But it also has its rivals, like Realme 9 Pro+ 5G (Review), which offers similar hardware for an even lower price. So how does Nord 2T 5G compete in its segment and is it a perfect midranger smartphone? I used this phone for a few weeks and here I am telling what I think about it.
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OnePlus Nord 2T 5G price in India
OnePlus Nord 2T 5G 28,999 with its 8GB RAM and 128GB storage variant and goes up to Rs 33,999 with 12GB RAM and 256GB storage. The phone comes in Greenish Jade Fog and Gray Shadow finish. I got its 12GB gray shadow variant for review.
Design of OnePlus Nord 2T 5G
The design of the OnePlus Nord 2T 5G doesn’t see any major changes, especially since it is the ‘T’ version of the phone, which is expected to come with only a few minor hardware changes. However, some details have been changed inside the design which are more visible at the rear. The camera module now shows two circular cutouts. One has the primary camera and the other is given for the ultrawide and monochrome camera. The layout of the phone looks neat but the module is slightly protruding from the body of the phone. Due to this, the phone staggers when placed on a flat place.
The rear panel is made of anti-glare glass and has a soft matte finish, which feels quite premium. It also does the job of preventing fingerprints very well. The midframe of the phone is made of polycarbonate and has a chrome-like finish that is prone to fingerprints. But due to this, the hand grip on the device becomes good. The phone is heavy and gives a premium feel in the hand. I am glad that this time OnePlus has kept the alert slider present in the same way, which is more expensive than this phone. OnePlus 10R 5G in was removed.
The display has slightly curved edges and is not completely flat. It gives good grip experience. For the selfie camera, a holepunch has been given in it. The fingerprint scanner is also given in the display which is reliable. The display is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5, which makes fingerprints easy to fall on, but can also be cleaned quickly. I did not like the thick bezel of its display. It looks a bit rough looking at the other three sides.
Specifications and Software of OnePlus Nord 2T 5G
MediaTek Dimensity 1300 processor has been given in OnePlus Nord 2T 5G. The Dimensity 1200-AI SoC was given in the previous model. This is the main upgrade with this model. The phone has LPDDR4X RAM and UFS 3.1 storage. It has a dual SIM tray in which two 5G nano SIMs can be installed. For communication, it has support for Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, NFC. The phone has 4,500mAh battery and support for 80W fast charging. Keep in mind that 65W fast charging was given in Nord 2. There is no IP rating available in the phone, while this feature has become common in the midrange.
The phone runs on Android 12 based OxygenOS 12.1. The software is the same as the OnePlus but this time I noticed a strange omission in that, it does not have live wallpapers, only stable wallpapers are available. For support, the company promises two major Android updates and three years of security updates, which is a good thing for a mid-range device.
Continuing its tradition, OnePlus has introduced a smartphone with the least bloatware. I only found Netflix in third party apps. I didn’t get unwanted notifications. The rest of the software is customizable. The theme engine automatically picks the colors of the wallpaper and applies it to widgets and keyboards. But the same color doesn’t apply to the system’s accent color, it has to be applied manually from the Personalization menu.
OnePlus Nord 2T 5G performance
The OnePlus Nord 2T 5G performs well in benchmark tests for a midrange device. The phone scored 6,15,487 points on AnTuTu. On Geekbench, it scored 672 and 2,614 points in single and multi-core tests respectively. These scores are in the same price range iQoo Neo 6 who scored 7,29,331 on AnTuTu and 983 and 3,074 points in Geekbench’s single and multi-core tests, respectively.
The gaming performance of the phone is good and the phone does not get too hot while playing. I saw it playing Call of Duty: Mobile and Asphalt 9: Legends. Both the games ran smoothly in the default settings. There was no loss in performance even after maximizing the graphic settings. The display’s refresh rate of 180Hz was sufficient even when playing fast paced titles.
The phone has a 6.43-inch AMOLED panel with a refresh rate of 90Hz. The company says that it is HDR10+ certified. The display produces saturated colors at the default vivid color setting. Colors look real on natural mode. The display shines a decent amount when outdoors but its ambient light sensor dims the brightness a bit when I’m indoors and I had to go up the bar once inside.
Its HDR10+ certification did not seem to be of much use. Display HDR rated not detected in apps like Netflix. Color banding was felt while watching HDR content on YouTube. SD content looked sharp and blacks looked quite deep. The sound of the stereo speakers was good but at high volume the sound was a bit bursting.
The battery life of OnePlus Nord 2T 5G is good. The phone comfortably lasts two days in normal use which also includes some gaming. In heavy usage, with 2 hours of gaming and half an hour of camera usage, the phone lasts one and a half days. The phone lasted 22 hours 55 minutes in the HD video loop test, which is quite impressive. With the included charger, the phone charged from 0 to 55 percent in 15 minutes and was fully charged in 30 minutes.
Cameras of OnePlus Nord 2T 5G
Three rear cameras have been given in OnePlus Nord 2T 5G. It has a 50-megapixel Sony IMX766 primary sensor with support for OIS. There is also an 8-megapixel ultrawide camera and a 2-megapixel monochrome camera. A 32-megapixel camera is available in the phone for selfie. The camera interface is similar to that of recent OnePlus phones. Some options are hidden in the mini slide out menu in the ellipsis button. This is similar to what is found in the recently launched Oppo and Realme devices.
Photos taken in daylight were sharp and clear, with good dynamic range, but details were less in dark areas. Colors looked accurate but it depended on the color profile I set to see how the colors looked. These looked oversaturated when set to Vivid. Its 2X digital zoom is quite surprising, which took very clear shots in adequate light. Ultrawide camera takes photos with less details. In more bright places, the photo showed a purple shade on the edges.
The primary camera can’t replace a dedicated macro camera, yet I took good close-up shots of flowers from a distance with the primary camera which looked quite sharp. Sharpness was more visible in selfies but overall the dynamic range was good. In selfies, edge detection was good in portrait shots, but dynamic range was limited and the background was getting overexposed.
The ultra-wide camera takes usable photos in low-light. The primary camera also takes sharp photos with good detail and dynamic range. I had to use its dedicated night mode only in very low light. The only thing I would say about this is that the low light performance of the phone was not always found to impress. In Night mode, it captured images with better dynamic range and less noise, but the sharpness was a bit high. I have seen better low-light camera performance in the Realme 9 Pro+ 5G.
The phone records 1080p video at 30fps with slight softness but the stabilization was amazing. Fewer details were found in 1080p video of 60fps. Best results were obtained at 30fps while recording videos in 4K. At the same time, while recording video in low-light, the best results were obtained in 4K. 1080p footage looked soft in low-light and there was shake while walking.
our decision
The OnePlus Nord 2T 5G at its price of Rs 28,999 offers everything a user can expect from a mid-range phone. It neither goes up nor comes down from it. The phone performs within its limits, be it the processor (extremely midrange), the camera (without the macro feature) or the display (limited to 90Hz). But whatever it performs, it does well. At this price it comes as an all-rounder. Although its 12GB RAM (Rs 33,999) variant seems more useful because Nothing Phone 1 As such smartphones are offering more features like wireless charging and IP53 rating at this price.
If you are looking at options other than Nord 2T 5G, then there are brands like iQoo and Realme which are offering more value for money smartphones. The iQoo Neo 6 packs a powerful Snapdragon 870 SoC, packs a 120Hz AMOLED display and packs a 4,700mAh battery. It comes for Rs 29,999. The Realme 9 Pro+ 5G has the Dimensity 920 SoC, the same primary camera, a macro camera, and the same 90Hz AMOLED panel but it starts at Rs 24,999 with the 6GB variant.
