Given its affordable price, using the OnePlus Nord CE5 is a surprisingly polished experience. Both its display and camera deliver seriously dynamic color, its OS is smooth to use and makes multitasking a breeze, and its battery can outlast many flagship phones. Admittedly, its chipset is far from top of the range, it\u2019s packed with more bloat than I\u2019d like, and it can\u2019t handle games on max graphics settings, but none of its shortcomings are egregious. It\u2019s a seriously skilled phone in many areas given its low price tag.<\/p>\n
Great productivity performance and gesture control<\/p>\n
Why you can trust TechRadar<\/p>\n
We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you're buying the best. Find out more about how we test.<\/p>\n
The OnePlus Nord CE5 is an affordable yet premium-feeling handset that punches way above its weight. Although its successor, the CE6, has launched in some markets, OnePlus has confirmed that it and future handsets will no longer sell in the UK. So, in lieu of a newer version, is the CE5 still worth your consideration?<\/p>\n
The OnePlus Nord CE5\u2019s design certainly doesn\u2019t make it look bargain basement, but it doesn\u2019t feel super luxe either. While it\u2019s pleasantly tactile under your fingertips, there\u2019s no confusing its plastic edges for metal, and I\u2019m not totally bowled over by the pearlescent effect on the Marble Mist colorway. However, I will grant that it feels solidly made and its vertical camera module looks pretty neat when so many handsets\u2019 lenses look like they\u2019ve been grafted on by Dr. Frankenstein.<\/p>\n
Although it\u2019s not a total knockout, the Nord CE5\u2019s display definitely packs a punch given its price. Colors are bold and vivid, making the nature documentaries I was watching seriously pop. Its 387PPI display showed off most images in crisp detail, even if it wasn\u2019t as pin sharp as some of the best phones. On the flip side, whites run a little bit blue for my liking, and the display is not quite bright enough to make up for how reflective its screen is. Still, there was plenty about the screen that dazzled me, figuratively at least.<\/p>\n
Under the hood, the Nord CE5 runs the MediaTek Dimensity 8350 Apex chipset. That\u2019s not a current-gen SoC by any means, but I still got great productivity performance out of it. Not only was I able to have myriad apps open, but I also ran Google Docs and a streaming app in split-screen with no noticeable slowdown.<\/p>\n
Gaming performance was also pretty stable. Playing lengthy sessions of both Call of Duty: Mobile and Genshin Impact, the Nord CE5 ran very smoothly and showed no hint of lag or jitter. Cranking the graphics settings up to their highest on Genshin Impact did throw up a warning that I was overclocking the CPU, though, so while performance remained stable, you might not want to run things that high. On the plus side, the Nord CE5 didn\u2019t experience all that much warming during this, thanks to its CryoVelocity graphene vapor chamber.<\/p>\n
Based on Android 15, the OxygenOS 15.0 that the Nord CE5 runs on is nice and agile. Multitasking is easy thanks to its split-screen mode and there are great shortcuts on offer, like screen-off gestures that let you open the camera or switch on the flashlight by tracing an O or V on the display. On the whole, its AI tools are unobtrusive yet helpful, and OnePlus offers a full six years of software updates. The only thing I don\u2019t love here is the bloat that comes pre-installed \u2014 seriously, phone makers, can you stop foisting Temu on me?<\/p>\n
For a phone in this price range, the Nord CE5 also offers a very decent camera. Whether I was popping off shots of brilliant yellow roses or the deep blue sky reflected in a river, colors felt vibrant and its HDR performance rendered textures like stonework with a nice depth. Admittedly, its smaller 1\/1.95 inch sensor can\u2019t quite rival flagship phones in terms of sheer detail, but it still captured textures and details with real precision. And even though I\u2019d personally prefer at least a 3x lens in my camera, the 2x zoom conveyed excellent detail without showing any distortions or aberrations.<\/p>\n
Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more.<\/p>\n
In my book, though, by far the Nord CE5\u2019s strongest feature is its battery. OnePlus has managed to eke more than 20 hours of life out of its 5,200mAh battery, meaning it can happily outlast many of the flagship phones we\u2019ve reviewed in recent times. Not only that, but during my testing I found its 80W SUPERVOOC charging could comfortably juice it up from 0% to 100% in just 59 minutes, which is blisteringly fast.<\/p>\n
All in all, the Nord CE5 is a solid, if unexceptional, phone\u2026 until you consider its price point. Considering a list price that starts at \u00a3299, there are many areas it pulls ahead of similarly priced rivals, while in some areas \u2014 chiefly battery life \u2014 it can honestly give flagships a run for their money. Ultimately, if your intended spend sits on the border between budget and mid-range phone, the Nord CE5 has plenty of highlights and few enough deficits to make it a worthy investment.<\/p>\n
6.44 x 2.99 x 0.32 inches \/ 163.6 x 76.0 x 8.2mm<\/p>\n
128GB \/ 256GB (UFS 3.1, expandable via MicroSD up to 1TB)<\/p>\n