Walton Primo R10 Review: Does it offer value for money?

December 14, 2022, 09:03 AM
by Shahriar Rabab

UNB News
Publish- December 14, 2022, 09:03 AM
Shahriar Rabab
Update- December 14, 2022, 09:26 AM

Walton Primo R10

Walton was one of the first brands in Bangladesh that emerged as an electronic conglomerate. The company started with home appliances and later ventured into features and smartphones. In its decade-long journey in the Bangladeshi smartphone market, the company has always prioritized the match between quality and affordability. Walton's latest offering, the Primo R10 is a testament to that commitment. With an entry-level price tag, the device brings some impressive features that are sure to ruffle some feathers. Here’s our detailed take on the device.

Key Specifications of Walton Primo R10

Design and Build Quality

Like other previous Walton devices, the Primo R10 has a completely plastic build all around. Walton never shied away from colors, and the R10 is available in three distinct colorways. You have bottle green, ford blue, and midnight green.

The back of the device will give an iPhone-like feel to the users thanks to the triangular camera alignment. But other than that, everything seems pretty generic and resembles the tried and tested design language of Walton.

The only shocker here is the removal of the headphone jack. While the headphone jack has been a thing of the past for flagships, it is still prevalent on mid-range and budget devices. Walton has decided to remove the headphone jack from the R10. And it's almost certain that future devices will also miss out on it.

Other than that, everything else seems to be right where they’re supposed to be. There is a dual sim slot with expandable storage, a bottom-firing speaker, and a Type-C port.

The design and the build quality won’t instill anything new in the users. And given Waltons track record on the budget market, that might not be a bad thing at all.

The Display

Moving on to the display, we have an IPS V-notch display with an HD+ resolution. This is again the same display found on the Primo R9. This might be a cost-minimization strategy from Walton, but some devices come with at least FHD+ resolution at this price point.

Another minor gripe with the display is the use of the INCELL technology, which is a conventionally lower tech used on LCD panels. While higher-end LCDs don’t usually suffer from color shifting anymore, the same doesn’t hold true for the INCELL panel.

Beyond the obvious letdown with the HD+ resolution and display tech, the experience itself isn’t all too bad. For anyone coming from the R9 or similar spec devices of Walton will feel right at home as if nothing changed.

The display can’t really be considered a massive media consumptive panel. Rather it is something that will get the job done as a daily driver.

The Camera

The camera has seen a slight improvement from the R9 to the R10. The latter still boasts the same triple camera setup as that of the R9. But instead of the VGA, the R10 comes with a 2 MP depth sensor. Not that it makes much of a difference anyways.

Most of the camera work is done by the 13 MP main sensor. Walton is marketing the camera as an all-in-one solution for burst, panorama, time-lapse, slow motion, etc.

Coming to the performance itself, the camera again performs moderately as we saw on the R9. Pictures in day time come out pretty good. There are a good amount of details in each picture, and there seem to be no exposure or dynamic range issues.

But like all other generic 13 MP cameras, things start to fall apart indoors or artificial lights. There seems to be a slight improvement in the exposure compared to what we saw on the R9, but that’s about it. The videography is still 1080P at 30 fps. The videos look shaky and choppy, as usual, due to the absence of any kind of internal or external stabilization. There aren’t any other notable changes.

On the front, users will be getting an 8 MP shooter, just like the R9. The performance is nothing out of the ordinary with passable results at best.

Processor and Performance

The Walton Primo R10 comes with Unisoc Tiger T610 built on the 12 Nm architecture. It has an octa-core base with a max chip output of 1.8 GHz. The processor is coupled with a Mali-G52 GPU set. In real-world use, this processor isn’t really a very powerful one.

Yet we tried gaming on the device and ran PUBG, COD, and Asphalt 9 on it. The device was able to run all of them in moderate graphics settings. But the main problem was the heating issue. The device became hot after about 30 minutes of continued gaming.

The T610 is best suited for moderate daily usage. You can casually browse social media, watch videos and do the usual daily stuff as you’d do on your device without a hiccup. Anything that is processor intensive will cause the device to throttle.

Battery and Charge Time

The Walton Primo R10 comes equipped with a 4850 mAh battery. That’s a bit of an odd choice since most devices come with a 5000 mAh battery. The battery usually lasts around 6 to 8 hours with continued usage. However, one positive thing here is the 10W fast charger which is usually not present on devices at this price point.

Price of Walton Primo R10 in Bangladesh

The Walton Primo R10 is available in a 4/64 GB configuration. The official price of the device in Bangladesh is 12,999 BDT.

Final Words

Walton never really limits itself by releasing one device each year. Instead, devices come on an almost half-yearly basis with slight variations. While it might get confusing for the users to make the correct choice, it also provides different options and minor improvements in certain aspects.

The Walton Primo R10 similarly saw a minor improvement in the design and camera department. While most other aspects remain the same as the previous iteration, it can still be a worthy choice for anyone looking for a budget device to suffice daily needs.