With all this in mind, when rumblings that the company would be expanding the Nord line to include more affordable devices, we were excited and intrigued to see how OnePlus would drum up interest around these new handsets before their big reveal. The problem is, for the most part, they didn’t. Of the 25 official Instagram posts made since the Nord N10 5G’s announcement, only five (at the time of writing) make any reference to the N10, there’s talk of OnePlus having just pulled the design and hardware from affiliated phone makers like Oppo and most recently, we learnt that it (and the N100) will only receive one software update and two years of security updates in their lifetime (compared to an additional year in both instances for the standard Nord and the company’s flagship phones). On the surface, it appears that OnePlus doesn’t care anywhere near as much about the N10 5G as it does about the original Nord, instead hoping that the Nord name and the success of its namesake are enough to have fans of the brand part with their money – especially in the US, where the original Nord never launched. So is this just an uninteresting smartphone sold on the reputation of the OnePlus brand over its own merits, or does the Nord N10 5G actually have enough character and ability to be a worthwhile purchase?
Design and build
Giving OnePlus the benefit of the doubt and assuming that the N10 5G isn’t based on one of BBK’s other companies’ devices (such as Oppo’s, Realme’s or Vivo’s phones), this handset is a strange mix of design elements – both old and new – from the company’s other mobiles. The most obvious difference to recent OnePlus handsets is the return of a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor – a trait we haven’t seen since early 2018’s OnePlus 6. Its inclusion comes directly as a result of the phone’s LCD-based display tech, which can’t accommodate an optical in-display fingerprint sensor the way the original Nord or OnePlus 8 and 8T offer. Meanwhile, a domino-style rectangular camera setup – as popularised by Samsung’s Galaxy S20 line – makes the N10 the second OnePlus phone after the 8T to sport such an arrangement; a trait we assume we’ll see more of on future OnePlus devices, going by its inclusion here. Moving to a lower price point compared to the original Nord means you sacrifice a few key qualities; namely a glass back (here it’s plastic), the company’s signature alert slider and weaker water and dust protection (as denoted by the absence of a gasket around the phone’s SIM tray). All that said, you will find microSD expandability, although, in a strange way, this welcome addition is decidedly uncharacteristic for OnePlus. The N10 boasts a bigger battery than the original Nord but also comes with extra bulk to match. The bezel around the display is thick, especially when it comes to the ‘chin’ running along the bottom edge, while the 9mm-thick profile and nearly 200-gram weight (190 grams), render the N10 5G bigger and bulkier than expected. That plastic back is curved at the edges to fit the hand nicely but with no case in-box, the eye-catching Midnight Ice finish is quickly covered by fingerprints and doesn’t offer much in the way of grip in day-to-day use.
Display and audio
OnePlus doesn’t do small-screened phones and the N10 5G is, in fact, a touch larger than the standard Nord (even before you take into account those bezels). Its 6.49in panel uses LCD technology in place of OLED (as found on the original Nord) and you can tell, based on the drop in contrast and weaker colour reproduction. However, it still benefits from a high 90Hz refresh rate for smooth scrolling and motion, along with a perfectly sharp Full HD+ resolution set into a tall 20:9 aspect ratio. It’s worth noting that the display’s refresh rate isn’t adaptive, so it comes set to 90Hz out the box and is locked there unless you manually switch it down to 60Hz, which creates a more conventional viewing experience in an effort to prolong battery life. OnePlus gives you a decent amount of control over the visuals, with colour temperature sliders for both general and Night Mode, a monochromatic Reading Mode and an Ambient Display option, despite no always-on setting (another limitation of LCD over OLED). The one thing the screen setup lacks is a one-handed mode – a long-standing omission on OnePlus phones that has never made sense to me, considering their typically larger footprint. Its absence on the N10 5G is just as frustrating, with only larger-handed folk comfortably pulling down the notifications shade with a single mitt, without fear of an already-slick phone slipping from their grasp in the process. For everything the N10 5G’s design omits compared to the original Nord, it benefits from a couple of additions too, namely a headphone jack and stereo loudspeakers. Audio quality across both is capable, with the stereo speakers being a particular highlight at this price point; offering surprisingly balanced, clear sound, compared to some other stereo-capable phone loudspeakers.
Software and features
While OnePlus is known for creating phones that deliver on performance, the company’s skinned take on Android – Oxygen OS – is one of its greatest assets. Customised beyond stock to the point that it adds value, without feeling overwhelming, Oxygen OS is a rich user experience that’s just as approachable to newcomers as it is long-time Android users. Despite arriving after the OnePlus 8T, which boasts the latest and greatest Oxygen OS 11 (atop Android 11), the N10 5G sports version 10.5 atop Android 10. This might not seem significant, but considering the jump from Oxygen OS 10 to 11 places a focus on better optimising for one-handed usage, it’s a shame that the company didn’t work to make sure its latest user experience was available on its latest device. Be that as it may, the N10 5G’s software is still a pleasure to use and features useful augmentations over stock Android – like greater inbuilt customisation, considered first-party apps that bring added value and a rich feature set; with entries like App Locker and Hidden Space for greater control over content and apps on your device. Game Space and the included Fnatic mode are also on-hand to help avid mobile gamers, with resource optimisation and notification suppression at the ready. It’s worth reminding that despite the promise of an upgrade to Oxygen OS 11 (and Android 11) in the near future, unlike the rest of the current OnePlus lineup, both the N10 5G and the Nord N100 will only see a single major software upgrade in their lifetimes (while other OnePlus phones will receive at least two). Longer-term software support has often served as another great reason to choose a OnePlus device over certain Android competitors, so the absence of that benefit undermines the N10 5G in this regard.
Performance
While the Nord N100 drops the performance ceiling even further, the N10 5G still serves as one of the company’s most modestly-specced devices to date and one of the first phones out there to sport one of Qualcomm’s more conservative 5G-capable SoCs – the Snapdragon 690, backed by 6GB RAM and a fairly generous 128GB of internal storage. In artificial testing, the Snapdragon 690 offers plenty of compute power for everyday use but shows its weaknesses when it comes to graphical performance, falling behind devices like the more affordable Poco X3.
In real-world use, our main concern was that the lower-end internals would show up the Oxygen OS user experience. Luckily, in this regard – especially with the addition of 90Hz smooth motion – the N10 5G offers a pleasingly responsive user experience, however, it’s imperfect – at least for the time being. Likely a result of early firmware instability, our N10 5G would sometimes lock up for a few seconds after waking the screen, rendering the last app opened useless for a few moments, while other features, like volume control and the Google Assistant, continued to function. That rear-mounted fingerprint sensor also undermines an otherwise responsive user experience, taking as long as some in-display alternatives to get a read on your print and sometimes refusing to work outright until the phone has been woken up with the tap of the power key. These are strange quirks that detract from an otherwise smooth, responsive user experience, but they’re pervasive enough to sully the enjoyment of zipping around Oxygen OS on the N10.
Battery and charging
The N10 5G’s sizeable frame conceals a fairly sizeable 4300mAh battery to match, which thankfully delivers on longevity. While it only matched (and didn’t exceed) the battery benchmark score achieved by the original Nord’s smaller cell (both listed above), in real-world use, it consistently doled out just over six hours of screen-on time (tested with a 5G SIM), which for most users should result in about a day and a half of general use without issue. It’s worth noting that dropping the phone’s display down to 60Hz should result in even greater longevity, however, in day-to-day use, the N10 5G’s current battery endurance with 90Hz enabled should prove ample for most users. The N10 also happens to be the most affordable OnePlus phone that’s still able to offer the brand’s signature Warp Charge fast charging (with the Nord N100 dropping down to standard 18W speeds). The updated Warp Charge 30T standard that OnePlus introduced on the OnePlus 7T series grants an initial rapid recharge and in testing brought the N10 5G’s battery up to 64% in just 30 minutes, with a full 100% charge in an hour. While OnePlus has introduced an even-faster 65W Warp Charge standard as part of the OnePlus 8T’s makeup, we wouldn’t expect such a premium feature to arrive on a phone as affordable as the N10. 2021’s rumoured OnePlus Nord SE is, however, rumoured to tote this faster charging.
Camera
One interesting element first found on the Nord N10 5G is its primary 64Mp main camera (until now OnePlus cameras have topped out at 48Mp) – the Omnivision sensor is something of an unknown quantity in the smartphone space, so I was intrigued to see how it handled. Shots are binned (combining four pixels’ worth of data into one to iron out noise, shake etc.) into 16Mp stills by default, but you have the ability to capture at full resolution if desired. As for the quality of stills the N10 5G produces, it’s a real mixed bag. OnePlus’ image processing has come on leaps and bounds in recent generations, and you can see that hard work paying off when shooting via the main sensor. Colours appear natural and dynamic range isn’t as narrow as you might assume; retaining more data in both the darkest and brightest areas of scenes. Fine details and bokeh appear a little muddy when pushing in but for sharing on social media, most shots should do the trick. Consistency with the colour science when moving between the main 64Mp sensor and the phone’s 8Mp ultrawide snapper could be better, with the latter moving towards magenta with regards to white balance bias. Zooming is an all-digital affair but thanks to that high-resolution main sensor, shots still look pleasingly sharp at the default 2x crop value built into the native camera app.
Speaking of, OnePlus’ camera interface is pleasingly easy to navigate around and use, with minimal clutter within the viewfinder when shooting. Just remember to dive into its inbuilt settings menu if there’s a control you can’t find, as that where it’ll probably live. Much like the OnePlus 8T, the addition of standalone depth and macro sensors (2Mp a piece) seems pretty pointless. In the case of the depth sensor, shooting in portrait mode through the main module is hit-and-miss, with the phone often struggling to discern the foreground subject from the background and thus being unable to apply additional bokeh beyond the main sensor’s natural depth. As for the macro snapper, as suspected, the low resolution means shots are barely usable from a quality standpoint but add in some awful dynamic range and saturation management (see the flower surrounded by green leaves in the gallery above for context) and you’re better off taking macro shots via the main camera and cropping in as needed. So long as there’s some degree of ambient light, the phone’s dedicated night mode makes low light shooting possible across both the main and ultrawide sensors, while portrait mode when snapping selfies is best left alone; as edge detection from the phone’s single 16Mp snapper frequently trips up. If desired, the easy-to-use tiered beauty settings are simple and effective, though. Lastly, video capture grants up to 4K shooting, with both 16:9 and a 21:9 ‘Cine’ profile to choose between. Footage is electronically stabilised well enough, however, colour saturation is lacklustre, with footage appearing a little washed out.
Price and availability
With only one SKU of N10 to choose from (6GB RAM, 128GB storage, 5G, Midnight Ice) there’s only one price to worry about too: £249 in the UK (down from £329 at launch), €299 in Europe (down from €349), and $299.99 in the US. One notable alternative around the same price is the Realme X50 5G, which borrows from both the Nord and N10 5G but costs less than both, while those in the US, who don’t have such options available to them, might be better off grabbing the modest-but-capable Google Pixel 4a or save up for a device like the $499 Google Pixel 4a 5G.
Verdict
The Nord N10 5G is perhaps one of the most out-of-place members of OnePlus’ current lineup; not because there’s no place for an ‘affordable OnePlus’ but because it’s comprised of a number of decisions and traits that seem uncharacteristic for the brand. Its design and hardware are decidedly more generic compared to the company’s other current phones, and while not all of the differences between this and the original Nord are bad (e.g. a headphone jack and its expandable storage), they don’t echo what the OnePlus brand promises. Thankfully, the company’s signature snappy and clean user experience remains intact and is arguably the best thing about the N10, however, it’s undermined by bugs that need to be ironed out for it to be a considered recommendation. There’s also the fact that the mid-range space in 2020 was fiercely competitive and while the original OnePlus Nord brought a compelling value-for-money proposition to the table, the N10 5G sacrifices too much and shaves too little off the standard Nord’s price to offer similar appeal.
