OnePlus Nord 2T Best Mid-Range Phone 2023

The OnePlus Nord 2T looks very similar to 2021.

Nord 2 However, the latest version is still a top-of-the-line mid-range phone.

The 2T offers faster charging at 80W and a more powerful processor, with a starting price that is lower than the previous model. This shows how far smartphone technology is advanced. The Nord 2T is so great that I recommend it to most people over the PS799/$899/EUR899 OnePlus10 Pro.

The Nord 2T is half the price, but it does all the same things. The Nord 2T is not a major upgrade for OnePlus, but it should be a top choice if you’re looking to upgrade your phone on a tight budget.

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Design and construction

• • • Glass back
    • Mint green color option
    • Distinctive camera module

Despite its large screen and weight of 190g, this device is slim and light at 190g. This is in contrast to premium devices with curved edges. The phone’s back is made of glass and houses a unique camera unit. It also contains two large, black discs.

The main camera lens is located in the top circle. In the bottom circle are two additional lenses, positioned at 12 and 7. Although it looks odd, it is distinctive. As a cutout, a single front-facing camera is located in the upper left corner of the screen. It generally stays out of the way.

The sleek look of the mint-green ‘Jade Fog” model that I reviewed was marred by the logos and writing at its bottom. However, this is not unusual for European phones. Although the glossy finish can pick up fingerprints and smears but makes the phone easy to hold and use, there is an opaque matt case that won’t catch any prints. The matt black grey shadow model is also available, but I haven’t tried it.

Although neither model is very inspiring in design, it’s not difficult to store in a bag.

OnePlus’s physical alarm slider is still great and available in three positions:’silent, vibrate, and ring. This feature is so useful and should be copied by more Android phones.

The rest of the smartphone is pretty standard. It has a USB-C port and a downward firing speaker at the bottom. There’s also a thin earpiece at top, a power button at the right edge, and one bar for volume control on the left. The box does not include a headphone jack or adapter, and there is no IP rating for water and dust resistance.

Audio and display

• • • 6.43in 1080p MOLED
    • 90Hz refresh rate
    • Stereo speakers

Nord 2T’s 6.43 inch screen is a 20/9 AMOLED. It has a resolution 1080×2400 and can refresh at up 90Hz. Animations, apps, and menus will scroll at a smoother 60Hz refresh rate. You can adjust the display to this setting if you wish or to conserve battery life.

OnePlus’s auto brightness settings are excellent here. They calibrate the backlight to a correct level most of the times. I didn’t have to manually adjust the brightness settings.

Premium phones and mid-range phones have 120Hz displays, which look better than the 90Hz. Even with the pre-applied plastic screen protector, the panel is bright and clear. Text looks sharp and clear.

To create stereo, the downward firing speaker is paired with the earpiece. These aren’t very good. While calls sound clear and crisp when you talk through the earpiece, music can be muffled through the speakers and can be difficult to hear. Podcasts sound okay, but it is not a phone you should get if your phone speakers are used a lot.

You are limited to Bluetooth audio without a headphone jack. The phone was easy to connect with. I tried it with several pairs.

Performance and specifications

• • • MediaTek Dimensity 1300 chipset
    • Daily use very fast
    • 5G

This phone is the first to ship with MediaTek’s Dimensity 1300 CPU. This might not be news to you, but it is good news. Although many OnePlus phones, and all Android phones, use Qualcomm’s Snapdragon range chips, the 1300 is a great choice. This phone feels and performs almost like a PS369 phone, which I had forgotten was possible.

This phone is great for long gaming sessions, especially if the 12GB version is purchased. You should not overtax your phone in gaming, so you can choose the Nord 2T instead of the best Gaming Phones.

The phone is extremely fast and responsive in everyday use. I had zero issues even after using it as my primary device for over a week. No app crashes occurred, and the hardware was able to keep up with multitasking between podcast, music, camera, browser, and other tasks while I was connected to Bluetooth headphones.

OnePlus sent me the PS369/EUR399 Nord 2T, with 8GB RAM & 128GB storage. This is PS30 more than the Nord 2 with the same specs. A 2T is also available for PS469/EUR499, with 12GB RAM as well as 256GB storage. Both models have microSD expandable storage, but both are dual nano SIM compatible.

Dual SIM 5G compatibility is available, as well as NFC, Bluetooth, 5.2 and Wi-Fi 6. The under-display fingerprint scanner is superior to that found on the PS899 Google Pixel 6 Pro. The face unlock is quick and easy with the front-facing camera. It pairs well with the swipe for unlock gesture option with the Nord 2T to eliminate passcodes.

Cameras

• • • The main sensor has a 50Mp resolution.
    • Two other not so great
    • 32Mp selfie camera makes up for it

The Nord 2T is equipped with four cameras, but only two are excellent. They are, however, the ones you will use most: the main camera as well as the selfie camera.

The first is a 50Mp Sony IMX766 sensor which takes stunning shots in daylight – just as it did in the original Nord 2. It is also used in the main cameras of both the Oppo Discover X5 Pro. The photos are crisp and clear with good dynamic range and sharpness.

Although the 2T does not have a dedicated Telephoto lens, 2x zoomed images look great because of the 50Mp sensor. Software digitally crops the images to provide solid shots. You can zoom in up to 10x with the software, but the results are worse after 2x.

The monochrome 2Mp sensor does basically nothing. It’s not necessary to keep it there, except to market the phone with three cameras at the back.

As with most modern Android phones, OnePlus’s camera software adds some saturation to its photos to make them more Instagram-ready and less real-to-life. Many of the photos that I took with the Nord2T would be fine without editing.

OnePlus claims that the new night mode has been added to the phone. It is definitely worth checking out if you like the night mode on other phones. This artificially lights the scene so it appears darker than it actually is. To get better lighting results, I prefer to turn off the night mode in most cases.

The video is solid, but it doesn’t have the same quality as phone video from any iPhone. Although the Nord 2T is capable of recording 4K at 30fps and not 60fps it also has some fun features like filters and portrait bokeh. OnePlus claims that the Dimensity chip can be used to enhance AI photos, but I prefer it turned off because the colours look even more bizarre when it’s on.

Although the ultra-wide lens can capture a lot of the scene thanks to its 120-degree angle it is 8Mp. However, the quality is far worse than the main lens. The images look great, but zoom in to see a lot more noise.

The 32Mp camera sensor in the OnePlus 10 Pro is identical and excellent. Some selfies I took were better than the Pixel 6 Pro or iPhone 13 Pro due to their moody use contrast and bokeh. It is more than adequate for video calls.

Charging and battery

• • • 4400mAh
    • Fast 80W wired charging
    • Two-day battery available
    • No wireless charging

The Nord 2T’s only upgrade is the wired charging speed with the included charger. It has increased from 65W up to 80W. The phone was charged from 100% to dead in just 27 minutes. It reached 67% within 15 minutes. This tech means you don’t have to worry about your phone dying overnight, or worrying about whether you’ll run out of battery before you leave the house. You could get hours of use from a 10-minute charge.

This is annoying because you can only charge the phone at this speed using the OnePlus charging brick or cable. While any other fast charger will charge your phone at the 80W maximum speed, it won’t be able to charge it as fast. OnePlus also switched to a USB A to C cable to charge this phone, after previously switching to C to D.

Wireless charging is not available on this phone, but it is very common.

Despite all of that, the actual battery life is quite impressive. During a long day of testing the Nord 2T, I was able to get six hours screen time. It just wouldn’t quit. Many days were spent with the screen on the screen until I needed to get to the charger. Although our usual battery benchmark test with PC Mark’s app failed, I was confident that this phone has good staying power.

If your phone is having trouble charging or has a short battery life, the combination of these two features makes the 2T the perfect choice.

Software updates

• • • OxygenOS 12.1 is very light and fast
    • It looks more Oppo-like now than ever
    • Security updates for three years only

BBK Electronics, which owns Oppo as well as OnePlus, recently decided to merge both the software and hardware of both companies. It means that OnePlus phones still use OxygenOS, but it is now based on Oppo’s ColorOS with an OxygenOS skin.

Although the Nord 2T is extremely fast with Android 12 or OxygenOS 12.1 it looks a lot like an Oppo Find X5 Pro, rather than a OnePlus smartphone from a few decades ago. OnePlus’s Shelf widgets can now be accessed by swiping from the top right just like iOS. This can be turned off. You can now access the Google feed by right-swiping from your home screen. Notifications are sent in rounded rectangles which feel a lot more Oppo that the classic OnePlus. The ColorOS features are also borrowed, such as the ability to hold the fingerprint reader while unlocking to gain shortcuts to apps or actions.

You can also choose to have the display always on and use the ‘Work life Balance’ mode to control notifications and settings that are based on your schedule, Wi-Fi networks and location. The phone also features Android’s Digital Wellbeing, which includes a Focus mode.

Overall, this Android 12 is a fast and clean version that feels quicker than any Samsung Galaxy S22 U. This is because OnePlus has eliminated a lot animation fluff. However, I was disappointed that OnePlus insists on shipping its own photo app with OxygenOS. They also preload them with the Google Suite including Google Photos. It is frustrating to have two photo apps that you can refer to when you send photos or organize them.

The downside to the software deal is that OnePlus offers only two Android platform updates and three year of security updates. The Nord 2T will receive Android 13 and Android 14 in 2024. Its last security patch will be in 2025. It’s not possible to have a phone that performs well in three years with a new phone by 2022.

Google provides three platform updates and four-years of security. Samsung offers four and five, respectively, for many of its new smartphones. Apple continues to update the iPhone 6S with iOS updates over-the-air since 2015. If you are looking for a more secure Android device, OnePlus is not the right choice.

Prices and availability in UK and EUR

The Nord 2T costs just PS369 in the UK, and EUR399 in Europe, for 8GB RAM/128GB of storage. It is almost identical in performance and specs to the Nord 2. This phone costs PS30 less, but it has faster charging and a new processor. It also gets software support for one year longer. You get 12GB RAM and twice the storage for PS100/EUR100.

It can be purchased directly from OnePlus or Amazon in Europe and the UK. John Lewis is also planning to stock the phone in the UK. It is not currently available in the USA.

There are not many reasons to choose the Nord 2T over another phone unless you don’t like how the phones look or can’t handle the minor changes made to the software by Oppo. Although I can overlook the quality of two cameras and the inability to charge wirelessly, the downside is that you only get two platform updates and three year of security patches. Samsung phones for a similar price offer five years of support, even though they aren’t as performant as the Nord.

The main competitors to it are the PS259 Poco X4 Pro if your budget allows for a smaller screen but a 120Hz resolution, and the PS599 Googlepixel 6 if your budget allows for a higher quality camera and better software support.

Verdict

The OnePlus Nord 2T is a great phone at an amazing price. A sleek 5G phone, with great battery life and fast charging, is available for as low as PS400/EUR400.

Although you can find phones with 120Hz screens for less than the Nord’s, OxygenOS still offers a more user-friendly experience than Realme’s Realme’s MIUI and Realme’s Realme’s UI.

OnePlus’ Nord phones have been moved to MediaTek Dimensity by Qualcomm Snapdragon without a hitch. The Nord 2T performs as well as a phone twice its cost. It is extremely well built and 80W charging is a great feature. This phone is one of the most affordable phones available.