Another day, another phone: and today, it looks like it's a
great day! I'm pleased to draw your attention to the newest member of the Nord family: the OnePlus Nord 5.The Nord 5 has a particular target group in my mind – and judging by the just officially unveiled specs, it's bound to attract many buyers.Right off the bat: this isn't your typical mid-ranger for your mother or father (unless your parents are heavy on mobile gaming). The OnePlus Nord 5 is what I think young people today want out of a phone: a solid performance, a reliable (and large) battery that charges fast, a great camera (but certainly not the greatest out there), top-shelf display panel and cool software (and AI) tricks.
- Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 chipset with Adreno 735 GPU, supporting smooth gaming up to 144 fps
- 6.83-inch Swift AMOLED display with 1.5K resolution and 144Hz refresh rate
- 5,200 mAh battery with 80W fast charging and Bypass Charging
- 50MP main Sony LYT-700 camera with OIS and 50MP front selfie camera
- Storage options of 256 or 512 GB and 8 or 12 GB fast LPDDR5X RAM for multitasking
Check, check, check: the Nord 5 is checking boxes faster than you can say "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers".
The way of the Snapdragon chipset
Under the hood, the OnePlus Nord 5 packs the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3: while not the latest and greatest (it's the Snapdragon 8 Elite I'm referring to), this chipset by Qualcomm will not let you down and will handle almost anything you throw at it.
Multitasking is absolutely not out of the question with this chipset, while the gaming experience should be above the "pretty good" mark – OnePlus says the phone supports 144 fps (frames per second) for games like PUBG, Call of Duty: Mobile and Free Fire MAX. 144 fps means, simply put, that gaming will be smooth and responsive on this phone.I like the way OnePlus lays things out:
The GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) is Qualcomm's Adreno 735. You can have the phone with either 8 or 12 GB of fast LPDDR5X RAM on board, while the storage options are 256 or 512 GB (UFS 3.1 standard).
Cameras – two thumbs up, one down
There's a 50MP selfie camera on the front that utilizes the ISOCELL JN5 sensor – that's only logical, since this is a phone aimed at young people. If you happen to live on the moon, well, clarification is needed: young people really like to take pictures of themselves. Of course the selfie camera is going to be amazing!On the rear panel, there's the 50 MP Sony LYT-700 sensor for the main camera (with OIS – Optical Image Stabilization). This is, in my humble opinion, a great selling point, as the LYT series by Sony deliver outstanding results for their price.Finally, there's the 8 MP ultra-wide camera: to me, this is barely usable: but hey, maybe I'm spoiled with my 50 MP ultra-wide on my flagship daily driver.If I have to find the silver lining here, I'd say that I'd much rather have an 8 MP ultra-wide than a dedicated "2MP macro" gimmick of a camera.But then again, I'd much rather have a dedicated zoom camera on the back, even if it's a 2x (or 3x in the best case scenario).Finally, video: the device supports high-quality recording up to 4K at 60 fps with features like electronic and optical image stabilization, slow-motion, time-lapse, and up to 18x digital zoom. It offers various camera modes including Portrait, Nightscape, and Cinematic. The front camera also offers autofocus and stabilization, it's capable of 4K video recording and includes features like Face Unlock, beautification, and multiple selfie modes.
Display, battery and cool battery goodies
The Nord 5 comes with a 6.83-inch Swift AMOLED display with a 19.8:9 aspect ratio and a 1.5K resolution of 2800 x 1272 pixels, resulting in a sharp 450 ppi pixel density. It offers a high screen-to-body ratio of 93.6% and supports a refresh rate up to 144Hz. Take that, Apple – you and your iPhone's 60Hz refresh rate. Ahem.The screen supports 10-bit color with 1.07 billion colors and full coverage of sRGB and 100% DCI-P3 color spaces, along with Ultra HDR support. That's to say the phone should be a marvel to look at. Brightness levels range from 800 nits in adjustable mode to a peak of 1800 nits, protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 7i. Using it in direct sunlight will be OK, although nothing truly outstanding. It's a mid-ranger, after all!The display also includes advanced features like a 3000 Hz touch response rate, eye-care pulse-width modulation at 3840 Hz, Sun-amp technology, and various customizable settings such as color calibration, temperature adjustment, eye comfort modes, and night or bedtime modes.Another selling point for gamers!
The battery is a non-removable 5,200 mAh single-cell battery. That's more than the 5,000 mAh of my flagshipThe Nord 5 supports fast charging with 80W SUPERVOOC and 5W wired reverse charging.I'm thrilled to see a Bypass Charging option on the Nord 5: thanks to this, power is drawn straight out of the charger while gaming. The battery stays cool, and the experience is not throttled by high temperature (which occurs when charging without a bypass option.
More whistles and bells, and some colors, too
This phone's got a great deal of sensors: infrared blaster for those old-school remote vibes, a sensor core, electronic compass, ambient light sensor, accelerometer, proximity sensor, gyroscope, and a fingerprint sensor. On the port side, it's rocking USB 2.0 Type-C with support for regular Type-C earphones and a dual nano-SIM slot – but there's no eSIM available. Keep that in mind.The Nord 5 measures 163.41 mm tall, 77.04 mm wide, and 8.1 mm thick, weighing in at a solid 211 grams – just enough heft to remind you it's there… without feeling like a brick.The phone comes in three shades:
- Phantom Grey (almost black)
- Marble Sands (white-ish hue with marble fiber)
- Dry Ice (pale light blue)
Since I like pure black tech – and the Phantom Grey is too light – I might go for the Dry Ice looks. It's a nice hue.Finally, the phone offers users to chat with Gemini, Google's personal AI assistant.
Price and availability
Right now, the OnePlus Nord 5 is €499 before trade-in (~$585 when directly converted). This price kicks the device out of the "budget-friendly" category, but its specs do that as well: that's a nicely built and potent mid-ranger that stuns with a feature here and there, meant for young, active users.
