OnePlus recently launched the second phone in its Nord lineup in India in the form of the Nord CE 5G. Like the original OnePlus Nord (Review), the Nord CE is a mid-range 5G handset that offers a balanced specs sheet in the sub-25K segment. The OnePlus Nord CE 5G features a starting price of Rs 22,999 in India, putting it up against other mid-range 5G phones from Xiaomi, Samsung, Realme, iQOO, and Oppo. So, without any further delays, let’s take a brief look at the Nord CE’s 5G.
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In terms of the design, OnePlus is keeping things simple with the Nord CE, the matte teal finish looks good and doesn’t attract fingerprints, definitely a step up from the original Nord. While the Nord CE has glass protection on the front, the back and frame are made of plastic. The construction is fairly light, while the minimalist design and build lend the phone a neat and clean look.
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The triple-camera setup on the back sits on the top left of the device, while you get a hole-punch camera cut out on the front. On the bottom, the Nord CE 5G also opts for a USB Type-C port and a headphone jack. There’s a single bottom-firing speaker on the Nord CE, but it is quite unimpressive. Overall, the Nord CE 5G finds sense in simplicity, the design and build are quite solid for a mid-ranger, although the teal finish pop a bit too much for my liking.
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On the front, the Nord CE 5G sports a 6.43-inch FHD+ Fluid AMOLED panel with a 90Hz refresh rate. The panel features a nice 20:9 aspect ratio and surpasses 400 nits of typical brightness. There’s full DCI-P3 and sRGB coverage, but the one thing lacking is the HDR10 support. So long as smartphone displays go, the OnePlus Nord CE definitely gets the better of most of the competition.
On the inside, the phone is powered by a Snapdragon 750G paired with up to 12GB of RAM. The Nord CE 5G is a solid performer that can deliver both in terms of gaming and multitasking. The chip is also accompanied by 128GB or 256GB of storage. In the little time I used the device, Call of Duty: Mobile ran without a hitch. In Geekbench, the Nord CE 5G scored 638 points in the single-core test and 1,817 points in the multi-core test. We were using the 12GB/256GB variant, but 12GB does seem like overkill, although the 256GB storage comes in handy because of the lack of the microSD card slot.
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For optics, the OnePlus Nord CE 5G is equipped with a triple-camera setup. The 64 MP Omnivision primary sensor features an f/1.79 aperture and EIS, while the other two sensors include an 8 MP ultrawide shooter and a 2 MP monochrome sensor. The Nord CE also gets a 16 MP selfie camera with an f/2.45 aperture.
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The main camera does a pretty good job in daylight, capturing images with good exposure and plenty of detail.
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The ultrawide shooter does a fairly decent job by increasing the field of view and getting some solid shots in daylight, although the dip in image quality is evident.
In low light, the Nord CE’s camera relies more on software than hardware but does pump out average results. So long as you have some ambient light to work with, noise is generally kept under control, while detail is preserved more the part.
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The 16 MP selfie shooter takes good shots so long as you have enough light. The phone can also capture 4K video at 30fps and 1080p at 60fps. The main rear camera offers decent stabilization with good video quality but it fails to deliver in low light.
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Camera performance on the OnePlus Nord CE 5G is surprisingly good for a sub-25K phone. It isn’t anything out of the ordinary but just about good enough to rival the Oppo F19 Pro Plus (Review) and the Mi 10i (Review). However, we’ll take a more in-depth look into the phone’s camera performance during our full review of the Nord CE 5G.
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In terms of battery capacity, the Nord CE 5G packs a 4,500 mAh that can easily get you through an entire day. The phone also supports 30W fast-charging support with a Warp Charge 30T adapter in the box.
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The new Nord CE 5G runs on Android 11 with the OxygenOS skin on top. OxygenOS has a good amount of customisations with a generally neat and clean aesthetic. There are a few pre-installed apps that can be uninstalled, although getting spammed with notifications wasn’t an issue during my brief time with the device. OnePlus has also promised two years of software updates and three years of security updates for the Nord CE 5G.
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The OnePlus Nord CE 5G is a solid 5G phone that won’t break the bank. The phone offers good performance, lasting battery life, fast charging, a fast yet vibrant display, and more-than-decent camera quality. OnePlus has opted for a more balanced approach with the Nord CE 5G, while the software comes as the cherry on top. And while the build quality doesn’t feel premium, OnePlus has found sense in simplicity with the design. All of which, make the OnePlus Nord CE 5G one of the best smartphones under Rs 25,000. We’ll take a deep dive into the Nord CE’s specs in our full review, but it most certainly checks all the right boxes.
