Summarized
With the Nord, OnePlus puts down a middle-class smartphone that scores well on most points for its price. The OLED screen with 90Hz refresh is nice, the battery life is good and the charging is fast. The camera is also great for its price, although it is of course not a high-end level and you do not have a telephoto lens. The Nord has the fine Oxygen software, which the device runs smoothly and fairly long support. The fingerprint scanner is also fast and can withstand a little water, although the Nord does not have an official IP rating. The housing is somewhat weak due to the use of plastic. The device also has no wireless charging, stereo speakers or 3.5mm port. However, it is future-proof due to the 5g support. The compromises should suit you, but for many people this is recommended.
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Final verdict
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OnePlus’ last and only attempt to bring a mid-range phone to the market dates back to 2015, at least if you only count phones without high-end soc. We are talking about the OnePlus X, which we were able to do at the time appreciate. However, OnePlus does not see that device itself as a great success. In hindsight, it didn’t offer the quality OnePlus says it strives for. We ourselves already had doubts about the battery life. Over time, however, it also became apparent that the soc was unable to secure the fluidity OnePlus prides itself on in Oxygen OS. The storage space was limited at 16GB, the camera was mediocre and it didn’t have WiFi over 5GHz.
However, the manufacturer has always looked at the midrange market with an oblique eye and started the Nord project with the assumption that there would be a demand for it, but not a huge amount. That image gradually changed according to OnePlus, when the manufacturer had researched the market. Many users turned out to be willing to accept a fast middle class for a significantly lower price. It was then decided to adapt the design of the Nord to a larger target group, try to make the right concessions and go for this mid-range aircraft.
At first glance, those concessions consist of the omission of the telecamera, a high-end soc, USB 3 and wireless charging, but there is more. For example, we would like to see how the cameras compare to those of the OnePlus 8 Pro, but also to the cameras of a device with a comparable price. That price is competitive at first glance with 400 euros, if you settle for at least 8GB RAM and 128GB storage. Not that this is small, because the basic versions of the high-end OnePlus 8 and 8 Pro have the same thing. In short, the Nord is an interesting review material.
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