The much-hyped Nord mid-ranger was a boom for OnePlus, so they decided to make a more affordable version that’s been stripped down to its essentials and deemed “Core Edition”. Despite the lower price tag however, the Nord successor seems to have certain improvements over its premium counterpart.
The CE moniker is akin to Samsung’s “Fan Edition”, continuing the brand’s legacy of offering more features for less. The focus this time seems to be on the phone’s sleek build and design. OnePlus touts the phone as “the slimmest OnePlus device since the OnePlus 6T” at only 7.9mm in thickness and weighting 170g. Audiophiles will rejoice at the sight of a 3.5mm headphone jack, a rare and commendable feature these days.
An upgraded 4,500 mAh battery powers the Nord CE’s 6.43-inch, 90Hz AMOLED display. In addition, the display supports HDR10+ and as of earlier this year with the release of OxygenOS 11, the phone also comes with Always-On Display, and while the display is 0.1-inches smaller, the phone’s design remains largely the same.
If the battery isn’t enough to get you through the day, you could always juice up with OnePlus’ proprietary Warp Charge 30T Plus Charging technology, which the brand says will charge your phone from 0 to 70% in just half an hour.
One of the most noticeable downgrades for the cheaper variant is its chipset. Instead of a 7nm Snapdragon 765G, the new phone uses the 8nm Snapdragon 750G. That said, it still supports 5G and can be configured with up to 12GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 256GB of UFS 2.1 storage.
As for the cameras, the Core Edition’s main camera comprises four sensors. Specifically, the phone uses a triple camera setup with a 64MP f/1.79 main camera, an 8MP 119° ultra-wide-angle lens, and a 2MP depth sensor. On the selfie side, the previous dual-camera setup has been replaced with a 16MP f/2.45 camera.
The Nord CE 5G will go on sale in markets across Asia and Europe in three configurations and comes in three colours: Charcoal Ink, Silver Ray, and Blue Void. Pricing starts at INR 22,999 (~RM1,296) for the 6GB RAM + 128GB storage model. Availability for Malaysia is not yet known, but there’s a high chance it will be released here soon given that the phone is already being highlighted on OnePlus Malaysia’s Facebook page.
(Source: OnePlus)
