OnePlus Nord First Impressions: Hype Vs Reality

OnePlus Nord, the most-talked about mid-range OnePlus smartphone has finally been launched today in the first-of-its-kind AR launch event. OnePlus has introduced the much anticipated Nord in three variants; 6GB+64GB variant at Rs. 24,999, 8GB+128GB at Rs. 27,999 and the top-end 12GB+256GB variant at Rs. 29,999. OnePlus Nord will be made available in two colors […]

Display- 90Hz AMOLED Panel With Full HD Resolution

The Nord flaunts a decently sized and good quality AMOLED panel that produces vibrant colors. The screen feels brighter and colors look punchier than the LCD panel on the Realme X3 SuperZoom. The phone has a 6.44-inch Full HD (2400 x 1080pixels) 90Hz refresh rate AMOLED panel. It feels responsive and fluid. The panel is also bright enough to be comfortably visible outdoors. The 20:9 aspect ratio screen offers support for sRGB and Display P3 color profiles and is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5 layer. Overall, OnePlus has managed to offer one of the best display on a mid-range smartphone.

Hardware And Software

The OnePlus Nord is powered by the 5G-enabled Qualcomm Snapdragon 765 chipset. We are testing the 12GB + 256GB variant and it feels blazing fast. OnePlus Nord comes running on the latest Oxygen OS 10.5 and is easily the most optimized OnePlus handset till date. The Nord feels unbelievably fluid. The animations are smoother, UI feels very responsive and the Android 10 gestures are a delight to use. The software user experience is very close to a stock Android device and the Nord almost feels like a Google Pixel-series device. Some of the most-used apps like Phone, Messages, etc. are replaced with stock Google apps but you also get the signature Oxygen OS features such as the customization options, OnePlus photo gallery, OnePlus Switch, OnePlus Community app and the File manager. Overall, the software on the OnePlus Nord simply feels like a more refined version of the Oxygen OS. The company has also claimed that the Nord will receive two years of software updates and three years of security updates.

Camera- 48MP Quad-Lens Camera Setup

For cameras, the OnePlus Nord boasts a quad-lens rear camera setup featuring a 48MP Sony IMX586 sensor with F/1.75 aperture and 0.8μm Pixel size. The big sensor is both OIS and EIS enabled and captures 12MP pixel-binned shots. It is supported by an 8MP wide-angle lens with f/2.25 aperture and captures images with 119° field-of-view. The third lens in the configuration is a dedicated 2MP macro sensor and the fourth lens is a 5MP depth sensor with f/2.4 aperture. The camera can record 4K videos at 30fps, 1080p videos at 30/60 fps, Super Slow-motion 1080p videos at 240fps and Time-lapse videos (4K 30fps and 1080p at 30fps). The OnePlus Nord is the first OnePlus device to offer a dual-lens selfie camera. The dual punch-hole camera at the front houses a 32MP Sony IMX616 sensor. The fixed-focus sensor has a narrow aperture with a size of f/2.45 and supports EIS. It is paired with an 8MP wide-angle lens with the same aperture size with a field-of-view of 105°. Interestingly, the front camera can record 4K videos at 30/60 fps, 1080p videos at 30/60 fps and time-lapse videos. As far as image and video quality is concerned, the cameras on OnePlus Nord seem to do a good job. The colors are not overly saturated and images/videos show crisp details. We will show the samples and talk about the camera performance in detail in our comprehensive review.

Battery And Connectivity

The OnePlus Nord can easily last a day with moderate to heavy usage. The phone draws power from a modest 4,115mAh battery which gets support from the same Warp Charge 30T that powers the premium OnePlus 8-series devices. It can full charge the device from 0% to 100% in less than 60 minutes. As far as connectivity is concerned, the OnePlus Nord is a 5G-enabled smartphone. OnePlus claims download speeds of up to 3.38Gbps, thanks to an integrated Snapdragon X52 5G Modem-RF system. We can debate about the lack of 5G infrastructure but it still won't stop brands from launching 5G phones in India. The Nord supports Bluetooth 5.0 and ships with a dual SIM-card slot that can take two nano-SIM cards.