OnePlus Nord gives consumers budget-friendly 5G handset with great features

After years of being lauded for its affordability and range-topping specs, OnePlus has become another premium flagship brand. This reportedly pushed consumers to consider other brands that offered value for their money. In an effort to bring more users back to its ecosystem, it teased the Nord handset earlier this month. Now, it has officially unveiled the device along with the launch date and pricing. It seems to be a return to form for the brand, but there are still some caveats involved.

Instead of gunning for flagship-grade internals, OnePlus was able to strike a good balance between performance and cost. The Nord ships with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 765 SoC with a choice between 8 GB and 12 GB RAM depending on the internal storage capacity. This means 5G connectivity is available for faster mobile data speeds on networks that have it.

Currently, the OnePlus 8 retails for $699, while the OnePlus 8 Pro is more expensive at $999. The OnePlus Nord, on the other hand, costs approximately $480 for the 128 GB model. Meanwhile, the 256 GB variant is estimated to sell close to $600. Given the small pricing gap, some buyers might want to go for the premium option that sports a Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 chipset instead.

Nevertheless, when it comes to imaging, the Nord appears to be on par with its high-end siblings. It is equipped with a quad-camera array arranged vertically on the upper left corner of the back panel with an LED flash module beside it. It uses a 48-megapixel wide-angle, an 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle, a 2-megapixel macro, and a 5-megapixel depth sensor. Self-portraits are taken by its 32-megapixel wide-angle and 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle dual front-facing cameras.

The metal frame and Gorilla Glass 5 front/back panels notably feel premium to the touch. The Fluid AMOLED 2400 x 1080-resolution touchscreen measures 6.44 inches with a 20:9 aspect ratio and 90 Hz refresh rate. OnePlus gives the Nord a 4,115 mAh battery that supports Warp Charge 30T fast-charging technology. The handset runs on Android 10 with OxygenOS out of the box with the iconic crimson and white charging cable. Finally, buyers can get it in Grey Onyx and Blue Marble colourways.