The OnePlus Nord CE 4 goals to be a strong mid-range gadget 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 by some means appear to scale back the hole between the CE and non-CE Nord fashions over time. 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 superb improve for Nord CE3 customers on paper, I am not too assured about recommending it and this is why.
OnePlus Nord CE 4 Evaluation: Value in India
The OnePlus Nord CE 4 not like final 12 months’s Nord CE3 is accessible in a single RAM variant. Consumers solely get to decide on between two storage variants this 12 months. The cellphone is accessible 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 gadget is accessible 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 evaluation.
OnePlus Nord CE 4 Evaluation: Design
Not like 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 isn’t any 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 recent and new when positioned subsequent to any at the moment out there Nord sequence gadget out there in India.
The rear cameras appear as if they’ve been positioned in a big drop of water
The cellphone’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 shiny colourway these aren’t seen except you view the cellphone at an angle. Its curved edge design together with its marble-like texture positive appears the half for a mid-range gadget. I additionally like how OnePlus has saved the marginally raised and elongated (capsule-shaped) digicam module clear, which displays the marble design under it. It appears as if a big water droplet assembled itself on the rear panel with the contrasting darkish digicam cutouts and lenses floating in it.
The body similar to earlier than can be produced from 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 blissful to discover a mushy silicon-like TPU colour-matched cowl within the field, which appears and feels fairly premium.
The OnePlus Nord CE 4 comes with an official IP54 certification for mud and water resistance
OnePlus claims that its Nord CE 4’s design is sturdy sufficient to resist a drop from 1.5 metres and never disassemble itself or shatter from the autumn, which is one thing I didn’t need to check out, though the cellphone felt fairly strong when it comes to construct high quality. I did check out spraying some water on the cellphone as its design is now IP54-rated for mud and water resistance. The cellphone survived, but it surely’s a really primary ranking so far as IP certifications go. There are finances smartphones that provide the identical degree of mud and water resistance and gadgets that provide much better scores at a barely increased asking worth.
And since it could possibly face up to splashes of water, OnePlus has additionally baked in its AquaTouch know-how from the OnePlus 12 sequence, to make sure that the display can be utilized with damp fingers.
I like the thin bezel of the entrance show. The AMOLED panel additionally permits 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 gives 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 gives as much as 256GB of UFS3.1 inside storage. The cellphone makes use of a hybrid SIM association which is nice for two nano SIM playing cards or a SIM card and a microSD card mixture, which gives storage enlargement as much as 1TB.
Communication requirements embody dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.4, a USB Kind-C port (USB 2.0), help for a number of 5G bands and the same old world positioning techniques. The cellphone is powered by a 5,500mAh battery and comes with a 100W charger within the field.
The OnePlus Nord CE 4 gives OxygenOS 14 with Android 14 out of the field
Coming to software program, the cellphone gives OxygenOS 14 which relies on Android 14. The cellphone has been up to date to the newest March 2024 Safety Patch as nicely. 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 cellphone comes with only one third-party app – Netflix, which is beneficial. Customisation choices embody the flexibility to alter 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 just a few double-apps like two browsers and two file-managers.
The Dynamic Island-like Fluid Cloud function additionally makes it to the OnePlus Nord CE 4
The cellphone 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 help, the cellphone also can push out Good Options, that are like Stay Actions in iOS however with restricted help for simply two apps – Zomato and Swiggy. There’s additionally lighter AI-enabled options like Good Picture Matting (for selecting objects and folks from photographs) and Good Contact (for extracting textual content from a screenshot). Lastly, File Dock helps you to drag and drop recordsdata or photographs from the Good Sidebar into supported apps.
OnePlus Nord CE 4 Evaluation: Efficiency
The OnePlus Nord CE 4, as its identify 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 clean efficiency.
With artificial benchmarks, the cellphone managed scores that had been on par with gadgets each at and above its worth level. On the similar time, the cellphone nonetheless falls in need of extra performance-oriented gadgets just like the Poco X6 Professional.
The OnePlus Nord CE 4 gives an enormous 5,500mAh battery with 100W wired charging
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 check suites respectively. In graphics benchmarks, the cellphone managed scores of 5,423 in 3DMark’s Wild Life and 5,553 factors in Wild Life Limitless check suites. GFXBench returned scores of 60 FPS, 60 FPS and 39 FPS in its T-Rex, Manhattan 3.1 and Automotive Chase check suites.
Loading up Name of Responsibility: Cell, the cellphone felt a bit restricted providing a most of Excessive graphics and Max body charge. Whereas the gadget barely warmed up in the course of 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 gadget and likewise supplied a 60 FPS mode, which made for buttery clean graphics and gameplay. Merely put, the cellphone gives mid-range graphics efficiency however falls brief in terms of fast-paced first particular person shooter video games.
The cellphone’s 6.7-inch AMOLED 120Hz show stays unchanged from the earlier mannequin and likewise retains its HDR10 certification. It additionally gives stereo audio system which I discovered adequate whereas enjoying video games and watching films. HDR10 help can be out there in streaming apps like Netflix and content material seems shiny and with good dynamic vary making for some spectacular visuals when watching supported HDR10 content material. Brightness is greater than adequate to sort out direct daylight and the show gives good colors in its Pure display color mode. Textual content and pictures appeared sharp regardless of its full-HD+ decision. The in-display fingerprint reader additionally labored reliably.
The massive 6.7-inch AMOLED panel gives a 120Hz refresh charge and is HDR10 licensed
Battery life due to the huge battery was fairly good. Our commonplace battery video loop battery life check managed a jaw-droppingly spectacular 32 hours and 21 minutes. The cellphone gives a couple of 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 digicam utilization, which is kind of spectacular. With heavy and steady utilization, the cellphone nonetheless delivered an entire day of battery life and a bit extra. With no digicam or gaming utilization, it’s potential for this cellphone to final two days on a single cost.
And when the battery does die out, there’s 100W wired charging to convey the cellphone again to life. The gadget manages a full cost in simply 39 minutes, which is spectacular in comparison with different smartphones out there at this worth level.
OnePlus Nord CE 4 Evaluation: Cameras
OnePlus has changed the tried and examined Sony IMX890 sensor (from the Nord CE3) on the first digicam with a brand new 50-megapixel LYT600 ½-inch kind sensor with an f/1.8 aperture. The 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle digicam (Sony IMX355) and a 16-megapixel selfie digicam stay the identical because the earlier mannequin. Additionally omitted with this new digicam setup is the devoted 2-megapixel macro digicam from the Nord CE3. The digicam interface is usually OnePlus, with loads of customisation in terms of digicam modes.
OnePlus Nord CE 4 daylight digicam samples. Prime to backside: Extremely-wide digicam, main digicam, 2X digital zoom (Faucet photographs to develop)
The first digicam captures vibrant photographs with saturated colors. Dynamic vary is spectacular, so there may be good element in shadows when taking pictures in shiny daylight. Photographs aren’t oversharpened and there’s a good quantity of pure depth and separation when taking pictures objects or individuals. Switching to the 2X digital zoom, the outcomes as anticipated aren’t too nice. These are digital crops from the first digicam 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 photographs in 2X mode, the body must be flooded with mild.
The cellphone doesn’t have a devoted macro digicam, so taking pictures excessive close-ups isn’t 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.
Whereas the Nord CE 4 doesn’t have a macro digicam/mode, you may get shut sufficient to things utilizing the first digicam
When taking pictures in low mild, particulars take a success and textures seem a bit flat and find yourself wanting like work in areas with dim lighting. Dynamic vary is on the decrease facet and so there’s much less element within the shadows and darkish areas when taking pictures street-lit scenes. The photographs additionally seem fairly washed out and do not present correct colors. Maybe some optimisation is required with future updates.
Switching to the ultra-wide digicam, the photographs have first rate dynamic vary with good element within the shadows however seem a bit mushy. Texture particulars are on the decrease facet and just about common for a smartphone at this worth level. Low mild photographs come out mushy and blurry.
OnePlus Nord CE 4 Low mild digicam samples. Prime: Selfie digicam (Night time mode), backside: Main digicam (Night time mode) (Faucet to develop photographs)
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 will want to fireside 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 but it surely gives higher decision and element. Sadly, there’s noticeable noise within the 4K footage even when taking pictures 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 strong improve when in comparison with its predecessor the Nord CE3. It will get customers a recent design with an IP ranking, a extra highly effective processor, first rate digicam efficiency and a much bigger battery with quicker 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 digicam division.
On the similar worth level, there’s gadgets just like the Poco X6 Professional (Evaluation) which gives related digicam efficiency however is rather a lot higher in terms of gaming and uncooked efficiency, which is one thing the Nord’s target market (youth) will need. There’s additionally the Motorola Edge 40 (Evaluation) which gives good efficiency, near-stock software program expertise, high quality cameras, wi-fi charging and an IP68 ranking at a now discounted Rs. 26,999.
At a barely increased worth 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 ranking), wonderful cameras with good low-light and telephoto efficiency and good battery life as nicely.
It’s kind of onerous to suggest the OnePlus Nord CE 4 except all you have an interest in on your subsequent mid-range smartphone improve is large battery life and fast-charging, which as we all know isn’t dangerous on the newer competing smartphones both. However in case you are on a decent finances and desire a clean and steady software program expertise, OnePlus’s Nord CE 4 could the be proper smartphone on the proper worth.
