The OnePlus Nord 5G is finally here, with remarkable strong specs and a price that will terrify the competition. The handset is a 5G offering, much like the company’s latest flagships OnePlus 8 series, and has the upper mid-range Snapdragon 765G SoC under the hood. The all-new OnePlus Nord also packs a 90Hz screen, new age punch-hole display with an impressive 20:9 aspect ratio, quad rear camera setup – headlined by 48MP Sony IMX 586 sensor – and dual selfie cameras. A respectable battery with Warp Charge 30T support is also part of the new package.
OnePlus Nord 5G price and availability
The OnePlus Nord 5G price starts at £379 / €399 (for 8GB + 128GB storage). The 12GB / 256GB model of the phone costs £469 / €499. In India, OnePlus Nord will also be available in a third configuration – 6GB of RAM and 64GB storage which will cost INR 24,999. The OnePlus Nord will be available in select regions only, in Blue Marble and Gray Onyx colors. The device will go on sale from August 4, 2020, across OnePlus.com as well as partner websites in those regions.
Design and display
I really like the design of the OnePlus Nord, which has a premium feeling glass and metal body. The phone measures 158.3 x 73.3 x 8.2mm and its weight is 184 grams. The power/lock key on the right falls nicely under thumb or finger, and it sits just below OnePlus' now-familiar alert slider, which allows you to quickly switch between silent, vibrate, and loud modes. The volume rocker sits on the left side, while on the base you'll find a centralized USB-C port flanked by a speaker and the dual SIM card port. There is a dual-camera setup on the front panel. On the backside, it has a quad-camera setup. This is raised by a couple of millimeters from the back of the device, as on the OnePlus 8 and 8 Pro, but unlike on its more premium siblings, the camera block is in the left corner, rather than central.
The OnePlus Nord has a 6.44-inch AMOLED display with a 20:9 aspect ratio, Full HD+ (2400 x 1080) resolution, and a 90Hz refresh rate. The display is bright and clear, but unlike the screens on the 8 series phones, the Nord's is flat. A fingerprint scanner is embedded in the screen. The Nord also supports face unlock, and it can combine both biometric security features for faster unlocking.
Cameras and battery
There are a total of six cameras on the handset, four on the rear, and two on the front. The main camera on the rear is borrowed from a flagship phone – the OnePlus 8. It's a 48MP Sony IMX586 sensor (with EIS and OIS image stabilization) with an f/1.8 aperture, which can take 48MP images. That's accompanied by a trio of other cameras, comprising a 5MP depth sensor, 2MP macro camera, and an 8MP 119-degree ultra-wide-angle snapper. There's a couple of shooting modes, including portrait, nightscape, super macro, and pro, plus Full HD, slow-motion video capture at 240fps, and 4K recording at 30fps. On the front the main 32MP, f/2.45 snapper is accompanied by an 8MP, 105-degree ultra-wide-camera. OnePlus has said it's also improved its image processing smarts.
The OnePlus Nord comes with a 4115 mAh battery that can support up to 30W for fast charging. The company says 30W Warp Charge 30T can charge the phone’s battery up to 70 percent in 30 minutes. Unfortunately, there is no wireless charging support.
Software and performance
On the inside, OnePlus Nord is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G Chipset. The SoC is coupled with up to 12GB of RAM and 256GB storage. The OnePlus Nord comes with 5G support, which means you can take advantage of next-generation network speeds. On-screen you’ll get Google's Android 10 operating system, overlaid with OnePlus' OxygenOS 10.5. This UI provides a wide assortment of customization options (while maintaining a familiar look and feel), and OnePlus says it also includes over 300 separate software optimizations. The company also promises that the Nord will get two years (from launch date) of software updates – which means it'll be in line for the Android 11 update later this year, and Android 12 in 2021 (plus three years of security updates).