Something today is making me nostalgic. Yes, it takes me back to those simple days when phones used to be smaller, compact and useful. I am talking about the new OnePlus Nord 2T, which is just 6.43 inches long and stands out immediately with its design, size, and aesthetics when all the other brands focus on larger and bulkier devices.
OnePlus Nord 2T 5G comes almost a full year after the release of Nord 2 5G, so you must expect a significant upgrade, which isn’t the case. We witness a slightly altered appearance around the back, with new colours and finishes. A new MediaTek Dimensity 1300 processor has been introduced for this model, and the fast charging has been upgraded to 80W.
What is the first thing that you look for in a mid-range smartphone? Probably a camera.
The camera module now has two large circular cutouts, one of which houses the primary camera and the second houses the ultra-wide and monochrome cameras. It has a hole-punch cavity for the selfie camera in the top-right corner. Nord 2T has a big Sony IMX766 flagship sensor with OIS on the 50MP primary camera.
The phone is powered by a 4,500mAh battery and can be charged using the 80W charger in the box. The charging speed is another big change compared to the Nord 2, which had 65W fast charging. The fast charger takes around 30 minutes to fully charge the 4500mAh battery, which is also one of the best seen in this price segment. The phone lasts for almost the entire day of heavy usage and does not drain since you can juice it up easily and conveniently.
The phone runs OxygenOS 12.1, which is based on Android 12. The gaming performance was quite good, and the phone did not get too hot while playing taxing games. I tried Call of Duty and Apex Legends, high-end games, and the phone performed well under default settings. However, a nominal frame rate was dropped once the settings were set to high.
You get an AMOLED display with a 90Hz refresh rate, so if you are used to a 120Hz refresh rate, too bad for you. The display mainly produced saturated colours at the default Vivid colour profile. Switching to the Natural mode made more accurate colours. The display seemed sufficiently bright outdoors, but the phone’s ambient light sensor always dimmed the display a bit too much when using it indoors, forcing me to increase the brightness bar after unlocking the phone. Another exciting feature of this phone is the video colour boost option that gives your videos more vibrant colour profiling and increases your battery usage, as it clearly states.
Nord 2T is one of the best looking phones out there and even at this price range it feels no less than a premium phone double its price. It is extremely comfortable to use with one hand and feels quite light and well-balanced despite packing Gorilla Glass 5 on the front as well as the back panel.
The OnePlus Nord 2T 5G at Rs 28,999 delivers everything most users would ever want in a mid-range smartphone, and that’s about it. It does not go above and beyond to deliver something more or add exceptional value. The design is slick with tapered edges and feels premium on the outside. Also, the size of the Nord 2T gives you the confidence to hold and flaunt the smartphone.