OnePlus made an important step to popularize its smartphone brand with the introduction of a new mid-range phone dubbed OnePlus Nord. The Nord is the first OnePlus mid-range phone in years. It brings some of the company’s innovative concepts but makes some compromises to achieve a lower price point. Under the hood, the phone carries the Snapdragon 765G SoC which ensures 5G connectivity, but its build is composed of a plastic frame. It has a 48MP camera, but in counterpart to other mid-range phones in the market, it brings OIS.
Two variants available now – 8GB / 128GB and 12GB / 256GB
The OnePlus Nord is making way to different markets. Recently, the device has become Amazon’s India most-anticipated phone ever. Today, it can be pre-ordered in the country through the e-commerce giant’s website. According to Amazon, the shipments will start the next Tuesday. There are three options of the phones, with prices starting from INR27,999 ($375/€320). This price is for the 8GB RAM / 128GB storage variant.
The 8GB RAM variant is available in both Gray Onyx and Marble Blue colors. There is also an instant discount with certain cards. Moreover, OnePlus is offering a six-month extended warranty and 50GB cloud storage. This is part of the company’s new program in India called Red Cable Club. The Chinese firm also sells a 12GB RAM with a 256GB version in the country. However, this particular unit is only available in the Gray Onyx color. The upper variant sells for INR 29,999 which is equivalent of $400 or €340. It still is a good price, considering that in Europe the handset sells for a 50% higher price at €499.
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OnePlus will even offer a cheaper variant with 6GB of RAM and just 64GB of Internal Storage. This latter option will be exclusive to the country and will sell for INR 24,999 ($320 / €285 ). However, it will only appear in September. We don’t think that getting this option is a good deal since 64GB is not much at this point and the phone lacks a microSD card.
ONEPLUS NORD SPECIFICATIONS
The OnePlus Nord is a competitive smartphone flaunting a gorgeous 6.44-inch Fluid AMOLED display. The panel offers a 90Hz refresh rate and FHD+ resolution. Rather than a single selfie snapper, the smartphone boasts a pill-shaped cutout for two selfie snappers. The main camera is a 32MP unit optimized for night shots. There is another Ultra-Wide Angle camera and the company ensures that will ditch the obsolete selfie stick.
Under the hood, the phone boasts the excellent Snapdragon 765G SoC. Multi-Tasking comes with 6GB, 8GB, and even 12GB of RAM. Storage-wise, it is split between variants with 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB variants. The storage is UFS 2.1, and since this is an OnePlus phone the microSD card slot is absent. The phone has a Quad-Camera setup with 48MP main shooter leading the show. While there is no telephoto/periscope module for super zoom capabilities, the phone ships with Optical Image Stabilization which is a plus on this price range. Other features include NFC, in-display fingerprint scanner, and dual SIM support. Lights are kept by a 4,115mAh battery and Android 10 is running below OxygenOS build.
The company promises two years of major Android updates and three years of security patch updates.