ONEPLUS NORD 2 REVIEW: Rather Destructive Specs ; Slightly Disruptive UI
Ever since OnePlus and Oppo made their deepening bonds official, the consumers have found themselves in a dilemma of whether or not to go for the BBK giant’s new offerings. While the company makes big claims about how the merger will enhance and embellish the user experience, neither the consumers nor I am able to make peace with the fact that this merger can prove out to be a bummer for all the OxygenOS fans. Amidst all this fuss, the upgrade to the last year’s Nord is here with a decent jump in the specs claiming itself to be the Flagship Killer (which now seems quite ironical considering the fact that the very brand has its own set of flagship devices now). So, lets dive deeper and see if the merge can affect you positively, negatively, both or does not.
The OnePlus Nord 2, launched at a price of around 28k-30k will go on sale on 26th of July here in India. While some are eagerly waiting to buy the product, some are dubious due to the integration between the OxygenOS & ColorOS. Having said that, the embellishments that the Nord 2 has to its name are just impressive to the core.
Very similar to the design of the brand’s flagship, OnePlus 9 series, the Nord 2 boasts a rich 6.43 — inches AMOLED panel with a refresh rate of 90hz (same as the last year’s)which can come as a surprise to some who expected a 120hz panel but trust me, the difference between transitioning from a 90hz panel to a 120hz panel is nothing compared to the difference you feel while transitioning from a 60hz panel to the one of 90hz. The default storage option is 128GB with 6 Gigs of RAM and goes up to 256GB plus 8GB variant. Unlike the Nord CE, its elder sibling comes with a glass back, giving the device the premium touch it deserves at this price point. The Nord 2 also has OnePlus’ iconic alert slider which earlier this year, the Nord CE missed out on. The internals of the Nord 2 are tweaked as well and the areas where it shines the brightest have been listed below :
PROCESSOR
The Nord 2 comes with a MediaTek Dimensity 1200 -AI Octa-Core 5G (6 nm) processor (Yes, OnePlus has ditched Snapdragon for the very first time) which resulted around 35% performance increase in single core and approximately 50% increase in the multi core performance as compared to its 2020 self and is almost as fast and efficient as the Snapdragon 870. Moreover, the Nord 2 comes with a UFS 3.1 which is leaps ahead of the UFS 2.1 featured in its predecessor.
CAMERA
Nord 2 comes with a Sony IMX-766 50 MP main sensor (f/1.88, OIS) (the same sensor they used on the Ultrawide of the OnePlus 9 Pro), an 8MP Ultrawide(f/2.25, EIS)and a 2MP Mono (f/2.5, B&W). Overall, the camera performance should see a serious improvement this time, provided OnePlus manages to improve it on the software front as well.
SPEAKERS & BATTERY
The two areas where the Nord 2 overshadows its predecessor are Speakers & Battery. OnePlus has realized the importance of the speaker quality just in time and has introduced Dual Stereo Speakers in this year’s Nord contributing to the enrichment that the device offers. The device offers a 4500mAh battery which may not be the biggest in the segment but since the device boasts the Warp Charge 65, it claims to go from 1% — 100% in just 30 mins which is just insanely fast! (Though the ramifications it has on the overall battery longevity are plenty).
TRUE 5G
Unlike the Nord CE 5G, launched earlier this year, the Nord 2 is not bluffing about having 5G. The Nord CE 5G, though having “5G” in its name, consisted of only a single 5G band making it absolutely absurd to even call it a 5G enabled device in the first place. Adding more to the bells and whistles, the Nord 2, comes with seven 5G bands making it immune to the what the future holds in platter.
Now, the launch of Nord 2 is only one of the reasons for which OnePlus has been in the news recently. The other reason being the merger between OnePlus and Oppo and what added more fuel to the fire was the news about the merger between OxygenOS and ColorOS.
“We are working on integrating the codebase of OxygenOS and ColorOS. This is a change that you will likely not even notice since it’s happening behind the scenes.” — ONEPLUS
Now, though the BBK giant has claimed everything to be out of notice and that they’re integrating the UIs behind the scenes, the Nord 2 contradicts the aforementioned statement of things happening behind the scenes.
CONCLUSION
Now, that you have seen what’s coming, I would also state that its a great device to lay hands on and that the similarities between both the UIs as of now is not so much but at the same time, its not like it isn’t there. Having said that, the embellishments the Nord 2 has to its name can’t be ignored due to the simple fact that just a few things aren’t the same as they were before until there are more and more.
