OnePlus Nord 2 5G is the latest offering by the Chinese technology company in India. Available at a starting price of Rs 27,999, the smartphone offers a lot. It has an impressive set of cameras, 5G connectivity and a powerful processor that adds AI capabilities. We spent a few days with it to find out if it’s worth a buy. Read our OnePlus Nord 2 5G review here to know its pros and cons:
OnePlus Nord 2 5G review: Design and Display
OnePlus Nord 2 5G is not very different from other devices in the company’s latest line-up when it comes to the design. The smartphone’s front panel is dominated by a 6.43-inch display that has a hole-punch camera towards its top-left. The screen is outlined by thin bezels on the sides, and the chin is slightly thicker than the rest.
The display also has the on-screen fingerprint scanner embedded on it and the barely visible earpiece is placed on the centre top above the screen. Flip over, and you will see the textured glass back panel of the OnePlus Nord 2. Both the front and the back of the device are protected with a layer of Corning Gorilla Glass 5. The back panel houses the camera module on the top left and also has the OnePlus branding right in the centre.
The edges of the smartphone are made up of plastic and while the right one has the Power button and the alert slider, while the left one has the Volume rocker keys. The bottom edge has the Type-C port, microphone, SIM tray and the speaker grilles, and the top edge has the secondary microphone. The device does not come with an IP rating, which is kind of disappointing because other handsets in the same price range do offer it. The smartphone is available in India in three colour options including Green Wood, Blue Haze and Grey Sierra, and the one that we got for review was dressed in green.
Overall, we would say that the design of the OnePlus Nord 2 5G is very pleasant and the built is sturdy. The phone is not a fingerprint magnet and the one-handed usage is quite easy on it.
Moving on, the smartphone sports a 6.43-inch full-HD+ AMOLED display that has a refresh rate of 90Hz and comes with support for HDR10+. The colours were accurate and remained consistent at different viewing angles. The images were sharp and the brightness was apt. The sunlight readability was decent too. The overall experience with the display in fact was very good. We spent hours watching shows on Netflix during our time with the handset and the quality of the video was always great.
OnePlus Nord 2 5G review: Performance and Cameras
Let’s take a minute to speak about the rest of the specifications of the OnePlus Nord 2 5G. The device is powered by Dimensity 1200-AI, which is basically the MediaTek Dimensity 1200 processor, but the company claims to have enhanced the AI capabilities of the chipset. The smartphone comes with up to 12GB of RAM and 256GB of onboard storage and houses a 4,500mAh battery. It also comes with a Warp Charge 65W charger in the box. OnePlus Nord 2 has support for 4G VoLTE, dual 5G, Wi-Fi, NFC, and Bluetooth 5.2. It runs Android 11 with OxygenOS 11.3 baked on top.
Coming to the software, the smartphone strides is with the entire suite of Google apps along with Netflix preinstalled. There are a number of customisations available on the device like gestures, which made usage easier. Needless to say, the phone also has some apps from OnePlus’ own family of apps. The company has also promised two years of software updates and three years of security patches for the smartphone.
Finally, let’s speak about the performance of the device. During our time with the smartphone, our experience with it was good and it ran smoothly. Most day-to-day tasks were a cakewalk for OnePlus Nord 2. The apps launched quickly and we switched between them with ease. We often used the device for multi-tasking. For instance, we used it for navigation and gaming simultaneously (needless to say, we weren’t driving!), and the device handled both the heavy tasks together with ease.
Gaming was a decent experience on the OnePlus Nord 2. The handset performed well with lighter games like Temple Run 2 and Alto’s Odyssey, but once we started playing games like Asphalt 8, the battery started falling quicker than usual and the phone started warming up too.
The biometric locks of the phone worked very well. The onscreen fingerprint sensor as well as the face recognition worked flawlessly when we were using the phone.
OnePlus Nord 2 5G’s battery can easily pull off a day and a half with usage involving two active Instagram accounts, watching shows on Netflix and clicking pictures. In our opinion, this is quite a good battery performance. Moreover, the smartphone can get completely charged within 30 minutes using the Warp Charger in its box, which is another plus.
Finally, let’s speak about the cameras. OnePlus Nord 2 5G comes with triple rear cameras including a 50MP Sony IMX766 primary lens that comes with an f/1.88 aperture and optical image stabilisation, an 8MP ultra-wide sensor that has a field of view of 119.7 degrees, and a 2MP mono lens. With the AI capabilities, the smartphone’s camera became quite a performer. For instance, the scene-detection was very impressive on the device.
The images that we clicked with the primary camera during the day turned out to be great. The colours were accurate and the pictures had a good number of details. When we switched to the ultra-wide lens, the quality of the images fell a bit, but they were still nice, and needless to say, a lot more area was covered in the pictures.
We clicked some images using the Portrait mode too and they turned out to be good too. The phone allows the user to pre-set the level of blur for the images before they click a picture.
The images taken at night were average, but the quality gets enhanced a lot with the Night Mode enabled. So, we highly recommend you to turn it on before taking pictures at night, and you won’t have a reason to complain. The device’s 32MP selfie camera did a great job too regardless of the lights around.
Verdict
OnePlus Nord 2, at a price of Rs 27,999, makes a good buy in every sense. The smartphone has smooth performance, an appealing design, and a vibrant display. Its cameras do a great job too. Gaming may not be the best experience, so maybe you can pick another device if that’s a priority for you. But other than this, OnePlus Nord 2 5G only impresses in every aspect.
Pros
- Appealing design
- Good cameras
- Vibrant display
Cons
- Gaming could be better
- No IP rating
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