OnePlus has been expanding its Nord series of smartphones to cater to different segments of the market. The latest addition to this lineup is the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G, which is a budget-friendly phone that offers some decent features and performance. However, it also comes with some compromises that might make you think twice before buying it. In this review, we will take a closer look at the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G and see how it fares against its competitors.
Design and Display
The OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G has a simple and elegant design that looks premium and feels sturdy. The phone has a glossy plastic back panel that comes in two colour options: Pastel Lime and Chromatic Grey. The Pastel Lime variant is a refreshing and eye-catching shade of light green that stands out from the crowd. The Chromatic Grey variant is more subtle and classy. The back panel also houses a triple-camera setup that consists of two large circular rings. The phone has a side-mounted fingerprint scanner that doubles as a power button, a volume rocker on the left, a USB Type-C port and a 3.5mm headphone jack at the bottom, and a stereo speaker setup. The phone measures 8.3mm in thickness and weighs 195g, which makes it comfortable to hold and use.
The display of the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G is a 6.72-inch LCD panel with a resolution of 2400 x 1080 pixels and a refresh rate of 120Hz. The display has a punch-hole cutout for the selfie camera on the top left corner and thin bezels on the sides and bottom. The display is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass and has some features like image sharpener, screen colour mode, auto-brightness, and manual brightness. The display quality is decent but not exceptional. The colours are vivid but not very accurate, the brightness is adequate but not very high, and the viewing angles are good but not great. The LCD panel also lacks the contrast and deep blacks of an AMOLED panel, which makes it less appealing for watching videos or playing games.
Performance and Battery
The OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 5G chipset, which is an octa-core processor with four Kryo 460 Gold cores clocked at 2.2GHz and four Kryo 460 Silver cores clocked at 1.8GHz. The phone also has an Adreno 619L GPU for graphics processing. The phone comes in two variants: one with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage, and another with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage. The storage can be expanded up to 1TB using a microSD card.
The performance of the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G is satisfactory but not outstanding. The phone can handle most daily tasks like browsing, messaging, social media, etc. without any lag or stutter. The phone can also run casual games like Candy Crush or Subway Surfers smoothly. However, when it comes to more demanding games like Asphalt 9 or Genshin Impact, the phone struggles to maintain a consistent frame rate and shows signs of heating up. The phone also scores lower than some of its rivals like the Realme GT Neo or the POCO F3 GT on benchmark tests like AnTuTu or Geekbench.
The battery of the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G is one of its strong points. The phone has a large 5,000mAh battery that can easily last for a full day of moderate to heavy usage. The phone also supports fast charging with the included 67W SuperVOOC charger that can charge the phone from zero to full in just over half an hour. However, the phone does not support wireless charging or reverse charging, which are some features that are becoming more common in this price range.
Camera and Software
The OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G has a triple-camera setup on the back that consists of a primary camera, a macro camera, and a depth sensor. The primary camera is a new Samsung HM6 sensor with a resolution of 108 megapixels and an aperture of f/1.75. The macro camera is a 2-megapixel sensor with an aperture of f/2.4. The depth sensor is also a 2-megapixel sensor with an aperture of f/2.4. The front camera is a 16-megapixel sensor with an aperture of f/2.0.
The camera performance of the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G is decent but not impressive. The primary camera can capture some good shots in daylight conditions with good colours and details. The phone also has a 9-in-1 pixel binning technology that combines nine pixels into one to produce 12-megapixel images with better clarity and dynamic range. However, the camera struggles in low-light situations and produces noisy and grainy images. The camera also lacks features like optical image stabilization, ultra-wide-angle lens, telephoto lens, or night mode, which are available in some of its competitors.
The macro camera and the depth sensor are not very useful and produce mediocre results. The macro camera can only focus on objects that are very close to the lens and has poor resolution and colour accuracy. The depth sensor is supposed to help with portrait mode and background blur, but it often fails to detect the edges correctly and creates artificial-looking bokeh effects.
The selfie camera is adequate for casual selfies and video calls, but nothing more. The selfies have good colours and exposure but lack sharpness and detail. The selfie camera also has a beauty mode that can smoothen the skin and enhance the features, but it looks unnatural and overdone.
The OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G runs on Android 11 with OxygenOS 11 on top. OxygenOS is one of the best custom skins for Android that offers a clean and smooth user interface with minimal bloatware and ads. The phone also has some useful features like dark mode, always-on display, game space, quick launch, Zen mode, etc. The phone also gets regular security updates and bug fixes from OnePlus.
Price and Availability
The OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G is priced at Rs 19,999 for the 6GB+128GB variant and Rs 21,999 for the 8GB+256GB variant. The phone is available on Amazon India, OnePlus India website, and offline stores.
Here are some pros and cons of the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G:
Pros:
- Large and smooth 120Hz LCD
- Good battery life and fast charging
- Clean and smooth OxygenOS software
- Decent design and build quality
- Stereo speakers and headphone jack
Cons:
- Average performance and camera quality
- LCD panel lacks contrast and brightness
- No alert slider or wireless charging
- Limited 5G band support
- Hybrid SIM slot
FAQ
Q: Does the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G support 5G?
A: Yes, the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G supports 5G connectivity on both SIM slots. However, the phone only supports two bands of 5G: n77 and n78, which are not widely available in India yet.
Q: Does the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G have a headphone jack?
A: Yes, the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G has a 3.5mm headphone jack at the bottom.
Q: Does the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G have a notification LED?
A: No, the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G does not have a notification LED. However, it has an always-on display that can show notifications on the screen.
Q: Does the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G have a dedicated microSD card slot?
A: No, the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G does not have a dedicated microSD card slot. It has a hybrid SIM slot that can either hold two nano-SIM cards or one nano-SIM card and one microSD card.
Q: Does the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G support face unlock?
A: Yes, the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G supports face unlock using the front camera. However, it is not very secure or reliable as it can be fooled by photos or videos.
Q: What is the weight of OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G?
A: According to the official OnePlus website, the weight of the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G is 195g, and the weight of the screen protector may add an additional 3g.
Q: What is the screen-to-body ratio of the phone?
A: According to FoneArena, the screen-to-body ratio of the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G is 91.40%. The phone has a 6.72-inch FHD+ LCD display with a punch-hole cutout for the selfie camera on the top left corner and thin bezels on the sides and bottom.
Source – oneplus.in
