OnePlus NORD (5G) 12GB RAM 256GB SIM-Free Smartphone
OnePlus NORD (5G) 12GB RAM 256GB SIM-Free Smartphone with Quad Camera, Dual SIM – Ash Grey [UK version] – United Kingdom
| Colour: | Gray Ash |
| Pack Quantity: | 1.0 |
| Quantity: | 1.0 |
OnePlus NORD (5G) 12GB RAM 256GB SIM-Free Smartphone with Quad Camera, Dual SIM – Ash Grey [UK version] – United Kingdom
| Colour: | Gray Ash |
| Pack Quantity: | 1.0 |
| Quantity: | 1.0 |
My mum needed a new phone, she’s always had Samsung ones but looking about and this popped up. All very good high specs. What did it mainly was the special price I got it at that was on offer as I didn’t have the best budget but wow this phone is great. My mum loves it as it’s the same as Samsung as still runs the Android OS. In my book it’s a better alternative to the major big brands like Samsung but without the price tag
So I’ve had this phone for two years now, it’s an excellent device with amazing specs for its price. Of course you get the usual battery degradation that you get with all smart phones, but that’s never been an issue since the phone charges exceptionally fast, with an all day charge happening in like 30 mins.
One thing I must bring up is that randomly the screen almost fell out of the phone. I was playing genshin impact at the time so maybe the glue got melted and the screen started to slide out? Either way if that’s the case make sure you’re careful not to get the phone too hot. If it weren’t for this randomly just happening now I could easily see this being a phone I keep around for the next 3-4 years (after already having it for 2).
Had a One Plus previously which was a faultless experience! With 12Gb Ram, 256Gb storage, 30 mins fast charge and 36 hrs battery life on medium data/call/wifi usage for this price the phone is equivalent to products costing 3x this one. Why buy because of a brand name or metal casing, when phones like this exist at a great price. Take care of it and it’ll take care of you.
No hesitation in recommending this phone, even if it’s a model launched 18 months ago as it still beats many newly launched models today.
Still at android 11 with january security patch (YES We’ve got april now!)
This is biggest concern at this phone.
But rest of phone is all-good.
Good value for money phone, decent camera, brilliant low light photos with “on stand” mode.
Responsive with customize OS and not loaded with extra app (You can remove most of it)
Battery life is less a day with heavy use (5G/Always On Display on).
Charging is super fast, but only with original charger and cable, as phone use only 5V (6A max) chargers – connecting to other phone charger, take 3 hour to charge.
In box: good quality clear case and fast charger plus screen protector preinstalled.
Phone survived some bike journeys (when raining), operating with wet fingers during rain is not a problem (figerprint reader not working with wet hands).
No headphone jack and expendable memory.
USB-C-jack cable working great anyway, plus i like slider to switch between sound/vibration/quiet mode.
When I can across this phone it ticked all the right boxes in terms of memory, storage, processing power, battery etc. Read the reviews and decided to take a chance.
Turned out to be a great buy. The phone is well made, the hardware may not be top of the range but it does a fantastic job especially moving footage from my GoPro which use to take hours on my old phone and not much time at all on this phone.
The face recognition is on par with other top brands. It’s the right size for me, I can use with one hand if needed.
Battery life is amazing, a day and a half without needing a charge, longer if I’m not listening to music or watching videos.
It came with a nice case and a super charger that gets the phone from flat to 100% in 30-45 minutes.
Great phone, packed with features and well worth the money
For the most part the phone has been good, it’s been reliable. The Dual Sim works great, the camera is good, battery life is great. Mine lives in a Spigen case and it’s survived a few drops.
Software wise has mostly been good. Android 11 has seen a few annoying bugs, such as Android Auto sometimes taking minutes to connect to the car. WiFi tends to turn itself off when the phone is locked. Notifications have been a little flaky too but this seems better than it was.
However at the moment I have no plans to replace the phone as I can live with its little issues, it’ll likely last me until at least 2 years of ownership before I look for something else (2 years is my rough replacement schedule either way).
Full disclosure, I haven’t bought a new phone before this in 6 year, so whether my impression is because it is amazing or because the baseline has moved on since I got my Sony phone (yeah, that long ago) I can’t tell. But it is a great phone. Very easy to use, very little bloatware, the cameras are great for the price (and compared to friends who have higher-end phones) and a great battery life.
Not 5* for two reasons. Firstly, due to the length, it’s a little unbalanced in the hand. This is a problem as the balance combined with the positioning and use of the external buttons means I often take a screenshot rather than lock the screen. I would say I average about 4 a day. Also, while the battery is great for lockdown uses (social media use on the couch, podcasts during walks, and youTube videos on the toil..) where it lasts about two days, it hasn’t been tested against a days commute/work yet.
But saying that this phone is top notch, price of this phone is just a big bonus the camera is very good it’s not as good as my samsung but it’s not that far of it’s a shame you can’t switch between the ultra wide and normal camera when video recording, the other grumble I have is the Bluetooth from phone to my car cuts off and I have to click on the connection to get it to work again, also my ring doorbell doesn’t send notifications from my. Phone to my Fitbit which isn’t great but not bad considering the price, battery life is really good getting 4/5 sometimes more screen on time, phone call quality is great.
The face unlock and finger print sensor is very good the face unlock is lightning fast much better than my note 10 plus 5g,
The 90hz refresh rate is also amazing coming from my note 10 plus 5g , I’m actually going to selly note 10 now and stick with the one plus nord as I like it so much and can’t stand 60hz now
Everything but everything is snappy, the display is gorgeous minus a slight issue (I have a minor defect in terms of colours on the bottom part of the screen, but I have had similar issues with AMOLED panels before) and the 90Hz refresh rate makes the phone feel so much more fluid, charging is very fast though, for the first time in a phone (for me) it’s not needed as it gets through to the end of the day easily (I tend to leave things like Bluetooth on, use the screen a lot).
The cameras are both amazing and a disappointment; the main sensor is great, and while you might get a better photo from something like a google pixel, this is good enough for any situation I’ve thrown at it.
The Ultra-wide is great for fitting a lot in, but don’t expect to make out much detail. It’s good for group photos, but things like landscape photos are far too soft (think blurry, but still in focus if that makes sense).
The depth sensor I don’t really see the point – it’s supposed to help with portrait mode shots, but software edge detection from a single camera is as good now, so seems like wasted hardware.
The macro camera is, to put it bluntly, awful. They’ve tried doing software updates to fix the main complaints (no detail, lack of colour) and while they have fixed the lack of colour, the detail cannot be fixed as 2MP is not enough. That isn’t to say you won’t find use out of the macro camera, you might find a use case, however I prefer to just zoom in on the main sensor for a clearer photo.
I don’t take selfies, so I’ll leave it to others to describe those.
The frame is plastic, not metal (though it does look like it) and the back is glass – this still makes it feel like a modern, pricier phone. There are some concerns surrounding structural integrity (bend tests), however I don’t think anyone would be likely to put that much pressure on their phone unless they were trying to snap it.
The speaker is loud, however it is only a single, bottom firing, and at high volumes sounds quite tinny.
I think whether you go for this phone depends on what you are looking for – if it’s camera, a powerhouse for performance, or a 2 day battery life, this probably isn’t the phone for you; it may be adequate for you but you might find yourself wishing for something more
If you want a cheap(ish – compared to today’s flagships), adequate performing, high refresh rate AMOLED display, 5G capable, fast charging, flagship-looking, everyday phone, you’re in the right spot.
Not a big gamer, use primarily for social media, web browsing, camera etc, and it handles all of that really well.
The wired fast charge on the OP range is awesome, as is Oxygen OS, cleanest Android experience I’ve had outside of CyanogenMod itself on rooted phones (used Samsung, HTC, Pixel etc).
EDIT: had the phone a few months, and whilst it does out perform the OP3, that’s expected from the hardware. There’s some niggles and OS updates haven’t fixed them.
When auto rotate is disabled, opened apps still sometimes flip the screen, and it won’t flip back – have to enable rotation, flip and disable again.
The ambient light sensor is poor in low or mixed lighting conditions, have to manually increase the brightness.
LED alerts are bigger miss than I thought, you sometimes need to unlock the phone to see if a WhatsApp message has arrived, when sound is muted.
Still an OK phone for the price – battery lasts well and charges fast. Bluetooth connection has been solid and sound is clear. The OS is swift and clean.
I haven’t experienced these kind of issues on other hardware, and I’ll think twice before going with an OP again. The OH went with the Samsung and hasn’t regretted it.
1. The fingerprint reader it’s fast yes but as its an under screen one so there is no tactile / landmark to find it so a lots of the time i miss it and have to wake up screen to find it so this ends up feeling overall slower.
2.The pre installed screen protector has a sharp edge and with the back gestures being a swipe from the edge you catch that sharp edge. If you put on the included case on the its not a problem.
3. The gestures to get to all open apps from home screen is swipe up and hold is a bit is a hit and miss but if you an open app a long swipe up gets you to the open apps.
4. The screen size well the aspect ratio its just to its just to tall if you need to get to the top of the screen even with my big hands.
With more time using this and some software updates im shore i will get past these small annoyances there is no way im going back to my 3T.