The OnePlus Nord CE 4 goals to be a stable mid-range system which is predicted to ship the fundamentals going by the model’s ‘Core Expertise’ philosophy. Whereas the Nord CE sequence began off as a watered-down model of the numbered Nord sequence, OnePlus has been including fascinating updates that someway appear to scale back the hole between the CE and non-CE Nord fashions through the years. This 12 months, not like earlier releases we see OnePlus releasing the brand new Nord CE 4 earlier than the Nord 4. Whereas there is no such thing as a indicator that OnePlus will announce a Nord 4 this 12 months, the OnePlus Nord CE 4 appears to have sufficient new {hardware} to warrant an improve from its predecessor the Nord CE 3.
Whereas it makes for a great improve for Nord CE3 customers on paper, I am not too assured about recommending it and this is why.
OnePlus Nord CE 4 Evaluation: Worth in India
The OnePlus Nord CE 4 not like final 12 months’s Nord CE3 is out there in a single RAM variant. Patrons solely get to decide on between two storage variants this 12 months. The telephone is out there in an 8GB RAM and 128GB storage variant which is priced at Rs. 24,999 and 256GB storage possibility which is priced at Rs. 26,999.
The system is out there in two colourways, Darkish Chrome, which has a shiny gray end and Celadon Marble that has a mint-green look. We obtained the 256GB variant in Celadon Marble for overview.
OnePlus Nord CE 4 Evaluation: Design
In contrast to earlier releases the Nord CE 4 additionally feels particular as a result of it additionally ushers within the new design language that ought to have ideally been launched by the costlier Nord 4. However since there is no signal of the OnePlus Nord 4 (launched because the Ace 3V in China) releasing in India but, the Nord CE 4’s design positive feels contemporary and new when positioned subsequent to any presently obtainable Nord sequence system obtainable in India.
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The telephone’s rear panel continues to be made out of polycarbonate and has a shiny end and so it gathers fingerprints inside minutes. However due to this vibrant colourway these aren’t seen until you view the telephone at an angle. Its curved edge design together with its marble-like texture positive seems the half for a mid-range system. I additionally like how OnePlus has stored the marginally raised and elongated (capsule-shaped) digital camera module clear, which displays the marble design under it. It seems as if a big water droplet assembled itself on the rear panel with the contrasting darkish digital camera cutouts and lenses floating in it.
The body similar to earlier than can be comprised of polycarbonate. It has bevelled edges and flat sides which can be a distinction to the curved edges of the rear panel. It is not sharp however does poke a bit into my palm and so I used to be completely satisfied to discover a delicate silicon-like TPU colour-matched cowl within the field, which seems and feels fairly premium.
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OnePlus claims that its Nord CE 4’s design is sturdy sufficient to face up to a drop from 1.5 metres and never disassemble itself or shatter from the autumn, which is one thing I didn’t wish to take a look at out, regardless that the telephone felt fairly stable when it comes to construct high quality. I did check out spraying some water on the telephone as its design is now IP54-rated for mud and water resistance. The telephone survived, nevertheless it’s a really primary score so far as IP certifications go. There are price range smartphones that supply the identical stage of mud and water resistance and gadgets that supply much better rankings at a barely larger asking value.
And since it could stand up to splashes of water, OnePlus has additionally baked in its AquaTouch expertise from the OnePlus 12 sequence, to make sure that the display screen can be utilized with damp fingers.
I really like the thin bezel of the entrance show. The AMOLED panel additionally allows options like always-on show (AOD) and an optical fingerprint reader which is embedded into the show itself. Nevertheless these options aren’t new to the Nord CE sequence. What I didn’t like is the sharp plastic lipping (or insert) on the edges of the show glass, which creates a little bit of friction when utilizing swipe gestures. The show can be a correct smudge magnet and will get messy rapidly upon use.
OnePlus Nord CE 4 Evaluation: Specs and software program
The OnePlus Nord CE 4 packs a reasonably new Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 SoC, which is manufactured utilizing the 4nm course of node. The processor presents good energy effectivity and mid-range efficiency and sits a notch under the newer Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 SoC. The SoC is paired with 8GB of LPDDR4x RAM and presents as much as 256GB of UFS3.1 inner storage. The telephone makes use of a hybrid SIM association which is sweet for two nano SIM playing cards or a SIM card and a microSD card mixture, which presents storage growth as much as 1TB.
Communication requirements embody dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.4, a USB Sort-C port (USB 2.0), assist for a number of 5G bands and the same old world positioning techniques. The telephone is powered by a 5,500mAh battery and comes with a 100W charger within the field.
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Coming to software program, the telephone presents OxygenOS 14 which is predicated on Android 14. The telephone has been up to date to the most recent March 2024 Safety Patch as effectively. OnePlus guarantees 2 years of software program updates and three years of safety updates, which contemplating that it is already on Android 14 is fairly good.
The software program expertise is fairly good, and the telephone comes with only one third-party app – Netflix, which is helpful. Customisation choices embody the flexibility to vary and alter fonts, icons, add themes and modify or customise the color accents. I wasn’t spammed by any undesirable notifications however I did discover a number of double-apps like two browsers and two file-managers.
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The telephone comes with the same old suite of latest options which have trickled down from Oppo’s ColorOS 14. This contains Fluid Cloud which is an iOS-like Dynamic Island implementation that floats within the standing bar upon minimising a supported app. Because of AOD assist, the telephone may also push out Good Recommendations, that are like Reside Actions in iOS however with restricted assist for simply two apps – Zomato and Swiggy. There’s additionally lighter AI-enabled options like Good Picture Matting (for choosing objects and other people from photographs) and Good Contact (for extracting textual content from a screenshot). Lastly, File Dock allows you to drag and drop information or photographs from the Good Sidebar into supported apps.
OnePlus Nord CE 4 Evaluation: Efficiency
The OnePlus Nord CE 4, as its title aptly describes, is all about delivering a well-tuned, but primary smartphone expertise. From a software program standpoint, it manages to do this rather well with no hiccups, no lag, environment friendly multitasking, and buttery easy efficiency.
With artificial benchmarks, the telephone managed scores that had been on par with gadgets each at and above its value level. On the identical time, the telephone nonetheless falls in need of extra performance-oriented gadgets just like the Poco X6 Professional.
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The OnePlus Nord CE 4 managed a rating of 8,14,981 factors in AnTuTu and scores of 1,154 and three,000 in Geekbench’s single and multi-core take a look at suites respectively. In graphics benchmarks, the telephone managed scores of 5,423 in 3DMark’s Wild Life and 5,553 factors in Wild Life Limitless take a look at suites. GFXBench returned scores of 60 FPS, 60 FPS and 39 FPS in its T-Rex, Manhattan 3.1 and Automobile Chase take a look at suites.
Loading up Name of Obligation: Cellular, the telephone felt a bit restricted providing a most of Excessive graphics and Max body fee. Whereas the system barely warmed up through the 60 FPS gameplay, the 240Hz contact sampling lagged, resulting in loads of misplaced tournaments. Asphalt 9: Legends carried out as anticipated for a mid-range system and in addition provided a 60 FPS mode, which made for buttery easy graphics and gameplay. Merely put, the telephone presents mid-range graphics efficiency however falls brief in relation to fast-paced first particular person shooter video games.
The telephone’s 6.7-inch AMOLED 120Hz show stays unchanged from the earlier mannequin and in addition retains its HDR10 certification. It additionally presents stereo audio system which I discovered enough whereas taking part in video games and watching motion pictures. HDR10 assist can be obtainable in streaming apps like Netflix and content material seems vibrant and with good dynamic vary making for some spectacular visuals when watching supported HDR10 content material. Brightness is greater than enough to sort out direct daylight and the show presents good colors in its Pure display screen color mode. Textual content and pictures appeared sharp regardless of its full-HD+ decision. The in-display fingerprint reader additionally labored reliably.
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Battery life due to the huge battery was fairly good. Our normal battery video loop battery life take a look at managed a jaw-droppingly spectacular 32 hours and 21 minutes. The telephone presents a few day and a half of battery life with informal utilization which additionally contains an hour of 3D video games and about 2 hours of video streaming together with 15-20 minutes of digital camera utilization, which is sort of spectacular. With heavy and steady utilization, the telephone nonetheless delivered an entire day of battery life and a bit extra. With no digital camera or gaming utilization, it’s potential for this telephone to final two days on a single cost.
And when the battery does die out, there’s 100W wired charging to convey the telephone again to life. The system manages a full cost in simply 39 minutes, which is spectacular in comparison with different smartphones obtainable at this value level.
OnePlus Nord CE 4 Evaluation: Cameras
OnePlus has changed the tried and examined Sony IMX890 sensor (from the Nord CE3) on the first digital camera with a brand new 50-megapixel LYT600 ½-inch sort sensor with an f/1.8 aperture. The 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle digital camera (Sony IMX355) and a 16-megapixel selfie digital camera stay the identical because the earlier mannequin. Additionally omitted with this new digital camera setup is the devoted 2-megapixel macro digital camera from the Nord CE3. The digital camera interface is often OnePlus, with loads of customisation in relation to digital camera modes.
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The first digital camera captures vibrant photographs with saturated colors. Dynamic vary is spectacular, so there may be good element in shadows when capturing in vibrant daylight. Images aren’t oversharpened and there’s a good quantity of pure depth and separation when capturing objects or folks. Switching to the 2X digital zoom, the outcomes as anticipated aren’t too nice. These are digital crops from the first digital camera and are good to get a greater close-up or for framing, however these aren’t of the lossless selection and so you’ll discover a drop in picture high quality and element total. Whereas it is potential to get first rate images in 2X mode, the body must be flooded with mild.
The telephone doesn’t have a devoted macro digital camera, so capturing excessive close-ups is just not potential like with the earlier Nord CE3. Nevertheless, you may get shut sufficient (15-20 cms) to things and due to the huge f/1.8 aperture, there is a pure bokeh behind these objects.
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When capturing in low mild, particulars take a success and textures seem a bit flat and find yourself trying like work in areas with dim lighting. Dynamic vary is on the decrease aspect and so there’s much less element within the shadows and darkish areas when capturing street-lit scenes. The images additionally seem fairly washed out and do not present correct colors. Maybe some optimisation is required with future updates.
Switching to the ultra-wide digital camera, the images have first rate dynamic vary with good element within the shadows however seem a bit delicate. Texture particulars are on the decrease aspect and just about common for a smartphone at this value level. Low mild images come out delicate and blurry.
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Capturing selfies in daylight exhibits first rate facial particulars however exhibits below-average edge-detection when utilizing the Portrait mode. In low mild, selfies are low on facial particulars and you’ll need to fireplace up the flash to get first rate outcomes.
Video recorded at 1080p (30fps and 60fps) appeared scaled down, missing decision and element. Nevertheless, these do a greater job at stabilisation than the 4K 30fps footage. 4K 30fps footage seems too shaky when each panning or strolling round nevertheless it presents higher decision and element. Sadly, there’s noticeable noise within the 4K footage even when capturing video in daylight. Low mild video recordings at any decision are too noisy to be usable.
OnePlus Nord CE 4 Evaluation: Verdict
The OnePlus Nord CE 4 is a stable improve when in comparison with its predecessor the Nord CE3. It will get customers a contemporary design with an IP score, a extra highly effective processor, first rate digital camera efficiency and a much bigger battery with sooner charging.
Nevertheless when in comparison with the present competitors, its pricing is worrisome. That is primarily as a result of its solely standout function appears to be battery life and quick charging. I actually wished that it carried out higher within the digital camera division.
On the identical value level, there’s gadgets just like the Poco X6 Professional (Evaluation) which presents related digital camera efficiency however is lots higher in relation to gaming and uncooked efficiency, which is one thing the Nord’s target market (youth) will want. There’s additionally the Motorola Edge 40 (Evaluation) which presents good efficiency, near-stock software program expertise, high quality cameras, wi-fi charging and an IP68 score at a now discounted Rs. 26,999.
At a barely larger value level, sits the very succesful Realme 12 Professional+ (Evaluation) which doesn’t provide the uncooked efficiency of the Poco X6 Professional, however has a premium design (with an IP65 score), wonderful cameras with good low-light and telephoto efficiency and good battery life as effectively.
It is a bit arduous to advocate the OnePlus Nord CE 4 until all you have an interest in in your subsequent mid-range smartphone improve is huge battery life and fast-charging, which as we all know is just not unhealthy on the newer competing smartphones both. However if you’re on a decent price range and need a easy and secure software program expertise, OnePlus’s Nord CE 4 could the be proper smartphone on the proper value.