OnePlus has been making high-end phones at a lower price than the competition. The same cannot be said of the latest OnePlus 9 series, but the OnePlus Nord 2 takes that outfit.
The mid-range numbers market is a highly competitive space, with great options from Google Pixel 4a to Samsung Galaxy A52 5G, but the OnePlus Nord 2 features specs that allow it to hold its own in that space.
In fact, the OnePlus Nord 2 is one of the leading phones in this segment of the market. It features impressive specs including a 50MP rear camera, 65W fast charging and a 6.43-inch 1080 x 2400 display with a refreshing 90Hz rating.
That screen offers a great experience, though some will be disappointed that the company has not extended the 120Hz refresh rate here. That said, it provides good image quality with the right size for most people.
One unusual quirk was for the company to move to the MediaTek chipset for the first time, but it seemed like the right decision, as we found that it offered improved performance compared to the original OnePlus Nord.
One of the highlights of the OnePlus Nord 2 is the strong battery life, as we have found that it lasts all day long even when we press the phone to its limits. If you find that it does not get it, there is also a 65W fast charging that sees your phone go from 0% to full in just 30 minutes.
The OnePlus Nord 2 does not have the features that change the game, but as a complete package it offers a superior experience that many will enjoy looking at its lower price than most other phones right now.
So if you are looking for a cheaper alternative to the flagship, you should consider the OnePlus Nord 2 next to the tough competition (like those phones mentioned above) and know that it has good camera experience, solid battery life and much more you need it.
Date and price of OnePlus Nord 2
The OnePlus Nord 2 is not available everywhere you can buy OnePlus phones, as it is widely banned in Europe (including the UK) and India. If you live in the US or Australia, you will not be able to buy this phone.
For sale in the UK now comes from a variety of retailers, including John Lewis, Amazon, Three and O2.
In the UK, the OnePlus Nord 2 costs £ 399 (about $ 550, OR $ 750) with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. If you want 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage you will get prices up to £ 469 (about $ 650, OR $ 875).
OnePlus Nord 2 Review
With its 6.43-inch display, the OnePlus Nord 2 is thinner than the OnePlus 9 (with a 6.55-inch display), but otherwise this is a very similar looking app. There’s a rectangular rear camera compartment containing three cameras, a hole-punch cutout for the selfie camera on the top left front, and a USB-C port at the bottom (but sadly, no headphone jack). Biometrics are handled with a snappy in-display fingerprint sensor, and there is a body slide to switch between silence and vibration to the right of the phone.
You’ll find the Gorilla Glass on the front and back of the phone, but since its frame is plastic you may want to use a case if you are too worried about frame finishing. Other than that I didn’t see the phone bend over the standard molded aluminum fence. Like the original Nord, Nord 2 does not have an official IP dust-resistant or water-resistant IP.
Oh, and this is also a 5G phone: you get less support than 6GHz, but no mmWave. Given the latter type of high-speed, low-level network type has never started to emerge from the Nord 2 release market, it’s not something most people might miss.
The most notable feature is that this is not the most popular OnePlus device by its processor, the MediaTek Dimension 1200-AI rather than one of Qualcomm's Snapdragon 888 characters. in all operation. Yes, you are missing out on Qualcomm's special features such as high-quality AptX Bluetooth audio, but otherwise switching between apps was unbeatable, and the GPU processor gladly used the 90Hz smooth phone display while browsing even the largest Twitter Feed (i.e., in comparison, it stutters to the original Nord). I noticed that the phone was slow to get up a few times, however, but the overall performance was consistent, if not less than the original Nord in everyday use.
The Nord 2 1080p screen is often hard to miss. Do everything right you can expect from an OLED display. Whites are brighter and brighter, colors are punchy, and blacks are, well, black. Its technically up to 90Hz update is a 120Hz panel drop you'll get on phones like the OnePlus 9, but I actually haven't seen a drop.
As a bonus, this round Nord 2 screen is actually surrounded by stereo speakers (single-shot and single-shot from the ear of the phone), unlike the original Nord, which used to play radio audio without its downside speaker. You would still want to use headphones for good listening, but the volume of the speakers meant that I had no problem hearing the podcasts being played without the phone speakers while I was cooking.
I got less than five hours of screen-time for a Nord 2's 4,500mAh battery, easily enough to last all day with as little as I could save. But I was very impressed with the inclusion of the Warp Charge 65 for fast charging here. When I charged from zero, I hit 89 percent after half an hour, and 99 percent after 35 minutes, which felt surprisingly fast. You should use one of the OnePlus cable-related chargers that comes with it to get these speeds, but at least you get both in the box. Nord 2 does not support wireless charging, which is not entirely surprising at this price.
Nord 2 runs on OxygenOS 11.3 out of the box, which is notable for being the first version of OnePlus software to demonstrate its integration with Oppo's ColorOS, as XDA Developers reported. But apart from the changes under the hood, the phone did not feel any different in everyday use. I noticed a few changes in the settings menu, however, when most controls were renamed and changed positions slightly. It meant I was struggling initially to find OnePlus screen rating options, for example, but they are still on the different sub-menu. It works well for the future of OxygenOS, which continues to be an unstoppable feature on Android that I really appreciate for its ability to get out of my way. With regard to continued support, the company promises to receive two major Android updates and three years of security updates with Nord 2, although it declined to say how much of these security updates will be.
Back in the Nord 2 rear, you’ll find three rear cameras. Its main camera uses a 50-megapixel sensor Sony IMX766 sensor (which OnePlus previously used for ultrawide cameras on 9 and 9 Pro), surrounded by cameras with very low resolution: 8-megapixel ultrawide and 2-megapixel a monochrome sensor for questionable use. On the front is a 32-megapixel selfie camera, but not integrated with the ultrawide camera in this, which makes me, personally, a little sad.
I usually like the gun I got out of Nord 2, and OIS is still great which means it's easy to get sharp guns every time you hit the shoot button. That said, they definitely have the punchy look of OnePlus, which prioritizes vibrations with precision. It's very obvious when you look at the landscape photographs: I can assure you that the grass in the photos below was much less green and even more yellow in fact. The edges also tend to look slightly sharpened on them.
At night, the normal Nord 2 shooting mode captures almost as clear images as Google Pixel's Night Sight mode, and when you enter the dedicated Nightscape Ultra phone mode you get almost identical images that were taken during the day and not the way they were washed. In its standard imaging mode, this light hides the fact that low light shots are not well defined, as in the picture below the house block where the dividing lines between the wooden slats have been removed. You will be able to make friends with them if you photograph them in a dim bar, but their skin may come out looking smooth and made of plastic while doing so.
Surprisingly, this vibration is not compatible with the ultrawide camera, where the gun appears to be much quieter and more accurate in comparison. There are also small details due to the low-resolution sensor.
Speaking of people, the OnePlus Nord 2 does not seem to resist the temptation to lighten skin tones, elevate shadows, and make everything look flattering. Even though its beauty mode is off, I still felt that Nord 2 was avoiding showing me all the wrinkles and wrinkles on my face. In terms of its reputation, the result means that I can only say that I took the gun below while sweating through the shocking UK fire, but I think the pictures as a whole end up looking insulting as a result. It’s the same with the phone’s selfie camera, though this is cut with more detail from the automatic to 32-megapixel shots, while the larger rear camera by default is a 12-megapixel.
OnePlus' continued insistence on installing low-resolution sensors on the back of its phones is confusing. The black-and-white option you use is still buried all the way to the bottom of the list of camera filters, and even if you’re just getting into trouble using it, I’ve never seen any difference in it compared to a software-based filter. You can also cover the monochrome sensor in Nord 2 while taking a black and white shotgun, and the phone seems to remain uninterrupted.
But complaints about the easily overlooked monochrome sensor aside, I think the Nord 2 cameras get a lot of good things when you share your preferences with bright, bright photography. OIS on a large camera means it’s easy to get good photos, and you can do the worst at this price point.
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