There’s no alert slider on the OnePlus 10T but the company says it hopes the absence is temporary.
“Our R&D team is hard at work. This is not a permanent goodbye to the alert slider,” OnePlus’s EU PR Manager Aske Kjær told Tech Advisor.
“We’re working to bring it back in the future.”
The popular physical three-position switch has been a mainstay on flagship OnePlus phones since the OnePlus One, and is on 2022’s OnePlus 10 Pro and OnePlus Nord 2T. It allows users to quickly switch between ring, vibrate, and silent modes. Only Apple’s iPhones have a similar switch, which is only two positions.
But OnePlus has axed the alert slider from the new flagship 10T, blaming a lack of space.
“It’s been a hard choice obviously, with the room inside the device,” said Tuomas Lampén, European head of strategy at OnePlus.
“If we look outside it looks like a tiny component, but you go inside and especially regarding its connection to the motherboard it takes up quite a lot of space.
“What we get is a bigger batter, faster charging, and we have more antennas on the device.”
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
Lampén went on to say it has been suggested to OnePlus the slider could be replicated in software in the future too, but this is not a feature in the OnePlus 10T.
Instead, 10T buyers will have to go into settings or quick settings to change between ringing modes like on competing Android devices.
We have a full OnePlus 10T review where we awarded the phone 4/5, praising its display, performance and charging, but lamented the lack of alert slider, the sub-par supporting cameras, and the phone’s expensive UK pricing.
The 10T still ranks as one of the best OnePlus phones you can buy and is a solid Android choice but it gets more complicated when you look at the company’s own line up.
The OnePlus 10 Pro is available with an alert slider, wireless charging, and better cameras, while the OnePlus Nord 2T is only £369/€399 and has practically the same cameras as the 10T – but it’s not available in the US.
Debate will rage in the tech community as to the 10T’s merits and if OnePlus got it right, but in admitting it wants to bring back the alert slider it has acknowledged that taking it away will not be a popular decision, and one the company itself seemingly did not want to make.
Author: Henry Burrell, Phones Editor
Henry is Tech Advisor’s Phones Editor, ensuring he and the team covers and reviews every smartphone worth knowing about for readers and viewers all over the world. He spends a lot of time moving between different handsets and shouting at WhatsApp to support multiple devices at once.