10.or D In-depth Review: The best ultra-low-budget phone ever?

Amazon India owned 10.or (pronounced Tenor) recently unveiled their latest smartphone. Their latest addition to their lineup is the 10.or D. The 10.or D is supposed to be the company's answer to the ultra-low-budget smartphone segment. The smartphone comes with decent, low budget specifications with a completely stock android to boost the performance. The design language is also same as company's other smartphones. The segment has seen complete monopoly by Xiaomi with the Redmi 4A and the new Redmi 5A. So does the 10.or D good enough to make a splash in the market?

10.or D

The 10.or D comes with a Qualcomm MSM8917 Snapdragon 425 coupled with an Adreno 308 GPU and 2GB or 3GB of RAM depending on your variant. It sports a 5.2-inch (1280 x 720 pixels) HD IPS display. For the optics, it features a 13-megapixel rear camera with LED Flash and f/2.0 aperture. For the selfies, it packs a 5-megapixel front-facing camera with a f/2.2 aperture with face detection and more. All of this is backed up by a 3,550mAh Battery.

The smartphone sports a plastic shell which is nothing to be surprised about at this price range. It runs on Android 7.1.2 Nougat. The company promises a guaranteed update to at least Android 8.0 Oreo. This is a real plus point for the smartphone in its price range. Also, the software offers a stock UI experience like the Pixel devices and adds a couple of bug fixes to improve stability. It also includes a Fingerprint sensor, a dual-sim card slot with micro-sd expansion micro-USB port and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

Design

The 10.or D features the same design as the other smartphones in the company's lineup. This is really common for the devices in this segment. The phone's boxy design with slightly curved back makes it look good. Also, that light curve at the back improves the ergonomics really well. The phone is more comfortable to hold and use for long durations. This is contrary to what one might think from a first glance.

The front consists of a 5.2-inch (1280 x 720 pixels) HD IPS display. Above that, you have an earpiece which is loud enough to make calls in busy and noisy areas. The sensor array for the proximity sensor and accelerometer is at its’ right. And the 5MP front-facing camera with f/2.2 aperture is at it’s left. The device features a rear fingerprint sensor and on-screen buttons, so that’s it on the front.

On the rear of the device, you will find the speaker and the camera array along with the fingerprint sensor. There is a camera unit in the top centre of the device with a LED flash on it's right. The fingerprint sensor below the camera array. The phone bears the 10.or branding at the lower centre of the device. The speakers are also rear mounted. The speaker lies at the bottom below the 10.or branding. The device's back in non-removable.

The power buttons and the volume rocker is on the right. The dual-sim card tray along with micro-sd card slot lies on the left. There are separate slots for the two sim cards and micro-sd card. that's good over hybrid dual-sim card slots we have been seeing in the past years. On the top, there is a 3.5mm headphone jack along with a secondary microphone. And on the bottom, there is a micro-USB port with the primary microphone.

With a good looking and a surprisingly having good ergonomics. The 10.or D is completely charm to use in hand design wise and looks great at the same time. The rear-mounted fingerprint sensor is in the correct location. However, if you are someone with big hands, the device feels small in hands. This is really beneficial for those with small hands. Overall, the 10.or D is one of the best-looking smartphones in its segment.

Software

The 10.or D runs on stock Android 7.1.2 Nougat. This offers a pixel like a user experience and helps in performance also. Apart from a couple of bug fixes, the software is left untweaked. This is a good thing for many, but some people want a unique look to their devices. Afterall, this is Android, an easy 3-rd party launcher will do the trick for them. Also, the company promised to update the device to at least Android 8.0 Oreo. almost, all devices in its segment don't bother with updates to the Android system, so that's great.

When it comes to performance, all these little things like completely stock android help a lot. Also, the devices just got updated to January's Android security patch. Most of the smartphones in this segment are stuck on outdated software. It is really a good thing, that the company is making effort to keep this updated.

Performance

The performance is a major area of concern in any device. The 10.or D is meant to compete with the devices like the Redmi 5A. With its specifications, it already matches it in raw performance. However, the 10.or D comes with stock Android while the Xiaomi devices boast a heavily skinned MiUi. This will definitely affect the everyday performance in a good way. The 10.or D comes with a Qualcomm MSM8917 Snapdragon 425 coupled with an Adreno 308 GPU. This is coupled with a 2GB RAM with 16GB storage or 3GB of RAM with 32GB storage.

We ran our usual AnTuTu benchmarks and the GeekBench benchmark to evaluate the performance of the phone. Our review unit is a 3GB RAM with 32GB storage. So the test scores may vary. The AnTuTu 7 yielded a score of 43380 which is way higher than its competition. The GeekBench yield a single core score of 683 and multi-core score of 1898. The performance numbers of the device leave its competition behind in the dust.

The phone exhibits no lag while long usage duration. The phone's internals also stays cool even with long usages.

In light gaming such as Temple Run and Hill Climb Racing, the phone runs smoothly. However, heavy games like Need For Speed: No Limits and Asphalt 8 with device displays minute lag in long usages. Considering, the devices price tag and its competition, the performance is way ahead of its competitors.

Display

The smartphone has an average 5.2-inch (1280 x 720 pixels) HD IPS display. The display gets quite low and bight. The colours are okay for an HD IPS display. The sunlight readability is poor. This is totally because of the capacity of the IPS display. However, at this price point, you cant expect anything else from the display.

Camera

The 10.or D features a 13-megapixel rear camera with LED Flash and f/2.0 aperture. For the selfies, it packs a 5-megapixel front-facing camera with f/2.2 aperture. The camera sensors are great on paper. However, not everything depends on the camera lens as we have seen in the past.

The indoor shots by the device are quite good. The photos are good for the price of the device. However, zooming the photo introduces slight grain, but its great for what mobile cameras are meant to do. The stabilization of the camera is not bad but not that good too. The outdoor images from the device are really good. The colours aren't natural but are bright though. The details are great and the exposure is also good.

The 5MP front-facing camera with f/2.2 aperture has the same story. The photos from the front camera are same as the back camera. Except for a little change on paper, everything is same. The front camera also has face detection which helps you detect a persons face while taking selfies. However, there is no such use for it yet. Maybe a later software update will make use of it.

The camera's on the 10.or D are n where near the flagship smartphone camera's we are used to these days. But considering the cost of a flagship smartphone and the cost of the 10.or D, the camera's are great. Also, 10.or D has got one of the best cameras in its segment.

Battery

Packing a 3,550mAh battery, the company claims the smartphone to have a backup of almost 2 days. However, 2 days with ideal usage translates to a day and a bit with my usage. I am happy to report that even with heavy usage of mine the device lasts around a day and a half. This is really impressive considering the price tag of the smartphone. The device takes almost 3 hours to charge with the included 1 Amp charger.

We ran the PC Mark’s Work 2.0 Battery Life test which subjects the phone to extreme usage and finds out the battery life in that condition. The device yielded a result of 10 hours and 57 minutes. Which is up to the mark with the capacity of a battery in smartphones.

Conclusion

The 10.or D comes with a starting price tag of Rs 4,999 for the 2GB RAM and 16GB storage variant. The upgraded 3GB RAM model with 32GB storage costs Rs 5,999. Considering the price tag, the smartphone is a great deal. The smartphone trumps its competition in every aspect. It also includes a fingerprint sensor, which is a first in this segment. Also, if you are an Amazon Prime member, you get an extra year warranty for this device. So this makes it more beneficial if you are already a prime member. In the starting we asked, is the smartphone good enough to make a splash? The answer is yes, it is good enough to dominate the segment. So with all that goodness and a low price tag, the smartphone is worth going for.