This is the OnePlus Nord 2 and I’ve been using it as my primary for about 2 weeks - there are quite a few interesting things about this smartphone
- for starters, its the first one plus phone with a MediaTek chip inside, it's also the first one plus phone with oxygen os which is based on color os, it supposedly has an excellent primary camera, the battery capacity has also gone up since the last time around and oh the charger - long story short, on paper the Nord 2 has a lot going for it…
so what’s the deal - let's take a close look - I’m ash, you’re watching c4etech and welcome to my full review of the one plus Nord 2 5G And that is what we are gonna start with 5G- one plus has been criticized a lot for providing only a couple of 5G bands with their 5G smartphones in India
- they do avoid that criticism here with the Nord 2 by going for 6 bands - that's welcome change - apart from that we have carrier aggregation - so data speeds have been stable and cellular reception has also been fine - the earpiece btw its pretty loud and clear - and also happens to double as a second speaker - the speaker output I Wouldnt call it the best, but it is still above average, especially in the loudness department…
While on the topic of audio via the headphone jack - well that's nonexistent since one plus have removed it… talking about changes - at first glance, the Nord 2 resembles its predecessor a lot and that's because in a lot of ways it's pretty similar to the first-gen Nord… the dimensions are close to identical, the display too - it's still 6.4ish inches full HD plus, fluid AMOLED with a 90hz refresh- the blue here makes it pleasantly Nord - the major changes, looks-wise- they are mainly with the optics…
The selfie camera - now that's a single shooter instead of the dual setup from last time - so just a 32mp f2.5 wide - the same primary as fromthe Nord 1 - it's nothing to write home about - there’s enough detail, the skin tones come across fine but the dynamic range, I'd say it leaves something to be desired and it's pretty noticeable especially when you are outdoors on a very sunny day like this one…
just see how blown out the background is… next the rear camera setup - the primary here is a 50mp sony imx766 - its a 1/1.56 inch sensor with an f1.9 lens that happens to be optically stabilized - as you can see the sensor size and the aperture make for nice bokeh, there’s ample detail, the colors are pretty natural too - in fact, I'd say they are a tad better than what we usually get with one plus - that's a lot because of the new software processing under the hood.
We’ll get to that in a bit… I also liked the dynamic range here… now in UAE, I can't go around showing you blue skies bcoz we don't have blue skies, its generally very greyish so let's take this image as an example the sun’s direct inthe picture but it's still not blown out - that's a nice example of how good the range is on this one… under low light again the large sensor comes into play and also Optical Stabilization - this results in pretty detailed and nice-looking images,
while on the topic of stabilization - video tops out at 4k30 and it is quite stable…not just the primary - even the ultrawide video is serviceable despite being fhd… ...and the ultrawide - it seems to be the same hardware from last time around 8mp f2.3 - the stills... they are okayish. Nothing too good, nothing too bad to say here... Now We did lose a sensor from the og Nord- but cry me a river. I highly doubt anyone's gonna shed a tear over it - last time we had 2 useless sensors, this time we have 1 - in fact I’d even go so far as to call it an effective use of space…
Cuz u know what they’ve done with the extra space - the battery capacity - it's gone up from 4115mah to 4500mah and as we already saw the dimensions have not increased - the weight too, it's gone up - yes but by a mere5 grams… so the Nord 2 remains just as wieldable as its predecessor we still get gorilla glass5 to the front and back with a plastic frame holding it all together… Now some might say - gorilla glass victusis the only one that's gonna save your phone if it falls, all other gorilla glasses will break - news flash - all-glass breaks - u can see people dropping phones from 20 feet and having it survive or dropping it from 3.5 feet and have the glass shatter…
it depends on the angle of impact and more importantly luck - gorilla glass 5 on a phone in this segment is pretty decent IMHO - unless you dislike the brand or something - let’s not go there… Now while the added battery capacity seems great in theory - one plus have also switched to a MediaTek chip inside, so I couldn't help but be vary about it, help but think - was this increase in battery capacity an upgrade that one plus was offering or was it a more of a necessity,
bcoz of the chip inside - thankfully it was the former - the density 1200 chip here, MediaTek's flagship 6nm chip, it sips battery, I was easily able to get a full day of use outta this even when I was pushing the Nord 2 with gaming tests, shooting camera samples and more… add to this there's 65w warp charger included in the box and it can get this phone from 0-100 in 30 minutes- that's nuts Now the next question with MediaTek is how does it fare with real use? What’s the performance concerning Qualcomm?
I’d say 1200 here is comparable in performance to a snapdragon 860 - sometimes it's a little better - so I’d slot it in between the 860and 870 which is not a bad deal at all… I’ve read some complaints about this one providing 10000 points less with a tutu or something and that's just something super stupid to crib about - benchmarks are just numbers - actual use is on point - even with the performance model on - the phone doesn't get HOT HOT - I have a youtube short with an hour of gaming- at the end of which just one point on the phone hit 47 degrees ish - the rest is at42 - which is pretty acceptable. Other specs include 6 8 or 12 gigs of ram and 128 gigs Or 256 gigs of us 3.1 storage…
nowhere - I have a bone to pick with one plus- 2 extra gigs of RAM does jack - so if u wanna pick a 12 256 that's cool, no micro, and the storage will help but 8/128 is a waste of money - it's all the more annoying when6/128 is listed but not available - seems like they announced the 6.128 so that they can have news articles like this - hey the Nord 2 launched at 28k - but no it doesn't…
it feels like a very underhanded marketing move - I’d rather brands go the early bird pricing route… first x units - we sell at this, then it goes up - so buy early if wanna better deal - helps the fans get a better deal, helps the brand get a boost - instead of making the actual fans chumps for wanting to buy early - paying more for2 gigs of RAM that’s not gonna to make a difference - ok end of rant…
You remember how I mentioned changed under the hood with software - well the software has changed - a LOT - while at first glance this might seem to be the oxygen os that we’ve all come to adore, it isn’t, it's just a skin on top of color os - now that's a result of oneplus’s merge with oppo - personally I prefer oxygen os, I felt it was snappier - but with color os based oxygen Oneplus promises faster and more stable updates and here in the case of the Nord 2 - 2 years of android updates and 3 years of security patches - color OS also has more functionality built-in…now if this means one plus can avoid some of the snafus.
we’ve been seeing in recent times- I’d be willing to give it a chance...but still even for someone quite used to oxygen and color os, the interface here, right from the settings menu to the first-party apps, they felt - just weird - I guess it's gonna take some time for me to get used to it but for a lotta people you aren't gonna notice much difference - and form a performance and stability point - color os has come a long way from its stuttery beginnings and it is a pretty snappy and stable interface these days… Btw… there are some concerns about permissions and
which frankly speaking have been blown way outta proportion - there’s nothingoneplus does that we’ve not seen on an oppo or realme before and when “influencers” have had no issues with that in the past and suddenly seem to have “issues” with all changes on one plus - it's just funny and sad…
Ok conclusion time - with the switch to colors, there’s not much differentiating one plus from realme - with the realme x7 max and even the poco f3 gt being priced 3 to 3500 rupees lower - the extra you pay is basically just for the better camera and that extra comes with its own compromises - both the realm and the poco offer higher refreshes and the poco also has a higher capacity battery - so that means the Nord 2 gets a recommend only if rear camera’s high priority for you -
now if the 6GB variant were available - that’s priced at 28k and especially with the HDFCdiscount bringing it down to 27 - the Nord 2 becomes a must buy - the 30hz difference in screen isn't a big deal, the battery is strong as is - so I’d be happy recommending it but till that variant happens, at the current price - the 8/128 - I’d say go for it only if camera’s high priority - now in other markets, especially ones where realms and poco don't have a presence the Nord 2 is already a killer - so there you go - that’s my take on the Nord 2 - is there anything you disagree with?
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