OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite Review: Stylish performer
The OnePlus Nord series made its debut in 2020, and since then, it has done great for the company. It helped the company break all-time record of units shipped in a year in 2021 globally including India.
In the following year too, the OnePlus Nord series received a really good response in the subcontinent. The Nord CE 2 Lite was the top-selling 5G model in the sub-Rs 20,000 range and helped the company grab the second position in the premium affordable smartphone segment, reported Counterpoint.
Now, the company has introduced a new generation model Nord CE 3 Lite 5G with prices starting at Rs 19,999 in India. It comes with big upgrades over the predecessor in terms of design language and photography hardware. Here're my thoughts on the latest mid-range phone from the house of OnePlus.
Design, build quality and display
OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite, particularly the pastel lime colour variant is my new favourite phone of the year. It is an instant eye-turner, as I got a lot of enquiries from my relatives and onlookers when I took it out of my pocket to take sample photos in the city.
The fruity refreshing colourway looks great in the sun and even the big circular camera islands on the back add value to the design language and also make it stand out among rival brands. The company also offers the device in chromatic gray colour.
Also, the colour does well in hiding fingerprint smudges. It can only be seen only in a certain angle and that too when closely observed from a short distance from the arm. The rail around the edge is very sturdy and the flat design with curves around the corners offers good grip for the fingers to firmly hold on to the phone and less chance of dropping accidentally.
Talking of dropping things, OnePlus offers a good quality soft transparent silicone-based cover case with a retail box. It does a fine job of protecting the device during accidental drops.
Also, the display too, is protected with Asahi Dragontail Star series glass shield and there is another layer of protective plastic guard. This ensures the screen is safe from getting scratched by small articles like coins or pens in the pocket or in the backpack.
Another thing I like is that the phone despite its slim profile (measures just 8.3mm thickness), boasts an audio jack port for wired earphones. Add to that, it has stereo speakers, which by the way, is really good. Also, the base features a Type-C port and a mic.
But, it does come with the trademark alert slider as we see in premium OnePlus phones. But, no worries, you can use the volume rockers on the left side to switch between silent, vibration and ring modes. Above them, there is also a SIM tray on the same side. It comes with a hybrid tray-- it can house one primary nano SIM and other users can decide between a secondary SIM or a microSD card for extra storage.
On the right side, you will find the power button, which also houses the fingerprint sensor. It works smoothly without any issues. And on the top, there is a lone mic.
On the front, it features a 6.72-inch full HD+ (2400 x 1080p) LCD display with a 91.4 per cent screen-to-body ratio.
It also supports an Adaptive Refresh rate and dynamically swings from 30Hz to 120Hz, it ensures the display works smoothly be it while reading (30Hz) or streaming videos (60Hz) and while gaming, it can go between 90Hz-120Hz. Overall, OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite's display is great. It supports 550 nits brightness under normal circumstances and it can go up to 650 nits, which comes in handy while using the phone outdoors.
By the way, OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite supports high-resolution content available on Amazon Prime Video and Netflix.
Performance
OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite houses Qualcomm's 6nm class Snapdragon 695 octa-core (2.2 GHz Kryo 660 Gold x 2 cores + 1.7 GHz Kryo 660 Silver x 6 cores). It comes paired with Adreno 619L GPU, Android 13-based OxygenOS 13.1 OS, 8GB LPDDR4X RAM with 128GB/256GB (UFS 2.2) storage.
Our review unit comes with 8GB RAM + 256GB storage. It works as advertised. During the entire testing period, Nord CE 3 Lite performed fine without any notable issues to complain.
Even while playing games like Asphalt 9: Legends, the phone was able to deliver a smooth gaming experience. It gets a tad warm, but nothing serious, as all phones exhibit such behaviour when playing games for long hours or even when streaming videos, particularly on cellular data mode.
That said, the Nord CE 3 Lite works smoothly, and thanks to the virtual RAM extension, users can double the physical memory to 16GB. This helps in app loading faster, which is an important aspect for consumers.
Also, with Game Focus Mode, the phone blocks unwanted notifications that disturb the gaming rhythm.
It runs Android 13-based OxygenOS 13.1 OS. To me, it is the cleanest compared to most of the Android phones in the market. I love the device's user interface and is easy to find any feature with ease. And as part of a broad plan of ecosystem connectivity, OnePlus like Samsung is doing a fine job too.
Any new OnePlus devices be it earphones, smartwatches or smart TV around the phone get instantly detected and are easy to set up in a few simple steps. This is a worthy incentive for customers to buy more OnePlus products.
However, it only receives two major Android OS updates (Android 14 and 15) and three years of security software support.
And with a 5,000mAh battery, it was able to deliver more than a day under normal usage. With IPL being streamed free on JioCinema, users don't have to feel any anxiety of battery dying before reaching home.
The company is offering a 67W SuperVOOC charger with the retail box. It can power up the phone from zero to 50 per cent in under 30 minutes and takes barely an hour to fully charge (100 per cent) the device.
And, the device supports the 5G cellular service offered by Airtel and Reliance Jio in India.
Photography
OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite houses a triple camera-- 108MP (Samsung HM6 sensor, f/1.75) backed by 2MP depth-assist camera and 2MP macro lens with LED flash on the back.
The photos captured in the natural sunlight are good and much better compared to the predecessor OnePlus Nord CE 2 Lite (review). The colours appear warmer than what our eyes perceive, but they are better. The camera actually livens up the subject's appearance on the phone. Be it a flower or a human face, they look good in the photo.
The lossless 3X zoom feature works as advertised. The photos appear sharp and the colours too appear vibrant, as you can see the vegetation in the island appear brighter on the frame. It supports up to 6X digital zoom and here too, the picture quality is fine.
There is no ultra-wide angle mode, but I didn't miss much. The normal mode does a fine job of capturing a wide area.
As far as the night mode is concerned, the pictures are near perfect. It absorbs more light and makes the sky a tad brighter in the background. Fortunately, it doesn't go overboard and make it look like the photo was taken in the evening. The Nord CE 3 Lite's camera ensures there is a bit of darkness, the essence of the night is maintained and lights from the houses are well captured.
OnePlus Nord CE 2 Lite supports HDR images, full HD (1080p) video recording at 30 fps (frames per second), and HD (720p) at 30 fps. It can record slow-motion HD videos at 120fps. It also supports timelapse in 1080p quality. The video quality is decent at best.
On the front, it features a 16MP front camera. The portrait mode does a fine job getting the selfies right with edge detection, particularly the hair around the head. Even with the spectacles, it manages to finely capture the details. There is a clear differentiation of the foreground from the background.
Also, the native camera app also comes with superficial filters to make your face photogenic. Users can adjust skin tone, skin texture, spot healing (clears acne scars), cheeks, eye size, eye brightness, dark circles, and even teeth too.
Final thoughts
With just one look, many will fall in love with the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite, particularly the pastel green model. The big two camera islands on the back and the lime yellow colourway, both complement each other to make the phone visually appealing and stand out among the rival brands.
Even with other critical aspects such as performance and battery life expectancy, OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite doesn't disappoint much. It just works without any issues and delivers more than a day of battery life.
As far as the camera is concerned, it is definitely way better than the predecessor. I am particularly happy with the low light and the photos that were captured with natural sunlight. Overall, it is on par with most of its peers in the sub-Rs 23,000 range.
OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G comes in two variants-- 8GB RAM + 128GB storage and 8GB RAM + 256GB storage-- Rs 19,999 and Rs 21,999, respectively. And, as said earlier, the device is available in two colours-- Chromatic Gray and Pastel Lime.
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