OnePlus Nord

With all of the mid-tier phones out there, it can be difficult to distinguish what makes one better than another. The OnePlus Nord emerges claiming some pretty impeccable things, does it stand up to myriad others in its group?

Design

There’s nothing particularly special about the design but that’s not exactly a bad thing. Like its cousins — and many other phones released these days, the OnePlus Nord has a metal frame with Gorilla Glass on both sides.

Display

The OnePlus Nord has another claim to fame for the mid-tier market, a 6.44 inch AMOLED screen with 90Hz refresh rate making for swift smooth actions and tasks. It has a flat-display whereas its cousins the OnePlus 8 and the OnePlus 8 Pro have the waterfall style display. Reviewers said that the ability to show deep shadow without the blue tint that some displays have made it more immersive to use with media.

Tom’s Guide says, “The OLED panel did what it does best and really brought out the blacks of the shadow-cast scenery, while still making the magic effects look exciting and dangerous.”

Performance

The OnePlus Nord has a lot going for it and performance is no slouch. Reviewers quoted that the phone had plenty of oomph. It reacts nearly instantly with slick scrolling and no apparent stutter or pausing in between tasks

Pocket Lint states, “This phone is speedy and fluid in everyday interactions…”

Software & Storage

The phone runs Android 10 but has software called OxygenOS 10.5 running over the top which improves performance. Storage starts at 128GB which is a good bit of space for lots of apps and photos.

Cameras

The cameras on the OnePlus Nord are a bit insane — in good ways and bad. The phone has a whopping 6 cameras: four rear-facing and two front-facing. The four rear cameras are a 48MP wide angle lens, an 8MP ultra-wide angle lens, a 5MP depth sensor, and a 2MP macro lens. The 2 front-facing options are a 32MP standard lens and an 8MP ultra-wide angle lens.

The photos are without a doubt great, but some reviewers said it was overkill — especially considering the mediocre performance of both the macro and the front-facing ultrawide.

Battery Life

The life of the phone’s battery is average and will need to be plugged in at night. If you’re a heavy mobile gamer, you might need to charge part of the way through the day. However, the phone offers Power 30T charging and charges quite fast. No wireless charging though, so you’ll still need to keep a charge cable handy.

Audio

With one downward-facing speaker at the bottom of the phone, the audio leaves a lot to be desired and is easily muffled when held in a landscape orientation for gaming or video watching.

Specs at a Glance

• Metal and Gorilla Glass chassis
• 6.44-inch AMOLED 90Hz display
• Octa-core 2.4 GHz Snapdragon 765G processor
• 8GB of RAM
• Android 10 with OxygenOS 10,5
• 128/256 GB storage
• Rear-facing 48MP wide angle, 8MP ultra-wide angle, 5MP depth sensor, 2MP macro lenses
• Front-facing 32MP standard and 8MP ultra-wide lens
• 4115 mAh battery

Bottom Line

There’s hardly anything to dislike about the OnePlus Nord (except maybe if it’s not released in your country.) For the price, it is in some ways above and beyond what other phones in its tier offer. In other ways, it’s an obvious trade for some of the nice features instead of the kitchen sink. Overall reviewers liked what the OnePlus Nord had to offer for a mid-tier price.

Tech Radar says, “OnePlus has made an emphatic return to the mid-range market with the OnePlus Nord – it’s an affordable smartphone that’s packed with features. There’s a great screen, plenty of power, and a set of capable cameras, all wrapped up in a package that belies its affordable price.”

Android Authority states, “The OnePlus Nord is a good mid-range smartphone with great software and a striking new colorway. OnePlus did a respectable job delivering a solid experience that equals, but doesn’t always surpass, the competition.”

The Verge remarks, “Picking a midrange phone is normally a matter of choosing your battles. You pick the features that are most important to you because no midrange phone is going to offer all of them. When it comes to the Nord, however, it’s a little harder to put its compromises into simple terms. It’s too well-rounded, meaning there are no serious pitfalls, but there’s also no single area where it excels.”