OnePlus Nord: Reasons to buy and to not buy

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OnePlus Nord is one of the most talked-about mid-range phones in India. Post the COVID-19 turmoil, getting your hands on a half-decent online exclusive smartphone has been a task. In such a market, it’s understandable that people are lining up and even extending their budget for the Nord, a competitively priced OnePlus phone that promises a premium experience and brandishes appealing specs.

Having said that, when it comes to phones there is no one fit for all. What suits you best will always be a matter of your personal taste and preferences. The Nord has its pros and cons. Let’s enumerate a few reasons to buy or to not buy OnePlus Nord.

4 Reasons to buy OnePlus Nord

Let’s start with the positives that make Nord special:

Oxygen OS

While manufacturers have perfected performance hardware across all budgets, Software is an aspect where most fall short. It’s not easy to develop a stable software that appeals to the majority and to top it all, interfaces on affordable phones across brands not only include bloatware but brazenly push ads.

If you ask us, OnePlus’s OxygenOS is one of the best software experiences available out there and that’s also the biggest OnePlus Nord strength. The software is in good taste, enjoys remarkable community support, and offers the assurance of timely version updates and security patches for the next 2 years.

Also Check: Best Phones with Snapdragon 765G

Good Quality AMOLED Display

AMOLED screens are once again few and far between in the affordable segment. The Nord offers a pleasant AMOLED display with an optional color-accurate profile and a 90Hz refresh rate. The display has Full HD resolution and is HDR10+ compliant.

The handset further has all certifications in order for HD content streaming on popular apps like Netflix, Amazon Prime, and YouTube.

Some OnePlus Nord users are complaining about greet or purple tint issue when display brightness drops below 25 percent. OnePlus has acknowledged the issue and a software fix is on its way.

Smooth Performance

Yes, the last generation Snapdragon 800-series phones are available in the same budget, but Snapdragon 765G is powerful enough even for demanding users. OnePlus isn’t using the latest generation RAM or Storage, but then again the overall performance doesn’t feel lacking.

The chipset also supports 5G connectivity, which could be relevant in India as early as next year.

Convenient Fast Charging

Fast charging is much more common on phones these days then it used to be. Still, the 30W warp charging for the 4115mAh battery is fast and convenient enough. OnePlus has managed to retain decent battery experience and 5G without bloating the overall design, and that’s great.

6 Reasons to not buy OnePlus Nord

Here are a few things you need to wary of:

No Auto call recording

OnePlus Nord replaces Oxygen OS dialer with Google dialer and is thus missing proper call recording. You can record calls manually only after the call starts. The phone will notify both caller and receiver with an audio prompt that call recording has started (or ended).

Durability issue

OnePlus Nord feels like a sturdy phone. It has got Gorilla Glass 5 on front and back and has some ingress protection (no IP rating, though). However, the side frame is plastic and the handset failed Zack Nelson’s (Jerryrigeverything) durability test.

When pressure was applied in the ‘bend test’, the glass on front and back remained intact, but the side frame and display under the glass folded up pretty quickly. So if you are clumsy with your phones, this is something you need to keep in mind.

Also Check: Best Phones with side-mounted fingerprint sensor

Average Camera

OnePlus implants 6 cameras on the Nord, but the camera quality is pretty average, especially for the 5 sensors apart from the primary camera.

While we haven’t tested the Pixel 4a yet, but the phone will be available in India in October and, if Pixel 3a is anything to go by, it will almost certainly include a better camera. Pixel 4a is expected to cost around 35K in the country.

Average battery life

The mileage we are getting from the 4115mAh battery is very manageable, but it’s not great. Fast charging ensures that the overall experience is good, but Fast charging is rough on battery health and mileage might suffer further as the phone ages.

Maybe not the best for heavy gaming

Phones like Realme X3 SuperZoom, Redmi K20 Pro, Asus 6Z, and Realme X2 Pro that are powered by the best of the last generation (Snapdragon 855/ Snapdragon 855+) and fair better with high-end games like Fortnight. If gaming is your absolute top priority, one of these ‘flagship-killers’ should serve better.

Usual omissions – Audio jack and MicroSD card slot

OnePlus phones have never had an option for expandable storage and the company showed audio jack the door a while back with the 6T.

The 128GB storage option should address the storage needs of most people. We are still not used to living without the jack, but no use cribbing about it now.

OnePlus Nord Pros and Cons

If you ask us, the overall experience is pretty good. If there are particular aspects that you prioritize, these are some of the pros and cons of the OnePlus Nord that you should keep in mind

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Anonymous
3 years ago

I really like your writing style, wonderful info , thankyou for putting up : D.

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