10 T3 JULY
HorizonOnePlus has
always loved
delivering power
fast, so the 30W
fast charging
functionality of
the Nord CE is
not surprising –
but it’s a welcome
addition. The
company reckons
it’ll boost a flat
battery to 70% in
just half an hour.The best new tech heading your way“No compromise here.If you’re on abudget,this is perfect”
Josh Russell,EditorTECH-O-METERONEPLUSNORD CE5GFrom £299, oneplus.comThe first Nord seemed to be a case of OnePlus
remembering what its original market was – the
affordable mid-range – and throwing out
something those buyers might like; this second
bite of the apple, while not an actual Nord 2,
seems to be the result of OnePlus working out
what mid-range buyers actually want. The price
is a clue, with the CE costing £80 less than the
bottom end of the original Nord spec (though
also £80 more than the bargain Nord N10).
The battery, a 4,500mAh upgrade over the
4,100mAh cell of its predecessor, will suit
casual users better.
This launches with Android 11 (with two years
of software updates promised) running on an
a mid-table Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G
chipset backed by up to 12GB RAM; minimum
storage is a very reasonable 128GB, and jumps
up to 256GB on the top-end model. Sacrifices
against the Nord are, realistically, very few: the
selfie camera isn’t quite as capable, there’s no
macro lens on the main camera, and there’s a
plastic back – in one of three colours – instead
of glass. All downgrades which aren’t going to
spoil the experience; there’s even an upgrade in
the form of a physical headphone jack.
OnePlus returning to its roots seems like it
was the right move. This is a phone which
strikes that balance, one which almost lands in
the budget category yet impresses like the
best of the mid-range. If the execution matches
the promise of its specs, the likes of Nokia and
Motorola have good cause to worry. OnePlus
- the real OnePlus – might be back.