Leaks hinted at it, but now the company has confirmed it: the upcoming OnePlus 10T will be the first main-series OnePlus phone without an alert slider. It’s an interesting shift in focus for the company.
The news comes directly from OnePlus, which has been furiously detailing its new phone ahead of its official launch on August 3. In forum posts, OnePlus defended its decision to drop the feature, blaming the new feature that came with the phone.
“Our users expect high-power charging, large battery capacity, and better antenna signals from OnePlus devices. To excel in each of these three areas, the space inside the OnePlus 10T needs to be taken up by new technology.” This reasoning does make sense — there’s only a certain amount of space inside a phone, and unless a brand is willing to make a huge phone (which OnePlus obviously isn’t), sacrifices have to be made.
Alert sliders were popularized by the iPhone, but in the world of Android phones, OnePlus has always been their true champion. They’re a physical slider that you can use to easily toggle between silent, vibrate, or full volume ring mode so you don’t have to unlock your phone and change those settings when you’re in a meeting or want to take a call.
More recently, the OnePlus 10 Pro has a slider, but we should point out that the feature isn’t available on the company’s mid-range and budget OnePlus Nord devices.
Analysis: Clearly an unpopular decision
The decision did not go well among OnePlus fans. In the comments to the forum post, many fans expressed their dissatisfaction, with some accusing the brand of taking away the uniqueness of their devices, while others pointed out that the brand’s slogan (Never Settle) was ironic for removing such a feature.
When the phone launches, though, those fans may change their tune. Fast charging, in particular, is currently popular among phone fans, with OnePlus launching 150W fast charging in phones earlier in 2022. So there’s a good chance the 10T will get it as well.
We’ll need to see what hardcore OnePlus fans have to say about the company’s next phone after August 3rd.
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