OnePlus Nord 4 Review: Metallic shine with Nord basic brilliance

In one of the ironies of marketing, OnePlus launched the OnePlus Nord CE4 and the OnePlus CE4 Lite well before the very phone, whose core experience and lighter versions they were supposed to be, the OnePlus Nord 4. It might have come after some members of its series, but the OnePlus Nord 4 is easily the flagship of the OnePlus Nord series, which is targeted at the mid-segment and can even be credited with having created the premium mid-segment category a few years ago.

OnePlus Nord 4 Design and appearance: Hey, metal’s back, the back’s metal…and it looks good

The OnePlus Nord 4 will turn heads with its very distinct metal back (OnePlus claims it is the only unibody metal 5G phone around), especially if you get its Mercurial Silver variant, which showcases it best. The top of the back, which contains the dual cameras, is white glass, but below it is shiny metal with diagonal stripes running across it that shimmer and shine in the light.

The Oasis Green and Obsidian Midnight variants have more plain metal finishes, which look very nice but can be mistaken for glass – no such chance with the Mercurial Silver, whose metallic looks are very much front and center. The volume and power buttons are on one side of the phone, while the other holds the famous OnePlus alert slider, with a slight orange accent, which looks very good in the middle of all that metal. The front has the now trademark tall display with relatively slim bezels.

Although impressively slim at 8 mm, the OnePlus Nord 4 is not a small phone – it is 162.6 mm tall and will need both hands for comfortable usage. Despite the metallic build, it is relatively light at 199.5 grams. That metallic back of the OnePlus Nord 4 makes it not only one of the most attractive phones in its segment, but makes it look better than many flagships out there. It is also the first phone on which we have no intention of placing a cover (although there is a rather basic one in the box). Interestingly, there is no mention of protection on the display, although the phone itself comes with an IP65 rating, which should see it survive splashes and rain.

OnePlus Nord 4 Tech Specs: Solid hardware and AI-infused software

Its design might turn heads, but the spec sheet of the OnePlus Nord 4 is more likely to make people nod in approval. That’s because while it contains no major surprises, it manages to tick all premium mid-segment boxes thoroughly. There is nothing hugely surprising here, but no notable absentees either. The phone comes with a 6.74 inch 1.5K AMOLED display with 120 Hz refresh rate and runs on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Plus Gen 3 processor, which is supposed to be close to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 in terms of performance, making it a very capable chip indeed. The phone also comes with three RAM and storage variants – 8 GB/ 128 GB, 8 GB/ 256 GB, and 12 GB/ 256 GB.

However, while all variants use LPDDR5X RAM, the 128 GB variant uses slower UFS 3.1 storage as compared to UFS 4.0 on the others. Was this a decision taken to keep the base variant at an affordable price? We do not know, but it certainly strikes us as odd. Those two cameras on the glass portion of the back are a 50-megapixel Sony main sensor with OIS and an 8-megapixel ultrawide, and in the tiny notch sensor is a 16-megapixel (OnePlus’ favorite selfie number) selfie snapper.

The phone comes with stereo speakers, and a big 5500 mAh battery, with support for 100W charging, and a 100W charger in the box for good measure. Interestingly, the Nord 4 is among the first OnePlus devices to come with AI features out of the box, as part of OxygenOS 14.1, on top of Android 14. OnePlus has assured users of four years of Android updates and six years of security updates, which is not in the Samsung or Pixel 7-year range but should more than suffice for most users. OnePlus anyway claims that the Nord 4 will run smoothly for six years.

OnePlus Nord 4 Performance: Utterly, typically, Nordic-ally consistent

The OnePlus Nord 4 sails through most tasks with the ease of a Nordic warship on peaceful seas. The Snapdragon 7 Plus Gen 3 processor allowed us to get into high-end gaming, handling the likes of Genshin Impact and steering us through Asphalt racing sessions without heating up unduly, although we would recommend turning down the graphics settings for a consistently smooth performance. We found the display to be a little difficult to view in bright sunlight, but it handled colors well, and in combination with the very good dual speakers, makes the Nord 4 a very good device for watching videos and shows.

OxygenOS on the Nord 4 runs smoothly enough, although it comes with some bloatware (Candy Crush Saga, Myntra, Agoda, LinkedIn, and some other apps) that can be uninstalled. The phone also handles multiple tasks well, allowing us to run 6-8 apps without any lags. On the subject of AI, some of the AI tools were a little hit-and-miss. We found the AI summary to be very handy, and the AI voice was terrific for reading out content when we wanted to hear rather than read, but the AI eraser in photography was not very convincing, often smudging shots. That said, this is a OnePlus device, and we are reasonably certain that things will improve after an update.

The Nord 4 delivers good pictures and videos as long as you stick to the 50-megapixel main sensor. The colors are bright and slightly oversaturated, but the overall effect is pleasant enough. The camera even surprised us in lower light conditions, serving up bright colors, although details did get compromised a little. Selfies are good enough for social media, and portraits from both front and rear cameras are reasonably good, with well-defined edges and good bokeh, unless the light is bad. The 8-megapixel ultrawide sensor gives you a wider perspective but not much in terms of detail – you get a snap of a bigger area, but zooming in often kills the image quality. There are plenty of editing options on the phone, apart from the AI ones. We would not call the Nord 4 a camera phone, but its main sensor is a very reliable performer and, with a little patience and editing, can even deliver brilliant results.

We left the best for last – the OnePlus Nord 4 comes with good battery life. We easily got a day of heavy usage even with the resolution maxed out (it is kept low out of the box) and got a day and a half of usage with a lower resolution and almost two days with careful usage. The 100W charger can get the phone from 0-100 percent battery in about 35-40 minutes, which is very impressive as well. Call quality is good, and the in-display fingerprint scanner works smoothly, with the alert slider giving us a classic OnePlus feel whenever we use it. All in all, the OnePlus Nord 4 is a classic Nord flagship – consistently smooth across all functions rather than being brilliant at some and ordinary at others. Shades of the Redmi Note and those shades suit the Nord!

OnePlus Nord 4 Pricing: Looking to boss the premium mid-segment

Like other Nord flagships before it, the OnePlus Nord 4 comes with premium mid-segment price tags in the vicinity of Rs 30,000. The OnePlus Nord 4 is available in the following RAM and storage variants at these prices:

• 8 GB/ 128 GB: Rs 29,999
• 8 GB / 256 GB: Rs 32,999
• 12 GB/ 256 GB: Rs 35,999

As we pointed out earlier, in a rather odd decision, OnePlus has gone with slower UFS 3.1 storage on the base 8 GB/ 128 GB model and UFS 4.0 on the others. The pricing is a competitive one, but it places the Nord 4 in the zone of the likes of the Poco F6, which looks a little plain in design terms but comes with a monster Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 processor at Rs 32,999, making it a gaming beast. There is also the Redmi Note 13 Pro+ at Rs 30,999, which loses out in the processor battle but comes with a curved AMOLED display and a very good 200-megapixel camera as well as a battery that charges at 120W. Those wanting very good cameras might also be swayed by the Vivo V30e, which comes for Rs 26,499 and has superb front and rear 50-megapixel snappers, a 5500 mAh battery, as well as a very eye-catching design, although its Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 chip, not really in the same league as the processor on the Nord 4.

OnePlus Nord 4 Review Verdict: Should you buy it?

The OnePlus Nord has always been one of the best phones you can get for about Rs 30,000, and the OnePlus Nord 4 carries this tradition forward. The phone’s design has been making headlines, but below that shiny, classy metal exterior, there is some very good hardware and software that ensures extremely consistent performance, matching, and even bettering most players in the premium mid-segment.

Indeed, the OnePlus Nord 4 is one of the few phones in its segment that does not actually have any major drawback (even the Poco F6 stumbles in the camera zone). It will not give flagships nightmares the way a Poco F6 does, but it will just keep going on steadily, working smoothly and almost never letting you down. The Nord series is known for turning heads mainly with its performance. The OnePlus Nord 4 will do that and will also turn heads with its appearance. The premium mid-segment just got a lot of metallic style with Nordic substance.

Buy OnePlus Nord 4