OnePlus Nord, was it worth the hype?
OnePlus Nord review and Camera Test
Before we dive into the OnePlus Nord, let’s take a trip down memory lane of the smartphones I’ve owned prior to getting this phone as I would define myself as the perfect smartphone user OnePlus is targeting with this device. I have been using the OnePlus 5 since March which was passed down for me to use as my iPhone SE battery basically died on me after only owning it a year. And although I absolutely loved the iPhone SE, constantly having it on battery saving mode just became an annoyance. Switching from Apple back to Android took some getting used to but the OnePlus 5 did surprise me with how much of a brilliant phone it is. You find my full review on the OnePlus 5 here 👉 OnePlus 5, would I recommend?. Before my iPhone days I had a 2nd hand OnePlus One, a £100 unknown Chinese brand phone and a Windows phone (yes, we won’t go there). As you can see, all my recent devices have been mid-range devices or a good few years old.
The OnePlus Nord came at a perfect time as I was needing a new phone after my iPhone SE was no longer useable. Thankfully I had the OnePlus 5 to keep me going until I found a device I wanted to purchase which meant I didn’t have to rush into anything. Back in May I was looking at the Google Pixel 4a but with Google constantly delaying the launch it seemed like it might never happen. I did also look at other brands such a Xiaomi, Oppo and Redmi. But then OnePlus Nord started being talked about. After using the OnePlus 5 and my boyfriend having the OnePlus 7T (and both of us having used previous OnePlus devices), I had a lot of confidence in OnePlus and the phones they could produce. And once the OnePlus Nord was announced, well as they say the rest was history.
The journey of the Nord began with the pre-ordering of the device. OnePlus had three pre-order rounds for Europe. The 1st and 2nd rounds came with merch which included mystery gifts, stickers and a surprise gift when you ordered the Nord. The £20 you paid for the pre-order could also be used when purchasing the device. At the time of the pre-order I didn’t really know much about the phone other than name and a few rumoured specifications. I managed to pre-order in the 2nd round which meant I got a Nord T-Shirt, stickers and AR card. The only annoyance I had with the pre-order merch is that OnePlus didn’t ask for our T-Shirt size and instead thought it would be wise sending out random sizes — trust me OnePlus that wasn’t your best move. Although I did manage to squeeze into an X-Small which was an absolute miracle as I’m usually a Large, I definitely could never wear it out in public — well I could but it wouldn’t be a pretty sight for people let’s just say that.
Fast forward to the AR launch event and we pretty much knew everything we needed to know about the device thanks to OnePlus teasing out the specifications on their Instagram page… except the price. The AR launch event was definitely very cool, and it was brilliant seeing this type of technology used. During the launch event we were finally told the price of Nord, £379 here in the UK which came under my £400 budget. I was expecting it to be around the £410 mark so was extremely happy to see it come below that.
I made a split decision to order the Nord straight after the launch event. I decided to go with the Blue Marble version with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage. Remember how above I said pre-orders would also get a surprise gift with the purchase of the Nord… well this is where OnePlus kind of messed up again. When ordering the device, you could select a surprise gift, these were hidden behind the features of the phone and each one represented the gift you’d receive. These were:
- Flagship Camera = Blue Sandstone Bumper Case
- 90 Hz AMOLED display = Black Sandstone Bumper Case
- Warp Charge 30T = Tempered Glass Screen Protector
- OxygenOS = White OnePlus Buds
- 5G-ready = Blue OnePlus Buds
At the time of ordering I had no clue what each one represented and choose Flagship Camera. The problem I had with this is not the gift I received as I love sandstone cases, it was that you knew other people were getting a better gift. This then wasn’t helped by some people cancelling their order, to re-order selecting the right gift to get the Buds which were worth more than a case. I did think about doing the same as others and re-ordering, but it wasn’t something I was willing to risk and nor could afford to do so as I didn’t have the funds to order the phone again and wait for the refund to arrive. OnePlus, next time either make the gift the same for every or make it fully random by not informing the customer the gift they’re getting until it arrives on their doorstep.
The day came, DPD had sent the text saying the Nord was on its way and on 28th July around 6pm the parcel was in my hand. I was definitely like a kid on Christmas day. As I pre-ordered the device, it came in a pre-order box which was just a bigger box to include the surprise gift.
I’ve now been using the OnePlus Nord for about a month and the phone itself feels very good in the hand, certainly feels very much like a premium phone. It has some weight to it which helps that feeling. Although it has a plastic frame which OnePlus did fail to mention, I don’t have any issues with it being plastic especially as I always put a case on my phones.
I’ve found the display to be fantastic, having no notches at the top or bottom of the screen is refreshing to me. I was a little worried the phone would be too big for my smallish hands being 6.44" but I have got used to the size of the phone very quickly and now love having a lot more screen real estate. And a big positive, I’ve not had this green tint issue which some users have reported.
Oxygen OS is clean and nice to use. It’s very fast, fluid and smooth when switching between apps. Using OxgyenOS which doesn’t have a lot of bloatware makes the transition from iOS a lot easier. Although be aware, the Nord isn’t bloatware-free (although OnePlus states it is) as they’ve pre-installed a few apps, those being Facebook, Facebook Messenger, Instagram and Netflix. You can uninstall Facebook, Facebook Messenger, Instagram and disable Netflix but these will come back every time you factory reset the phone.
The Nord has a 4115 mAh battery which has been amazing thus far. I’m getting on average five and a half hours of on-screen time with 30% remaining. Like with all new phones the battery life is usually very good at the beginning so only time will tell whether the durability of the battery is good. But even if you are running low on battery, you do have the 30T Warp Charging to get you topped up and back using your phone in a matter of minutes which is an absolute life saver at times.
Now let’s move on and talk cameras, as like most people I love taking photos and OnePlus did market the camera on the Nord as flagship-level…
The rear camera comprises of a 48MP main sensor with OIS, this does default to 12MP which is very much standard in all OnePlus devices, an 8MP wide-angle lens, a 5MP depth sensor and a 2MP macro lens. The Nord comes with Portrait, Panorama and NightScape mode too along with a duel-LED flash. The Nord can shoot videos in 4k at 30fsp and 1080p at 30 and 60fps. At 30fps it also has a super stable option. The front camera is a dual selfie camera which includes a 32MP main sensor and an 8MP wide-angle lens. The front camera can shoot videos in 4K and 1080p at 30fps and 60fps. Both the front and rear camera have HDR.
In terms of the camera, my only real issue with it is the wide-angle lens. It hasn’t performed as well as I’d have hoped. Outside shots seems to fair better but indoor shots are very grainy. From what I’ve found when using the wide-angle lens, it does struggle to focus on objects that at the edge of the photo. The macro camera is useless, but we knew that with it only being 2MP. OnePlus have already released two software updates to improve the macro camera. It has helped a little bit but, in my opinion as it stands, it is still unusable. Bare those issues, the camera for both photos and videos are pretty amazing, and I’ve been very impressed with the front camera and video quality.
One thing I did notice when using the camera, the 48MP option is capped at one aspect ratio whereas when shooting at 12MP you have three different aspect ratios to pick from and you can swich to the wide-angle lens or use the 2x zoom.
Overall, I’d say the camera on the OnePlus Nord is very good. I just wouldn’t class it as flagship camera. Fingers crossed OnePlus will be able to continue improving the camera through software updates.
You don’t just have to take my word for it as I’ve put together three camera test videos for the Nord so you can see how the camera on this device really performs. Check them out below 👇
The OnePlus Nord is a fantastic device especially for the price. It performs well across the board, but it isn’t anything special — nothing on the Nord has that WOW factor. Not one thing stands out to be amazing but the benefit you have here with the Nord is that it does everything well which mean you are genuinely getting a damn good device for the price.
So, was it worth the hype? Definitely not, and this phone can 100% claim the prize for the most over hyped phone but you have to give props to OnePlus as from a marketing perspective they nailed it! Even though this phone was over hyped, you can’t take away how good this phone is especially to your average consumer. I’ve been very impressed with how well-balanced this phone is in all areas and the number of software updates the Nord has had since its launch to improve aspects of the device.
Do you think the OnePlus Nord was over hyped and what are your thoughts on the device itself? Let me know in the comments below 🙂
Learn more about the OnePlus Nord.
