Rather than going through the entire ritual of an elaborate review, today, we will simply cut to the chase and tell you about the things that we liked and disliked about the 10.or D
Good specifications and user experience on a budget phone don’t always go hand in hand. Considering all the features 10.or D offers at the price, it might just be one of the best smartphones available in the budget segment. The 10.or D is priced at Rs 5,999 for the 3GB RAM variant with 32GB storage and Rs 4,999 for the 2GB RAM variant with 16GB storage. It is priced in the same bracket as the Xiaomi Redmi 5A, which is a highly popular device in this segment.
Rather than going through the entire ritual of an elaborate review, today, we will simply cut to the chase and tell you about the things that we liked and disliked about the 10.or D.
Let us start by stating the six things that we liked about the smartphone:
Fingerprint Sensor
The first thing that intrigued us about the 10.or D was its fingerprint sensor. Keeping in mind the specifications and the price of the smartphone, a fingerprint sensor was a welcome addition to the package. During the time I had with the device, I found the fingerprint sensor to be fast and accurate. The fingerprint sensor is located at the back and is convenient to reach.
Good battery life
The 10.or D sports a 3,500mAh battery which at this price point is impressive. We were able to pull the phone through a full day with fairly heavy usage. It was able to last us over a day and half with moderate usage. Our main gripe with the device is the lack of fast charging. I know, that’s asking for too much in this budget. The device took a bit over three hours to charge from 0-100 per cent, using the charger provided in the box.
Stock Android
This point might be up for debate as some prefer the look and feel of Stock Android, while others seek their operating system to be a bit customised. We personally liked the look and feel of stock Android. Stock Android feels much cleaner and faster compared to most of the custom ROMs out there. I personally feel that stock Android is the way Google meant its users to experience the platform.
Low amount of bloatware
When you get a smartphone with a custom ROM, like MIUI or ZUI, you seem to get a lot of bloatware with it. However, that is not the case with most smartphones running on stock Android. The 10.or D is no exception. However, the phone does come with a few Amazon apps like Amazon Shopping and Kindle pre-loaded, but you do get the option to disable them.
Primary camera in natural light
The 10.or D was able to click good photographs from the rear camera. The photos had good colour accuracy and were sharp. At times they were a bit overexposed under direct sunlight but generally they were fine. The camera was not able to perform as well in low lighting conditions and the images came out a bit on the grainy side. More on that later. But considering the price of the phone, the company has done a fair job of providing the users with a more than decent camera experience.
Display
We cannot emphasise enough on the fact that the device is a sub Rs 6,000 smartphone. The company has opted for a 5.2-inch 720p HD display, which is bright and the colour reproduction is more than acceptable. But it would have been appreciated if the brightness could go down further. We feel that it is on the warmer side of the colour spectrum. Or maybe we are simply nitpicking. The sunlight legibility is decent though. To sum it up, very little reason to complain about the display at this price point.
No smartphone is perfect, not even the most expensive ones out there. Time to look at 10.or D’s shortcomings:
No Proximity sensor
The 10.or D does not feature a proximity sensor. At the similar price point, the Xiaomi Redmi 5A, though skips a fingerprint sensor, does feature a proximity sensor. During daily use, it can be a hassle to not have a proximity sensor to help you with your calls. The screen does lock up when making calls, but there are times when you end up cutting the call prematurely because a part of your face accidentally touched the call end button. It did happen on a few occasions and it is quite irritating.
Plastic back
The 10.or D comes packaged in a plastic body. Despite that, the device does have a solid build, and when held in hand, does not feel fragile. But the back is prone to a lot of scratches. Moreover, if you decide to go for the golden variant, similar to the one we had, the scratches do pop out. We recommend going in for the black variant along with a cover and a screen protector.
Low Light Photography
10.or D’s camera module does perform well in bright natural light. However, the quality drops drastically when the light starts to drop. When the lighting is dim, the camera suffers a lot in taking shots, the images lose out on sharpness and end up with too much noise. Yes, we know this is a budget phone, but I am not even talking about night photography. That would be an unrealistic expectation. We expected the results to be a little better than what it could produce. Or maybe it’s good light performance set our expectations too high for its own good.