A well-packaged OnePlus that makes a safe buy in the market!!
OnePlus Nord series is one of the most popular smartphone lineups in the premium mid-range smartphone segment as they get all the specifications right. If you move towards the mid-range segment, then there is the CE lineup of the Nord series which focuses on getting all the basics right and bringing most of the features present in the Nord series.
Then there is the CE Lite lineup of smartphones which is an entry-level offering for OnePlus that just gets the basics right as this year their OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite (Review) was a well-rounded smartphone with all the good specifications for the price at which was offered. Other than that, there is also its elder sibling i.e. OnePlus Nord 3 which is in fact a solid offering from OnePlus.
Now its elder sibling i.e. the OnePlus Nord CE 3 has come in the market which delivers a good experience and does come with good upgrades over the OnePlus Nord CE 2 (Review). The OnePlus Nord CE 2 was a well-packaged smartphone but it had its own set of shortcomings some of which have been addressed with the OnePlus Nord CE 3.
However, with the OnePlus Nord CE 3, OnePlus has made some nice upgrades, especially in terms of chipset, cameras, display, battery life, and charging over its predecessor i.e. the OnePlus Nord CE 2. So is the OnePlus Nord CE 3 worth the upgrade over the OnePlus Nord CE 2 and is it worth buying?
Let's find out in the full review.
OnePlus Nord CE 3 Design:
In terms of build and design, the OnePlus Nord CE 3 sports a newer design than its predecessor i.e. the OnePlus Nord CE 2. The OnePlus Nord CE 2 had a rectangular camera module that houses the triple cameras whereas, on the OnePlus Nord CE 3, you do not get any camera module instead the OnePlus Nord 3 (Review), there are the triple cameras placed on the back and alongside there is the LED flashlight.
The smartphone has curves around the edges which makes it easier to hold in hands. The back has an IP54 rating and it is available in two different colours - Aqua Surge and Gray Shimmer. With the Aqua Surge variant, the colour is blue but here you get a glossy back that attracts a lot of fingerprints and smudges whereas, with the Gray Shimmer variant, there is a metallic effect and catches less fingerprints.
However, the build is still polycarbonate instead of glass, which differentiates it from the OnePlus Nord 3 with a premium glass back. The smartphone weighs around 184 grams, making it lighter and easier to hold. Around the sides, there is a polycarbonate frame that houses the power button and the volume buttons that are placed slightly higher.
However, unlike the OnePlus Nord 3, here you do miss out on the signature alert slider of OnePlus. At the bottom, there is a USB Type-C port, a loudspeaker grille, a primary microphone and a hybrid SIM card slot available where you can use two SIM cards or one SIM card with a microSD card for storage expansion. On the top, there is a secondary noise-cancelling microphone and an IR Blaster to control various devices.
However, it needs to include the 3.5mm headphone jack which is present on the OnePlus Nord CE 2. On the front, there is a single punch-hole display with minimum bezels but still compared to the OnePlus Nord 3, they are slightly thicker. Overall, the build and design are good but the polycarbonate back is a slight downside compared to a premium glass build.
OnePlus Nord CE 3 Display:
The OnePlus Nord CE 3 sports a slightly larger 6.7-inches Full HD+(1080x2412) Fluid AMOLED display with a screen-to-body ratio of 20:9. However, this display is slightly larger compared to the 6.43-inches display on the OnePlus Nord CE 2. Another upgrade here is the support for a 120Hz refresh rate compared to a 90Hz refresh rate on the OnePlus Nord CE 2.
The display on the OnePlus Nord CE 3 is a 10-bit panel and since it is an AMOLED panel, the colours look vibrant with great viewing angles. The 120Hz refresh rate on the OnePlus Nord CE 3 has three different settings: Auto Select, High, and Standard. If you switch to Auto Select, the display refreshes between 30Hz, 60Hz, 90Hz or 120Hz depending on the content in the display.
But if you switch the display to 120Hz, it continuously maintains a stable 120Hz except for some applications that can only refresh around 60Hz and 90Hz. If you switch to standard 60Hz, the battery life is very well optimized. Combined with the 120Hz refresh rate, you get a 240Hz touch sampling rate for faster touch responses.
The display on the OnePlus Nord CE 3 can reach a peak brightness of 950nits which is good and you get good visibility under direct sunlight. The display offers two different settings to choose from - Vivid and Natural where setting the display to Natural mode provides off-white and realistic colours that cover the sRGB colour space whereas with the Vivid mode, you get punchier colours that cover the DCI-P3 gamut.
However, it does miss out on the Pro mode which is present on the OnePlus Nord 3. Since it is an AMOLED display you get an optical in-display fingerprint scanner that works accurately and is faster. In terms of protection, OnePlus has not specified any kind of protection on its front display. There is support for HDR on YouTube and Widevine L1 so you can stream HDR content on OTT platforms easily.
But Netflix does not have any support for HDR as of now. Overall, the display is great for multi-media consumption.
OnePlus Nord CE 3 Performance:
The OnePlus Nord CE 3 sports a powerful Snapdragon 782G chipset which is a good upgrade over the MediaTek Dimensity 900 chipset on the OnePlus Nord CE 2. The Snapdragon 782G is an octa-core chipset that has: 1x2.7 GHz Kryo 670 Prime core, 3x2.4GHz Kryo 670 cores and another 4x1.8GHz Kryo 670 cores, both of which are based on ARM Cortex-A78 architecture.
This chipset is based on an efficient 6nm process and is coupled with a powerful Adreno 642L GPU, similar to the one found on the Snapdragon 778G+ chipset. In all the daily activities like scrolling through webpages, playing games, clicking images, taking videos, etc. all tasks felt smoother on the smartphone. In terms of heavy gaming, you can easily play COD Mobile, BGMI, etc.
In BGMI, you could easily play HDR graphics with Extreme frame rates without any frame drops. However, with extended gaming for 3-4 hours continuously, the back of the smartphone did not feel warmer as OnePlus has provided a vapour cooling system that dissipates heat faster. In the CPU throttling test, we could only achieve 90-95 per cent of sustained performance without any throttling present.
In benchmarks, the scores came out good but still the scores are lesser than other powerful chipsets like the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2 chipset on the POCO F5 (Review) or the Mediatek Dimensity 8020 chipset on the Motorola Edge 40 (Review). In terms of network connectivity, you get support for good carrier aggregation and 9 bands of 5G.
Unlike the OnePlus Nord CE 2 which was available in two variants - 6/8GB RAM with 128GB storage, the OnePlus Nord CE 3 is available in two variants - 8/12GB LPDDR4X RAM with 128/256GB storage having UFS 3.1 speeds. So overall, the performance and gaming are good but still, there are other smartphones in this price range that do provide a better gaming experience.
OnePlus Nord CE 3 Software:
The OnePlus Nord CE 3 runs on OxygenOS 13.1 based on Android 13 out of the box. OxygenOS13 brings a lot of customizations where you can change icon shape, size and colour accent, you can choose different styles for Always-On display, fingerprint scanner animation and also other OnePlus-specific features like Zen Mode, Shelf, etc.
Other Android 13-specific features include Media controls, enhanced dark mode with three different settings, a Privacy Dashboard to control the access of the camera, and microphone as well as the location of the applications, etc. Other functional features include floating windows where you can open two applications simultaneously, and a smart sidebar to place your favourite applications and use them when required.
Just like all OnePlus smartphones, there is no bloatware as such except for one or two applications which is very good and provides a smooth experience. In terms of software updates, the OnePlus Nord CE 3 will receive another two years of AndroidOS updates and three years of security updates which is also a good thing. The software experience has been one of the core strengths of OnePlus and it is no different here.
OnePlus Nord CE 3 Cameras:
The OnePlus Nord CE 3 sports a triple camera setup that includes a 50MP f/1.8 Sony IMX890 sensor found on the main camera w/o OIS, an 8MP f/2.2 ultrawide camera and a 2MP f/2.4 macro camera. On the front, there is a 16MP f/2.4 camera for selfies. The primary camera is a good upgrade over the 64MP OmniVision sensor on the primary camera on its predecessor i.e. the OnePlus Nord CE 2.
The images from the main camera come out with sharper details but the dynamic range is not so good as it comes out average with a slight amount of noise present in the background. The colours look natural without any oversharpening in the background. Even the HDR shots came out with good details but still, the images are not as good as on the OnePlus Nord 3 or the OnePlus 11R that have a similar sensor for the main camera.
At night, the main camera does a decent job with details that look slightly softer and the dynamic range is not so wide. However, still, the exposure is well handled in low-lighting scenarios but there is oversharpening present in the background. With the dedicated night mode turned on, the images have slightly better details and dynamic range with less noise in the background.
The 8MP ultrawide camera does a decent job in terms of details and dynamic range with a slight amount of noise present in the background but you do get a wider 119-degree field of view. There is some oversharpening present in the background and a similar situation is also seen at night where the details and dynamic range both come out to be average.
The 2MP macro camera is just for making up the numbers as the macro images come out with average details with poor dynamic range, more noise in the background and washed-out colours. The portraits come out with good details and dynamic range but still, the edge detection is good and background blur is implemented properly with less noise in the background.
But in terms of selfies, the front camera on the OnePlus Nord CE 3 does a very good job as it provides sharper details and good dynamic range with less noise in the background. The skin tones come out naturally without any oversharpening in the background and the portrait selfies come out with good edge detection and proper background blur but slight oversharpening is present in the background.
In terms of videos, the primary camera on the OnePlus Nord CE 3 can record 4K videos at 30fps which comes out with good details and dynamic range but there is some amount of noise in the background as it lacks OIS and oversharpening is present at times. Switching to 1080p videos at 60fps, the videos come out with good dynamic range, sharper details and less noise in the background.
The ultrawide camera can only record 1080p videos at 30fps and the videos come out with average details and dynamic range with a larger amount of noise present in the background. On the front, the camera only records 1080p videos at 30fps and OnePlus has implemented EIS very well, so details and dynamic range come out very well with less noise in the background.
Overall, the cameras are decent and could have been better but the front camera performance is really great.
OnePlus Nord CE 3 Battery Life:
The OnePlus Nord CE 3 sports a slightly larger battery of 5000mAh compared to the 4500mAh battery capacity on the OnePlus Nord CE 2. However, this has significantly improved the battery life and combined the Snapdragon 782G chipset which is built on a 6nm process does provide good battery life. With standard usage with the display set to 120Hz, you get around 6.5-7 hours of screen-on time.
With heavy usage that includes playing games like COD Mobile, Asphalt 9 Legends, taking videos and clicking photos, rendering videos, etc., the smartphone easily lasts for one and half days with a standard screen-on time of around 4-4.5 hours which is really good. There is an 80W SuperVOOC charger which is a good upgrade over the 65W fast charger bundled with its predecessor i.e. OnePlus Nord CE 2.
With the bundled charger inside the box, it charges the smartphone from 0 to 100 per cent within 35-40 minutes which is very fast. Overall, the battery life is a good improvement over its predecessor.
OnePlus Nord CE 3 Audio Quality:
For the first time in the OnePlus Nord CE series, OnePlus has provided a dual stereo speaker setup that sounds adequately loud and clear with proper depth and bass level. There is no distortion present in the sound even at the highest volume settings but this time OnePlus has omitted the 3.5mm headphone jack which was present on its predecessor. It also supports Dolby Atmos for enhanced sound output.
Verdict:
The OnePlus Nord CE 3 is a solid mid-range smartphone from OnePlus as it brings all the basic specifications like a good build and design, a 120Hz AMOLED display with stereo speakers, good performance and decent gaming with the Snapdragon 782G chipset, good software experience, good battery life with faster charging, etc.
It does feel like a good upgrade over its predecessor i.e. the OnePlus Nord CE 2. However, there are some shortcomings that need to be addressed like the build and design are still polycarbonate instead of glass which feels premium, and the gaming performance is not the segment best as other smartphones do offer like the POCO F5 that provides excellent gaming and better performance
Though the primary camera is similar to its elder siblings is not so well-tuned except for the front camera, so there is a lot of scope for improvement when it comes to cameras. If you look at the overall package, the OnePlus Nord CE 3 may not excel in all areas but it does provide a balanced product with the brand value of OnePlus and the core experience of OxygenOS with no bloatware.
So if you are a person looking for a well-balanced mid-range smartphone with the brand recognition of OnePlus thus sacrificing the cameras and gaming experience, then the OnePlus Nord CE 3 is a solid buy and is definitely worth an upgrade over its predecessor i.e. the OnePlus Nord CE 2 thus making it worth buying.
