OnePlus 10R 150W hands-on review

Software

The OnePlus 10R runs on OxygenOS 12.1 on top of Android 12. We have a dedicated review on OxygenOS 12, and not much has changed with the 12.1 update.

OxygenOS 12.1 is essentially ColorOS 12 with minor tweaks. Looking past surface-level design changes reveals an OS that is identical to that found on OnePlus and Realme phones.

Unfortunately, the UIs of the two platforms have been combined with all the subtlety of a car crash. There is no rhyme or reason why some design elements have been kept from OxygenOS 11, and others have been replaced with those from ColorOS.

OxygenOS 12.1 Launcher

The notification toggles, for example, have the circular motif from OxygenOS 11 but the launcher is from ColorOS and has square icons, which were designed to match the square notification toggles in ColorOS 11. The font for all the icon labels is unusually heavy, which causes the text to constantly run over into the next line. It's also OnePlus Sans, even if you have chosen the default Roboto for the rest of the UI.

Some of this inconsistency is now also seeping into the newer versions of ColorOS, but then again, ColorOS was never a looker to begin with. OxygenOS used to have a minimal and consistent aesthetic, and that went out the window the day it was merged with ColorOS.

OnePlus Shelf

As with other OnePlus phones, the 10R ships with a rather oversized default UI scaling out of the box, which makes everything look too large, reducing the space for actual content. It's almost mandatory for anyone with good vision to drop this down one notch in the display setting but it does cause some UI elements to look weird, such as the navigation buttons, which become smaller and far too spaced out.

Speaking of navigation buttons, one cool feature of OxygenOS 11 was being able to customize the navigation buttons by assigning various shortcuts to them when you press and hold or double-tap them. For whatever reason, this was chucked out as soon as the OS was merged with ColorOS.

Settings

Another useful feature was the Hidden Space screen in the app drawer for placing icons you wanted to hide or just not clutter the main app drawer. This was also replaced in favor of an overly complicated, password-protected screen that you need to set up manually.

It's always the little things like these that irk and alienate long-term users and make them reconsider their purchase decision. OnePlus could have just stuck to its original promise of making OxygenOS more stable while keeping things users already liked about it, but it failed on both fronts.

For what it's worth, OnePlus has come out and said it will be making OxygenOS 13 to be more like the stock Android design that people expect it to be like. But we will believe it when we see it.

Performance

The OnePlus 10R runs on the MediaTek Dimensity 8100-MAX processor, which is a OnePlus-exclusive variant of the Dimensity 8100. Despite our repeated requests, the company was unable to offer a straight answer to what makes the MAX version different from the standard Dimensity 8100. From what we can tell, the two are identical except in name.

In terms of memory, you get a choice of either 128GB or 256GB UFS 3.1 storage and 8GB or 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM. Our review unit was the maxed-out configuration.

In our testing, the Dimensity 8100-MAX performed quite well, coming in just behind the Snapdragon 888. In everyday operation, the phone felt smooth and responsive (at least when the display wasn't messing up), and even gaming performance was quite good.

Like other recent OnePlus phones, the OnePlus 10R has a performance mode toggle, which locks the CPU clock speeds to a high value instead of ramping down when not in use. We didn't expect to see much difference with this mode enabled in benchmarks, as the device would naturally boost to high clocks anyway during testing.

Strangely, however, there was a marked improvement in scores with this option enabled, particularly those limited by the CPU performance. This suggests that with the performance mode disabled, the user is leaving actual measurable performance on the table and not getting the best out of their device.

GeekBench 5 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• OnePlus 10R (Performance mode)
  3822
• Xiaomi 12
  3652
• OnePlus 10R
  3564
• Realme GT 5G
  3555
• Samsung Galaxy S22+
  3528
• Realme GT2 Pro
  3501
• Realme GT2
  3487
• Realme GT Neo2
  3186
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  3049
• Xiaomi 11T
  2834

GeekBench 5 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Realme GT2 Pro
  1238
• Xiaomi 12
  1187
• Samsung Galaxy S22+
  1165
• Realme GT 5G
  1139
• Realme GT2
  1131
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  1096
• Realme GT Neo2
  1019
• OnePlus 10R (Performance mode)
  964
• OnePlus 10R
  881
• Xiaomi 11T
  742

AnTuTu 9

Higher is better

• Xiaomi 12
  985115
• Realme GT2 Pro
  966251
• Samsung Galaxy S22+
  886916
• Realme GT2
  810512
• Realme GT 5G
  810433
• OnePlus 10R (Performance mode)
  801224
• OnePlus 10R
  759929
• Realme GT Neo2
  726039
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  719696
• Xiaomi 11T
  590837

GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi 12
  75
• Samsung Galaxy S22+
  68
• Realme GT2
  56
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  56
• Realme GT 5G
  55
• OnePlus 10R (Performance mode)
  49
• Realme GT Neo2
  49
• Realme GT2 Pro
  48
• OnePlus 10R
  42
• Xiaomi 11T
  40

GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• Realme GT2 Pro
  95
• Xiaomi 12
  84
• Samsung Galaxy S22+
  76
• Realme GT2
  68
• Realme GT 5G
  65
• OnePlus 10R (Performance mode)
  59
• Realme GT Neo2
  59
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  57
• OnePlus 10R
  48
• Xiaomi 11T
  47

GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi 12
  117
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  98
• Samsung Galaxy S22+
  94
• Realme GT Neo2
  84
• Xiaomi 11T
  72
• OnePlus 10R (Performance mode)
  60
• Realme GT 5G
  60
• Realme GT2 Pro
  60
• Realme GT2
  60
• OnePlus 10R
  59

GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• Realme GT2 Pro
  165
• Xiaomi 12
  164
• Realme GT2
  115
• Realme GT 5G
  112
• OnePlus 10R (Performance mode)
  109
• Samsung Galaxy S22+
  105
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  103
• Realme GT Neo2
  99
• OnePlus 10R
  95
• Xiaomi 11T
  77

GFX Aztek Vulkan High (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi 12
  59
• Samsung Galaxy S22+
  51
• OnePlus 10R
  39
• Realme GT2 Pro
  39
• OnePlus 10R (Performance mode)
  38
• Realme GT 5G
  38
• Realme GT2
  38
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  38
• Realme GT Neo2
  33
• Xiaomi 11T
  29

GFX Aztek Vulkan High (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• Realme GT2 Pro
  46
• Xiaomi 12
  45
• Samsung Galaxy S22+
  34
• Realme GT2
  30
• Realme GT 5G
  29
• OnePlus 10R
  26
• OnePlus 10R (Performance mode)
  25
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  25
• Realme GT Neo2
  24
• Xiaomi 11T
  20

3DMark Wild Life Vulkan 1.1 (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi 12
  9535
• Realme GT2 Pro
  9487
• Samsung Galaxy S22+
  7405
• OnePlus 10R (Performance mode)
  6010
• Realme GT2
  5879
• Realme GT 5G
  5872
• OnePlus 10R
  5600
• Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
  5432
• Realme GT Neo2
  4250
• Xiaomi 11T
  4172

In an ideal world, OnePlus would just make a CPU scheduler that cleverly ramped down when not in use and ramped up to its full capacity when the user demanded it. Instead, the company has sought to simply throttle performance by default and give the nuclear launch codes to the user should they feel the need to destroy their battery. Because even though the performance mode does let you get the best out of your device, having the device permanently in that state will kill your battery, making it an impractical solution.

OnePlus has installed its largest vapor chamber yet inside the OnePlus 10R along with graphite and graphene thermal pads. The end result is impressive, as the phone manages to maintain a comfortable skin temperature even during gaming. The plastic body doesn't get as warm to the touch as aluminum. The phone could also maintain its performance without throttling for extended durations.