OnePlus Nord: My Opinion

So after 25 teasers and trailers, 15 account handles on different forms of social media, and a lot of hype… OnePlus launched Nord this week.

Now in India, it’s all good. Back to roots, starting at 24,999 only! Smooth 90hz Display, Quad Camera – Dual Selfie Cam. This is a recipe for great sales success and a win-win for all, right?
Well not exactly, there are multiple catches here: the base variant making headlines is only 6GB/64GB config and will be available from September. Well, that’s better than pesky flash sales? .. maybe!
There is this huge wave/moment of buyers for now boycotting Chinese manufactures or their devices. Well, if you didn’t know already OnePlus is a Chinese company too! well, this might be a different topic altogether, even these buyers are partial towards the one plus brand and might buy it secretly/unknowingly.
So if you can’t wait till September and don’t need the poor 6GB/64GB variant, you will have to shell out 27,999 for 8GB/128GB config. Which might seem fair. Until and unless you check K20 Pro available for 25,000 with superior hardware and specs. Realme X3 is another example of this more power being offered for the same price. Again, there are buyers with reservations towards the controversial software and Chinese brand. So one plus Nord with its brilliant oxygen OS seems solid then?

Well, this is where it gets interesting, instead of comparing it with the other brand phones. I compared it to the phone that one plus launched nearly a year back.

One Plus 7

The thing is 1+7 launched at 30,000 for the 6GB/128GB config and Nord at 30,000 for 12GB/256GB seems like a fair comparison.

A simple gsmarena search details out a lot of things we as a consumer are forgetting or the things that are washed out by the sheer marketing of this device campaign…

https://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPhone1=10289&idPhone2=9623

The Comparison Link

Network

Yes, the Nord supports 5G and the one plus 7 doesn’t. For the most part, it doesn’t matter today and might not matter tomorrow too… The 4G/LTE itself is not stable yet despite the brilliant out-scaled rollout by Carriers like JIO. Some of us still use the poor services of IDEA-Vodafone. While JIO will implement 5G soon and it will work but there isn’t much advantage if it will cost the consumers in terms of recharge cost and battery life. The additional cost won’t be incurred by today’s consumers even though they might have 5 G-enabled hardware.

Display & Dimensions

From display size to body weight to the glass material used, they are quite similar. the corning glass used in the one plus 7 is slightly better due to corning glass 6 being used and corning glass 5 on the Nord. There is hardly a 1-2g difference in height and weight. There is an interesting feature on one plus 7, HDR10 certification. This simply means a ton of bright punchy colors while watching YouTube, Netflix, and Prime Video. While Nord gets a higher refresh rate. This means better gaming in theory ( if and only if the limited chip 765 can support it which seems a bit unlikely). Higher refresh also means higher power consumption. For the general use case, who cant notice the difference between 60hz and 90 Hz the one plus 7 seems a better display, and even nicer is the notch in my opinion than the alien eyes of one plus Nord.

Software & Storage

Again, the software remains similar with minor differences like phone app and message app being of google for Nord. The rest is the same oxygen OS with android 10 with limited customization. Coming to Storage, it may seem like Nord offers double the RAM and 4 times the storage but the storage type is UFS 2.1 on Nord while it UFS3.0 on one plus 7. Even the USB speeds on Nord are 2.0 while on one plus 7 it’s 3.0. These minor differences might offer faster storage but are limited to the one plus 7.

Camera

This aspect can really be judged on paper with complete accuracy. Nord and one plus 7 might bring the same resolution sensor and performance with the Nord getting additional camera lense of Macro and Depth. Also, Ultra-wide on front and back. I have my doubts about the petty 2mp macro and 5mp depth sensors. Nonetheless the ultra-wide is a welcome addition on both front and back! (granted you can get over the look of it on the front). Another key feature here is OIS, which is again available on both. The 4k60fps recording is available on one plus 7 rear camera but no front camera.. it is vice-versa on the Nord, 4k60fps on the front but not the rear.

Performance

This is where the one plus 7 completely blows the Nord out of the water. The 855 is still a capable processor. it performs like a beast while 765 is no slouch the sheer performance by 855 is not even comparable with any 7x series chip. However, both are 7nm the efficiency is very good. The GPU also remains better on the one plus 7 sides. The gaming performance is good on the one plus 7 but if day-to-day usage is considered the Nord might even feel a tad quicker due to the higher refresh rate.

Other Features

The sound on both is Dolby atmos certified but the one plus 7 brings stereo speakers and Nord doesn’t. The connectivity of Bluetooth/wifi remains quite similar. The Battery capacity is less by 10-12% i.e. 400mah on the one plus 7, both support the fast charging standard with again a 10W difference in speed for one plus 7.

Takeaway from this comparison

It wasn’t the core intention of this piece to compare the devices but to explain the basic point. Oneplus has been increasing its pricing ever since, generation on generation. The reason as per me could be the immense marketing. There wasn’t a single proper advertisement for the devices until one plus 5-5t. Around the one plus 6, they got tons of ads, brand ambassadors (Robert Downey jr. , Amitabh Bachchan), and a lot of other ways of marketing. This has affected the price. Their advertisement always tries to prove a point “Fastest-Smoothest” device. This angle worked great for them. It was indeed true for the most part. However, for Nord, they are playing fire here.. Returning to roots/ everything you could ask for/affordable. The fact that the phone is being touted affordable at 28-30k with a clickbait 25k unavailable model is not right! The fact that this is being considered the same as early one plus devices, is clearly untrue as shown above. This device despite the heavy price might not provide the performance that its earlier flagship provided at the same price!!

I wish it works, it feels awesome with the high res screen, it delivers a better experience in gaming with the gaming mode… I hope the number here proves me wrong and it turns out to be a great device/experience like every other one plus… but in the world of android specs…numbers is all that matters!