OnePlus Nord 3 5G Review – The Return of the Flagship Killer!

The OnePlus Nord series has always been considered to be in the midrange category based on its price segmentation. But this time around, we get to see them putting the pedal to the metal and releasing a unit that can go toe to toe with some of the flagship phones this 3rd quarter of 2023. Hence the Oneplus Nord 3 is born.

So before we dive a little deeper to this phone, lets check out the specs of this flagship killer phone.

OnePlus Nord 3 5G specs:
6.74-inch Fluid AMOLED @ 1240×2772 pixels
HDR10+, 120Hz
Corning Gorilla Glass 5
Mediatek MT6833 Dimensity 9000 chipset
Mali-G710 MC10 GPU
8GB, 16GB LPDDR5 RAM
128GB, 256GB, 512GB UFS 3.1
50MP Sony IMX890 f/1.9 OIS 4K@60fps
8MP ultrawide f/2.3
2MP depth f/2.4
LED flash, Ambient Light sensor
16MP front-facing camera 1080p@30fps
5G Support, dual nano- 5G SIM
WiFi-6
Bluetooth 5.3
NFC
GPS (GLONASS, BDS, GALILEO, SBAS, NavIC positioning system)
IR Blaster
Android 13 based OxygenOS 13.1
5,000mAh battery, 80W SUPERVOOC fast charging
Misty Green

Quick Unboxing

Inside the box we have a 80W SuperVOOC charger, a USB C Cable, user guides, sim ejector pin and a welcoming note rounds out the contents of the box. The weird thing is that they didn’t bother to include a protective case this time around.

Here is my unboxing and first impression video

Design and Construction

The design of the Nord 3 still sticks with the OnePlus 11 design, as it sports a dual barrel design just similar to the Nord CE 3 Lite. The smartphone has a glossy black which makes it a fingerprint magnet so if you don’t want to keep wiping your phone, I think its best to buy a case.

Nord 3 has a thickness of 8.15mm and weighs in at 193 grams. It’s really nice and comfortable to hold and use the phone with one hand. Its a fusion between the back cover of the OnePlus 11 and the camera design of the Nord CE 3 Lite, lets just call it fusion.

At the bottom we have the USB Type-C charging port, SIM card tray, primary mic, and a loudspeaker.

On the left side, we have the volume rockers.

On the right side we have the power button and the Alert Slider which is an iconic OnePlus design feature.

At the top we have the 2nd loud speaker and an IR blaster.

Display and Multimedia

For its display, we have a 6.74-inch AMOLED with an almost bezel-less screen with a 2772 x 1240 resolution and a 93.5% screen-to-body ratio together with a 120Hz refresh rate and 450 ppi pixel density. This makes the phone be very responsive and snappy, especially on browsing your favorite social media platform.

The colors are very vibrant, as you are able to see qualities like true blacks and vivid colors. With its HDR 10 support, it makes watching movies and videos enjoyable.

The audio that comes out of the phone is just ample enough for personal entertainment, but if you are together with your friends, a bluetooth speaker might be needed to kick up the sounds.

Cameras

The Nord 3 features a triple-rear camera setup with a 50MP IMX890 OIS main camera, 8MP ultra-wide, and a 2MP depth. The main camera sets the difference between this phone and its China counterpart the Ace 2v.

Alongside the two camera sensors, there is the ring light led flash, and the light sensors to round out the camera.

The front camera is a 16MP shooter by the way.

Here are some sample shots from the front camera:

Check my full review for the Nord 3

Performance

The Nord 3 has a Dimensity 9000 which is a one generation older flagship-level chipset from MediaTek. With a generous serving of 16GB of RAM and you get a budget flagship level. You can also turn an additional 12GB of RAM extension (Virtual Memory this consumes storage) this will hence double the memory capacity up to 28GB. The Nord 3 also comes with a Mali-G710 MC10 GPU and 256GB of internal storage.

The Nord 3 is able to take on games like Call of Duty Mobile, Wildrift, PUBG and Mobile Legends with ease. While playing Genshin Impact and Tower of Fantasy, it will sit well for the first 15 minutes but if you play beyond 30 minutes, you will begin to feel some frame drops and lags along the way during heavy battles. Heat is tolerable at around 43 to 44 degrees Celcius at max settings for Genshin Impact, but you can always use a game cooler like the Flydigi B6 to cool the phone while you play long hours.

Conclusion

Overall, OnePlus has stepped up its game, making flagship level like device available to the midrange segment. This phone was able to surprise me and no doubt its an early candidate for my midrange of the year award. My only problem with this one is that the camera sometimes tend to get some soft shots, which might be corrected with some firmware updates as days pass by.

Price will be announced on July 14th, check here for the official shop of OnePlus.