OnePlus Nord CE 2 Review: A capable mid-ranger that cuts some corners to get the basics right

OnePlus recently dropped a new addition to its Nord lineup in India. The OnePlus Nord CE 2 is the latest 5G smartphone to join the ranks of the Nord series. The Nord CE 2 debuts in India’s under Rs 25,000 segment, bringing solid upgrades over its predecessor at a slightly higher cost.

As things stand, the OnePlus Nord CE 2 is a far cry from the OnePlus 9 series, in fact, it is a step down from the OnePlus Nord 2. However, it is also one of the most affordable OnePlus smartphones to debut in India. So, let’s find out just how much has changed and is it for the better or worst in our OnePlus Nord CE 2 review.

Design and Build

One of the biggest and most notable changes over the OnePlus Nord CE (Review) comes on the design front. The camera module is much bigger and resembles that of the Oppo Find X3 Pro. It also bears similarities to the module on the Realme 9 Pro+. While the back panel is made of Gorilla Glass 5, the Nord CE 2 also opts for a plastic frame. Build quality on the OnePlus Nord 2 CE is as good as it gets in the segment and there was little to complain about.

The Nord CE 2 also has two new finishes, including Bahama Blue and Gray Mirror, our unit came in the former. The glossy Bahama Blue finish does look eye-catching but does attract fingerprints. However, the light-reflecting gradient pattern on the back of the phone makes the smudges void. The Nord CE 2 has two volume buttons and a SIM tray on the left and a power button on the right. You also get a headphone jack and USB Type-C port on the bottom, although the lack of the traditional slider was disappointing.

Display

When it comes to the display, OnePlus has gone with the traditional, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” formula. The phone has a 6.43-inch Full HD+ Fluid AMOLED display with a 90Hz refresh rate. Additionally, the screen offers a peak brightness of 800 nits and is HDR10+ certified. Platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and YouTube come with HDR support. The panel is also protected by Gorilla Glass 5.

The display gets plenty bright under, and content is easily visible even under direct sunlight. The phone also offers good viewing angles and outputs punchy colours. Lastly, the 90Hz refresh rate is perfect for gaming, especially considering the chipset here might not be capable of pushing higher-end games to 120fps. There’s no doubt that this isn’t the best display we’ve seen on a OnePlus phone, but it still stands tall in the segment.

Performance

The OnePlus Nord CE 2’s MediaTek Dimensity 900 SoC is paired with up to 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 128GB of UFS 2.2 storage. The new MediaTek chip is a solid upgrade over the Snapdragon 750G SoC on the original Nord CE and that’s visible straight off the bat. In Geekbench, the MediaTek SoC managed a single-core score of 726 points and a multi-core score of 2161 points as compared to the 638 single-core score and 1,817 multi-core score on its predecessor, which also featured 12GB of RAM.

The Nord CE 2 also managed an overall score of 414211 points in AnTuTu. Call of Duty: Mobile, Asphalt 9: Legends, Raid: Shadow Legends, and Marvel: Future Fight were all tested on high graphics with little to no issues with lag or frame drops. It was nice to see that the OnePlus Nord CE 2 didn’t compromise much when it came to gaming, in fact, I’d say the experience here is as good as it gets for the mid-range.

Cameras

For optics, the OnePlus Nord CE 2 is equipped with a triple-camera setup. The setup includes a 64 MP primary sensor with an f/1.79 aperture, an 8 MP ultrawide shooter with an f/2.2 aperture, and a 2 MP macro lens with an f/2.4 aperture. The Nord CE 2 also gets a 16 MP selfie camera with an f/2.4 aperture. The main 64 MP camera on the Nord CE 2 can capture 4K video at 30fps or 1080p video at up to 60fps.

The primary camera on the Nord CE 2 performs identically to its predecessor. Images captured in daylight feature plenty of detail and clarity. Photos taken on the main camera are well-exposed with natural colours. There was a bit of oversharpening at times, while dynamic range and contrast were not always on point.

The primary camera doesn’t do particularly well in low light, with the introduction of noise and lack of detail. You can switch to the night mode to increase detail and reduce noise, but it doesn’t fare very well without sufficient ambient light. The Nord CE 2’s main camera also tends to brighten images at the cost of clarity in low light.

Switching to the ultrawide camera in daylight can yield good results. The ultrawide maintain colour consistency between the main camera surprising well, so long as you have sufficient light. However, the lower resolution reduces the image quality, resulting in shots with less detail and sharpness. I wouldn’t recommend using the ultrawide camera in low light, especially if you don’t have enough light.

The 2 MP macro camera is inconsistent and underwhelming for the most part. The 16 MP camera on the front has a ton of features including a comprehensive beauty mode and several live filters. The overall results are good in daylight and just-about average in low light. The phone does a good job with edge detection for selfie portraits.

4K video on the main camera looks particularly sharp with plenty of detail and wide dynamic range. Videos also pump out vivid colours with barely any noise. There is no OIS here; instead, the phone relies on EIS, which does offer decent levels of stability. The ultrawide camera can capture 1080p video in 30fps but the video quality is not up to the mark. The overall camera performance on the OnePlus Nord CE 2 is good, like most modern mid-tier devices, the cameras here excel in daylight but are bang-on average in low light.

Battery

Like its predecessor before, the Nord CE 2 also packs a 4,500 mAh battery, but ramps up the charging speed to 65W. The phone gave me a full day of battery life while allowing me to take some percentage of the battery into the next day. My usage included music playback, multitasking, some gaming, and several minutes with the camera app opened. While battery life wasn’t very far off from the previous generation, the 65W Super VOOC charging on the Nord CE 2 could fully power the device in under 40 minutes.

Software

One of the biggest letdowns on the OnePlus Nord CE 2 is the fact that the phone still runs on Android 11 based on OxygenOS 11. While it is rather disappointing to see the Nord CE 2 still running Android 11, OnePlus has said that it will receive the Android 12 update soon. However, there’s a chance that the Nord CE 2 may not get the Android 14 update. As for OxygenOS 11, the experience is pretty much the same as that on the OnePlus 9RT (Review).

The overall experience is snappy with smooth animations and very-little bloatware. Most of the aspects of OxygenOS are retained here, like the always-on display modes, custom apps, notifications, and shortcut toggles, although influences of ColorOS are evident in the Camera and Settings apps. The OnePlus Nord CE 2 retains most of the good parts of OxygenOS but the fact that OnePlus has said that the phone is receiving only two major Android updates (Android 12 and 13) was quite the letdown.

Other Aspects

Another drawback of the Nord CE 2 is the mono speaker system. The single downward-firing speaker gets loud enough when used in a quiet room, but the audio tends to sound distorted on higher volumes. You’ll be better served using a pair of headphones when consuming media on the Nord CE 2.

Additionally, the in-display fingerprint reader was pretty fast and accurate. Connectivity options include Wi-Fi 6, 5G, 4G, Bluetooth 5.2, and more. Lastly, you also get a microSD card slot on the Nord CE 2 to expand storage up to 1TB.

Verdict

With a starting price of Rs 23,999, the OnePlus Nord CE 2 brings reasonable upgrades over its predecessor with a rather minuscule price hike. The Nord CE 2 offers a major bump in performance and charging speed over the original Nord CE 5G. Moreover, the Nord CE 2 also retains all the best aspects of its predecessor, making for an excellent upgrade. However, it isn’t all rosy.

The mono speaker system was quite the letdown, while it is a shame that the phone is still running Android 11 and will only get two Android updates. Additionally, the main camera could also use some work and a new sensor would have been preferable. And while the OnePlus Nord CE 2 might not be the best smartphone under Rs 25,000 in India, it still comes pretty close by offering a very-solid overall package.

Also Read: Best smartphones under Rs 25,000 in India: Realme 9 Pro+, OnePlus Nord CE 2, Xiaomi 11i, and more

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