OnePlus Nord CE 3 review: Well-packaged phone

The mid-range OnePlus phone ticks all the key parameters such as good build build quality and reliable performance along with delivering long battery life.

OnePlus launched the Nord CE 3 with CE 3 Lite in July, but the former made it to the store shelves only in August.

On paper, the Nord CE 3 has a good set of features; has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 782G octa-core processor, a camera has a main sensor made by Sony, and boasts OnePlus' reliable super fast charging capability. But, does it deliver the goods? Here are my thoughts on the latest mid-range phone from the house of OnePlus.

Design, build quality, and display

The new Nord CE 3, particularly this aqua surge model is really pretty gorgeous phone. The glasstic back panel cover has a glossy finish. It looks great in the sunlight and also does a superb job of hiding fingerprint smudges. You cannot view it in direct sight but only from a certain angle.

Add value to the visual aesthetic of the phone is the flat rail around the edge of the display. It is really sturdy and offers a good grip for the fingers to hold the phone more firmly.

OnePlus Nord CE 3.

This OnePlus phone is well protected against physical damage and scratches too. The display is pre-fitted with a screen guard and the retail box comes with colour-matched silicone-based back cover case. It should be noted that OnePlus has thoughtfully designed the cover, wherein the case bulges a bit more than normal at four corners and also protrudes a bit around the display.

This way, the phone is protected from all possible drop angles. Even if it falls with the display facing down, the protrusion at the edges ensures the screen never touches the surface of the floor, unless it is on a spiky surface. Also, the cushion-like corners ensure the phone is well protected from physical damage too. But, the phone is protected against any damage caused due to liquids.

The phone features a speaker along with a Type-C port, a mic, and a hybrid SIM tray slot. Please be advised while removing the SIM tray, be conscious while using the SIM ejector tool. Insert it in the tiny round slot, the one on the extreme left side at the base, not the one, which is beside the Type-C port. Or else, you will end up damaging the microphone.

On the top, the company has incorporated another microphone and an Infrared(IR) blaster, which can be used to control smart ACs, TVs, and other smart gadgets at home.

On the left, it features the volume rocker and the power button, placed one over the other. On the left, there is no physical button. Nope, it has no alert slider too. To switch between silent to ring or vibration, you have to make do with the volume button. It's very easy and not so complicated. Just press the volume button and just reduce the volume to switch to silent mode or vibrate and if you want to ring, raise the volume on the home screen. It gets done in no time.

OnePlus Nord CE 3.

On the front, it sports a 6.7-inch full HD+ (2412×1080p) AMOLED display with a pixel density of 394 ppi (pixels per inch and has 93.4 per cent screen-to-body ratio. It has a tiny camera at the top center. The latter doesn't obstruct much while reading messages or news on the web or watching any videos.

It supports a 120Hz refresh rate, which comes in handy while browsing the internet or social media apps. The screen scrolling experience is fluid and smooth. It also has an eye comfort feature which ensures there is less leakage of blue light that harms the eyes during long sessions such as while watching TV series or movies or reading an e-book.

It supports sRGB, Display P3, 10-bit Color Depth, and HDR10+ and offers several modes for particular activities such as Video Color Boost, Screen Color Mode, Auto Brightness, Manual Brightness, Screen Color Temperature, Bright HDR Video Mode and Dark Mode.

The phone also features an on-display fingerprint sensor. It works without any issues as long as the finger is clean and dry.

OnePlus Nord CE 3 5G's CPU and GPU scores on Geekbench 6.0 performance app

Performance

Under the hood, OnePlus Nord CE 3 houses a 6nm class Qualcomm Snapdragon 782G processor, Adreno 642L GPU, and 8GB/12GB LPDDR4X RAM with 128GB/256GB UFS 3.1.

Our review unit comes in 12GB RAM + 256GB UFS 3.1 storage and with RAM expansion feature, I was able to add 12GB extra, and maxed it to 24GB. The phone worked buttery smooth no discernible issue of lag-ness as such.

The device runs on Android 13 with OxygenOS 13.1. It is clean and doesn't come with any bloatware or any useless third-party apps pre-loaded as such. Also, the device supports a microSD card and you can extend the storage up to 1TB.

There's plenty of space for users to take thousands photos, videos and install hundreds of apps too.

OnePlus Nord CE 3.

The phone comes with a dual-cell (2,500mAh each) battery, totaling 5,000mAh capacity. The device was able to consistently deliver a long battery life of around one and a half days with normal usage. Even with extreme usage, it can easily last an entire day.

Also, with 80W SuperVOOC fast charging capability, the owner need not have to feel any anxiety at all. Just plug it into a nearby power source, it can reach from zero to 60 per cent in around 15 minutes and fully charge to 100 per cent in around 40-45 minutes.

OnePlus Nord CE 3 supports 5G cellular services offered by Airtel and Reliance Jio in India.

OnePlus Nord CE 3's camera sample.

Photography

OnePlus Nord CE 3 boasts a triple camera module-- main 50MP (with Sony IMX890 sensor, f/1.8, OIS: Optical Image Stabilisation, Phase Detection Auto Focus) + 8MP 120-degree ultra-wide camera (with Sony IMX355 sensor, f/2.2) + 2MP macro camera (f/2.4) with LED flash on the back.

OnePlus Nord CE 3's camera sample.

It takes really good pictures in bright sunny conditions. The subjects particularly the flowers look great with vibrant colours. Even with wind breezing around and the flowers moving, I was able to good sharp snaps.

OnePlus Nord CE 3's camera sample.

With the wide-angle mode, the camera with a 120-degree field-of-view manages to get the vast area in the scene without the issue of bending, which we see in some of the phones not just in mid-range but even in premium phones. Some phones are known to artificially compress the area and end up with buildings slanting inwards. Here, there is no glaring issue as such.

In macro shot mode, the photos have come great. the camera manages to capture clear details of the minute parts of the flowers without any pixelated issues.

In the Portrait mode, OnePlus Nord CE 3 does a fine job. It manages to get the edge detection right and deliver natural looking bokeh effect in the background.

As far as the night mode is concerned, the OnePlus Nord CE 3 manages to impress with a great balance of light coming from the streetlights and night's darkness.

The Nord CE 3 features gyro-EIS (Electronics Image Stabilisation) that ensures the videos are stable even with a shaky hand. It can record up to 4K resolution at 30 frames per second (fps) and 1080p full HD at 30/60/120 fps.

OnePlus Nord CE 3's camera sample

On the front, it houses a feature-rich 16MP (f/2.4) camera. It takes fantastic selfies in the sunlight and even indoors, and photo quality to relatively decent.

OnePlus Nord CE 3's camera sample

Besides the regular image editor features such as crop & rotate, adjust contrast &brightness, and filters, there are superficial tools that allow users to tweak skin colour tone, reshape eyes, remove acne scars, smoothen skin, and more to make the face of the human subject photogenic. They do work as advertised, but if you go overboard, the picture in the

OnePlus Nord CE 3's camera sample

Final thoughts

OnePlus Nord CE 3 is well rounded mid-range phone. It ticks all the key parameters a customer looks for in a phone. It has excellent build quality, a reliable Snapdragon 782G silicon, a clean user interface, really good camera hardware, and like all OnePlus phones, the Nord CE 3 delivers good battery life and supports SuperVOOC fast 80W charging speed.

There is hardly any stressing issue to complain about the device compared to the rival brands in the sub-Rs 30,000 price range.

OnePlus Nord CE 3 is available in two configurations-- 8GB RAM + 128GB storage and 12GB RAM + 256GB storage, for Rs 26,999 and Rs 28,999, respectively.

OnePlus Nord CE 3.

With the release of the Nord CE 3, OnePlus now has a perfect set of phones from mid-range to premium covering a wide range of price points between Rs 17,999 and Rs 56,999. It starts with Nord CE 2 Lite at Rs 17,999 to Nord CE 3 (Rs 24,999 plus) to Nord 3 and OnePlus 10R at Rs 30,000 Plus range. Further up the price ladder of Rs 35,000 and more range, the company has a feature-rich line-up including OnePlus 9, OnePlus 10 Pro, 10T, and OnePlus 11 series.

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