OnePlus Nord 2 5G Review | Best New Mid-Range Smartphone?
So the OnePlus Nord 2 is available from today from £399 here in Blighty and, according to OnePlus, this bright blue bugger has absolutely everything that you need, making it a true flagship killer. But is the OnePlus Nord 2 actually all that and a bag of pork scratchings, or should you just hoi your cash at a Poco F3 or a Pixel 4a instead? Well, I’ve had my SIM inserted inside of that rather attractive chassis for just over a week now, so here’s my in-depth OnePlus Nord 2 review.
Design & Build
First up, one week on I am definitely still a fan of that OnePlus Nord 2 design. Yeah, it’s not as lovably compact as the Pixel, but that curvy chassis is comfortable to clutch and it’s also tougher than tackling the Times cryptic crossword after a whole heap of crystal meth. You’ve got Gorilla Glass 5 slathered all over the front end, plus a pre-installed screen protector as well, and then Gorilla Glass 5 on the back end too, although the two layers are separated by a simple bit of plastic edging. Thankfully, a full week on the OnePlus Nord 2 is still looking box-fresh.
The good news is that, even though there’s no official IP rating here, it can definitely cope with a bit of moisture in the odd unexpected thunderstorm (thanks, UK weather). Gray Sierra or Blue Haze are the two colour choices and this blue model is rather charming while also doing a not-terrible job of hiding finger smudges. While the camera chassis has definitely grown over the previous Nord, it is not to iPhone levels of ridiculousness, and it’s great to see OnePlus has restored one of the biggest omissions from the cheaper Nord CE phone: that rather nifty Alert Slider. It’s a great way of super-quickly silencing your phone whenever you need to. Yes, it could definitely do with being slightly stiffer—I accidentally nudged it a couple of times when slipping the OnePlus Nord 2 into my pocket—but it’s great to have.
Software & Features
There’s not too much to update as far as OxygenOS goes since my unboxing, except the fact that Netflix and Disney+ are now fully supported post-launch. Most of the weird little bugs I saw during that unboxing have thankfully been squashed. For instance, if you don’t have the always-on ambient display active, a couple of quick taps can now wake up the OnePlus Nord 2 so you can see what’s going on. Raise-to-wake also now works, although it won’t make the OnePlus Nord 2 scan for your face to try and unlock the device. Face unlock works well even in ambient light, and the in-display fingerprint sensor is also a winner—very fast and responsive even when your hands are a bit mucky.
The only other weird OxygenOS bug I noticed was when auto-rotate suddenly decided it could no longer be bothered to function. A hard reboot sorted that right out. Another good thing about OxygenOS smartphones is you don’t get much crapware pre-installed. OnePlus adds just a few bonus apps on top of the usual Android shenanigans—nothing to the extent of what you find on Xiaomi or Oppo phones. You’ve got Phone Clone and Weather, which here in the UK seems to predict non-stop apocalyptic rainstorms (usually on the money). All the classics are still here, including Zen Mode, which can calm you right down when things are getting cray-cray.
OnePlus is once again offering two years of OS updates and three years of security updates with the OnePlus Nord 2, so you’re set for good future-proofing—better than you’ll get from a lot of rivals bar Google and Nokia. If you want to download lots of apps, games, media, the OnePlus Nord 2 offers up to 256 GB of UFS 3.1 storage, but you might want to go high because you can’t expand it later—no microSD support whatsoever.
Display & Audio
I’ve got very few complaints when it comes to that 6.43-inch AMOLED screen, which is bright, bold, and rather bloody brilliant. Visuals are pin-sharp courtesy of the Full HD+ resolution, while colours are proper poppy on the Vivid mode, with more natural hues available on demand. Contrast is sharp with deep blacks and crisp whites. While the Nord 2 screen is HDR10 certified, Netflix isn’t offering HDR support right now.
OnePlus has added an AI Color Boost and an Image Sharpener tool, supposed to beautify low-res content, but don’t expect it to turn 480p YouTube into glorious HD. More often than not I couldn’t tell the difference. Even my knackered old peepers could appreciate that 90 Hz refresh rate whenever I was nipping around the UI. Supposedly the Nord 2 boasts the smartest auto-brightness on any OnePlus handset, but I gotta say it’s one of the worst I’ve seen—quite often it would max out brightness in a dark room and burn right through my retinas.
The stereo speakers are absolutely fine, and you’ve got healthy codec support when streaming audio via Bluetooth 5.2, but there’s no headphone jack—seriously, none, and I looked really, really hard.
Performance & Gaming
One of the biggest upgrades here versus the original Nord is performance. Running the show is MediaTek’s fresh new 6 nm Dimensity 1200-AI chipset, custom-made for the OnePlus Nord 2, and it’s a bit of a blinder. Everyday running is smoother than a sea-lion scrotum, and no worries if you want to get gaming—memory-chugging titles like Genshin Impact work fine as long as you don’t max out the detail settings. The Nord 2 can get a little toasty after extended play, but you can happily game for an hour or more without performance degradation.
Battery Life & Charging
You’ve got a 4,500 mAh battery packed inside, and with default settings and 90 Hz screen refresh I got all-day play—generally around five to six hours of screen-on time. Even with pretty much all features toggled on, including the always-on ambient display, I still got around five hours of screen-on time. On top of that, the dual-battery design means the OnePlus Nord 2 supports Warp Charge 65 tech, same as the OnePlus 9 flagship, so expect a full charge in around half an hour—brilliant for this price point.
Cameras
That rear camera setup is headlined by a 50 MP Sony IMX 766 primary sensor with built-in optical image stabilisation. While it’s not quite up to the extremely good results you’d get from the Pixel 4a, it is still pretty effing good. Quad-pixel binning means you get 12.5 MP photos by default, with enough detail to keep pics crisp when blown up, although finer detail is often lacking. In stronger light you’ll occasionally see some bleaching, but the Nord 2 often does all right with contrast for a mid-ranger.
The upgraded Dimensity 1200-AI lets the camera detect and differentiate between 22 different subject types, as long as you’ve got AI mode active. I found this often produced less natural-looking results in favour of more vivid pics, but you can always knock it off. For living subjects you can long-press the shutter for burst shot and choose your favourite. Indoor and ambient shots came out well; OIS helps prevent blurry results, and detail levels are respectable. Portrait mode usually turns out attractive snaps with gorgeous bokeh.
Extreme low-light focus still cops out, but Nightscape mode can ensure brighter results—well worth a pop, though still inferior to the Pixel 4a. The Nord 2 serves up a couple of bonus lenses: an 8 MP ultra-wide that does a decent job, and a 2 MP mono lens if you want arty black-and-white photos.
On the video front you can’t shoot 4K at 60 fps, but 30 fps movies show commendable detail. Don’t fight the light and you’ll get a good picture; colours can be somewhat smothered outdoors. Image stabilisation is good even at ultra-HD, and audio pickup is generally clear with wind distortion not too bad.
Last up, the Nord 2 selfie shooter uses a 32 MP IMX 615 sensor. It doesn’t quite do skin tones full justice—my northern skin isn’t this bloody pale all the time—but it’s otherwise fine, does a good job with portrait shots, and you’ve got Nightscape support for low-light snaps.
Verdict
So that right there is my full, final, frank OnePlus Nord 2 review. I gotta say, if you want that sort of stock-ish Android experience with guaranteed updates for extra peace of mind and some pretty premium hardware as well, all for a respectable price, then this is pretty stiff competition for the Google Pixel 4a. Sure, the camera isn’t as good as Google’s, but the performance is definitely a step up. If you want to do lots of gaming on the likes of Genshin Impact, job done.