OnePlus Nord 5 assessment: selfie-centric midranger

The OnePlus Nord 5 does precisely what the corporate’s Nord telephones have at all times completed: ship sturdy specs at a comparatively low worth. It’s one of many extra highly effective telephones at this worth level and may simply outstrip Samsung and Google’s dearer alternate options.

It is a function-over-form telephone, one the place the important thing promoting factors are a strong processor and lengthy battery life, that are the boring mainstays that are inclined to matter probably the most in midrange fashions like this. The issue for the Nord 5 is that different midrange telephones within the markets the place it’s out there — together with Europe and India, however not the US — supply even sooner chipsets and larger batteries, leaving the brand new OnePlus telephone a bit stranded and reliant on an above-average selfie digital camera to assist it stand out.

Efficiency sits on the coronary heart of the Nord 5 gross sales pitch. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8S Gen 3 chipset was designed for dearer telephones than this, albeit when it launched a bit over a 12 months in the past. Mixed with 8GB RAM and 256GB storage within the base £399 / €449 (round $530) mannequin, and 12GB RAM and 512GB storage for £100 / €100 (round $125) extra, it affords potent specs for the worth.

That lends itself nicely to gaming, which explains why OnePlus has opted for a show that’s massive, brilliant, and quick: a 6.81-inch OLED panel with a 144Hz refresh charge. I’m nonetheless skeptical about such excessive refresh charges in telephones — few video games are ever going to interrupt previous 120fps anyway. OnePlus says it’s repositioned the antennae to carry out higher when the telephone’s held in panorama mode for gaming, although producers have been touting that type of work for years.

Battery is the opposite half of the efficiency equation, and the 5,200mAh capability right here is nice, too. I spent my first week with the telephone touring (which is how I found one annoyance: there’s no eSIM help), which is at all times demanding on energy, and by no means felt a lot battery nervousness. It’ll final a day comfortably, and about midway right into a second, however I feel you’d wrestle to make a full two days with no top-up. The 80W wired charging delivers a full cost in 45 minutes, together with bypass charging that powers the telephone immediately, with out overcharging the battery, if you happen to wished to maintain it plugged in throughout lengthy gaming classes. The most important concession to cost is that there’s no wi-fi charging.

The issue is that for all that energy, this isn’t probably the most succesful telephone at this worth level. The Poco F7 is barely cheaper than the Nord 5 and comes with a greater chipset, greater battery, and sooner charging. The OnePlus telephone wins on refresh charge, however that’s hardly sufficient to make up for being comfortably much less highly effective elsewhere, which means the F7 continues to be more likely to hit larger body charges throughout demanding video games. Anybody on the lookout for gaming efficiency before everything will doubtless be drawn to the F7, so what can the Nord 5 supply elsewhere to make up the distinction?

Essentially the most distinctive factor of the {hardware} is the Plus Key, a brand new button that replaces OnePlus’ conventional Alert Slider. It is a customizable key that, by default, does the identical factor the Alert Slider did — it enables you to cycle between ring, vibrate, and silent modes. However it can be set to open the digital camera, activate the flashlight, take a screenshot, and extra. It’s not totally customizable, although, so you’ll be able to’t set it to open any app or set off customized capabilities.

The Plus Key can be used to take a screenshot and add it to Thoughts House, an AI device that analyzes pictures to summarize them, create reminders, or generate calendar occasions. It’s remarkably much like Nothing’s Important House, which does nearly the identical factor — additionally utilizing a devoted {hardware} key — however not like Nothing’s model, you’ll be able to’t add voice notes to provide the AI extra info, get summaries of longer audio recordings, and even open Thoughts House itself utilizing the Plus Key, so OnePlus’ tackle the software program is extra primary.

There’s little else to complain about on the software program facet. The Nord 5 ships working OxygenOS 15, primarily based on Android 15, and can get a good (however actually not category-leading) 4 years of main OS updates and 6 years of safety help. One additional bonus is simple wi-fi file-sharing between the telephone and a Home windows PC, Mac, iPad, or iPhone, although you’ll want to put in the O Plus Join software program on the opposite system — and sadly, there’s no help for the complete Mac distant management discovered on the OnePlus Pad 3.

OnePlus has made an uncommon selection by prioritizing the telephone’s selfie digital camera, which includes a 50-megapixel sensor that’s bigger than the common selfie cam. I’m not a pure selfie-taker, however the outcomes are good and filled with element. They’re not markedly higher than rivals in regular lighting, however that’s as a result of most telephone cameras now deal with daylight comfortably. The portrait mode is the one small weak level, struggling to separate the strands of my hair more often than not. However this digital camera comes into its personal at evening: the massive sensor and quick f/2.0 aperture serving to the Nord 5 to seize spectacular element at midnight, when most different selfie cameras collapse. When you want a telephone to seize you and your crew on nights out and at dimly lit dinners, this could be the one.

The primary 50-megapixel rear digital camera is nice however not nice. It struggles with fast-moving topics like pets and children, and also you’ll want a gentle hand to get nice pictures at evening, however that’s all typical for telephones at this worth. Colours are usually a bit oversaturated and synthetic from this lens; the 8-megapixel ultrawide is extra subdued however loses way more element in shadowy spots.

The Nord 5 faces stiff competitors on either side. You could possibly spend much less for extra energy with the Poco F7 or spend £100 / €100 (round $125) extra for Google’s Pixel 9A for comfortably higher cameras, harder water resistance, and extra years of software program help.

The Nord 5 isn’t a nasty telephone. However it’s unclear what its distinctive promoting level is. OnePlus has leaned into energy and efficiency, however it has been outplayed by Poco. The Pixel 9A, whereas dearer, beats it on digital camera and design. Even its devoted AI button is finished higher elsewhere, for much less, within the Nothing Telephone 3A. The Nord 5’s greatest hope for locating an viewers is its selfie digital camera, which is healthier than another telephone round it, at the least in low mild. However as promoting factors go, that seems like a minor one.

Pictures by Dominic Preston / The Verge