10.or D2 Review: Great battery, IPX2 rating and 18:9 display under Rs 7,000

10.or (Tenor) D2 is supposed to be an affordable sub Rs. 7000 smartphone offering great performance all round. However, it's not the ambition, that makes a smartphone great, it is the performance that it offers. 10.or D2 sports decent internals for its price but does it live up to the ambition of the company? Let's find out.

10.or D2

10.or D2 comes with a 1.40 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 coupled with an Adreno 308 GPU and 2/3GB of RAM depending on the variant you choose. It sports a 5.45-inch (1440 x 720 pixels) LCD display. For optics, it features a 13-megapixel rear sensor and an LED flash. For selfies, it packs a 5-megapixel front-facing camera. All of this is backed by a 3,200mAh battery.

The device sports a plastic back panel with a cheap feeling plastic. It runs Google’s Android 8.1 Oreo with an almost stock look. The phone sports dual sim card slots, a dedicated microSD card slot, 3.5mm headphone jack and a micro-USB port for charging & data syncing. The company decided to remove the fingerprint sensor, which its predecessor 10.or D had. Instead, we get an 18:9 aspect ratio display and IPX2 rating, which at this price point is a hit and a miss.

Design

The 10.or D2 features a pretty cheap feeling plastic body design. The back is made out of a not so great feeling plastic with curved edges. The looks are also nothing fancy. The smartphone looks pretty basic with no unique design elements to distinguish itself. Considering the price point, if the phone performs well, we would take it.

The device sports a 5.45-inch, 18:9 aspect ratio LCD display. Unlike most of the phones out there, it smartphone doesn't come with a notched display. The smartphone looks like a stretched out version of its predecessor. The speaker grille, a 5-megapixel front camera and the sensor array are all placed inside of the top bezel.

On the back, there is a single camera module paired with an LED flash aligned in a horizontal orientation. The phone bears the 10.or logo at the back with the speaker grille at the absolute bottom of the back of the device. This is an interesting design choice because you cannot easily cover it with your hands, but when putting it down on a surface, like a table, doesn't mute the speaker completely too.

On the right edge, there is the power button along with the volume rockers just above it. The left side only holds the sim card tray, which consists of two sim card slots and a dedicated micro-SD card slot. The top edge houses a headphone jack and the bottom edge houses the micro-USB port along with the primary microphone.

Overall the design of the smartphone is pretty basic and not many interesting design choices have been made while making this smartphone. The rear speaker grille and the removal of the fingerprint sensor might have been done to add the IPX2 rating to the device. The smartphone is not perfect, but it will pass for the money you spent on it.

Software

10.or D2 runs Google’s Android 8.1 Oreo with an almost stock android feel to it. The bloatware is kept to a minimum with the only pre-installed apps being all of the Amazon applications. Also, these apps cannot be uninstalled.

Overall, the stock Android experience is appreciated. It does remove many features like a built-in theme engine that companies like Oppo, Huawei and Asus offer. However, it offers a clean look which I personally can appreciate. Some people would appreciate this, whereas, others might hate it. That totally depends on one's preferences.

Performance

Performance is a major area of concern on any device, the 10.or D2 sports a 1.4 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 coupled with an Adreno 308 GPU and 2/3GB of RAM. We had the 3GB RAM variant, so your performance may differ with the 2GB one.

We ran our usual benchmark tests test to evaluate the performance of the phone. On AnTuTu, the device yielded a score of 45227, which is okay considering the price and competition. On GeekBench, it managed to get a single core score of 648 and a multi-core score of 1606. The performance numbers of the device on paper were not bad for the value. The phone exhibits occasional stuttering while heavy usage. In light usage the performance is smooth.

While playing light games such as Temple Run and Crossy Chicken, the phone runs smoothly. Considering the price range, you wouldn't wanna play any heavy games on this phone and if you do, the performance might not be so good.

Display

The 10.or D2 sports a 5.45-inch LCD display with a resolution of 720×1440 pixels. The brightness doesn't go down enough to protect your eyes from the bright light in pitch darkness. However, it manages to turn up by quite a lot, enough for having a good viewing experience under direct sunlight. The  LCD panel will affect your battery usage, but it offers great sunlight readability, so its a much-appreciated trade.

Cameras

10.or D2 features a 13-megapixel rear sensor and a 5-megapixel sensor for selfies. The camera sensors are good on paper. Although, not everything depends on a camera's megapixel count as we have seen in the past.

The rear camera of the 10.or D2 offers images with good details and great colour reproduction. The white balance capturing is also quite good considering its price.

The front camera of the 10.or D2 is a disappointment after looking at the rear one. The colours are out of balance, details are not as good as the rear camera and the sensor cannot focus properly.

Overall, the rear camera of the 10.or D2 out shadows the front camera.

Battery

10.or D2 comes packing a 3,200mAh battery, which lasts for a little over 24 hours on a single charge. The charge time with the included charger is around two hours which is not bad. Overall, you would like to charge the smartphone in the night before going to bed, so as to it doesn't die on you on your way to work in the morning.

We ran PCMark’s Work 2.0 Battery Life test, which subjects the phone to heavy usage and finds out how the battery performs in those conditions. The device yielded a result of 9 hours and 53 minutes, which seems a bit low in comparison to similar battery capacity smartphones. We think it has something to do with that really bright panel.

Conclusion

10.or D2 starts at Rs. 4,999 for the 2GB RAM variant and costs Rs. 5,999 for the 3GB RAM variant. The smartphone offers good performance with a clean, stock Android UI and a decent camera performance. However, the competition is tough and companies like Asus and Xiaomi offer much more performance for almost the same amount of money.