Hands on: OnePlus Nord audit
Plan and show
The phone is available in two colors, and while the Gray Onyx finish is a little dull-looking, the second option is likely to be more appealing – it's called Blue Marble, and it certainly makes a statement, as you can see in our pictures.
OnePlus says the Nord does have water resistance, but it doesn't carry an official IP rating, which would guarantee its dust- and water-repelling abilities.
It's one of the ways OnePlus has kept the price of the Nord down, and while it claims the handset has been plunged into 30cm of water for 30 minutes and survived, you might want to be a little careful.
Round the back the main feature is the large, oblong camera bump which houses the OnePlus Nord's four rear cameras. This is raised by a couple of millimeters from the back of the handset, as on the OnePlus 8 and 8 Pro, but unlike on its more premium siblings, the camera block is in the left corner, rather than central.
It means that when placed screen-up on a surface the Nord doesn't sit flush with the surface, and due to the slight protrusion in one corner it wobbles when you tap the display.
The OnePlus Nord has a 6.44-inch AMOLED display with a 20:9 aspect ratio, Full HD+ (2400 x 1080) resolution, and a 90Hz refresh rate for fluid scrolling performance.
The screen dominates the front of the handset, with minimal bezels – the thickest one is at the foot of the display. The only interruption to the screen is the punch-hole cutout in the top-left corner that houses the dual selfie cameras.
The cameras don't tend to get in the way, but they do limit the number of notification icons that can be displayed in the top bar, which may irk some users.
The display is bright and clear, but unlike the screens on the 8 series phones the Nord's is flat, rather than having curved edges which spill over the sides of the phone. Without these curves to the front edges of the handset, the Nord does feel a touch chunkier in the hand.
A fingerprint scanner is embedded in the screen, allowing you to register your prints for security. The Nord also supports face unlock, and it can combine both biometric security features for faster unlocking.
Camera and battery
- 6 cameras in total: the most ever on a OnePlus phone
- 4 rear cameras: 48MP + 5MP depth + 2MP macro + 8MP ultra-wide
- 4,115mAh battery with fast charging
The headline feature of the OnePlus Nord is its 'flagship' camera setup. There are a total of six cameras on the handset, four on the rear and two on the front, the most OnePlus has ever put on a smartphone.
The main camera on the rear is indeed borrowed from a flagship phone – the OnePlus 8. It's a 48MP Sony IMX586 sensor (with EIS and OIS image stabilization) teamed with an f/1.57 lens, which can take 48MP images, although by default it's set to 12MP.
That's accompanied by a trio of other cameras, comprising a 5MP depth sensor, 2MP macro camera, and an 8MP, 119-degree ultra-wide-angle snapper for those sprawling landscape shots.
There's a bunch of shooting modes, including portrait, nightscape, super macro and pro, plus Full HD, slow-motion video capture at 240fps and 4K recording at 30fps.
On the front the main 32MP, f/2.45 snapper is accompanied by an 8MP, 105-degree ultra-wide-camera, which should come in useful when it comes to taking group selfies.
OnePlus has said it's also improved its image processing smarts, although we've not been able to test the cameras properly yet, so you'll have to wait for our full review to see how they perform.
As for the battery, the OnePlus Nord comes with a 4,115mAh power pack with support for Warp Charge 30 charging, which should get you from 0% to 70% in 30 minutes using the bundled cable and power adapter in the box.
There is no wireless charging support however – another area where some corners had to be cut in order to keep the price down.
Performance and software
- Snapdragon 765G plus 8GB/128GB and 12GB/256GB configurations
- Comes with 5G support
- Two years of software updates, three years of security updates
Under the hood, Qualcomm's Snapdragon 765G chipset sits at the heart of the OnePlus Nord, and while it's not the same flagship chip as found in the 8 series phones, we've seen it perform well in other handsets, such as the LG Velvet and Motorola Edge.
When it comes to RAM and storage you have two options, with the phone available in 8GB / 128GB and 12GB / 256GB configurations. These are the same combinations on offer for the top-of-the-line OnePlus 8 Pro – not bad for an 'affordable' handset.
The latter is, not surprisingly, more expensive, so think carefully about how much space you'll need. We got our hands on the 256GB version, and found the usable space to be 236GB, but 128GB will likely be more than enough for many, and the additional RAM is probably only going to come into its own during intensive gaming sessions.
The OnePlus Nord comes with 5G support, which means you can take advantage of next-generation network speeds when they become available in your area, if 5G hasn't rolled out for you just yet.
On-screen you get Google's Android 10 operating system, overlaid with OnePlus' OxygenOS 10.5. This UI provides a wider assortment of customization options than stock Android, while maintaining a familiar look and feel, and OnePlus says it also includes over 300 separate software optimizations.
OnePlus promises that the Nord will get two years (from launch date) of software updates – which means it'll be in line for the Android 11 update later this year, and Android 12 in 2021 – plus three years of security updates.
During our brief hands-on time with the OnePlus Nord the interface felt slick, and we experienced no obvious slowdowns when it came to opening apps or scrolling.
Early verdict
On paper the OnePlus Nord looks to have a strong feature set, and our initial impressions are generally positive, with the phone having a premium look and feel, a bright screen and plenty of power under the hood.
The real test will come when we perform our deep dives into the Nord's performance, cameras and battery life, and it’s only then when we’ll know whether the OnePlus Nord is a mid-range marvel or misstep.
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