The OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G is official in India. The new mainstream 5G smartphone is among the firm’s most reasonably priced Nord-branded telephones, and it’s the successor to the Nord CE 2 Lite 5G (Review). The Nord CE 3 Lite 5G will get notable upgrades in some areas whereas some facets have stayed the identical. Thankfully for customers, the cellphone’s launch value is identical because the outgoing mannequin. The large query is whether or not you must give the Nord CE 3 Lite 5G an affirmative nod, or take a look at different telephones round this section? Here is our evaluation that can assist you resolve.
OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G value in India
The OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G has been launched in India in two storage choices. The cellphone comes with 8GB of RAM as customary. The base mannequin with 128GB of storage is priced at Rs. 19,999, whereas the 256GB variant that now we have for evaluation is priced at Rs. 21,999.
In comparability, the OnePlus Nord CE 2 Lite had 6GB of RAM within the base mannequin, so for a similar value, patrons are getting extra RAM with the newest Nord smartphone.
OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G design and show
There’s rather a lot to love in regards to the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G’s design. I’ve the Pastel Lime color and in a sea of smartphones the place each possibility is both inexperienced, blue, or black, the Lime Green shade does look a bit refreshing. It does appeal to fingerprints and smudges although, however due to the brilliant color they aren’t simply seen. Yes, design preferences are sometimes subjective and also you may not like this shade as a lot. In that case, there may be the Chromatic Grey color possibility.
The Nord CE 3 Lite 5G gives in-hand really feel. While the body is flat, the rear panel is barely curved in the direction of the sides. It doesn’t really feel as heavy in comparison with its on-paper weight of 195g.
OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G includes a polycarbonate again and body
While the buttons on the left fringe of the cellphone are fairly clicky, I’d have favored them to be a bit larger in measurement. The energy button on the fitting edge doubles as a fingerprint scanner, which is fast to authenticate and unlock the cellphone. You nonetheless do not get an ‘Alert’ slider on the Nord Lite collection.
The OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G has a dual-speaker setup, with the earpiece doubling up as a secondary outlet. This is nice to see as its predecessor lacked stereo audio system. The backside edge homes a 3.5mm headphone jack, subsequent to which, is the USB Type-C port and the first speaker grille.
As a lot it appears fairly from the again, the entrance is form of above common. The OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G options an IPS LCD show, which could not have been the most suitable choice contemplating right now’s competitors. The likes of the Redmi Note 12 5G (Review) and the Moto G82 5G (Review) provide extra vibrant AMOLED shows in the identical section.
This doesn’t imply that the Nord CE 3 Lite’s 6.72-inch show is unhealthy by any means. The cellphone’s 680 nits of peak brightness is adequate for out of doors use, however the competitors does provide brighter shows with richer distinction, colors, and deeper black ranges. You can eat full-HD content material on Netflix because the Nord CE 3 Lite will get a WideVine L1 certification.
OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G includes a flat IPS LCD show
The show is sort of clean and gives assist for an adaptive refresh charge. Depending on the on-screen content material, the show switches between 30Hz and 120Hz. During my use case, the show felt fairly clean when scrolling via the consumer interface (UI). However, most third-party apps appear to be working at 60Hz.
OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G specs and software program
The OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G makes use of a Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 SoC and a 5,000mAh battery, that are additionally present in its predecessor. What has improved although is the charging velocity of the battery. The cellphone helps 67W quick charging, which OnePlus claims can cost the battery from 1 to 80 % in half-hour. The cellphone additionally options Bluetooth 5.1, Wi-Fi 5, GPS, 8GB of digital RAM, and many others. There is a hybrid-SIM slot, which helps storage enlargement through a microSD card of as much as 1TB.
In phrases of software program, the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G boots Android 13-based Oxygen OS 13.1 out of the field. The new Android software program principally sticks to the declare of providing a fluid and clean consumer expertise. I didn’t face any main stutters or lag whereas utilizing the cellphone throughout my week-long evaluation interval.
RAM administration can also be fairly good. However, in case you open any sport like Call of Duty: Mobile, chances are high that video-streaming apps similar to Netflix or YouTube may reload if you swap again. You can select to lock some apps in reminiscence by tapping on the three dots on the prime of particular person apps within the multitasking window.
What bothered me was a “Metis” pop-up notification which saved displaying up intermittently, even in the course of taking part in a sport. It needed permission to entry location knowledge for display screen projection, as you possibly can see from the screenshots beneath. Tapping on ‘Exit’ would merely dismiss it quickly, because it would merely pop up once more at a random time later. We knowledgeable OnePlus about this, who informed us that it was a software program bug on our unit and that it might be fastened earlier than the telephones went on sale. The firm additionally promptly despatched us a second unit, which did not appear to have this difficulty.
Speaking of undesirable notifications, the Theme Store was the one different app that threw a few spammy notifications, however this might be disabled.
The ‘Metis’ immediate that always saved popping up on the display screen was peculiar and annoying
Moving to the nice bits, I like how OxygenOS continues to offer a number of personalisation and customisation choices. You may go for Android 13’s color palette the place the system and UI parts match the wallpaper’s colors. In addition to this, there are alternatives to alter the font, icon form and measurement, themes, wallpapers, and many others. You may enlarge folders or alter the icon structure on the house display screen.
The OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G continues to get the beforehand obtainable OxygenOS options, similar to OnePlus Shelf, Zen Mode, and many others., that are additionally discovered within the dearer OnePlus 11R (Review) and the flagship OnePlus 11 (Review). It additionally comes with a number of Oppo and OnePlus native apps, similar to O Relax, Theme Store, Hot Free Games, and many others.
OnePlus has promised to offer two main Android updates, and safety patches for 3 years for the Nord CE 3 Lite 5G.
OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G efficiency and battery life
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 SoC within the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G is nonetheless fairly a succesful chipset, regardless that it is not very latest. The cellphone handles routine duties like a breeze. Apps switching or load instances will not be very lengthy and most video games run with decent-to-good graphics. I performed Call of Duty: Mobile and Asphalt 9 Legends on the cellphone, and my general expertise was fairly good.
I performed Call of Duty: Mobile for about 45 minutes straight with ‘Max’ body charge with ‘High’ graphics and there was no noticeable body drop or lag. The cellphone did get a bit heat however nothing worthy worrying about. That being stated, the iQoo Z7 5G (First Impressions) with its MediaTek Dimensity 920 SoC across the similar value, is a barely higher choose if you’re somebody who performs quite a lot of video games.
OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G includes a new “Hot FreeGames” suggestions folder
The OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite scored 899 and a couple of,063 factors in Geekbench 6’s single-core and multi-core checks. In AnTuTu, the cellphone scored 412,150 factors which is decrease than the marginally extra reasonably priced however highly effective iQoo Z7 5G’s rating of 4,36,524 factors.
In phrases of battery life, the Nord CE 3 Lite 5G can final a full day in case your utilization is not too heavy. On days after I performed quite a lot of video games for greater than an hour or when binge-watched reveals on Wi-Fi, the Nord CE 3 Lite 5G’s screen-on time (SoT) ranged between 7.5 hours to 8.5 hours. On days with lighter use, the typical SoT was a couple of minutes above 9 hours.
In our HD video loop take a look at, the cellphone ran for 17 hours, 19 minutes, which was above common. The Nord CE 3 Lite 5G takes about 50 minutes to cost from empty to 100%. Keep in thoughts that whereas the cellphone comes with an 80W charger within the field, it solely helps 67W quick charging.
OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G cameras
The OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G has a triple-camera setup on the again. There is a brand new 108-megapixel Samsung HM6 principal digicam with an f/1.75 aperture. It is accompanied by a 2-megapixel macro digicam and a 2-megapixel depth sensor. For selfies, the cellphone has a 16-megapixel entrance digicam.
OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G has two round cutouts for the triple-camera setup
The major digicam’s daylight efficiency is sort of good. Photos shot utilizing the principle digicam provide good colors with sufficient particulars. I favored that cellphone didn’t oversaturate the pictures however tried conserving colors nearer to actual life. The dynamic vary efficiency in HDR pictures might have been higher.
You will miss the optical picture stabilisation (OIS) when capturing pictures in low mild or when utilizing Night mode, the place the shutter is usually open for a few seconds not less than. While night time mode pictures are well-exposed, pixel-peeping reveals lack of particulars, and the picture is just not as crisp because it may very well be. This is the case for portrait pictures shot in low mild, the place the colors are form of alright, however you’ll discover that the main points are a bit tender.
Shot on OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G’s principal digicam
The principal digicam can seize “3X lossless zoom shots”, in line with the corporate however to achieve good particulars, you want steady arms and ample mild. The macro digicam is on par with those you get on different telephones, which is to say it exists so that you can simply expertise macro images however the last output is mostly weak.
OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G 3X zoom images
For selfies, the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G’s entrance digicam will get the colors and particulars proper typically. However, there may be clearly a special color tuning for images shot in portrait mode the place faces seem rather a lot fairer in comparison with photograph mode. Edge-detection accuracy is sort of good and the blur additionally appears fairly pleasing.
OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G entrance digicam samples (Normal and Portrait mode)
In phrases of movies, the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G’s entrance and rear cameras can solely shoot at 1080p 30fps. I’d have favored to see an possibility for capturing 60fps movies utilizing the principle digicam. But with what’s on provide, the video digicam efficiency is nice for the worth.
Verdict
The OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G is an effective cellphone for many who need a OnePlus smartphone and have a decent funds. You get the brand new OxygenOS expertise, good battery life, respectable efficiency, and quick charging. While design is subjective, I fairly favored the general in-hand really feel and the lime color of the cellphone.
The show can also be fairly tall and clean to function. Those who need a greater multimedia expertise want to have a look at one thing just like the Redmi Note 12 5G, which additionally has an ultra-wide digicam. There can also be the Moto G82 5G (Review) which has the identical SoC because the Nord CE 3 Lite 5G and gives an ultra-wide digicam, AMOLED 120Hz show, near-stock Android expertise, and a 5,000mAh battery. The solely trade-off is the barely slower charging velocity.
Once generally known as the trendsetter, OnePlus appears to have performed it protected with its newest Nord Lite smartphone. While the cellphone has acquired some upgrades, most of them will not be as groundbreaking as I’d have favored. The good factor right here is that these upgrades don’t include a rise in value, not less than at launch. If you’re a OnePlus loyalist and need a cellphone below Rs. 20,000, the brand new Nord CE 3 Lite 5G is your finest possibility.
