Friends+Design
- Elegant and attractive looks - the Nord has the same design language as OnePlus flagships, and the in-hand feel is excellent
- Front design is similar to some of the Oppo and Realme phones with its dual punch-hole selfie camera
- The flat panel makes it significantly easier to use the phone with single hand
- The in-display fingerprint sensor as well as the face unlock works very well, and all it needs is a quick tap to unlock the phone
- The Nord has a plastic mid-frame which definitely affects its premium positioning
Display
- Bright, crisp 6.44-inch Super AMOLED display - the 90Hz display on the Nord is just as vibrant and fluid as the OnePlus 8 with punchy colours and excellent viewing angles
- The brightness levels are more than enough for any situation indoors while being enough for direct under-the-sun use
Software
- The OxygenOS is delight to have at this price, it is one of the most thoughtful, simple and clean Android skins which arguably offers the best user experience at this price point
Performance
- Snappy and fluid performance from the new Snapdragon 765G - in regular use there's hardly any difference between the Nord and OnePlus 8, it feels as fast and responsive as it's more expensive sibling - heavy games like PUBG mobile and Asphalt 9 run at their highest setting without any issue or lag
Camera
- Good camera setup for the price - a 48MP primary camera, 8MP ultra-wide camera, 5MP depth sensor and a 2MP macro
- The primary camera is the same as the one on the OnePlus 8 and captures good detail and colours are really punchy and vibrant
- The ultra-wide camera captures does a good job with colours and HDR with expected weaker details than the primary camera
- The macro camera works decently well when there is a good amount of ambient light around the subject
- The portrait lens also does a decent job, creates good bokeh and brings out nice portrait shots
- Low-light photos turn out decent, given strong enough light sources around - for darker scenes, OnePlus offers a dedicated Night mode which can be quite effective in brightening up photos
- Very good dual selfie cameras, a 32MP primary and an 8MP ultra-wide - the primary camera captures very good details, skin tones look good, and HDR is handled well
- The ultra-wide front camera is a thoughtful addition which captures a lot wider scene for all your groupies
- Overall, OnePlus has accumulated a great set of cameras for the price, they need some more tuning which OnePlus is known to provide with future updates
Battery
- Very good battery life from the 4115 mAh battery - it can easily accommodate for a day and half worth of usage with light to moderate use at 90 Hz, switching to 60 Hz improves the battery even futher
- Very good fast charging with the provided 30W charger in the box - it is able to take the battery to around 93 per cent in an hour, which is fairly quick
Verdict
- The OnePlus Nord ticks all the right boxes - you get a 90Hz AMOLED display, robust hardware, good set of cameras at the back and front, unmatched software experience, and 30W fast charging - OnePlus did a fantastic job distilling the essence of its flagships into the Nord, and the result is one of the best mid-range phones in 2020
