OnePlus claims this product focuses on its core values by using the CE suffix (Core Edition) to name the product. The company claims to have selected the most practical values in the OnePlus Nord series user experience to provide essential features at an accessible price.
The typical design of the Nord series, thin and light, no longer “specialty” of the quick switch to silent mode
The OnePlus Nord CE 5G inherits many similarities with the original OnePlus Nord, especially on the back with glossy material and an oval camera placed vertically in the left corner. The difference is that the Nord CE is thinner, the thickness is reduced to 7.9mm, and the weight is 170g, compared to 8.2mm and 184g of Nord.
That is the thinnest and lightest OnePlus smartphone available today since the OnePlus 6T. The device still has a 3.5mm audio jack, not removed like on Nord. Another distinction between the two Nords is that the CE version has a mole screen with a single selfie camera, while the standard Nord uses a pill-shaped screen with a dual selfie camera.
Thanks to its thin and light grip, Nord CE is quite comfortable to hold, easy to use with one hand for a long time without pain. However, the device is slippery and easy to stick to sweat and fingerprints due to its glossy back. Fortunately, it comes in the box; there is a soft plastic case with a pretty personality pattern.
The machine is sturdy, solid; there is no creaking phenomenon even when pressing hard on the back of the frame, even though these details are made of plastic, not glass or metal.
The unfortunate point on Nord CE is that the dedicated switch has been removed to switch between Vibrate – Ring or Silent modes quickly. That is a “specialty” on OnePlus smartphones. The company learned from the iPhone but slightly modified it when swiping vertically and has three steps instead of horizontal and only two steps like Apple’s phones.
Good quality 90Hz AMOLED screen, sensitive fingerprint but missing dual speakers
The screen of the OnePlus Nord CE has a design similar to most competitors in the price range when using a flat design with a left-angled mole. Nord CE’s screen size reaches 6.43 inches, Full HD + resolution of 2400×1080 pixels, 20: 9 aspect ratio, Fluid AMOLED panels, supports both Display P3 color range, HDR10+, good viewing of HDR content on YouTube and Netflix.
The strange thing is that OnePlus does not announce the type of tempered glass that the device uses. Nord CE’s screen has a 90Hz refresh rate, similar to the first Nord. At a 90Hz refresh rate, the device will automatically switch to a lower frequency depending on the displayed content to save battery.
Like most smartphones on the market today, Nord CE’s screen is pre-glued with a thin plastic screen protector to prevent scratches, but it will cause stress when swiping the edge because it cannot cover all the 2.5D curved edges. If you are not too worried about scratches, you should remove this screen protector for a smoother stroking experience.
The screen border is thin, the chin is not too thick, so the content is displayed freely. The screen has good display quality, bright colors, high contrast, and brightness, clearly visible in the hot sun, deep blacks, wide viewing angle characteristic of AMOLED panels, so you can experience movies and play games. The 90Hz refresh rate is just enough to provide page scrolling, application opening and closing, and smooth multitasking. The optical fingerprint under the screen works quickly, stably, accurately identifies even when the finger is slightly wet.
Like OnePlus Nord or OnePlus 8 Pro, Nord CE’s screen offers a lot of color customization. In addition to familiar modes such as Vivid, Natural, you can also tweak colors according to sRGB or DCI P3 standards when you need to edit color photos and videos.
Nord CE’s external speakers have a large volume in terms of sound, filling a 20 square meter room. The sound is clear, not distorted, when opened to the maximum. However, the machine only has a single speaker, with a single external speaker on the bottom edge, does not use the speakerphone as the second external speaker, creating stereo effects like the Nord N10, so the experience of playing games and watching movies is less lively.
Smooth performance, stable gameplay
In the whole configuration part, OnePlus Nord CE 5G is kitted out with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G 5G processor , and that boosts CPU performance by around 20% while the GPU gets about 10% more, compared with the Snapdragon 730G setup, basically thanks to the Kryo 750 CPU and Adreno 619 GPU . It is produced on the same process, 8nm, so nothing too wild there. Also, this same chipset is showing up on a few other phones , for example Samsung Galaxy A52 5G , or even Xiaomi Mi 10T Lite 5G.
Snapdragon 750 actually manages 5G mmWave, as well as Sub-6 GHz networks, and also it adds WiFi 6 together with Bluetooth 5.1. The top 5G download speed can hit about 3.7 Gbps, while for upload it climbs up to 1.6 Gbps. Now for storage capacity , the OnePlus Nord CE 5G shows up with two setups : 8GB RAM + 128GB built in storage, or 12GB RAM + 256GB internal storage. The exact variant chosen in the BiaReview review is the 8/128GB model. The device supports 2 SIMs and uses a traditional dual SIM tray, with both new generation 5G connectivity but no expansion memory card slot.
Nord CE’s performance scores from familiar benchmark software are all at a good level. The machine gives more than 380 thousand AnTuTu points, of which the CPU score is more than 115 thousand points, and the GPU score is more than 92 thousand points. In practical use, Nord CE also gives quick, smooth feedback, from opening and closing applications, switching multitasking, opening multiple apps simultaneously, nothing to complain.
The gaming performance of Snapdragon 750 on Nord CE is good. When tested with today’s popular games such as League of Legends Wild Rift, Arena of valor Mobile, Call of Duty Mobile, the device gave good results with a stable frame of approximately 60fps, high graphics settings. However, with the game PUBG Mobile, Nord CE can only turn on 40fps even at the lowest setting, so it has not been played yet.
League of Legends Wild Rift plays smoothly at nearly 60fps at the highest graphics quality, with full effects enabled
Arena of valor Mobile plays “good” at nearly 60fps but unfortunately cannot turn on HD image quality.
Call of Duty Mobile “battles” stable at 55fps but only turned on the High – Max graphics setting
Especially with the Genshin Impact game, even though it is set to the lowest level, turning off all effects, Nord CE still gives a continuous up and down the frame. Perhaps this game is a bit too much with the Snapdragon 750 chip.
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Battery, 1-hour charge is full.
The OnePlus Nord CE 5G comes with a 4,500 mAh battery which is bigger than the 4,115 mAh on the first-gen Nord. It’s not, like, overly huge or anything, but real-world use kind of surprises you with battery endurance that feels unexpected, in a good way. So yeah you can typically run it all day even with high intensity use, no problem. I usually achieve 7-8 hours of screen time in normal daily use with continuous web browsing, photography, gaming, 4G, Bluetooth, and GPS.
BiaReview standard battery checks on the Nord CE show pretty good results. On the 90Hz screen choice, the handset can last 15 hours 22 minutes of nonstop movie watching, 10 hours 04 minutes of continuous web surfing, and 6 hours 39 minutes of continuous gaming. The difference between the 90Hz and 60Hz battery test numbers is not exactly huge, so yeah, you can safely switch to 90Hz mode, and get that smooth feel without worry.
OnePlus also says the Nord CE comes with that sort of upgraded Warp 30T Plus fast charging, even if it kind of stays locked at 30W. So, even though the Nord CE has a bigger 4,500 mAh battery than the regular Nord (4,115 mAh), it still manages the same charging pace, from 0% to 70% in around 30 minutes or so. And like pretty much every other OnePlus phone it tweaks the overnight charging routine, to cut down the time the battery is just sitting at that full, 100% state. So theoretically, the life span upsides should be more noticeable.
When I charge Nord CE from 0%, turn off the device; after 15 minutes, the device gets 35%, 30 minutes gets 69%, and 100% battery in 1 hour.
Round shoulder camera, night mode is not as expected.
Nord CE comes with a group of 3 back cameras , there is a 64MP main sensor with a big aperture of f/1.79. It also has an 8MP ultra-wide-angle camera, 119 degree field of view, f/2.25 aperture, and then a 2MP mono camera that supports front removal. On the front, there’s a 16MP selfie camera with an f/2.45 aperture placed in the mole. The camera set includes a night mode , to boost image quality in dim conditions. It can shoot up to 8 photos with varied exposures and then mix them together in a few seconds, so you get clearer brighter shots overall.
Nord CE’s camera interface is similar to recent OnePlus devices with a hand-scanning feature from bottom to top to call a convenient mode switch menu. Saving time having to go through each mode, suitable for advanced users, need quick access to night mode or professional shooting. The device allows double-clicking the power button to open the camera like Samsung smartphones quickly.
In bright enough conditions, the 64MP main camera of OnePlus Nord CE has a fast focusing speed and saves images. Photos obtained from this camera have sharp, good details, good light range. The color is in a natural direction, a bit pale, not in a bright tone like the brothers Realme, Oppo. The sharpness is also at a moderate level, not too harsh. When you need fresher, more creative colors, you can choose from the available color filters with a wide range of options.
The 64MP camera still gives good image quality in low light, but the shutter speed and image saving are significantly reduced. Photos are easy to blur and lose focus if you do not patiently hold the camera.
Like most smartphones today, Nord CE also has a night mode to improve low-light photos, working on both the 64MP main camera and the 8MP ultra-wide-angle camera. The night mode on Nord CE does not leave much of an impression. Despite improvements in sharpness, detail, color, and light range, photos sometimes end up with the wrong white balance. It should be noted the night mode is only good for still images, and you still need to hold the camera firmly
With the 8MP ultra wide angle camera, the photo quality is kind of average, you know. Pictures taken with it usually have decent sharpness, but there is not that much true detail, the light range feels pretty narrow, and there’s a heavy purple cast sometimes especially when you shoot backlit situations, like where the sun is behind your subject. It’s like the contrast feels a bit odd, and the colors don’t stay very natural. In low light, the ultra-wide-angle camera on Nord CE continues to plummet in quality. Fortunately, the night mode works with both the ultra-wide-angle camera and helps improve image quality significantly compared to when shooting automatically.
The front 16MP selfie camera takes good photos with high definition, detail, wide light range, does not beautify the face too much, retains the natural focus.
Oxygen OS software is lean, agile, close to stock Android.
The key point that makes the OnePlus famous and high configuration and attractive price is the Oxygen OS operating system. The world technology community highly appreciates a customized operating system for its smoothness, almost on par with the original Android on Google Pixel devices, while still providing many modes for deep tweaking of the interface feature. With the OnePlus Nord CE, it arrives preinstalled with Oxygen OS 11, based on Android 11. Like other OnePlus flagships, Nord CE should get two years of platform updates and three years of security patches.
The point that I find most impressive on Nord CE’s OxygenOS 11 is that the transition effects, application opening, and closing are all very agile and smooth. The system interface and default apps such as calling, messaging, photo gallery is airy and intuitive. The “clean” device does not install any additional applications besides Netflix. The Always On Display screen displays both the number of times the device is unlocked during the day, along with the date and time information, battery level, and application notifications. Full Dark Mode can customize the interface with various colors, shapes of system icons, and quick settings.
An interesting feature in OxygenOS is Zen Mode, which temporarily helps you “detox phone” by turning off all distracting notifications and features and keeping only basic features like calling and taking photos. A special feature is that once it’s activated Zen mode can’t be canceled. You can only leave this mode when the preset time runs out , which is set anywhere from 20 to 60 minutes. OxygenOS 11 is optimized for one handed use thanks to the repositioning of touch controls and also a minimalist interface design, so it feels a bit more calm overall.
Summary
With Nord CE, OnePlus shows that it stays true to its tradition of heavily prioritizing performance software , battery life, charging speed screen quality, and it even accepts certain tradeoffs for personal design choices or current trends. Trending products like the multi color matte back, magnetic camera.
OnePlus Nord CE 5G will compete with a series of rivals such as Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G, Oppo Reno6 Z 5G, Samsung Galaxy A52 4G, realme 8 Pro, Vivo V21 5G. The representative of OnePlus has the advantage in agile performance, good quality screen, buffalo battery, lean and smooth software. However, the design lacks personality, the camera is not outstanding, which will be a barrier for OnePlus to convince the majority, especially for young users.
Tech Reviewer & Product Analyst
Định Bia has spent over 10 years testing consumer electronics with a focus on smart technology. He work as a product advisor at Biareview where he helped customers find the right devices for their needs. He personally tests every product featured on this site using a consistent evaluation framework covering quality, durability, and value. All reviews are based on experience, not influenced by the manufacturer.
