10 or d2 reveiw

yes, we know this is a weird name. But let's move over that. 10.or (read Tenor) entered the Indian smartphone market around a year ago, and since then the Amazon-exclusive brand has come out with some interesting budget phones. First there was the 10.or E, then the 10.or G and next came the 10.or D. Now, there is a new phone from the company and it is called -- no, surprises here -- the 10.or D2.

This smartphone is a direct successor to the 10.or D, which was launched in December last year at a price of Rs 4,999. We at India Today Tech reviewed the 10.or D and found it to be a worthy competitor to Xiaomi's Redmi 5A. Good job 10.or, which was a new brand at that time. Not just that, we also thought that the 10.or D was one of the best smartphones in its price segment, in some aspects better than the Redmi 5A. Overall, we were highly impressed with the 10.or D. And therein lies the problem for the 10.or D2 because it has to meet high expectations now.

The expectations from the 10.or D2 are also high because it is around Rs 2,000 costlier than the 10.or D. Unfortunately, even as the new Amazon phone in India is pretty good, it doesn't meet the expectations. I used the 10.or D2 for around seven days and found it to be as good as the 10.or D, but definitely not better. And that is where the problem lies. If you end up getting the 10.or D2, chances are that you will like the phone. But then the same could be said about the 10.or D, and that phone used to cost less.

10.OR D2 DESIGN AND BUILD QUALITY

10.or phones are "crafted for Amazon". As Amazon India says, 10.or designs its phones taking into consideration customer's feedback. The company apparently studies what consumer need and what they want in a smartphone and accordingly shapes their phones. But whether it is following what customers want or something else, the 10.or D2 looks almost like the 10.or D.

The design of the phone is exactly the same, apart from that slight (which may go unnoticed) reduction on the bezels and that missing fingerprint on the rear panel. In the 10.or D, the fingerprint sensor was one of the best things about the smartphone, but for some odd reason, the company has decided to remove it in the 10.or D2. Sigh! To unlock the phone you'll have to either enter the passcode or use the face unlock feature, which is new in the phone compared to its predecessor and works fairly decently.

The 10.or D2 comes with thick bezels around its screen that make the phone look boring. On the back, it is all plastic, something that is sort of norm this price range. The design of the 10.or D2 is plain and in line with what you get in other smartphones in this price range. It's neither good, nor bad. Although I wish the placement of the speaker, which is under the 10.or logo on the rear cover, could have been better. The placement is such that my hands often covered the speaker when I held the phone while watching a movie or a YouTube video. This muffles sound.

Pictures clicked in outdoors with the 10.or D2 main camera are exceptionally good compared to other phones in the same price segment.

Although I believe the design of the phone could have been better, what does work for me is the build quality. The 10.or D2 has great build quality. While it is mostly a plastic phone, it can take some beating. I accidentally dropped the phone twice, and to my surprise, the 10.or D2 survived it.

10.OR D2 DISPLAY

The display of the 10.or D2 is good, if not great. Most budget segment phones don't come with a good display, but comparatively the 10.or D2 sports a nice screen, which is vibrant and shows good colours, particularly indoors. The smartphone comes with a 5.45-inch HD+ display with 1440 x 720p resolution and 18:9 aspect ratio.

The viewing angles are pretty decent too. But, outdoors the 10.or D2 struggles somewhat. In indoors, keeping the brightness to 40 to 50 per cent works fine for me, while under the sunlight pushing up the screen brightness to maximum (100 per cent) isn't just enough. If you're playing games, watching videos, or checking out pictures on Instagram inside a room, you'll have no complaints with the 10.or D2. But, doing all of that outside in daylight will be cumbersome.

10.OR D2 CAMERA

Most phones under Rs 7,000 don't come with impressive cameras, and the same can be said for the 10.or D2. But at least in the good light, it clicks photos that will please you and are definitely among the best that phones in this price range can click.                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

Pictures clicked in outdoors with the 10.or D2 main camera are exceptionally good compared to other phones in the same price segment. It captures great colours and a fair amount of details too. But, the problem arises when you step inside. The 10.or D2 camera struggles in indoor and low-light situations.

Battery was one of the best things about the 10.or D. And I can say the same for the 10.or D2 too

The 10.or D2 comes with a 13-megapixel Sony IMX258 sensor paired with PDAF, f/2.0 aperture, and single tone LED flash. While, on the front, the 10.or D2 packs a 5-megapixel selfie camera with f/2.0 large aperture and single-tone flash. The weird bit here is that the camera setup inside the 10.or D2 is the same one that was in its predecessor. And the performance too is same, despite the fact that newer 10.or phone is more expensive.

Overall, the main camera of the 10.or D2 does a fairly good job. As said, in bright daylight, the phone manages to capture pretty good pictures with vibrant colours and good amount of details too. But in indoors, the camera struggles. Another problem I had with the 10.or D2 camera in both indoor and outdoor is with the autofocus. It took a lot of time to focus on the subject and click a clear and detailed picture.

Similar to the rear camera, the front camera of the 10.or D2 is a hit-and-miss affair. The selfies captured with the 10.or D2 show good colours if they were clicked in good light, but details are missing in photos.

10.OR D2 PERFORMANCE AND SOFTWARE

Overall, the performance of the 10.or D2 is a mixed bag. The phone can handle the day-to-day task fairly well. But, while switching between apps or playing graphics-heavy games, the phone shows some lag. The 10.or D2 takes an extra half second more to open apps like Facebook. If there are too many apps running in the background, the phone lags while scrolling as you go through Twitter or Facebook feed.

Basically, if you're looking for a phone that can multi-task -- run a number of apps together -- well you can give 10.or D2 a miss. But, if you are a first-time smartphone user and looking for a phone that can run basic apps like WhatsApp, make calls and also browse Google without lag or stutter, 10.or D2 is a good option. The 10.or D2 is powered by a 1.4GHz quad-core processor Snapdragon 425 processor with Adreno 308 GPU, similar to that of the 10.or D and also the Redmi 5A.

Although the performance doesn't manage to impress me all that much, the stock Android interface is something that sort of makes up for it. The 10.or D2 runs stock Android 8.1 Oreo operating system, which is great. I found the experience to be quite snappy for a budget phone. The phone is light in terms of the pre-loaded apps. It comes with a couple of pre-loaded Amazon apps like Kindle, Music and Prime Video which are non-removable, which is understandable considering it is "crafted for Amazon".

10.OR D2 BATTERY

Battery was one of the best things about the 10.or D. And I can say the same for the 10.or D2 too, although the company for some unknown reason has reduced the size of the battery. The 10.or D had a bigger 3500mAh battery. The 10.or D2 uses a 3200mAh battery. Even though the battery is smaller, 10.or has done some good optimisation with software. The 10.or D2 lasts longer than a day, which is great. I got about a day and a half of battery life with my usage included messaging, calls, listening to music, and streaming videos for half an hour or so.

10.OR D2: SHOULD YOU BUY IT?

If only the 10.or D was available in the market, I would have said, go for it instead. The 10.or D -- as listed on Amazon India -- is currently unavailable, however, there's no word if the phone has been discontinued or not.

The 10.or D2 is around Rs 2,000 expensive than the 10.or D and offers almost the same features. The only upgrade than the company has brought to the new 10.or D2 is in the display and Android Oreo. Compared to the 10.or D, the D2 comes with a bigger display and the stock Android onboard is impressive. But then the 10.or D was recently upgraded to Android Oreo. So, why pay Rs 2,000 extra for just a big screen? Don't, it doesn't make sense.

If you want a phone that looks good, offers fairly good performance, captures decent selfies, and is available for the same price tag - rather less -- go for the Redmi 5A, which is available for Rs 5,999. Considering the Redmi 5A is difficult to get, you can also go for the Infinix Smart 2 which is easily available and is a great performer. The Infinix Smart 2 is available for Rs 5,999.