OnePlus recently launched its new Nord series phones—the Nord 5 and the Nord CE5 (which is the more affordable of the two devices).
The phones' prices range from ₹24,999 all the way to ₹26,999 for the higher-end model.
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I have been using one for a few days, and here's how my experience with it has been: let's see if it justifies the price tag:
First impressions
The first thing you might notice about the OnePlus Nord CE5 is its pill-shaped protruding dual camera setup at the back, with the OnePlus branding sitting in the middle.
The phone's front side has symmetric and thin bezels around the display that have an aspect ratio of 19.9:9. The volume buttons and power/lock key sit on the right side, leaving the other side plain.
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The secondary mic is at the top, while the bottom carries the dual SIM cards and microSD card tray slot, a USB Type-C port, primary mic, and the single loudspeaker.
You get rounded corners with sides that are around 8.2mm thick and weigh 200g, so the phone isn't too bulky to carry around. The plastic back feels okay to hold with no bending or creaking noises from the phone.
The phone comes in Nexus Blue (which is the one I tried), Marble Mist and Black Infinity colour options.
Display
The phone's 6.77-inch full HD+ (2392x1080) AMOLED—with support for up to a 120Hz refresh rate—is a bright display that is usable outside under direct sunlight.
You also get good viewing angles with great colour reproduction for the price as well as sharpness. HDR output isn't bad, with videos in HDR coming out fairly well-stitched when going from bright to darker scenes. OnePlus also offers a lifetime warranty on the display (after the infamous green line issue).
Camera
The phone features a dual camera setup at the back: a 50MP (f/1.8) main camera (with OIS) and an 8MP (f/2.2) ultra-wide camera.
The phone takes detailed shots in default mode and I prefer the high-resolution 50MP mode when there's decent lighting available. There's very little shutter lag here, which is nice to see, but it's safe to say the camera can struggle to keep up with the subject's details and colour in low-light shots.
The front-facing 16MP (f/2.4) camera does a good job of taking selfies in most situations with a bit of shutter lag. It is more than good enough to make video calls over apps like WhatsApp and you can add filter overlays while making a video call, too.
Processor
The device is equipped with the MediaTek Dimensity 8350 Apex chipset (up to a 3.35Ghz octa core processor and G615 MC6 GPU) with 8GB (which I used) or 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 128GB or 256GB UFS3.1 internal storage (expandable up to 1TB via a microSD card).
The phone runs on OxygenOS 15 based on Android 15 with the June security patch installed, and handles day-to-day tasks without major glitches.
The only place where I found animations dropping is OnePlus' Notes, which is otherwise a nice application.
Hardware
OnePlus promises 6 years of security updates and 4 years of OS updates for the OnePlus Nord CE5. You get OnePlus AI features that are present on the company's high-end devices. For gaming, you can expect to play heavy games like 'BGMI' and 'CoD: Mobile' at 90FPS. You can even set it to 120FPS (but that isn't ideal).
What's lacking in the gaming department is a set of stereo speakers, because with only a single bottom-placed speaker, multimedia experience does take a hit. Call quality, WiFi and GPS performance are really good, while 5G network reception on the go didn't disappoint.
Powered by a 7,100mAh battery unit, the phone earlier showed some battery drainage inconsistency, but with the last OxygenOS update, it has been much more reliable in terms of battery backup—often lasting over a day, even with an hour-and-a-half or so of gaming done.
It rarely heated up, too. The bundled 80W SuperVOOC charger can charge it from 1 per cent to 100 per cent in a just over an hour.
Verdict
In conclusion, the OnePlus Nord CE5 is a well-rounded device that caters to those looking for a long battery life, reliable performance and maybe some AI flavour.
While performance is good enough, too, the camera, on the other hand, can be a bit of a hit-or-miss.
