OnePlus is one such popular smartphone brand that dominates the mid-range smartphone market with its Nord series phones. I have been a Nord series user myself since the OnePlus Nord 2 was launched, and now I finally get to test the latest Nord CE 5. The smartphone has been on the market for a couple of weeks in the under Rs. 25,000 segment. On paper, the smartphone boasts some eye-catching features, including a striking design, a promising camera setup, and a MediaTek Dimensity 8350 Apex chip for enhanced performance.
Now, with festive sales around the corner, many smartphone buyers may have been looking for their ideal upgrade, and in my opinion, the OnePlus Nord CE 5 is one of the best phones for the price. I have been using the device for over a month to understand its performance, camera, and other features to see what it's offering in the package. Therefore, here’s a detailed long-term review of the OnePlus Nord CE 5.
OnePlus Nord CE 5 5G review: Design and Display
This year’s OnePlus Nord CE 5 design looks quite premium, subtle and classy in my opinion in comparison to last year’s model. I received the Marble Mist colour variant, which has a textured white rear panel that shines, but still maintains a matte finish. It has a polycarbonate build, but its matte-silver frame looks like aluminium. It also comes in Nexus Blue and Black Infinity colours if you’re looking for more options.
The Nord CE 5 is 8.9mm thick and weighs 199 grams, which feels comfortable and lightweight in the hand. It is slippery at times, but it does not attract fingerprints or dust. For durability, it offers an IP65 rating, which is decent for a mid-ranger, but there are several phones in the market with similar budget offerings, IP68 and IP69 ratings as well. Overall, the OnePlus Nord CE 5 looks stylish.
Up front, it has a 6.77-inch Super Fluid AMOLED display that offers FHD+ resolution, 120Hz refresh rate and up to 1300nits peak brightness. The display delivers crisp and vibrant visuals, making it ideal for media consumption. Despite being a mid-ranger, it offers flagship-like colour accuracy that won me over. In addition, the smartphone offers smooth scrolling, thanks to a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate. The navigation felt quick and smooth throughout the usage. Lastly, it offers up to 1300nits peak brightness, which felt brighter than the Nord CE 4 outdoors. Even during direct sunlight, the phone was easy to use.
OnePlus Nord CE 5 5G review: Camera
The OnePlus Nord CE 5 5G features a dual camera setup that includes a 50MP Sony LYT600 sensor and an 8MP ultrawide camera. Coming to the real-life performance, the Nord CE 5 captures impressive daylight images with vibrant colours, crisp details, and accurate dynamic range. Hence, the cameras are quite reliable if you are a casual photographer and want to capture memories for your social media or share with friends and family. Alongside the daylight images, the Nord CE 5 also captures decent low-light or nighttime images, maintaining the clarity of the scene. However, in dense low light, you will notice blurs and a grainy effect. It also has a dedicated night mode that enhances the lighting of the subject placed in front of the camera.
{{/usCountry}}The OnePlus Nord CE 5 5G features a dual camera setup that includes a 50MP Sony LYT600 sensor and an 8MP ultrawide camera. Coming to the real-life performance, the Nord CE 5 captures impressive daylight images with vibrant colours, crisp details, and accurate dynamic range. Hence, the cameras are quite reliable if you are a casual photographer and want to capture memories for your social media or share with friends and family. Alongside the daylight images, the Nord CE 5 also captures decent low-light or nighttime images, maintaining the clarity of the scene. However, in dense low light, you will notice blurs and a grainy effect. It also has a dedicated night mode that enhances the lighting of the subject placed in front of the camera.
{{/usCountry}}On the other hand, the 8MP ultrawide camera also captured promising images with accurate colours and dynamic range, but it lacks clarity in low light. Therefore, I would recommend capturing low-light images with the main camera, in normal 1x photo mode. The smartphone also offers portrait mode with 2x optical zoom. While its edge detection is accurate, the blur effect does not look very pleasing.
Therefore, the OnePlus Nord CE 5 comes with a promising pair of cameras, given the price tag. I believe this might have been the best camera I have tested in a similar price range.
OnePlus Nord CE 5 5G review: Performance
In terms of performance, the OnePlus Nord CE 5 is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 8350 Apex chipset, a switch from the Snapdragon chip. With over a month of usage, the smartphone’s performance not only feels refined but even powerful in managing day-to-day tasks. From browsing, scrolling, and other basic tasks, the Nord CE 5 felt smooth throughout, making it an ideal choice for casual users.
Now, if you are considering the phone for casual or heavy gaming, the smartphone surely outperforms several phones in a similar price range. If you are a casual gamer, you’ll surely enjoy the gameplay with games like BGMI, but it stutters with Genshin Impact in high graphics settings. If you are a heavy gamer with extended hours of gameplay, then the phone offers a decent performance, if not the best. But I must say it has an impressive cooling system, and I did not encounter major overheating while gaming or multitasking.
The OnePlus Nord CE 5 runs on OxygenOS 15 based on Android 15, offering a clean UI, providing a seamless experience. It also includes some AI-powered features such as AI Translation, AI summary, AI writer, AI VoiceScribe, and more. The only downside of the software was the pre-installed apps, which may feel cluttered at times till you uninstall them one by one.
OnePlus Nord CE 5 review: Battery
The OnePlus Nord CE 5 is backed by a massive 7,100mAh battery that offers a never-ending battery life. Surprisingly, the smartphone could last about 3 days with casual use, and it will still have some juice left. For me, the smartphone lasted about 2 days with 5 hours of screen time. These 5 hours included mainly Netflix binge watching, social media scrolling, and casual gaming. While most of my calling and work-related tasks were done on my primary phone. Therefore, it's an ideal smartphone even for heavy smartphone users.
The OnePlus Nord CE 5 supports 80W SuperVOOC charging, which takes about an hour to fully charge the device from 0 to 100%.
OnePlus Nord CE 5 review: Verdict
After testing the OnePlus Nord CE 5 for nearly a month, I can vouch for its reliability in terms of day-to-day usage. The performance, battery life, camera, and display offer a promising performance without any stutter or noticeable lag. I also did not encounter any major heating issues or performance lag while multitasking or playing graphics-intensive games, making it an ideal phone for casual users. The only bottleneck I could find was the average performance of the ultrawide camera, which is negotiable considering the smartphone is priced under Rs. 25000.