Initial verdict: If you love the idea behind the Nord but only want the essentials, the OnePlus Nord CE is shaping to be a slightly better offering at a lower price in the Philippines. It downgrades certain aspects in the camera department but offers added niceties like a headphone jack and a bigger battery, as well as a more competitive price.
OnePlus Nord CE Specs:
- Snapdragon 750G processor
- 8GB/12GB LPDDR4X RAM
- 128GB/256GB UFS 2.1 storage
- 6.43-inch Full HD+ AMOLED display, 90hz refresh rate, support for HDR10+ and DCI-P3
- 64-megapixel f/1.8 main camera with PDAF, 8-megapixel f/2.2 ultra-wide-angle camera, 2-megapixel f/2.4 depth sensor
- 16-megapixel f/2.4 selfie camera with EIS
- 4G, 5G
- WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.1, in-display fingerprint scanner
- NFC
- 4500mAh battery
- 30w fast charging
- Android 11, OxygenOS 11
Pros
- More affordable than the OG Nord
- Bigger Battery than the OG Nord
Cons
- Main camera loses OIS
- Looks more like an OPPO phone
Roughly a year after OnePlus made its mid-to-entry-level Nord line official, we got a number of models. The latest to arrive in the Philippines is the Nord CE, which positions itself as a more affordable version of the OG Nord while keeping everything that makes its predecessor great.
Unboxing and packaging contents
Similar to what we saw with the OG Nord, you get the same matte black box with the triple-printed Nord branding and the OnePlus logo decked in iridescent black. The content of the box is the same as well: a welcome card, a sheet of Nord-themed stickers, silicone case, documentation, 30w WarpCharge charger, USB-C cable, and the phone itself.
Design
True to its Core Edition philosophy, the Nord CE is essentially a stripped-down version of the OG Nord, sharing practically the same design language. Digital Walker lent us the Emerald Green colorway, which has the same hue as the OG Nord.
Being a more affordable version, the Nord CE settles for a triple rear camera setup, loses the trademark alert slider, and flaunts an all-plastic build instead of glass for the back panel like the OG Nord. Despite a downgrade in the materials used on the build, the Nord CE feels solid–and that’s despite having a bigger battery than the OG Nord and still being a smidge lighter as well.
For the display, the Nord CE uses an undisclosed type of glass and settles for a more conventional single punch hole for the 16-megapixel selfie shooter.
The button and port layout are also the same as the OG Nord, though the Nord CE gets a headphone jack and relocates the SIM tray to the left side. Because of this, the lines between the design of OnePlus and OPPO phones is now blurrier than ever, and this will become more evident as the former announced that it will “deepen its integration” with the latter in the coming months.
Display
Similar to the OG Nord, the Nord CE also gets an AMOLED display with 90hz refresh rate, Full HD+ resolution, and an in-display fingerprint scanner. Save for a regular punch-hole instead of the pill-shaped one, the Nord gets the same type of panel used on the OG Nord. That means the Nord CE’s display covers the whole DCI-P3 and sRGB color gamuts and also has features like ambient display as well.
We tend to lean more towards AMOLED panels VS LCD ones for obvious reasons, and the one Nord CE does not disappoint. Blacks are deep, and colors pop out nicely, making watching videos very enjoyable. For audio, you get a single bottom-firing speaker on the Nord CE as well. We will give our final say on the audio quality in our full review, so stay tuned for that.
Cameras
The Nord CE keeps things straightforward with a triple rear camera setup. It gets a higher-resolution 64-megapixel main camera (but ditches OIS) and omits the depth sensor. We don’t like the “64 MP AI Triple Cam” branding found right beside the camera module since it messes with OnePlus’ otherwise clean and minimalist design.
Since we only got the unit as of writing this hands-on, we will need to put the Nord CE to the test to see if its camera performance is at par with the OG Nord despite the omission of the depth sensor and the absence of OIS in the main camera.
Internals
While it has the same RAM and storage variants offered at 8GB/128GB and 12GB/256GB, the OnePlus has gone with a Snapdragon 750G processor for the Nord CE. There is some contention as to whether the Snapdragon 750G is a downgrade from the Snapdragon 765G used on the OG Nord because of its naming scheme. However, some media outlets report that the Snapdragon 750G performs slightly better in certain aspects. This is something that we will definitely test out in our full review.
Like the OG Nord, you are getting Android 11-based OxygenOS 11 out of the box. For software updates, OnePlus is committed to rolling out two major Android updates (that is up to Android 13), along with 3 years of security updates.
For the battery, the Nord CE is better than its OG brethren with a bigger 4500mAh cell inside. Charging is the same with OnePlus’ 30w WarpCharge solution.
Wrap up and Early Verdict
People who are turned off with the pricing of the OG Nord might want to take a look at the OnePlus Nord CE in the Philippines. While it downgrades on certain aspects and does look more like an OPPO phone than a OnePlus device, the Nord CE does have its fair share of improvements over its OG brethren.
Positioning itself between the OG Nord and the Nord N10, we will need to put the Nord CE through its paces to see if this mid-range OnePlus offering does offer the perfect balance between its two 5G-ready siblings.
OnePlus Nord CE Price and Availability Philippines
The Nord CE is now available at Digital Walker’s eStore and official Shopee store starting today and at Digital Walker stores on July 1. The 8GB/128GB model is priced at Php 16,990, while the 12GB/256GB model is priced at Php 19,990.
