OnePlus Nord 2T 5G Review | Geek Lifestyle

For today’s device, we have the OnePlus Nord 2T 5G, marketed as a mid-range yet premium-feel device. So, we get to check out if this can live up to its hallmark. Check out the review below:

Out-Of-The-Box

Upon opening the OnePlus Nord 2T 5G box, you are welcomed with the phone itself, an 80W charging brick and cable, a sim-ejector tool, its standard warranty and manual pack, plus a complimentary phone jelly case for its protection. Also to note, the phone already comes with a pre-installed plastic screen protector.

Geekstethics: Design, Display, and Immersion

The OnePlus Nord 2T 5G has a sleek, clean, and minimalistic design that offers a premium feel with a glossy reflective finish. Its Jade Fog colorway is classy, but not loud.  Honestly, just looking at the phone itself, not knowing the specs and its price, I might have mistaken it for a flagship-level device.

This device sports a 6.43-inch FHD Fluid AMOLED display with a 2400 x 1080, support for HDR10+, sRGB, and Display P3, with a smooth 90Hz refresh rate capability. The AMOLED display does its job, as we see sharp and vibrant colors for multimedia consumption. As for the front camera, we have a punch hole located at the upper left side of the phone. Its speakers are both in the upper and lower bezel and you can find the phone’s earpiece at the upper bezel . Of course, there’s the in-screen fingerprint sensor as well which has a good response rate.

At the back is the glossy glass-like cover finish, with a camera bump containing its 3 cameras installed plus its LED flash.

As for the sides, we have the volume rocker at the left side, while the power button is located at the right. There is also a dedicated slider for notifications– which I really appreciated– where you can quickly change your notifications to silent or vibrate.

Its USB-C Port, microphone, and dual SIM tray are located at the bottom.

However, what I would have really liked to have a 3.5mm jack as I still use my wired earphones.

Checking its audio quality, it provides clear audio with a distinct separation from left and right. There is a lack of bass, but good overall sound output nonetheless, enough for your binge-watching needs in a controlled environment.

Battery

The OnePlus Nord 2T 5G has a 4500mAh battery capacity. In a 7-day span as a daily driver, I can say that the OnePlus Nord 2T 5G is a reliable mobile device for your daily use. We’ve mixed the test with casual multimedia consumption and heavy gaming sessions, set for a full charge per day and set to 90hz refresh rate setting since it’s starting to become the standard in today’s smartphone mid-range offerings.

Starting off the review duration as a casual multimedia device, we set an ample time for social media scrolling and content consumption of around 2-3 hours a day, without turning off the 5G network setting. After an 8-hour day, we get an average remaining battery of around 17-24%. The battery is optimized to get you through the day but I would still suggest to bring your charger in case you are idle and are looking to consume content to pass the time.

On days I used this for gaming, this device can also deliver. I played a mix of your standard MOBA and FPS games, and while we will get to the performance test in a while, I find it needing its charger, especially if I plan on playing games on this phone outside of the house. But in a casual two classic games for Mobile Legends say, over a length of a lunch break, the battery is still enough to last an 8-hour errand day without needing to charge it.

To cap off each day, we’ve also tested the charging time with its 80W charger. We drained the battery to 0% each test per day and recorded the charging speed.

Based on our testing, we can get from 0% to 50% in around 11 minutes, while a full charge in less than 30 minutes.

Lastly, we set the device from a full charge to constantly playing Youtube videos on half screen brightness and max volume and we got around 11 hours and 31 minutes. Pretty accurate once we tried out its PCMark battery test score.

Performance

The OnePlus Nord 2T 5G sports a MediaTek Dimensity 1300, in its 8GB/128GB variant, and is running on its signature OxygenOS 12.1 operating system. There’s definitely something that’s different with the OxygenOS. There’s this much smoother feel and responsiveness. I have to give a slight plus on that compared to the usual Android operating system of other brands.

On paper, this should be able to run most of the popular games and apps today, but we test it out for ourselves. First, playing the popular Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, it definitely performs as a capable device. Framerate was smooth as I got a consistent 60fps. On heavier game titles such as Call of Duty: Mobile, it was still a steady 60fps however, there are some drops during clash-intensive moments, where we see it drop to the low 50’s and rarely to the high 40’s, however, not noticeable enough to disrupt your gameplay.

Lastly, I tested it in a game called Survivor.io (yes, you’ve probably seen this in the ads) and it is still consistent at 60fps. However, there are slight fps drops once you get to 10-15 min mark of a vertical map (if you play the game, you know this time is where it spawns a lot of mobs) but just to the mid-low 50’s, so also not noticeable enough to mess up your runpath nor ruin your gameplay.

Here are the benchmark scores:

Camera

Onto its camera, the OnePlus Nord 2T 5G packs a 50MP Sony IMX766 main camera, with a 32MP front selfie camera.

On single target subjects, it easily focuses on the intended mark with just one tap and it can highlight the subject from its background. It definitely provides a decent blur– noticeable in the creases of the backdrop — in the background to highlight the subject even further.

But for subjects with a lot of detail, it still is capable of providing sharp details and vibrant colors.

However, some subjects with a lot of detail tend to blend if there is not much ample lighting.

(This photo was taken during the rainy days of the holiday season)

But still, on wide-range shots, it still delivers great detail even on not-as-bright daytimes.

For night mode, it still can take a photo with clear details, however, there is a 3-5 second hold time for it to process the image.

(the device notifies you to hold your camera still when it detects a lack of light source)

The selfie camera is a good camera that provides a lot of detail onto facial features and even skin tone. Not much oversaturation on light as well, provided its angle.

As for video, it’s capable of capturing 4K resolution at 30FPS, and 1080p up to 480FPS. You get clear colors in different sets of environments with good audio from each recording.

Overall, its camera is a really great camera, providing sharp and punchy colors and good contrasts, however, I do find it needing an ample lightsource for the subject to really get its subject’s details.

Verdict

The OnePlus Nord 2T 5G provides a top-notch performance, a more-than-capable camera, with a premium and classy build to finish. As a defined mobile gamer myself, I would definitely say I’m more than happy with its capability as a gaming device. The camera is reliable and can definitely capture precious moments or the daily IG story. Overall, a great all-around mid-range device.

What separates it from its counterparts is its premium-level performance but at a mid-range price point. Running on its signature OxygenOS only gives this device a notch higher above the competition. So if I were to summarize this– give its best description in one word: I would definitely use the word “Steal”.

However, if I may recommend, I would really love to have a 3.5mm jack. But other than that, you can get a true bang-for-your-buck from this device.

Specs and Price:

OnePlus Nord 2T 5G 8GB/128GB – PHP 19,990