The OnePlus Nord 3 is much like the OnePlus 11R Lite, which is suitable for people who want to save money. The 11R is one of the most exciting new OnePlus phones ever. It’s much more exciting to play with the Nord 3, which has the same features but costs even less.
It’s clear that the design is more functional, but it looks nice. And it seems like the Nord CE 3 Lite. The back of the OnePlus One is made of Corning Gorilla Glass 5, and the frame is flat, smooth, and made of plastic. You can choose between a matte black or shiny green finish. You can choose either one, and either way, you’ll get a bit of a premium. For this phone, OnePlus also added an IP54 rating, which is something the 11R doesn’t have.
Overall, the sizes are better for use than the 11Rs. The Nord 3 weighs 193 grams and is 8.15 mm thick. It’s still a big phone for long periods with one hand, but not much bigger than its predecessor, the Nord 2/2T, even though it has a bigger screen.
After two years, OnePlus finally released a new Nord series phone. But was it worth the wait? Regarding everything but the camera, the OnePlus Nord 3 has the right improvements. That doesn’t meet my needs. Every brand competes in the price range of less than Rs. 40,000, and OnePlus’s most expensive phone, the Nord, does very well compared to its rivals. Should you get it? Read on to find out.
OnePlus Nord 3 5G Full Specification
| LAUNCH | |
| Announced | July 05, 2023 |
| First Release | July 11, 2023 |
| NETWORK | GSM / CDMA / HSPA / LTE / 5G |
| BODY | |
| Dimensions | 162 x 75.1 x 8.2 mm |
| Weight | 193.5 g |
| Build | Glass front (Dragontrail Glass) Glass back (Gorilla Glass 5) Plastic frame |
| SIM | Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by) |
| DISPLAY | |
| Type | Fluid AMOLED, 1B colors |
| Size | 6.74 inches, 109.2 cm2 (~89.8% screen-to-body ratio) |
| Resolution | 1240 x 2772 pixels |
| Protection | Dragontrail Glass |
| PLATFORM | |
| Operating System | Android 13, OxygenOS 13.1 |
| Chipset | Mediatek MT6983 Dimensity 9000 (4 nm) |
| CPU | Octa-core |
| GPU | Mali-G710 MC10 |
| MEMORY | |
| Card Slot | No |
| Internal | 128GB/ 8GB RAM 256GB/ 16GB RAM |
| MAIN CAMERA | |
| Triple | 50 MP, f/1.8, 24mm (wide) 8 MP, f/2.2, 112˚ (ultrawide) 2 MP, f/2.4, (macro) |
| Features | LED flash, HDR, panorama |
| Video | 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60/120fps, gyro-EIS |
| SELFIE CAMERA | |
| Single | 16 MP, f/2.4, 24mm (wide) |
| Features | HDR |
| Video | 1080p@30fps, gyro-EIS |
| SOUND | |
| Loudspeaker | Yes, with stereo speakers |
| 3.5mm jack | No |
| COMMS | |
| WLAN | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct |
| Bluetooth | 5.2, A2DP, LE, aptX HD |
| Positioning | GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, BDS, QZSS |
| NFC | Yes |
| Radio | No |
| USB | USB Type-C 2.0, OTG |
| FEATURES | |
| Sensors | Fingerprint (under display, optical), accelerometer, gyro |
| BATTERY | |
| Type | Li-Po 5000 mAh, non-removable |
| Charging | 80W wired, 1-60% in 15 min 1-100% in 32 min (advertised) |
| MISC | |
| Colors | Misty Green, Tempest Gray |
| Models | CPH2491 |
| TESTS | |
| Display | Contrast ratio: Infinite (nominal) |
| Camera | Photo / Video |
| Loudspeaker | -25.8 LUFS (Very good) |
| Battery life | Endurance rating 103h |
OnePlus Nord 3 5G Design (Luxurious Build)
Regarding style and colour, the OnePlus Nord 3 5G looks like a more expensive version of the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G (Review), which came out earlier this year. Corning Gorilla Glass 5 covers the back of the new phone and has slightly rounded sides. The Misty Green colour looks pretty good, but the shiny finish makes it easy for fingerprints and smudges to stick to it. The Tempest Grey colour, which has a matte finish, is my favourite. The IP54 rating means that both colour options are basically resistant to dust and water. This is something that the earlier model didn’t have.
The OnePlus Nord 3 5G is made of thick plastic with a dull surface. The start button and the popular Alert slider are on the right side. To change the volume, move the knob to the left. There is space for a USB Type-C port, the microphone, the prominent speaker grille, and two SIM cards on the bottom edge. There is also an infrared (IR) emitter on top that can control home machines.
I like how the OnePlus Nord 3 5G feels in my hand as a whole. Because the back panel is slightly curved around the edges, the frame doesn’t feel too sharp when you play games or hold the phone for a long time. Also, the weight is spread out well, and it doesn’t feel heavy in the middle. For those who like to know about specs, the Nord 3 5G is 8.15 mm thick and weighs 193.5 g.
OnePlus Nord 3 5G Display
The phone has a tall 6.74-inch “Super Fluid” AMOLED display on the front. The OnePlus Nord 3 5G has a flat-screen instead of the curved-edge ones on the Realme 11 Pro+ 5G (Review) and Motorola Edge 40 (Review), which are a little cheaper. Even the chin has pretty thin bezels, which helps give you more screen space and a more immersive watching experience.
The OnePlus Nord 3 5G has a 10-bit AMOLED screen with a 1.5K resolution (2772×1240 pixels), which makes the content look clear. You can also see bright colours on the screen, and deep blacks are possible with HDR10+ on Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. The two speakers sound great and have Dolby Atmos boost. They can also make a small room very loud.
The screen on the OnePlus Nord 3 5G has a dynamic 120Hz frame rate and a touch sampling rate of up to 1,000Hz. When I used the device, scrolling and movements felt smooth, and I didn’t notice any halts.
The Nord 3 5G has a fingerprint scanner built into the screen. It works quickly to verify your identity and unlock the phone, but I don’t like how low it is located. You can also use AI-based face recognition for authentication, which is less safe but more handy.
OnePlus Nord 3 5G Hardware
In this area, the new top-of-the-line Nord phone differs significantly from the old one. Nord 2 and Nord 2T, OnePlus has usually used good but clearly middling SoCs. In Nord 3, the company has switched to a Mediatek Dimensity 9000 chip, which is almost as good as a top chip. Both RAM and storage are up to you. One comes with 8 GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 128 GB of UFS 3.1 storage, while the other has twice as much RAM and storage. It doesn’t have a memory card slot to add more space.
Most of the time, the phone works incredibly well. Everyday tasks like using social media apps, taking pictures, browsing, watching videos, or moving between apps are very smooth. At pretty high levels, it can handle most new games well. If you play games on your phone for 30 minutes, it doesn’t get too hot, but when it stays in the mid-40s for a while, it slows down.
OnePlus Nord 3 5G Performance
Under heavy loads that last for a long time, as shown in the 3D Mark Wild Life Stress Test charts below, speed can drop by as much as 40%. For this long-term review, we’ve been using the phone for a couple of months. During that time, it got a few software changes, but this problem hasn’t been fixed entirely yet. Normal use won’t be affected by this problem, but frame rates will drop when playing games with many images as the phone gets warmer.
Most simulated tests showed that both the Mediatek Dimensity 9000 and the Mali-G710 MC10 GPU worked well. In the 3D Mark tests, it scored 7375 for Wild Life and 2336 for Wild Life Extreme, with an average frame rate of 44.2 fps for each. For the PCMark Work 3.0 test, the score was 11,287, and for the Geekbench 6 test, the scores were 1096 for single-core and 3417 for multi-core.
These are a big improvement over the Nord 2T scores in the same tests, and they’re getting closer to Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 range, which is excellent for a midrange phone. In some other ways as well, the phone worked pretty well. The sound from the speakers is loud and clear, and the stereo effect is good. This 5G-ready phone worked well during tests for call clarity and reception. You can connect wirelessly with Bluetooth 5.2 and dual-band WiFi that supports WiFi 6 standards a/b/g/n/ac/ax.
OnePlus Nord 3 5G Good Camera
On the back of the OnePlus Nord 3, there are three cameras: a 50MP Sony IMX890 main camera with OIS, an 8MP ultra-wide-angle sensor, and a 2MP macro lens. When it was daylight, the smartphone took good pictures with fine details, bright colours, and a good dynamic range.
The images had a lot of contrast, but it was a good kind of contrast. The picture mode also did well, with the right amount of blur and subject separation.
It took pictures that were bright and colourful and had a little noise when there wasn’t much light. Some smartphones, like the Vivo V27 Pro, are better at cameras than this one, so the camera isn’t great, but it’s also not a deal-breaker. It’s not just the camera that makes people buy OnePlus; they buy it for the whole package. In general, the pictures were excellent and clear.
Night photography with a daytime feel
They want to stress how great the Nord 3 is for taking pictures at night thanks to its big sensor, optical image stabilization, and their own multi-exposure technology called Turbo RAW. To try some shots, I went outside into the neighbourhood. The results prove that OnePlus is telling the truth—you can get a clear picture with many subtleties.
One thing is wrong: it’s too bright. It throws the light adjustment all the way to the top, which makes it look like I’m shooting in the early evening instead of the middle of the night. The best cameras I’ve seen can catch colour and detail while still making the picture look like it really is night. In the app’s manual pro mode, you can change this, but it’s not simple.
If you want to make videos, the Nord 3 is useful. Optical and digital stabilization work together to keep the picture steady. You can shoot up to 4K and 60fps, and the controls are simple but easy to use. You even get a stereo microphone in horizontal mode, which I think sounds great and has good noise and wind noise filters. Yes, you can add an external microphone via USB or Bluetooth. However, you can’t change the microphone in the app; you must go to the system’s settings menu to do that.
OnePlus Nord 3 5G Operating System and User Interface
Android 13 and OxygenOS 13.1 are both on the OnePlus Nord 3 5G. OxygenOS isn’t as good as it used to be, and we’ve come to terms with the fact that it’s mostly ColorOS now. But it works fine as long as we don’t overthink about the past. It still has no ads or extra software, which is great. The UI is smooth, doesn’t lag, and isn’t too hard to understand, even for a beginner.
OxygenOS 13.1 on the Nord 3 is slightly different (better), but it’s hard to pinpoint what it is. You can make a few changes to make it even more your own. It’s easy to use even if you haven’t done it before. Even better, the company that made this phone has promised three big Android updates and security updates for four years after the launch date. We trust OnePlus to keep their software up to date, and they have a history of doing so.
OnePlus Nord 3 5G Battery Life
A lot of games were played on the OnePlus Nord 3 5G while it was being used for other normal tasks. For the most part, the process was pretty smooth. The apps loaded quickly, and the game experience was also great. On my phone, I played Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) and Asphalt 9: Legends. Both games worked well. BGMI could handle images up to Ultra HD with an Ultra framerate. But you will need to set graphics to HDR if you want to use the Extreme frame rate choice.
The Nord 3 5G with 16GB RAM had great RAM management. Apps stayed in my memory and continued to load from where I had left them. Heavy games like BGMI did reload when I switched back to them after a while. While playing games for long amounts of time, the area around the camera module did get a little warm. But it wasn’t a big deal.
Battery Scored
The OnePlus Nord 3 5G got 8,47,115 points on AnTuTu (v10), which is a little less than the Poco F5 (Review), which had a Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2 SoC and scored 10,94,798 points. For the single-core test, the phone got 863 points, and for the multi-core test, it got 2,978 points.
The price of the new iQoo Neo 7 Pro (First Impressions) is about the same as the Nord 3 5G. The Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 SoC inside it gives it a score of 12,63,884 points on AnTuTu. In Geekbench 6, it got 1,727 points for the single-core test and 4,459 points for the multi-core test. We are still working on the full review.
One charge is enough to power the OnePlus Nord 3 5G for a whole day. Screen-on time (SoT) was about eight hours and thirty minutes a day when I used my phone a moderate amount. The SoT dropped to seven hours and fifteen minutes on days when I played games and took pictures and movies. The Nord 3 5G worked for about 21 hours and 12 minutes in our HD video loop test. Using the charger that came with the phone, it takes about 40 minutes to charge from 0% to 100%.
Should you buy it?
The Poco F5, the Motorola Edge 40, and the Samsung Galaxy A54 5G are all phones that compete with this OnePlus one. The OnePlus Nord 3 has top-of-the-line tech, a beautiful screen, an IP54 rating, and a great battery. It’s a good upgrade from the one that came before it because it has all of these things and is priced fairly.
When you look at the other phones on the market, the Motorola Edge 40 has an excellent design and an IP68 rating, the Poco F5 supports 120W fast charging, and the Galaxy A54 5G has the famous 120Hz AMOLED display. However, the OnePlus Nord 3 still makes a strong case. One of the best phones under Rs 35,000 is the newly released OnePlus phone, which has great speed, a great camera, a great screen, and a long-lasting battery.
OnePlus Nord 3 5G Verdict
While prices are low (under Rs. 40,000), the OnePlus Nord 3 5G seems like it could be one of the best smartphones in India right now. It has a performance unit that is on par with top phones, a bigger and better screen than its predecessor, and a good set of cameras. The software is also pretty clean and has a lot of features.
The only bad things I can think of are the basic IP grade and the fact that the ultra-wide camera isn’t very good. The Motorola Edge 40, which is a bit cheaper, and the Samsung Galaxy A34 5G (Review), which is a bit more expensive, both have IP68 ratings.
There are also a few thousand rupees more to pay for the Nord 3 5G than the old form. The 16GB RAM version is a lot like the OnePlus 11R (Review), which costs Rs. 39,999 and has a curved-edge AMOLED screen, a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 SoC, the same cameras, and a slightly faster 100W charging port. The OnePlus Nord 3 5G is still a great buy, though, if you want a smartphone that can do a lot of different things without spending a lot of money.
Read More: OnePlus 11 5G Review, Samsung Galaxy S23 FE Review.
