OnePlus 10 Pro Review: Almost There

If you made me choose from the current crop of flagship phones, the new OnePlus 10 Pro wouldn't be my first or second choice. It is not my last. It sits in an awkward spot of being good for the money, but not quite as good as some of its peers.

The only flagship offering from the company this year is the OnePlus 10 Pro. The 10 Pro is flying solo, but the company usually puts out a non-Pro variant that is a little cheaper. That makes my job simpler. While the standard option has had trouble keeping up with the competition, it does stink that you have one less phone to choose from at a time when the number of phone makers is decreasing. You can buy last year's OnePlus 9 and 9 Pro at a discounted price if you're really craving options.

The basics of excelling.

It is hard to find fault with the hardware on the 10 Pro. The Volcanic Black color is similar to the shine of lava rocks and comes in a pretty Emerald Forest. The glass back is slippery, so you want it to have a rougher, sandstone-esque feel when you touch it. Thankfully, it is not a fingerprint magnet.

The preferred size for a flagship phone is 6.7 inches, and that is the case with the new OnePlus. It is large! You can use it one-handed and reach the top of the screen by shimmying it up and down your palm. It is a bit smaller than the other competitors, which makes the size feel manageable.

One of the highlights is the AMOLED screen. It gets very bright in sunny conditions and is sharp and colorful. The operating system and apps feel very fluid because of the 120-Hz screen refresh rate. The screen can adjust from 120 to 1 to conserve battery life, according to the company.

I have not had to think about the battery. That is always a good thing. You shouldn't expect the 10 Pro's 5,000-mAh cell to last more than a full day, though I never felt like it was going to die on me. If you are spending a lot of time on TikToks or gaming, you will need to top up before bed. The bad news is that charging is slow in the US. If you use the included 65 watt charging and cable, you don't need to spend extra on a charging accessory, you can juice this phone back up to 100 percent in 30 minutes. Yowza. You can do it in around 50 minutes with the 50- watt wireless charger. When you are about to head out but realize the phone is low on power, speed like that is useful.