OnePlus Nord 2 5G - The Review of Dreams?

On the 22nd of July 2021, OnePlus launched its newest mid/budget tier model, the Nord 2 5G. According to the company, this is the greatest yet "Flagship Killer" a device that's supposed to be nearly as good as a "Top Standard Phone" for a more affordable price. However, there have been more flagship killers than ever lately, creating the question can the Nord 2 5G stand out?

(Engadget)

Design and Build

The Nord 2's build is very familiar with the original Nord, as it's the same in weight, size, shape, and colors as well. The curved back protected with Corning's Gorilla Glass 5 doesn't protect the phone well, but also does it in style with its chromic finish. Similar to the iPhone, there is a slider to change your notifications to silent mode and back. It doesn't have it all as there is a lack of an IP Dust and Water rating, but dropping it into water is a rare circumstance with its steady grip. Overall, there isn't much to complain about, and there isn't a lack of many needs.

Source: www.breakinglatest.news

Battery and Charging

Although the Nord 2 5G isn't a massive phone, it does pack a lot. The non-removable Li-Po 4500 MAH battery, is pretty decent and can last a good few hours. Even with the extremely well straining 5G abilities, the battery can still last a good while. What impresses the eye though, is the extremely speedy charging.

Thankfully, the stinginess of many smartphone companies hasn't influenced OnePlus, as a supported charger for the phone comes in the box. The supported charger isn't just any ordinary one though, it comes with a 60W Warp Charger. Other than Xiaomi, most other companies usually have around 15-20W chargers. Making this phone power up faster than the flash! Wireless nor Reverse Wireless charging is supported, but the majority of people prioritize direct-wired charging, making the absence not an issue at all. Absolutely amazing considering that this isn't even a flagship.

Speed/Processing

Usually, the weakness of most mid-range smartphones is their processing speed. Unlike those phones, the Nord 2 stands out from the competition. This year OnePlus decided to ditch Qualcomm's SnapDragon series, and instead, go with MediaTek's MT6893 Dimensity 1200 5G. Which is inferior to the 9 and Pro flagship models, but with no doubt will probably satisfy as many people as those chipsets did. With an Octa-core (1x3.0 GHz Cortex-A78 & 3x2.6 GHz Cortex-A78 & 4x2.0 GHz Cortex-A55) and a Mali-G77 MC9 GPU.

On Android 11, and OxygenOS 11.3, gaming and usage is great on the phone, you can play heavy titles such as COD Mobile, Fortnite, and Dead by Daylight pretty well. It doesn't heat up much, and frame drops rarely occur. Sometimes a bit of lag may happen, but at the same time, it isn't marketed as a gaming phone. But all around the Nord 2 does deliver in the Speed category, as you can do a ton of things without strain on the device.

Source: digitaltrends

Screen and Hardware

How the general hardware of the phone is in these days is one of the more important things, especially when viewing content. The Nord has gotten it somewhat right too, the screen is 6.4 Inches, the perfect size for many people, with a circular notch on the left side of the phone and bezels on the edges, there is around an 85.8% screen-to-body ratio, pretty average compared to other mid-rangers. The screen itself is an AMOLED display making colors punch really well, and dark blacks to stand out. When looking at any pictures or videos, the experience is pretty good in all environments too as the brightness can go all the way up to 630Nits in the blown sun. The display's refresh rate is 90 Hertz, meaning that scrolling and swiping across the screen will feel much smoother if you're coming from a regular 60Hz display.

The speakers are also a good improvement from last year's Nord. Instead of a regular mono speaker set up, you're getting 2 stereo speakers on the phone

Source: Gadgetsnow

Camera

It is really hard to properly rate a camera on a device that we don't have. So it's better to take this part of the review, with a pinch of salt, because reviewing cameras highly depends on what you like and how you've used the camera.

First off, OnePlus has decided to include 3 lenses on the mid-ranger. The main 50MP f/1.9 sensor. The ultra-wide 8MP f/2.3 sensor, and the macro 2 MP. The main and ultra-wide seem to have a really good performance, especially for the price, but the extra spec of the Macro lens is kind of useless and assumed to be just put for marketing purposes. It can still get some good close-up pics compared to the main sensor, but that occasion rarely occurs. Regular photography looks pretty good on the phone, images are sharp and have a good dynamic range, with colors popping out. Sometimes, there seems to a bit more contrast than needed adding noise to the image, but on some occasions, it's actually a benefit. Portraits look stunning as skintones are very pin-point accurate to real life, and the background blur also seems very natural like a DSLR. Nightmode and video quality is definitely a bit above of what you'd expect from mid-ranger, it's between an iPhone XR or a Galaxy S20. There's also a super-night mode though that completely bursts that light out in images, it can literally make night time photos, turn to daytime. Not the most useful thing, but definitely something I'd play around with every day. Which is what I'd call the camera as well, it's not the best, but something cool I'd play around with for sure.

Price and Final thoughts

Source: Techidence

The final cost of this device is around 399 Pounds. Which is similar to most other mid-tier phones. But other than the price, the OnePlus Nord 2 5G isn't similar to other mid-tier devices at all. It performs much better than others in many areas, such as the charging, speed, and sleek design. It definitely is better than the competition and also overall worth it for what you're getting.