One plus Nord full specification 2020:
Introduction
After almost 7 years one plus is finally stepping into the mid-range market segment. With the company's flagships increasingly out of the reach of its core audience, Nord is intended to bring some of the OnePlus flagship experience and core values to the more price-conscious segment of the market - the one that made OnePlus what it is today.
This isn't the first time they stepped into the mid-range market. With the launch of one plus 2, they launched one plus x which is a bit cheaper than one plus 2 OnePlus X, which despite being a great phone, met with an unenthusiastic response from the customers and got the series discontinued after a year.
But things are different now; the OnePlus X was only slightly cheaper than the OnePlus 2, which was the flagship OnePlus phone at the time, so for some people, it didn't feel necessary. This time around, the OnePlus 8 is significantly more expensive, with the 8 Pro even further up the price ladder, making the Nord that much more relevant.
So Nord is no longer a fun little experiment for OnePlus like the OnePlus X was. It's a serious weapon that it intends to wield in this increasingly competitive segment. A segment now dominated by brands like Xiaomi and Realme in certain markets, who took OnePlus' absence as an opportunity to build their market share. And a segment that was recently shaken by the launch of the google pixel 4a and iPhone SE caused some to question their loyalties as they made the switch to Apple's perfectly manicured walled-garden.
one plus Nord full specification:
Body:
- Plastic frame.
- Corning Gorilla Glass 5 front and back.
- 158.3 x 73.3 x 8.2mm, 184g.
Display:
- 6.44-inch.
- 2400x1080 20:9 AMOLED
- 90Hz
- HDR10/HDR10+/HLG, DCI-P3
Rear cameras:
- Main: 48MP f1.75 PDAF 6P OIS.
- Ultra-wide: 8MP f2.25 fixed-focus.
- Macro: 2MP f2.4.
- fixed-focus Depth: 5MP f2.4.
- dual-LED flash.
- 4K30, 1080p240 Video.
Front cameras:
- Main: 32MP f2.45 fixed focus.
- Ultra-wide: 8MP f2.45 fixed focus.
- 4K60 video
Software:
- Android 10.
- OxygenOS 10.5.
Chipset:
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G.
Processor:
- octa-core CPU (1x2.4 GHz Kryo 475 Prime & 1x2.2 GHz Kryo 475 Gold & 6x1.8 GHz Kryo 475 Silver),
GPU:
- Adreno 620 GPU
Memory:
- 8/12GB LPDDR4X
Storage:
- 128/256GB UFS 2.1
Battery:
- 4115mAh.
- 30W Warp Charge 30T
Connectivity:
- Dual SIM.
- 5G.
- LTE-A.
- USB-C 2.0.
- dual-band Wi-Fi 2x2 MIMO 802.11ac.
- Bluetooth 5.1.
- NFC.
- GPS/GLONASS/Galileo/BeiDou/SBAS/NavIC.
Misc:
- Under-display fingerprint sensor.
- single loudspeaker.
- linear vibration motor.
- face unlock.
- alert slider.
On one hand is the OnePlus fanbase, who has gotten increasingly displeased at the company's rising prices. On the other hand, is competition from rivals who have now gone on to become market leaders in this segment. And in between is people like us, who have gotten mighty used to reviewing and using great budget phones and are getting harder to please.
Packaging
Nord packaging is different from what we have seen in the past year. While the company had white boxes for years before moving on to red boxes in 2019, the Nord comes in an all-black box with the series signature light blue accents.
Apart from the packaging, the rest of the inside box which gives one plus Nord full specification is quite similar. you get a silicone semi-clear soft case, adapter (30W), and data cable. we missed matching color accessories but the additional cost of that would have inflated the phone's pricing.
The silicone case provided in the box is, as always, a welcome addition. It fits the phone perfectly and provides sufficient protection. We are glad that OnePlus did not plaster its name in big bold letters this time around as it did for the OnePlus 8 series cases.
The main problem of the inbox case is USB flap which always gets in a way when trying to plug in a charger. Well, if you wanted to step up the game you can purchase one plus official covers. Three covers are launched by one plus two in colors and one is a clear case.
The first is in a striking shade of Nord Blue that compliments the phone well and makes you feel less bad about covering up such a good-looking phone. It is, however, quite slippery as the texture on the back offers very little grip.
The black-colored Sandstone case looks identical apart from the color and is the less exciting option. Strangely, though, it had a much better grip even though the texture felt similar to touch.
The last one is the clear bumper case. This one is a bit odd as it's quite similar to the case that comes with the phone. It's stiffer but not inflexible. Apart from that, it's just a plain old clear case. If you think the bundled silicone case is not clear enough then this could be ideal. No annoying USB flap, either.
Design
The one plus Nord is an appealing phone. The most impressive thing is its color, which OnePlus calls Blue Marble. It is a perfect mixture of Cyan (greenish-blue color.) That we no longer see in the market for a long time.
The back of the phone reflects light in a colored pattern that distracts from the beautiful shade of blue that we have here and doesn't work very well together. Just the blue without any fancy color patterns would have been ideal.
The camera tray is now arranged on the left side, much as has become tradition lately. It's also a sizable bump, so the phone never quite rests flat on a hard surface.
The frame of the phone is made out of plastic and has been painted in a shiny chrome finish with a matching shade of blue. It looks quite nice and feels quite convincingly like metal.
The front of the phone will likely be controversial for some people. This time they didn’t adopt hole punch design or notch cutout rather they a pill-shaped cutout for the dual front cameras making their debut on an OnePlus phone. This takes a lot of space from the notification bar which looks small and narrow.
Some of you may have already noticed the similarities to the Realme X50 Pro design. Indeed, even the dimensions of the two phones and the display specs are quite similar. Is the Nord just a reskinned X50 Pro? OnePlus would probably deny that but it's quite possible the sister companies shared some of the R&D load and the Nord is even manufactured in Oppo's manufacturing facility in India.
Speaking of dimensions, the Nord isn't particularly small nor light. It's slightly thicker, wider, and heavier than the OnePlus 8. The difference on paper isn't much but the OnePlus 8 feels much thinner and lighter in hand, in part due to the curved display. The difference makes the significantly more expensive OnePlus 8 feel more premium but by no means does the Nord feel bad.
The Nord is quite nicely built in its own right. The curvature of the sides and the finish make for delightful user experience and the weight feels more reassuring than bulky. A premium look and feel is something we have come to expect from OnePlus now and it's good to see the Nord delivers it in spades.
Unfortunately, the Nord has no official IP rating for dust and water-resistance. That's not shocking since most phones in this segment are like that. Plus the company promise that it can withstand the occasional splash even though it will not commit to fixing the phone if things end up bad.
That aside, the Nord is a well-built, well-designed smartphone with a premium look and feel that stays true to the company's generally high standards
Camera
The one plus Nord full specification comes with a total of six cameras, the most for any OnePlus phone. Four of them are on the back while two are embedded in the display.
The rear camera array consists of a 48MP f/1.75 Sony IMX586 main camera with a 6P lens and OIS, an 8MP f2/.25 fixed-focus ultrawide camera, 2MP f2.4 fixed-focus macro unit, and finally a depth sensor. If you wanted to be realistic, you could say the phone only really has three cameras on the back, as the depth sensor doesn't take any pictures. And you'd be correct, but that doesn't look as good on the spec sheet.
In case you are curious about the order of the cameras, on the back, the top-most lens is the ultrawide, followed by the main wide camera, the depth sensor, and finally the macro camera at the bottom. The portrait mode effect worked even with the depth sensor covered, which further suggests that it was mostly included to make the numbers.
You can record video at up to 4K at 30fps from the main as well as the ultrawide camera. Mind you, the latter lacks the resolution for true 4K recording, particularly after the heavy crop applied, so there's a lot of interpolation going on. There's also an option to record cropped 21:9 videos for a more cinematic look but there's no 24fps mode to complete the effect. There's also no 60fps option in 4K and you can only record 60fps at 1080p on the rear cameras.
On the front is the dual-camera setup, consisting of a 32MP f/2.45 fixed-focus Sony IMX616 camera on the right along with an 8MP f/2.45 fixed-focus ultrawide camera on the left. Both the wide and ultra-wide cameras can record videos in 1080p 30fps but the standard wide camera can also record 60fps video in 1080p and 4K, making it the only camera on this phone to record 4K60 video. We wonder then what prevented OnePlus from enabling 4K60 for the rear cameras.
A flat 90Hz screen
The OnePlus Nord has a 6.44-inch, 2400x1080 resolution AMOLED display. Like the OnePlus 8, this panel refreshes at 90Hz. However, unlike the two flagship models, the Nord has a flat panel, which doesn't look as fancy but is better for image quality and usability.
We can also confirm that the Nord has a hardware proximity sensor, similar to the OnePlus 8 series, so you won't have the screen wake issue during calls found on the OnePlus 7 series that utilized a software solution for sensing proximity.
A single speaker and a linear vibration motor
The Nord has a single loudspeaker at the bottom. Not ideal for videos or games but it gets reasonably loud and sounds decent. There's no headphone jack nor is there any adapter or headset (except France) provided in the box. OnePlus will, however, happily sell you those separately, alongside the new OnePlus Buds.
The USB-C port on the Nord is only USB 2.0 compatible, which means data transfers aren't as fast as with USB 3.1 devices.
The OnePlus Nord also has the linear vibration motor found on the OnePlus 8 phones. This allows it to reproduce more precise clicks and taps with the vibration motor without the vague buzzing you find on most other phones.
Our OnePlus Nord was running OxygenOS 10.5 at the time of writing. The software seemed identical at first to the OnePlus 8 but it has some minor differences. The one that piqued our curiosity the most was the inclusion of Google's Phone and Messages app instead of the OxygenOS versions of those apps. We are not sure why OnePlus chose to include these apps on the Nord and we couldn't get an explanation from OnePlus at the time of publishing.
The Nord also lacks the Dolby Atmos feature found on the OnePlus 8 series. Instead, it has Dirac Audio, which is implemented similarly to Atmos on the OnePlus 8 series. The EQ is more elaborate on the Nord and we are not sure if this is coming to the OnePlus 8 devices as well.
Nord comes with a whole new set of clock styles for its ambient display mode. This includes our favorite Text clock, which displays the time as text. There are seven additional clock faces. Again, none of these are present on the OnePlus 8 series and we are not sure when they will be coming, if at all. (Update: The clock faces have now been added to the OnePlus 8 series in the latest update.)
Lastly, the Nord has a 4,115mAh battery. The phone comes with the same 30W Warp Charge 30T charger as the OnePlus 8 series, but it has no wireless charging support.
Conclusion
Nord is up to the standards that we have come to expect from OnePlus. It offers a premium design and builds, quality display, good performance, and a clean, user-friendly interface. All in all, OnePlus' return to the mid-range segment is a promising one, even if we aren't getting a flagship killer anymore.
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