 Pro. Details can be lost to shadows in high-contrast scenes too.
The OnePlus 10 Pro now shoots in 10 bit, which means it can process more colors than ever before, but the caveat is these photos are stored in the HEIF format. I didn’t run into too many issues with this, but HEIF isn’t supported universally like JPEG. Using Google Photos in a web browser, for example, I couldn’t view the 10 Pro’s photos, even though they loaded just fine in the mobile app.
Unfortunately, the color science varies quite a bit, which is confounding since the Hasselblad partnership places an emphasis on “true-to-life colors.” I’ve taken Portrait mode photos where my fiancée’s skin tone is far too red and the buildings and sky behind her are unnaturally saturated. In the photo of the church in the gallery above, the spire is light brown and quite accurate on the Pixel 6 Pro, but it’s a different shade on the OnePlus.
Results from the 8-megapixel telephoto (3x zoom) and 50-megapixel ultrawide cameras also generally don’t measure up to competitors. Where the 10 Pro does do well is with selfies thanks to the 32-megapixel front camera, the blur effect in Portrait mode, and video capture. But even then, it’s a rung lower than the likes of the Galaxy S22.
A Good Alternative
I’ve only run into two bugs on my OnePlus 10 Pro review unit. Sometimes, the camera app freezes and it requires a full phone restart to get things back to normal. Also, I wasn’t able to make contactless payments twice … which also required a restart for it to work again. OnePlus says it hasn’t seen these problems and that the team is looking into it.
Outside of that, I’ve had a pretty enjoyable time with the 10 Pro. I’m nitpicky about the camera, but you have to be when that’s the area of biggest focus and improvement on smartphones nowadays. The 10 Pro also has a pretty reliable fingerprint sensor; I love the haptic vibrations that rumble out of it; and I’ve grown to like the physical mute switch on the side (like on iPhones).
You should know that this phone does not support millimeter-wave 5G, meaning if you happen to run into one of the rare areas with super-fast 5G coverage, you won’t be able to take advantage of it. More importantly, there’s no 5G support on AT&T at the moment. It just means that connectivity will be fine but not as robust as other phones that cost this much.
If you’re not sold on Google’s Pixel phones or Samsung’s latest S22 lineup, then this new OnePlus is a good alternative. It just doesn’t bring much new to the table. It’s up for preorder now and goes on sale April 14.
