OnePlus Nord 2 5G hands-on By Engadget

OnePlus has an unusual problem. It's making very good flagship phones. These days, the OnePlus 9 pro we've recently seen is one incredibly good phone, but at the same time it's still chasing its status as smartphone giant killer. The company's word series is aimed at undercutting the expensive devices offered by the likes of Samsung, its Chinese rivals or even apple. Last year's word was the beginning of a new family of devices that attempted to still claim flagship killer status, but at increasingly cheaper prices, including the debut word. We also saw the 250 n200, which wasn't all that great.

It was, however, 250 bucks. The north 25g costs more than that and is pretty similar to the word in a lot of ways, including the fact that it's not destined for the US. I've been testing the word 2 for a couple of days and if you like, the proposition of the original word you'll, probably like its sequel, the word will cost 399 pounds here in the UK, which works out to roughly 540 dollars, and it's taking a slightly more premium approach to its style. That's a lot more similar to the more expensive OnePlus 9 series. It might look the part of a flagship, but is it as good while I love the vivid eye-catching sky blue of last year's word, its successor has a more restrained palette.

OnePlus sent me the metallic blue option, and it looks an awful lot like a phone from the OnePlus 9 family, augmented by the giant camera unit. Even if it's missing the Hasselblad label, the OnePlus 9 is priced slightly over one thousand dollars, so it makes sense to lean into that design language, it's something that Samsung has done for years with its cheaper smartphones. If you don't like the restrained tones, there's also a green and gray option available depending on your region, there's an aggressively wacky, faux transparent case and a season appropriate neon sunset case. That's fast becoming my favorite. When it comes to the cameras, there aren't many upgrades.

The rear module is now three cameras, not four with a primary 50 megapixel sensor with optical image. Stabilization, that's a two megapixel difference compared to the original word, and it might not seem worth noting. However, the new primary sensor has bigger pixel size. That's one micrometer up from the 0.8 micrometers of the original words pixels, however, still falling short of the 1.12 micrometer pixels of the OnePlus 9 pro there's also an 8 megapixel, wide angle lens and a mono sensor for focus assistance when it comes to zoom. The word 2 offers up to 2 times optical zoom, but thanks to the size of the sensor, it's pretty serviceable up to 5 times digital zoom.

According to the spec sheet, you can even crank it up to ten times digital zoom, but you probably shouldn't from my brief shooting experience and without the original nod to hand, there doesn't seem to be any major performance improvements, perhaps predictably, the low light shooting is what benefits most from the new sensor and some new AI tricks. Otherwise, like the word, the word 2 can take some very pretty photos. Capturing lots of detail. The AI mode again is a little heavy-handed, so I turned it off most of the time. Occasionally the phone would struggle with wide dynamic ranges, at least compared to phones, double its price.

Video wise the nor2 can handle up to 4k at 30fps and up to 60fps at 1080p resolution. It uses electronic image stabilization to amp up how much wobble it can handle and video was generally pleasantly smooth. The biggest change when it comes to imaging might well be the front-facing camera, while it's one plus highest specification sensor capable of taking 32 megapixel pictures. It's just a single camera sensor compared to the dual array on the original word, the node 2 6.47-inch AMOLED screen has a 90hz refresh rate, which feels appropriately slick. While there are color and resolution boosting AI features that can be enabled during video playback on certain apps, including YouTube, VLC and Instagram.

We're mentioning a handful of AI features here, and that's because the nor25g also marks a shift from snapdragon processors from Qualcomm to MediaTek, with a chip apparently made, especially for OnePlus. It's called the MediaTek density 1200ai, which, unsurprisingly, offers a degree of AI centric muscle to processes like photo manipulation and the aforementioned video playback boosts compared to the original word OnePlus claims. This processor is 65 faster, while the GPU offers 125 improvements compared to the original, with limited time to test out the phone. So far, the processor feels well mostly mid-ranged. I swiped and tapped through a handful of games, including alto's, odyssey through to ken shin impact, the latter of which is a gorgeous game that can test even the most expensive flagships.

Does the word 2 offers the silkiest gaming experience? No, but genii impact is an incredible resource intensive game and is just very good at making most phones sweat. Does it beat a flagship phone double or triple the price god? No, but can it handle it? Yes, I did experience a few stutters on a few games that the word 2 shouldn't really have to struggle with, but no apps suddenly shut down or anything like that. So far, so good, those of you in the U. S. might be frustrated that the word 25g won't be coming to the US, especially when OnePlus, even cheaper phones, which have hit U.

S. shores, have been too mediocre to recommend. However, there could be hope for future devices that land somewhere between basic smartphones and OnePlus flagships. The note2 is the first phone to be revealed since OnePlus announced it would be folding under Oppo in the future. For now at least, this hasn't resulted in any major changes for OnePlus phones.

In fact, an OnePlus spokesperson told Engadget that the company was keen to continue expansion in the US and the Oppo deal would give them more resources to do so. Based on my early impressions, the word 2 feels like a great but not quite perfect, mid-range smartphone. Perhaps if there's another word sequel, OnePlus will nail it, and we'll see it in us stores check out our full breakdown of OnePlus's newest phone over at engadget. com. Please like and subscribe to the Engadget channel, and I'll see you next time.

You.

Source : Engadget