From the early of this year, more midrange smartphones have been released than cheap and premium smartphones combined. As a result, the midrange category has become the new battleground for smartphone makers worldwide.
The Chinese smartphone manufacturer OnePlus brought midrange smartphones back into fashion with the debut of the OnePlus Nord in 2020. Despite its flaws, the Nord series garnered a positive response among customers. In this legacy, OnePlus Nord Core Edition (CE) has been released globally on 11th June 2021. In this review of the OnePlus Nord CE, we lay all the crucial details of the phone.
Read Amazfit T-Rex Pro Smartwatch Review: Smart choice for adventure lovers.
Key Features of The OnePlus Nord CE
Design and Features
The OnePlus Nord CE features a similar design as the previous Nord phone, but instead of the Nord's premium glass back cover, it has used a more modest plastic one. The phone also uses a plastic body. However, the plastic body is strong and won't bother the users much.
As the Nord CE follows a generation-old design, it could play a negative aspect for the phone. The design even resembles some realme and OPPO smartphones. That's a huge drawback for Nord CE.
Furthermore, OnePlus has removed Nord CE's custom alert slider. This slider used to be a standard feature of every OnePlus phone. This removal done to stick to the key features will severely influence the user experience, especially on current OnePlus users.
Read Top 7 Best Android Skins in 2021: Know pros, cons
The OnePlus Nord CE is under 170 grams and maintains a 159.2 x 73.5 x 7.9mm dimension. This makes it significantly slimmer than the original OnePlus Nord. The Nord CE comes in three different color variants- void blue, charcoal ink, and silver ray.
The power button appears on the right side, and it is easily accessible with a single hand. The volume controllers are located on the left. You'll find a 3.5mm jack, a single speaker, and a USB Type-C connector on the bottom. A dual-SIM slot is placed on the upper left side of the phone.
Display
Last year's OnePlus Nord installed one of the best quality displays of its generation. Whereas the Nord CE has come with a less quality screen. There is nothing new to add about the Nord CE display. A fullHD+ 6.43 inches fluid AMOLED screen with a 90Hz refresh rate is featured on the Nord CE.
Read Best Upcoming Phones in July 2021 in Bangladesh: Official and Unofficial
Although it still suffers from flaws that typically plague the OnePlus 9 phones, the display is laudably responsive and vibrant. Like it is sometimes unresponsiveness to touch and cannot use full-screen apps.
Hardware and Performance
The Nord Core Edition and the original Nord are nearly identical in terms of performance, thanks to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G chip in both phones. Theoretically, it has a slower clock speed (2.2GHz) than the original phone's Snapdragon 765G (2.4GHz), but practically, both processors perform the same.
Regarding gameplay, heavy and midlevel games like Call of Duty, Forza Street, and Alto's Odyssey can play without dropping any frame. COD Mobile and PUBG run flawlessly at extremely high frame rates and graphic settings. However, if the frame rate is set to the Maximum, mild jitters appear. Games like Forza Street and Alto's Odyssey also run smoothly on the OnePlus Nord CE. The OxygenOS 11 features a number of gaming aspects, like FPS meter, Do Not Disturb, mistouch protection, and disable auto-brightness.
Read OnePlus 9 Pro Full Review: Does it offer value for money?
Lenses and Shots
In terms of lenses, the Nord CE has received both an improvement and a downfall. The Core Edition has a triple-camera set up on its back instead of a quad-camera set up of the previous Nord. The primary lens on the rear, however, has been boosted to 64 MP from 48 MP on the Nord.
Two other back sensors have remained the same. They are an ultrawide 8MP sensor with an aperture of f/2.3 and an FoV of 119-degree. And a depth sensor of 2MP and f/2.4 aperture. In this Core Edition, a 16MP single-lens has replaced the two lenses of 32MP of the previous version of Nord.
The imaging quality has become a little better in the OnePlus Nord CE. The primary camera is considerably good at capturing detail in daylight. However, the color output doesn't seem natural. Hence, the images may seem over-processed but still good for social media uploads.
Read Motorola Moto G30 Full Review: An Efficient Phone under Budget Range
The low light performance of all the lenses seems poor. None of the cameras can capture detail in insufficient light. The primary camera raises exposure randomly in auto mode. It results in a noisy and poor resolution output.
Battery and Charging
The OnePlus Nord CE's 4,500 mAh battery lasts longer than a day on typical use. With heavy use, it can last about a day. The phone can handle graphically demanding games while draining the battery. When it is utilized for gaming, imaging, or multimedia streaming, its battery drains faster. The phone charges quickly as it comes with a 30W rapid wired charger. The battery takes around an hour to be fully charged.
Read Dual Monitor Setup: Uses, Buying Guide, Price in Bangladesh
OnePlus Nord CE Price in Bangladesh
The OnePlus Nord CE is currently available in Europe and India. This phone doesn't appear to be available either in the United States and Australia. The company has released three variants of the phone. But only two variants are available in Bangladesh.
The unofficial price for the basic (8GB × 128GB) variant is around BDT 32,500. While the unofficial price for the top variant (12GB × 256GB) is around BDT 37,000. The price may vary depending upon sellers.
Final Verdict
The OnePlus Nord Core Edition (CE) is a newcomer to the market. It has neither brought exactly game-changing features, nor has overpowered the original Nord phone. In fact, because of its lower cost and simpler linear design, it struggles to find a place in the huge competition of similar price ranged phones. However, if anyone is looking to save a little money, have a stable battery, and a decent display, he should put the phone on his shortlist. The OnePlus Nord CE won't let him down despite it all its shortcomings.
Read Samsung Galaxy M32: A Budget Friendly Phone with Massive Battery.