Less than a week ago, OnePlus unveiled the newest smartphone in its portfolio, the OnePlus Nord 2 5G. This is a terminal with premium features, at a fair price, promoted under the title of "flagship killer".
In June 2014, after an aggressive marketing campaign aimed at turning the entire mobile market upside down, OnePlus announced their first phone, One. OnePlus One flowed lightly from your tongue, a kind of Bond, James Bond. So with One, OnePlus One.
From the beginning, if the brand is foreign to you, it was meant to attack the area of high end terminals with terminals at slightly more affordable prices, not cheap. When Samsung sold you a Galaxy S for 4000 lei, many years ago, OnePlus came with a similar performance for 2500 lei. We may not be talking about the same build quality or finish, but the processing power, screen quality and above average cameras have always been there. Basically, it was a brand that emphasized what mattered.
For a short time, OnePlus unveiled one terminal a year. After that, just like at Apple, two devices followed, and now it could be 3-4, depending on how you count them. But the basic idea is simple. Like the Cupertino giant, OnePlus is trying to address different market segments, different price areas.
At the moment, for example, OnePlus 9 revolves around 4000 lei, OnePlus 9 Pro comes with some important advantages on the photo side at 5000 lei. The current OnePlus Nord 2 5G, which I played with in the last week, is available in two variants, 2000 and 2500 lei, depending on the amount of RAM and storage space.
From a point of view, in this price area, it competes with Realme GT 5G, which I reviewed a few weeks ago, but I will insist on some comparative aspects later. However, it is worth mentioning that Realme offers you at 2500 lei the version with 8GB RAM and 128GB of internal memory, while OnePlus jumps to 12GB RAM and 256GB of internal memory at that price. On the other hand, Realme has a faster processor, hence the higher price.
But if there's one thing I've learned in the last decade, it's that you don't just buy a phone for processor, RAM, or space. A smartphone to brag about to your friends must be beautiful, to take pictures to be proud of on Instagram, especially in low light conditions, to hide behind an impressive screen and to be heard very well. OnePlus with the new Nord 2 emphasized these aspects.
OnePlus Nord 2 5G Review - Unboxing
I've always been fascinated by terminals that stand out a bit when it comes to the colors in which they are offered. Although most users "bury" them in massive covers, I almost always used them without, to enjoy the significant effort behind the designers.
From this point of view, OnePlus Nord 2 5G is not only a beautiful phone because it feels comfortable in the hand, but also because you can buy it in a light blue, an azure as dexonline draws my attention or a Blue Haze, as the manufacturer insists in marketing materials. If you're not feeling adventurous, there's Gray Sierra or Light Gray. Apparently, there is a military green variant, but it may not be available in Mioritic lands.
I received the test that I like the most and the one that, in terms of color, has the strongest personality. It's the kind of light blue that generates debate. If you take it out on the table, surely someone is asking you what the phone is, because no one has seen that shade before.
In the box of the device, in addition to the actual smartphone, you will find a transparent silicone case that looks quite durable, a USB Type B - USB Type C cable for data transfer and charging, plus a charger. The latter is quite impressive because it has a capacity of 65W. It should also be noted that if you have an affinity for colors, the charging cable is a bright red with white ends. It looks nice. Someone cared to make it memorable and, at first glance, quite durable over time.
OnePlus Nord 2 5G Review - Specifications
If we mentioned above the 65W charger, it is worth noting that this gadget hides inside a 4500 mAh battery that charges from 0 to 100% in just 30 minutes through Warp Charge 65. The only condition is to use the charger and cable in the box that were created specifically to take advantage of this not inconsiderable technological advance.
The terminal hides behind a 6.43-inch AMOLED screen with a native Full HD + resolution (1080 x 2400 pixels), a 20: 9 aspect ratio and a pixel density of 409 ppi. Promoted as a Fluid AMOLED, it is protected with Corning Gorilla Glass 5 from scratches, but it still comes with a factory-applied foil to keep it flawless for as long as possible.
Personally, I will never use a protective film on my phone, and I took the one off my OnePlus Nord 2 5G when I took it out of the box. The reason has to do with the fact that no matter how much the films progress, how expensive or discreet they will become, as long as you put something in front of a screen, the quality of the image will inevitably suffer. Either you lose some of your brightness, or you lose your shine, or it's just a matter of psychological comfort, I like to think it looks better without foil.
In line with the current market trend regarding the refresh rate, OnePlus Nord 2 5G has a 90Hz screen, HDR10 + certified. This means that your movies will look flawless, whether you watch them on Netflix, YouTube or from the gallery. In addition, the refresh rate significantly influences the user experience of the device.
The higher it is, over 60Hz, the more the impression is that the phone moves faster, the navigation through the menus is faster, the interface seems more fluid, and I'm not even talking about games. They all seem more agile and I hope that this affinity for increased refresh rates will quickly become a standard in the industry. As an idea, the iPhone 12 Pro Max has a refresh rate of 60Hz, and Apple has defined it as revolutionary, while the OnePlus has opted for 90Hz in a terminal about three times cheaper.
Beyond the screen, the little one in the attached images is 189 grams, has 158.9 x 73.2 x 8.3 millimeters. The back is made of glass, as is the front, protected with Gorilla Glass 5. Only the frames are made of plastic. We are talking about a Dual SIM compatible with 5G running Android 11 masked by OxygenOS 11.3.
The processing part is provided by a MediaTek Dimensity 1200 AI 5G processor built on 6 nm. If you have a fascination for such technical details, the SoC in question hides inside an octa-core consisting of 1 × 3.0 GHz Cortex-A78 & 3 × 2.6 GHz Cortex-A78 & 4 × 2.0 GHz Cortex-A55. The graphics processor is a Mali-G77 MC9. The phone can be purchased in two variants, with 8GB RAM and 128GB of internal memory at 2000 lei and 12GB RAM and 256GB of internal memory at 2500 lei. The storage space cannot be expanded with a microSD card, but at least it is of the UFS 3.1 type, the fastest, just like on the Galaxy S21 Ultra, for example.
It doesn't have a headphone jack, but almost no phone boasts of it in 2021. Instead, it has stereo speakers that sound surprisingly good. You can watch a series or a podcast while eating without missing a beat.
Connectivity includes Bluetooth 5.2 with A2DP, LE, LDAC and aptX HD, in addition to Wi-Fi 802.1 ac / axis 2 x 2 MIMO, dual-band. It has NFC, and the GPS module is compatible with A-GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, BDS, SBAS and NavIC, so you don't get lost. It has a fingerprint sensor hidden behind the screen that, as an iPhone user, I only dreamed of. It behaves flawlessly, with no response time and, compared to Face ID, about 10 times more useful in a pandemic.
OnePlus Nord 2 5G Review - How to Take Pictures
The capture part for the new OnePlus Nord 2 5G is provided by a combination of artificial intelligence assisted sensors. The focus is on the 50MP Sony IMX766 sensor with optical image stabilization and F / 1.9. Compared to the IMX586 sensor from the first North, Sony's new creation is able to capture 56% more light and feel, especially in low light conditions. OnePlus boasts that you should get decent results even at a brightness of 1 luxury, the power of a single candle. It shoots 4K at 30 frames per second and Full HD 1080p at 240 frames per second.
The second sensor on the back, out of a set of three, has 8 megapixels and a field of view of 118.7 degrees for ultrawide captures with F / 2.3. The third sensor is 2 megapixel monochrome and F2 / 4. It has a dual flash and supports HDR capture.
The front incorporates the largest sensor on a OnePlus phone. It is a 32 megapixel Sony IMX615 with F / 2.5 and electronic image stabilization. It shoots Full HD, but the interesting part is the Group Shots 2.0 function that can detect up to five faces and adjust the brightness, face details, skin tone for each one.
I've been a fan of photos without too many AI gimmicks, but if you don't like to adjust too many capture parameters, OnePlus Nord 2 5G has 22 different shooting scenarios and is constantly trying to apply the most good for one scene or another. Everything is possible with AI Photo Enhancement.
Beyond the theoretical part of the equation, I tried to take a series of photos with the phone to understand as well as possible what its strengths are, but also the less positive aspects.
In practice, the OnePlus Nord 2 5G does a great job on the capture side in most usage scenarios. As can be seen above, even in low light, the details are captured in a very realistic way, without image noise and with a correct brightness. At the same time, I was delighted with the use of the flash because it does not distort the colors. It does not "aggress" the elements in the frame. Gives a natural, diffused light. Personally, for many years, I have been avoiding flash on phones, but in this particular case I find it more than decent.
A bit sad is the zoom. In the first collage in this chapter you can see the same image with 1x and 10x in strong natural light. Unfortunately, the image at 10X seems to me to be taken from cartoons rather than from a picture. It can be seen that the whole process behind obtaining it was digital. It's like cropping an area from a photo and artificially enlarging it in Photoshop. At some point, it seems far from reality. On the other hand, predictably, results with 2x and 5x zoom in some scenarios are significantly more decent, reasonable, usable, and useful.
In 2021, we became addicted to portrait mode on phones, because when it works well, an image seems to be taken with a DSLR, a professional camera. It looks expensive. In the case of the OnePlus Nord 2, the device in question performed surprisingly well. The background separation, as can be seen in the image above, is beautiful, natural, progressive. It doesn't look artificial. I don't know how responsible the optics part is and how much this result has to do with artificial intelligence, but it's a plausible, plausible, pleasant one. It's the kind of image you want to put on the wall.
Normally, there are situations where the portrait function does not give perfect results, but those are predictable and give problems to all phones. If you have transparent glasses or a reasonable lack of contrast between the foreground and the background, don't expect magic. Those "difficult" situations can be immortalized, almost exclusively, with the DSLR we mentioned above and with a suitable lens.
Although 99% of smartphone users take photos with the default settings on their phone or possibly opt for portrait mode, companies like OnePlus invest a lot of time and money in alternative capture modes. As you can see in the picture above, they are useful and worth a try.
Although I don't think you will remember them too often, their presence there is justified, especially when you want to take a certain picture and you have time for it. That is, those ways are not meant for family courts or when you are with friends on the grill, because no one is sitting "in the picture." Instead, with Extra HD, for example, I seemed to catch some extra, nice details, even if they seem a bit artificial, digital.
From the same chapter of private capture modes, I recommend that you play more than a few times with night mode and possibly tripod mode. Sounds like magic. Although I have often interacted with the idea of HDR in the device, it seems that I have never seen it so efficiently and simply implemented. In addition, if you are good with patience, you can use expert mode at any time, you can capture in RAW, you can adjust the exposure, focus, white balance, ISO and more. Time to have.
OnePlus Nord 2 5G - Gross Performance
If you only get a phone for processing power, you might want to consider this section of the material with an important mention. I believe in comparisons and I find it useful to understand how good something new is compared to something you already know or which is a reference in the industry. It's easy to refer to an iPhone, for example, in a material about phones, because everyone knows what an Apple phone looks like. On the other hand, raw performance doesn't tell the whole story of a phone. You buy it for the screen, capture skills, design, build quality, a more complex equation.
With all these details in mind, the OnePlus Nord 2 5G competes for the price with the Realme GT 5G we mentioned in the introduction. The latter uses a Snapdragon 888 SoC. It is the cheapest phone in the world with the fastest smartphone processor today. It is designed for gaming and every detail of its design illustrates this. On the back it has some references to a race car. OnePlus Nord 2 5G is not for gaming, but it behaves flawlessly in everything I've tried on it.
I did a Call of Duty session and, as you can see in the screenshot below, I came out in first place without any problems, and the game looked great and moved the same way. In AnTuTu, however, it got about 20% less than the Realme GT 5G. It was 7 degrees colder during this time, it warmed up less, but it lost 4% of its battery during the test, compared to 2%.
As for the other tests I ran, he scored 714 points in the single core test and 2591 in the Geekbench multi-core test. In 3DMark, I ran Slingshot and scored 6860 points, while in the Extreme version of the test, the value dropped to 4833 points. In the most demanding Wild Life test, also from 3DMark, the final score was 4205 in the standard version and 1285 points in the Extreme version.
Because I would also pass the autonomy in terms of performance, although it should keep you away from the outlet for at least one day, under normal conditions of use, don't forget that it charges incredibly fast. In about 30 minutes, your battery will reach 100% from scratch. However, I did a more demanding test and shot 4K videos at 60 frames per second on YouTube, perhaps the most demanding activity you can do on a smartphone. That way, I got about 8 hours and 20 minutes of streaming per upload.
OnePlus Nord 2 5G - conclusion
I played a lot with OnePlus Nord 2 5G and, from the first moments of interaction, it looks like an expensive, premium smartphone. However, it sells for half the value of a terminal with the same finishes and slightly better performance. He takes very good pictures, although I would have liked him to do a little better on the zoom side as well. But the night mode is memorable.
In many ways, this is a top-notch, reasonably priced gadget, just like the one promoted by OnePlus. I wouldn't call him a "flagship killer" because of the MediaTek processor. But if you use a Snapdragon 888, the way it looks, looks and sounds, it would probably have cost 4,000 lei, not 2,000 or 2,500 lei, depending on the RAM and storage capacity.
This is a long-running terminal with a package cover and screen foil, perfect for a surprisingly diverse audience. In addition, it comes with two years of major Android updates and three years of security updates. It will not disappoint you and it works well if you want to relax a bit in a demanding game like Call of Duty. Personally, I would buy it for the glass case, the ambitious color and the 90Hz screen that looks impeccable.
Some may have a problem with the OxygenOS interface, but if you make the transition from iPhone, as in my case, the Gestures navigation mode is exactly the same as the one introduced by Apple with iPhone X and requires zero learning moments. For others, there are navigation buttons you've known about Android for more than a decade.