Oppo K10 5G review: A solid performer, with a major Achilles' heel

Pros
- Great design and solid build.
- Phenomenal battery backup.
- Great value for money.
- Inclusion of 3.5 mm headphone jack, microSDXC card slot.
- 90Hz display.
- Great camera for the price point.

Cons
- Resolution of the display.
- Video for both front and rear cameras limited to 1080p @30 FPS.
- 8MP front-facing camera seems antiquated for 2022.

Summary
Oppo has a solid winner in their hands in the form of the K10 5G. Yes, there are a few issues, mainly with the resolution of the display, but the K10 5G more than makes up for them in other vital areas. All in all, this is a device that provides great value for money.

Price: Rs 17,499

When we learnt that Oppo was offering the K10 5G in China with the Dimensity 8000 SoC but in India, it would be shipped with the Dimensity 810 SoC, we were a little disheartened. However, having tried the device and considering the price point at which Oppo has positioned the K10 5G in India, we were impressed. 

The Oppo K10 5G is a solid performer that ticks all the boxes that one would look for in a budget smartphone. While the device retails for Rs 17,499, using bank offers, one can get the device for as low as Rs 15,499. At either of these prices, the K10 5G is punching way above its weight. 

Oppo K10 5G review: The design
Despite its price tag, the Oppo K10 5G comes with a very premium look. At 7.99 mm, the device is one of the slimmest 5G phones on the market with a battery capacity of 5000mAh. The flat edges and the sleek straight edge design make the phone very ergonomic and easy to hold on to, especially when using the device with a single hand.

The camera module too looks well integrated into the back of the display and does not stick out like an eyesore. 

The Oppo K10 5G comes in Ocean Blue and Midnight Black colour variants and the review unit we received Ocean Blue. However, we have to say that the Midnight Black variant is the colour to choose, all thanks to the rear panel of the device. 

The biggest talking point, design-wise, has to be the rear panel. The polycarbonate back panel has a metallic look to it, and is scratch and fingerprint resistant, thanks to OPPO Glow technology.

This is a feature that we normally see reserved for the higher-end devices and flagships that manufacturers make including Oppo, so it is nice to see such a design choice in a budget phone like this.

On the 6.55-inch display, we get a teardrop-shaped cutout out for the front-facing camera. We would’ve liked to see a punch-hole style cutout, as it looks more modern. Having said that, the teardrop-shaped cut-out does not come in the way of content consumption and gaming.

As for the bezels, they aren’t very the thinnest that we have seen on a device at this price point, but they aren’t anything that one can complain about. The bezel at the chin is slightly thicker, but that is something that one can expect in almost every smartphone, even when you go way over this pricepoint.

At the bottom, we get a 3.5mm headphone jack, a microphone, a USB-C port, and one of the speakers from the ultra linear dual stereo speaker.

The left side of the device has the volume rockers which have been divided into two distinct buttons, as well as the SIM tray, which also supports a microSDXC card. Users can expand the onboard storage by up to 1TB.

Oppo K10 5G review: The hardware and performance
Powering the Oppo K10 5G is a 6nm MediaTek MT6833P Dimensity 810 SoC, which has two Cortex A76 processing cores clocked at 2.4 GHz & six Cortex A55 clocked at 2.0 GHz. You also get Mali-G57 MC2 for driving the graphics.

As for connectivity, you get USB-C at 2.0, Bluetooth 5.3, dual band WiFi, and NFC. You also get seven 5G bands.

Users get 8GB LPDDR4X RAM which can be expanded virtually to up to 13GB. This really comes in handy especially if you’re a heavy multitasker and need to switch between apps constantly.

The RAM management is also great which makes the using the device extremely snappy and responsive. At times, you forget that you’re using a budget smartphone - that’s how responsive the device feels.

For storage, you get a UFS2.2 128GB ROM. If that feels inadequate for some reason, then you also have the option to expand the storage by up to 1TB using a microSDXC card.

Let’s look at the scores that the Oppo K10 5G got in several benchmarks. On Geekbench, the Oppo K10 5G had a single-core score of 592, and a multi-core score of 1757. On 3D Mark’s Wild Life Stress Test, the best loop score it got was 1347, whereas the lowest loop score was 1342, with a stability of 99.6 per cent. In the singe-run test, it got a score of 1337, with an average FPS of 8. On the Slingshot test, it had an overall score of 3683.

Considering the fact that the Oppo K10 5G costs about Rs 17,499, and can be bought for much cheaper if you play your cards right, we will say that the scores are decent. They aren’t that great, but they translate well into real-life performance.

As for gaming performance, games like BGMI and CoD are more than playable with some good framerates, whereas games like Asphalt 9 are silky smooth. You won’t be playing the games in UltraHD with the best definition and details, but what you get is more than enough for casual gaming.

Do keep in mind that the device starts getting a little warm to the touch after 30-35 minutes of intense gaming, but not to the point where it should become a concern.

Oppo K10 5G review: The software experience & user interface
The Oppo K10 5G comes with ColorOS 12.1 based on Android 12. ColorOS on the Oppo K10 5G looks tight and streamlined. Not only is the overall look and feel of ColorOS 12.1 really great, but it is also very well optimised. Unnecessary battery drain was almost negligible.

You also get a ton of customisation options. And can we please take a moment to appreciate some of the wallpapers that come included in the package? Not a lot of smartphone makers give these many great wallpapers to choose from.

The best thing about the user interface is the fact that we don’t get any ads. Yes, there is some bloatware but they can easily be uninstalled, so we won’t be complaining about that.

There are a ton of nifty features in ColorOS 12.1 that makes using the Oppo K10 5G fun. For example, using FlexDrop provides users great convenience when navigating between apps.

Multiple apps can be kept open as small windows. We also have Background Stream a feature that allows video apps to run in the background - think of using YouTube premium but without having to subscribe to it.

ColorOS 12.1 has a particular focus on the eligibility of texts, and to that effect, there are tons of features and customisation options available to a user.

Oppo K10 5G review: The display
This is where things get a little dicey for the Oppo K10 5G. But before we get into that, let's take a look at the positives. 

You get a 6.56-inch IPS LCD display. Though it is an IPS LCD display, the blacks are deep and black enough. They don’t come close to what an OLED will provide you, but trust us, we have seen far worse in much more expensive handsets.

The screen is vibrant and boosts colour really well. You don’t get any HDR rating, but the colours are still well saturated. The panel covers 100% of the DCIP3 high colour gamut. The display has a maximum brightness of 480nits, and can even go up to 600 nits, in High Brightness Mode.

Not once did we complain of the display looking dull or washed out during our testing, even when using the device directly under the sun. The viewing angles from all directions are great as well.

Then there is the fact that the display supports a refresh rate of 90Hz. Using the device with the refresh rate turned all the way up was sublime. It may seem trivial at first, but remember, this is a device that comes in under Rs 18,000, and that not too long ago, such a high refresh rate was reserved only for flagship devices.

Consuming content on the display is great, but, it could have been way better, if only for one thing. 

The biggest disappointment about the device is the resolution of the display. At this price point, manufacturers should provide a FullHD or a FullHD+ display. Instead, Oppo has equipped the K10 5G with an HD+ display which has a resolution of 720 x 1612 pixels laid out in a 20:9 aspect ratio. This has a trickle-down effect on almost everything you do, from content consumption to content creation.

Oppo K10 5G review: The camera
The Oppo K10 5G comes with an AI dual camera setup at the rear. The primary camera is a 48MP sensor with an f/1.7, 26mm wide lens and does all of the lifting. We also get a 2MP sensor with an f/2.4 lens for depth, but it seems that Oppo placed the 2nd unit because it would look odd for a midrange smartphone in 2022 to come with just one camera, no matter how capable it is.  

The front-facing camera is an 8MP sensor with an f/2.0 26mm wide lens. The camera interface is clean and pretty intuitive, with options like night, portrait, video, HDR, AI, and more. As for shooting modes, we get Night, Photo, Video, Portrait, Expert, Extra HD, Panorama, Time-Lapse, Slow-Motion, and Pro.

Coming to the quality the photos are crisp and punchy, especially when you shoot things in the 48MP version. The bokeh or blur in portrait mode looks natural and creamy, with a good amount of details in the area that is in focus. The focus tracking is quick and good at most times, but there were times when the device would miss focus.

The AI enhancement adjusts images for a more vibrant look with a better dynamic range. The Ultra Night Mode reduces some noise and sharpens the image a little, but there is noticeable noise and grain in the image. In some portions, the colours get a little funky, but in most cases, the images are more than adequate for social media.

You also get a UHD mode, that takes “ultra high definition photos.” It tends to overprocess the image in certain situations, so you would be better off with just shooting in the full 48MP mode.

The video too is crisp but has been limited to 1080p at 30 FPS, both on the front camera as well as the rear camera.

As for the front-facing camera, it works decently in well-lit situations. Although we wish it had been a 16MP unit.  In poorly lit areas, though, the camera exposes the chinks in the armour.

Having said that, the front-facing camera also has a portrait mode which works really in most circumstances. The background and foreground separation are again, pretty solid.

Click here for some unprocessed and uncompressed images from the Oppo K10 5G.

Oppo K10 5G review: The battery life
The Oppo K10 5G comes equipped with a 5,000mAh battery that is more than enough to last you through the day, no matter how intense your use case is. When we daily drove the K10 5G, we would start the day with about 100 per cent and would end the day at a comfortable 20-25 per cent.

On average, we would have over 5 hours of screen-on time most of which would go towards content consumption (mainly YouTube and Netflix) and gaming.

Even if you do feel the need to reach for the charger, the Oppo K10 5G supports 33W SuperVOOC fast charging which can charge your device from 1 per cent to over 50 per cent in about 30 mins. 

Oppo K10 5G review: The verdict
Given how saturated the sub-Rs 20,000 budget smartphone category is right now in India, manufacturers need to be very wary of the areas where they try to cut costs. The Oppo K10 5G is a great all-around performer and provides great bang for the bucks one would spend on it.

However, the IPS LCD HD+ display that Oppo has paired the device with holds it back, and so does the front-facing camera.

The devices it goes up against, like the Realme Narzo 30 5G, or the Redmi Note 11T 5G are solid performers in their own right and offer certain things that especially when we consider the display and the cameras.

Having said that, we wouldn’t hesitate to recommend the Oppo K10 5G to anyone who’s looking for a 5G phone but doesn’t want to spend more than Rs 18,000. It has a highly responsive screen that reproduces colour which looks great and has a balanced and all-rounded performance. 

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