OnePlus Nord N10

The N10 is surprisingly affordable for a 5G phone and sits at the top of OnePlus’ Nord line-up. Still, affordable and good value don’t always mean the same thing. Sure, you can probably afford the N10, but should you buy one?

Design

The N10 is an example of how premium plastic can look and feel. In fact, many reviewers thought the phone’s rear Midnight Ice cover was glass. It’s on the larger side, being more significant than the OnePlus 8 and closer in size to the 8 Pro. The biggest complaints we could find were about fingerprints, dirt, and grime — hardly a rarity today.

Display

A 6.49-inch, full HD display coated in Gorilla Glass 3 graces the front of the phone. Better still, it’s a 90Hz panel, making movement silky smooth. However, if you’re looking to use the phone outdoors, you might want to think twice. Many reviewers felt the screen was rather dim.

Performance

OnePlus Nord 10’s somewhat-outdated chipset holds it back a bit compared to similarly priced phones. Still, as long as you temper expectations and don’t expect top tier performance, reviewers found the phone perfectly usable. It kept up with multitasking just fine and while there were frame drops on some of the more demanding games, it held up pretty well for most tests.

Software & Storage

The N10 ships with Android 10 with OnePlus’ popular Oxygen overlay. It comes with 128GB of storage onboard with the ability to expand that by up to 512GB with a microSD card.

Cameras

The OnePlus Nord N10’s cameras aren’t bad… but they are also nothing amazing. Reviewers noted a little over-sharpening and some blurred edges when using the ultra-wide lens. However, the phone includes a monochrome lens for black and white pictures rather than relying on a filter. Reviewers found it an interesting addition you won’t find on most phones and think photography fans will love playing it.

Battery Life

Reviews said that the battery easily made it from 7 a.m. to midnight on a charge even with heavy social media use. The OnePlus Nord N10 does not support wireless charging but its Warp Charge feature eases the blow a bit offering up to 50% of a charge in only 30 minutes.

Audio

Headphone jacks get rarer by the year, so you’ll be happy to hear the OnePlus Nord N10 has one. As a bonus, it also features stereo speakers — though the bottom woofer can get muffled if you crank the volume.

Specs at a Glance

• Plastic chassis
• 6.49-inch Gorilla Glass 3 display
• Qualcomm SM6350 Snapdragon 690 5G processor
• 6GB of RAM
• Android 10
• 128GB of storage with expansion option to 512GB
• 64MP + camera
• 4300 mAh battery

Bottom Line

While this phone will not win any awards based on innovation or benchmarks, reviews indicate it’s an exceptional phone for the price. In that way, it succeeds in surprising. Fast 5G, stereo speakers, expandable storage, and so many camera options are rarely this affordable — and done well.

Tech Radar says, “The OnePlus N10 5G is a solid mid-range phone without much edge on the competition aside from a 90Hz refresh rate display, some high-megapixel cameras, and fast 30W charging.”

Pocket-Lint states, “Something of a curveball launch from OnePlus. In the markets where it’s the only Nord-branded phone, it’s a well-priced, affordable Android phone with few negatives. But in pretty much every department, the first Nord is better and doesn’t cost a lot more.”