OnePlus 10T launch live blog: catch up with the big Android phone launch

We’re just about ready to close out the Live Blog, but here is a final look at the device in the Glacier Mat case, which OnePlus says dissipates heat for better cooling. It certainly screams “gamer,” though maybe at the cost of that very cool Moonstone texture. 

Finally, here is a super close-up look at that Moonstone Black texture. We have hands-on for the OnePlus 10T for you to check out right now. 

OnePlus talked a lot about power and performance, as well as the phone’s ability to keep cool when pushing the maximum. As you can see below, I tuned out a bit during the live broadcast and decided to give the OnePlus 10T a run for its money. 

I can say that the phone did not get considerably hot, even when I pushed its capabilities to the limit. I also managed to drain the battery, and though I don’t have hard numbers, I can tell you the battery charged to 100% between these Live Blog updates. Our full review will have the definitive look on whether the OnePlus 10T can match OnePlus battery claims. 

Hi folks! It’s Phil Berne on the U.S. side of TechRadar. Our US Editor-in-Chief Lance is on site getting hands-on with the phones, but I have a unit on hand and I’ll be keeping our live look going.

We’ve mostly seen the Jade Green version of the phone, but I’ve got the Moonstone Black color in hand and here are just a couple of shots showing the very cool texture on this phone. It feels very smooth and sanded, not polished like glass but not rough in any way. 

You can also see the camera lenses up close. We’re a bit disappointed that this won’t have the same shooting prowess as the OnePlus 10 Pro, but we can’t argue with that price! We’ll have to test the cameras to see where they shine. 

Okay, I’m signing off now, but will be passing the baton to our US Mobile Editor Philip who’s also got hands on the phone. Expect more analysis and comment over the next few hours.

As per our on-the-ground reporter, OnePlus is putting quite a bit of showmanship into its device…

Bear in mind, that’s just a display to hype up the cooling tech. With artificial smoke. And dramatic lighting.

Now that the event is over, our embargo is up, and we can share our early impressions about the phone.

Here’s our OnePlus 10T review. It’s an early impressions piece for now, as we haven’t had the phone long enough to give our full verdict on it.

We liked the phone’s display and charging speed, but its fingerprint scanner feels quite temperamental, and the camera isn’t very impressive either. But stay tuned in the next week or so for our full review.

And the event is over!

We’ve heard the price.

There’s an 8GB RAM and 128GB storage version thatll ost $649 / £629, and an 16GB and 256GB version that’s $100 / £100 more.

The phone goes on sale August 25 in Europe but September 29 in the US – that’s quite a wait!

Say what you want about OnePlus’ weird TV-show-parody phone launches that it’s used before, but at least the were short. 

The event is still going on, and OnePlus is talking about mobile game championshops and its red cable club etc.

The OnePlus 10 Pro will get OxygenOS 13 first, though we didn’t hear when. The OnePlus 10T will also get it later this year, but after the Pro.

Lots of the OxygenOS 13 features we’re hearing about are actually Android 13 ones that OnePlus has adapted, like Nearby Share for sharing files with people nearby, as well as more security tools.

This event is going on so, so long. How long does it take to tell us about a single phone, and a small software update?

This OxygenOS 13 part in particular seems horribly stretched out.

Here’s an example of how OxygenOS 13 will look, with some examples of different apps and the main menu.

OnePlus is mixing up its metaphors a bit here. Apparently scrolling through the software is like breathing ‘ie Oxygen OS’ but also flowing like water. 

Which is it OnePlus, water or respiration?

Apparently OxygenOS 13, based on Android 13, has an ‘aquamorphic design’, or based on water… whatever that means. 

We’ve seen some thematic adverts for it, but no actual examples of how Oxygen OS 13 looks like compared to the OS 12. 

We’ve heard it’ll have a different color scheme though, as it’s based on Klein Blue (a very blue kind of blue).

It sounds like the phone launch is wrapping up – about time too, because we’ve been looking at the same device for an hour – but we’re moving onto software now. In particular, we’re hearing about OxygenOS 13.

OnePlus is moving onto design now, yet another thing we know about (it looks very similar to the OnePlus 10 Pro).

It has a unibody design, so the camera bump isn’t a separate part – it just extends from the rear.

There are two color versions, black and pale green, and the black one has a grippable texture.

The above are camera samples taken on OnePlus phones through the years (not on the 10T).

The cameras on this phone are a 50MP main, 8MP ultra-wide and… some extra macro lens, the latter doesn’t sound great.

They’ve confirmed the display specs, which we didn’t know (other than that brief slide earlier).

It’s a 6.7-inch FHD+ 120Hz screen that shows over a billion colors but has a rather limited max brightness of 950nits.

Next, we’re moving onto the cameras.

This is quite a technical launch and it’s not all exciting or interesting.

But our US Editor in Chief is appreciating the surround-video situation OnePlus has going on, which presumably makes the in-person event more interesting.

We’re also hearing about OnePlus’ smart charging, which uses AI to adapt to your charging schedule –  a few other brands have similar things, like Google for its Pixels.

The phone can adapt to climate temperature and your schedule to moderate how fast the phone is powering up.

OnePlus told everyone before the event that the phone will have a 4,800mAh battery and 150W charging, and it’s discussing that in more detail right now.

With all this talk of processing, let’s see if OnePlus decides to discuss its controversial processing throttling practices that we saw in 2021…

Oh, no, we’ve moved onto charging instead.

They’re talking a bit more about gaming – clearly performance is a bit part of the OnePlus 10T.

But if they’re spending this long to talk about the processing speed – bear in mind that we’re already 30m into the conference – what are they going to skimp over? Cameras? We think it’s cameras.

OnePlus is saying that, if you buy the 16GB RAM version of the 10T, it can keep 30 apps open at once…?

I’m not sure about you, but I don’t think I even have 35 apps on my phone, so that seems a little excessive. But hey, there might be one or two of you out there who jump between this many apps at any point, so maybe it’s useful.

Apparently OnePlus has designed a case that keeps the phone cool:

Looking at those gaps and vents, it sounds like this could be quite… cooling? I don’t really know how it works, to be honest, but it looks interesting.

But will this keep the phone cooler than simply removing the case would? We’ll have to see.

An issue we find with Snapdragon 8-series chipsets is that they get super hot incredibly quickly when gaming, and that’s something OnePlus is addressing right now.

Apparently the OnePlus 10T has improved cooling systems to stay cold, which apparently took 18 months to develop. It’s all a bit technical, but the gist is this: the OnePlus 10T shouldn’t get too toasty.

Now we’re getting some boring stats on how the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 is improved over… something. Likely the 8 Gen 1, possibly the 888 Plus, it’s not clear.

Either way, this is all sound bites like “20% faster” or “15% quicker”, but this doesn’t necessarily means it’ll feel different in your hand – that’s something we’ll only be able to feel during testing, so wait for our review for that.

OnePlus has wasted no time in sharing basically all the specs of its new phone – admittedly it did show off most of this ahead of time.

There are some things missing – camera sensors for one, and design specs for another – but it’s a fairly well-rounded list.

Now we’re seeing a video that OnePlus shared on its YouTube channel days ago, about the history of new features that OnePlus phones have brought.

It’s here (opens in new tab)if you want to see it, called “fast and smooth”.

“We hear you loud and clear”

OnePlus has addressed criticism from fans that it’s lost its way a little bit, and that’s certainly something we’ve noticed fans of the brand complaining about. Hopefully the OnePlus 10T will address that.

Oh look, it’s us! (read: it’s me!).

And it’s finally started! TheCEO of OnePlus America is on stage

The company’s overall CEO, Pete Lau, isn’t attending, but a pre-recorded message from him is broadcasting about OnePlus’ worldwide community.

Weirdly, the event hasn’t started yet – it sounds as though the organisers are quickly grabbing more chairs for the physical attendees.

Here’s a view of inside the conference center itself – if you’re watching the stream, it looks rather small, but as it turns out it’s much bigger.

We’re also seeing shots of people filing into a conference hall to see the launch – this is in New York City, where OnePlus is hosting a physical launch.

Let’s see if we can spot US Editor in Chief Lance, who is at the event in person.

And we’ve begun! Sort of

The live stream video has begun, although the event itself hasn’t. We’re just seeing the above logo with some repetitive music for now.

But if you’re hurriedly making a drink or snacks before the event, perhaps this beat will help you keep the pace.

The OnePlus 10T live stream has… only 400 people in it.

Sure, the event hasn’t kicked off yet, but we’re used to seeing thousands viewing streams even this far in advance. So maybe there’s less of an interest in the 10T than we expected…

There’s an hour left until the launch, so we’re hoping OnePlus’ live stream will start soon.

This year we’ve also seen a few OnePlus Nord phones: the Nord 2T, the Nord CE 2 and the Nord CE 2 Lite.

These are all relatively affordable phones, especially by the standards of the 10 Pro, designed for people who want one or two top-end features but without paying a high price.

In China, the OnePlus Ace launched, but that didn’t leave the country.

The OnePlus 10 Pro is one of our favorite phones of 2022 so far, so the 10T has big boots to follow – though it doesn’t sound like it’s trying to emulate its older sibling. Rather it sounds like it’s trying to provide an alternative version of it.

That’s why there’s no zoom camera, a seemingly flat-edge display and a smaller battery – it’s about speed on this new phone, in terms of charging and performance.

The battery and charging information has already been confirmed too, and we imagine that’s something that will be a big draw to the device.

The power pack is 4,800mAh, which is pretty big, but the eye-catching spec here is the 150W charging.

This isn’t the first phone with powering speeds this fast, but we certainly haven’t seen one that powers faster just yet, and we can expect to see the phone go from empty to full in less than 20 minutes.

OnePlus will certainly go into more detail on this at the launch.

Another thing that OnePlus has confirmed is the absence of an alert slider, a popular feature of the company’s phones – you can see it on the edge of the OnePlus 10 Pro in the above photo.

An alert slider is for easily flicking between silent, vibrate or full volume modes for notifications without having to open your phone. You can easily turn it onto silent when you walk into a meeting, or deactivate it when you walk out, without spending ages in menus.

As we said, it’s a popular OnePlus feature, and fans are already upset at its removal.

Another piece of camera information we know about the OnePlus 10T is that it won’t feature the Hasselblad branding that previous OnePlus phones have.

This branding boasted that legacy camera brand Hasselblad had contributed to some of the camera hardware and software for the phone, and in the 10 Pro, it manifested as a few new camera modes and AI tweakery on the normal photo mode.

It’s not clear if the lack of the branding means these modes won’t reappear, or if it’s simply the marketing aspect that’s changed, and OnePlus likely won’t discuss this on stage. We’ll have to test the phone ourselves to see.

The OnePlus 10T live stream has kicked off on YouTube, and you can see it here (opens in new tab).

This doesn’t mean there’s actually a video playing right now – it’s just a premiere, with the actual video scheduled to start 15 minutes before the event begins.

Another thing that OnePlus has confirmed is that the 10T will get the Sony IMX766 sensor for its main camera. That’s a 50MP snapper that we’ve seen used quite a bit in cheap phones over the last few months.

In fact, we’ve tested it extensively thanks to phones like the Realme 9 Pro Plus and Nothing Phone (1). We’ve found it very good for low-light imagery, at least compared to other sensors we see used in budget mobiles.

Here are some images that we took on the Realme phone, to give an example of how it performs at night.

While the sensor stands out from the crowd for low-light photography, its performance isn’t as impressive in well-lit conditions. It’s not bad, it just doesn’t stand out from the competition as much.

We’ll have to hear about the OnePlus 10T’s other cameras before we make judgements on its photography prowess though.

OnePlus hasn’t really been shy with information about the phone.

Here’s one big example – it’s the phone in green and black (an image that OnePlus shared well in advance of the one at the top of this article). 

This is what let us know that the phone looked like the OnePlus 10 Pro, and had three cameras too.

Something that’s interesting is that OnePlus had two launches today.

One was obviously the OnePlus 10T launch – that’s what you’re here for, presumably – but the other was a Chinese-only one for the OnePlus Ace Pro.

However this second launch event has been cancelled at the last minute, and it’s not quite clear why. What’s doubly odd is that this cancellation happened the day after Motorola called off a similar China-only event.

So what’s going on? We don’t know – but the OnePlus 10T launch is still going on.

It’s OnePlus 10T launch live blog time at TechRadar, and we’re getting the engine running for another launch event – there are still hours to go before OnePlus’ live stream starts though, so there’s no need to warm up your popcorn just yet.