A couple of weeks before today’s launch of the OnePlus 10T, the company prepared fans for the worst – the popular alert slider that allowed users to quickly silence notifications was going away.
However, despite its omission from the latest ‘flagship killer’ due to space concerns, that doesn’t mean it’s going away forever. Conscious that there’s a lot of chatter among the community, OnePlus has issued a statement on the matter, pledging to work on overcoming the technical challenges that forced it to cut the “signature” hardware feature. While it is making no promises, it leaves the possibility of a future return very much open.
The company writes: “Our product team plans to overcome this technical and design challenge in future devices so we can deliver improved technologies while retaining our signature alert slider. While the OnePlus 10T does not have the alert slider, this does not mean it will be removed from all future OnePlus devices.”
Our own Max Parker, who has reviewed the phone ahead of the release next month, wasn’t too fussed by the absence. In his OnePlus 10T review he wrote: “Personally I don’t consider it a great loss, as my personal preference is to always keep the phone on vibrate, but I can understand why some fans might be sad to see this hallmark of the series be absent.”
OnePlus explained its initial decision in a blog post previewing the phone last month. It says the choice was necessary in order to keep the phone slim and light. “With the OnePlus 10T, we wanted to take that concept to the next level by evolving the device’s upgrades beyond improvements to speed alone,” the post read.
“To achieve this goal, however, a necessary trade-off was the removal of our signature alert slider. This decision provided us with the necessary space inside the device to add new, meaningful technologies that deliver key advancements to the OnePlus experience while maintaining a thin and light form factor.”
OnePlus chief designer Hope Liu told The Verge in an interview that while the component looks small from the outside, it actually takes up valuable space on the motherboard. Keeping it would have meant stacking the motherboard, and hence a thicker device.
Are you ok with the alert slider remaining dead? Or is it a deal breaker for you? Let us know @trustedreviews on Twitter.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
