OnePlus Nord CE 5 review: A well balanced phone

Hey, whatsup guys? we have been testing the OnePlus Nord CE 5 for almost a week now. Last year’s Nord CE 4 was one of the best phones under INR 25,000, and this year, OnePlus has brought some meaningful changes to the Nord CE 5.

At the same time, there are certain aspects that I was really hoping OnePlus would upgrade this year, which they haven’t. So, let me tell you all about the pros, the cons and my overall experiences with the OnePlus Nord CE 5 in this article!

OnePlus Nord CE5 Specifications

• Display: 6.77″ FHD+ Super Fluid AMOLED, 120Hz, 1,430 nits peak brightness
• Processor: MediaTek Dimensity 8350 Apex (4nm)
• RAM: 8GB/12GB LPDDR5X with virtual expansion
• Storage: 128GB/256GB UFS 3.1, microSD up to 1TB
• Main Camera: 50MP Sony LYT-600 with OIS
• Ultra-wide Camera: 8MP, 112° FOV
• Front Camera: 16MP fixed focus
• Battery: 7,100mAh with 80W SUPERVOOC charging
• OS: OxygenOS 15.0 based on Android 15
• Connectivity: 5G, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.4, NFC
• Water Resistance: IP65
• Colors: Black Infinity, Marble Mist, Nexus Blue
• Weight: 199g
• Available Variants:  8GB+256GB

Buy Nord CE5 here!

OnePlus Nord CE5 Review

Performance

Ok..let me start with one of the biggest upgrades OnePlus has brought this year, which is in the performance. Last year, on the CE 4, we got the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 chip, which was fast for normal usage, and you could game a little bit too.

But this year, we get a proper-performance-focused chipset, the Dimesity 8350 with LPDDR5X RAM and UFS 3.1 Storage. And thanks to that, the performance on the Nord CE 5 is fast, whether you are multitasking with 10 apps at once, going through the UI or gaming.

Titles like PUBG are smoothly playable here at 90 fps with good 5% lows. In BGMI and COD, the phone even supports 120 fps. If you are someone who plays Mobile Legends, you can easily get good FPS numbers, too.

It was only while playing more demanding games like Genshin Impact that the stability fluttered a bit after 15 minutes into the game, once or twice. Otherwise, the gaming performance here is quite good.

Now, if I absolutely have to compare, the Poco X7 Pro and the Infinix GT 30 Pro, which you can get for a similar price, have slightly better stability in games than the Nord CE 5, but if you look at the temperature numbers, the Nord CE 5 is able to remain a lot cooler. So, for me, trading 1-2 fps for 1-2 degrees seems like a better deal.

Plus, OnePlus has also included a big vapour chamber cooling system here, which really helps with heat dissipation. As I showed you before, in my gaming tests, the phone never went beyond 43 degrees, which in this summer heat is quite chill I would say!

And this year, OnePlus has included a Bypass charging feature, too, so even if you play games for long hours while your phone is plugged in, the phone does not heat as much, and it also helps with the durability of the battery itself.

Battery and Charging

But even if you don’t play games while charging, the huge 7100 mAh battery this phone has is very enduring. In my normal usage, I was getting almost 2 days of battery life with this phone, which is quite incredible. On days I did more gaming and recorded a lot of videos, I got an entire day of use, which is better battery backup than almost all phones in this price range.

And with the included 80-watt charger, the phone charges in around 1 hour and 10 minutes, which I think is reasonable enough.

I also appreciate that the phone isn’t extremely heavy even though it has a huge battery inside. In fact, it is lighter than the Nothing Phone 3A, which has a 5000 mAh unit. And the weight distribution here is considerably even, so holding this phone is not a muscle exercise either.

Design

While I am talking about the design, I can’t help but point out how similar the Nord CE 5 and the iPhone 16 look, especially this Purple colour I have; the resemblance is uncanny. This is a plastic back with plastic frames, but the look and feel of this phone is quite good.

OnePlus hasn’t mentioned which glass protection they have used on the front, though! I was really hoping for something along the lines of Gorilla Glass 7i, but apparently not. So, a good protective cover and a tempered glass is a must!

Display

Over to the front, I am really happy with the quality of this screen. The colors and contrast here look good, the 120Hz refresh rate is quite optimised, and this is a bright enough screen with decent HBM numbers, so casually using the phone outdoors isn’t hard on the eyes.

However, its peak brightness number is quite low, if you compare it with the Motorola Edge 60 Fusion or the Nothing Phone 3A, at least on paper. But when I compared them side by side, when watching an HDR video, there wasn’t much difference.

By the way, the Nord CE 5 also supports HDR playback on all OTT platforms, so the viewing experience here is good. And something else I have to point out is that the touch response on this phone is quite fast, so interacting with this screen feels instantaneous.

Sound and Haptics

The only thing I am a little sad about here is the vibration feedback on this phone is slightly buzzier than something like the Nothing Phone 3A and the Moto Edge 60 Fusion. Turns out it’s not an X-Axis vibration motor they have included here.

The speakers on it are good, though; they are loud and crisp, so there’s not much to complain about, actually.

Software

Likewise, I also have good things to say about the software experience on the OnePlus Nord CE 5. I did experience a few stutters in the UI before, but after the first update I received, all the tiny bugs were fixed.

The good news is that OnePlus has upgraded the update policy too this time, from 3+4 years on the CE 4 to 4+6 years on the Nord CE 5, which means this device is quite future proof, too!

Camera

Ok..Lastly, let’s talk about the cameras. This is the area in which OnePlus has brought zero improvement, as they have used the same 50MP LYT 600 sensor, the same 8MP Omnivision ultra-wide lens, and the same 16MP front camera.

As a result, the colour optimisation, the kind of shadow processing that we used to get with the Nord CE 4, follows here as well. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that the Nord CE 5 has bad cameras or something, no. I found its camera performance, especially the primary cameras to be on par with the Nothing Phone 3A, like 90% of the time.

In fact during the night, I found OnePlus managing better highlights than the Nothing Phone 3A.

It’s only when shooting portraits that the Nothing Phone 3a does slightly better because it has a dedicated lens, which lets you zoom up to 4x for better subject focus.

However, standalone, I wouldn’t say the Nord CE 5’s portraits are bad; the phone could use an update or two to manage the shadows on the face better, but other than that, the portraits are decent enough.

The selfies are not bad either, and the selfie videos look good too. But the catch is that you can only shoot up to 1080p 60 fps selfie videos from this phone, so if you are someone who makes Instagram reels from the front camera, it might not be the sharpest.

The main camera on the back supports 4k video recording, though. I found the 4k 30 fps mode working the best for stable, well-balanced videos; the 4K 60 fps mode has a slightly narrower field of view, and you will notice jitters every now and then, so unless you are using a gimbal, 4k 30 fps is your best bet in my opinion.

The only thing that’s downright average on the Nord CE 5 is the ultra-wide camera. The dynamic range in the ultra-wide photos is quite poor, and most of the time, the details are muddy, especially during the night.

So yeah, while I have had a pretty good experience with the OnePlus Nord CE 5 in almost all aspects of its cameras, I was really hoping the company would upgrade the ultra-wide lens, I mean, I can live without a Telephoto lens, as long as there is a good primary camera, but the ultra wide lens definitely could have been better!

OnePlus Nord CE5 Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Excellent day-to-day and gaming performance
• Bright OLED display
• Long 2-day battery life + bypass charging
• Clean software with extended update policy

• Lightweight despite large battery

Cons:

• Weak ultra-wide camera
• Average vibration motor
• No front-facing 4K video

• Plastic build

OnePlus Nord CE5 Review Conclusion

But overall, with all the time I’ve had with the Nord CE 5, I can say that OnePlus has done a brilliant job of providing a balanced phone. If only the phone had better vibration and an ultra-wide lens, it actually would have been a perfect phone for around NPR 50,000 because it ticks all the right boxes.

We get a fast performance, nice design, great battery life, decent photo and videography prowess, nice OLED display and reliable software. So, yeah…. despite the minor shortcomings, I believe the Nord CE 5 is the most balanced and value-packed option in the sub-25000 segment.

• Meanwhile, check out our review of the Nord 5