OnePlus Nord 2 Unboxing & Review - This is the Way! By The Tech Chap

All right, hey guys Anton the tech chap, and this is the new OnePlus word 2. Well. Actually, this is one of the fancy cases that come with the reviewers guide. This is actually what it looks like, which I'm sure you'll agree is very similar to the nine series you can see where the design inspirations come from. We've got very similar, looking camera modules uh just without this reflective glass design. Now was it The Dark Knight when they say you were dying, the hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain, because once again, OnePlus is calling this the flagship killer device, which is pretty ironic, since they also make flagship phones themselves and one of the criticisms we've had with OnePlus over the last couple of years is that they've just got more and more expensive they've.

You know lost that value for money that we've always loved about them, so here they are again potentially killing their own flagships, but anyway, this is actually the fifth phone in the word family. We had the original word. This guy, then we had the n10, the n100, the n200 and, most recently, the uh word CE, which was a slightly cut down version. But now we've got the node 2 5 g. It will get a bit complicated, but really this is the one you should pay attention to, because it's actually very good.

So in the box we get the usual nubbins of well the phone, a protective case, some paperwork. Also, this 65 watt charger. It's the warp charge, 65 and also an USB two USB, a red charging cable which you'll need, because this doesn't support any kind of wireless charging, unfortunately design wise. It's a pretty standard affair. Furthermore, it kind of looks like the word and the OnePlus 9 had a baby, but I am pleased to see that we do have the alert slider because we actually lost that on the word CE.

For some reason, we do also get stereo speakers and this little hole, punch corner cut out for the selfie camera in the screen. But sadly, while it is a dual sim 5g phone, there isn't any micro SD card support and also no headphone jack, which is a bit disappointing. And finally, we get an in-screen fingerprint reader, but you can also use the selfie camera for face, unlocking so far so good then. But what makes this really stand out? Well, there's a couple of things: firstly, the price: this will cost you 400 quid, which is about 20 or 30 more than the original word. So it's a little more expensive plus that has been now discounted because it's about a year old.

So this is about 70 pounds more, but I'm telling you right now, and I'll show you. This is definitely worth paying the extra, because it's actually a pretty big upgrade, and the second real selling point of this is the fact that it's the first OnePlus phone to ditch Qualcomm and their snapdragon chips uh, because instead in here we have the MediaTek density 1200 AI chip, and you know what it was: a hundred percent the right decision, because this chip and this phone is significantly faster than both the original word and the word CE, and it's almost as fast as something like the Poco f3, with a snapdragon 870, and it's particularly in the graphics department that we're seeing the biggest optic in performance. So games like cod mobile, run, flawlessly maxed out and actually really demanding titles like gentian impact. This does a good job with high settings, although of course, in the higher end phones, you will still get higher frame rates. So in terms of specs.

The headline really is that new MediaTek chip that performs surprisingly well uh and that can be paired with six eight or twelve gigs of ram and 128 or 256 gigs of storage. So in terms of raw horsepower, it's a massive step up over the original word. But what hasn't really changed? Is this display, and we're getting a similar sized 6.43 inch, full HD, plus 90 hertz AMOLED, which is still a great screen, although maybe a bump up to 120 hertz would have been nice. It's a flat screen, there's no curved edges. The hole punch is reasonably small and overall, I think it's just a really comfortable sized phone.

Now before we get to this camera, which I can't wait to show you uh one of my favorite features of the word 2 and in fact any OnePlus phone really is the software. This is running oxygen, OS 11.3 on top of android 11 and, as we've come to expect from these OnePlus phones, it is incredibly slick and fast and lovely to use. I know: there's lots of controversy about them, merging with Oppo and maybe color OS sort of subsuming oxygen OS. But even if that happens, it's not going to be for a few years, and OnePlus are promising two years of android updates and three years of security updates. With this there are tons of personalization- and actually one of my favorite things to do- is remove the text for the apps, which you can also change the icons for so actually, you can have a spotless, unique, looking screen, but what about this camera? Well, it's pretty interesting, actually because they're using the same main sensor in here as they used in the ultra-wide on the 9 pro the Sony, mix 766, it's a 50 megapixel main lens, along with an 8 megapixel ultra-wide and finally, a 2 megapixel, monochrome lens.

So I've had the node 2 in my pocket for a few days now- and I took it into my local town- it's England's smallest city, it's called wells, and it's a beautiful place. I actually just moved here, but, as you can see in good light, the word 2 takes some terrific shots actually, but you can't really get an idea of how good this is or even how bad it is without a bit of context, so to help let's bring in the original OnePlus word and also the OnePlus 9 pro. So OnePlus is flagship phone and straightaway in good light. At least there isn't that much between them, the word two in the middle, seems to have raised the shadows a little, so it's a touch brighter, which is a similar story with my lovely wife. Sarah here who is uh very kindly waiting for me to take three photos.

At the same time, I do think the 9 pro on the right comes out on top in terms of overall quality, dynamic range colors, but the difference between the word and the word 2 is quite stark, but this is where things get fascinating and by the way, thatcher's if you're, watching uh definitely open to sponsorships, but just look at the white balance. The original word and the 9 pro look very similar. Actually, despite the Hasselblad color science on the 9 pro, the north 2 looks a lot more realistic and natural. So, while the note 2 and the 9 pro kind of trade blows, the original node on the left is definitely lagging behind. There's a lot less detail in the darker areas: it's very contrast, not the most pleasing image.

Actually, you can see behind the petals, there's a lot more information and more detail in the note, 2 and, to some extent the 9 pro shot, but also just look at the texture on the table. There's significantly more detail. The original word is just a kind of smooth mess. Let's move on to some low light shots, and these are all taken with their respective nights cape modes. This is actually my current setup, which I've moved down to my dining room, because it's so bloody hot, upstairs right now in a bit of a heat wave here in the UK, but just look at how dark the original word is, we're losing so much detail with this one.

I think the 9 pro has taken the best shot. But again the white balance on the word 2 is actually a lot more realistic. Those colors are much more true to life, so it's definitely in lower light and nighttime shots that we see the most appreciable difference going up to the higher end flagship phones. But the note 2 throughout does a perfect job, and it is a massive step up over the original word, and that goes for both the back cameras and the new, updated 32 megapixel front camera, which is also significantly better than before and in this particular shot. Arguably I'd say I prefer even over the nine pro as for video, it tops out at 4k 30, which is absolutely fine.

I don't really need 8k on a phone like this and also 1080p 30 with the front camera, and I think it does a pretty good job because we do get is with the main lens as, with the ultra-wide and overall, I think it shoots some pretty nice video and also the battery life, because we're getting a 4500 million power cells, which is up from I think, 41.15 on the original node, so about 10, bigger or so, and also we're getting that faster 65 watt charging and battery life is actually pretty good. By the end of a normal day. At about 11 pm, I still have a good 30 left, but of course you can quickly top it up with that 65 watt warp charger so overall, compared to the original word, which is only a year old, we're getting this slightly refreshed design, a much faster chip, bigger battery, significantly improved cameras and also better haptics. The rumble when you're texting or playing games feels a lot better on this. The screen is the only area, that's not really changed, but overall, it is a solid upgrade.

So in some ways I feel like OnePlus should just stop with this flagship killer kind of marketing. They make flagship phones, they are better, but for 400 quid. This is a massive improvement over the original word and, of course, the CE which is even cheaper um. I think the closest competition to this would be the uh Poco f3 and actually, it probably is a better buy. This is about 100 pounds cheaper.

Now, because it's been out for a few months. We also get a 120 hertz screen and a more powerful snapdragon 870. So it's faster, cheaper, smoother, screen sort of comparable cameras so really depends. If you want to go with team OnePlus or team Xiaomi well polo, but also there are a few other issues I do have with the node 2. For example, there is no headphone jack, there's no micro, SD and also there's no wireless charging, there's no official IP rating, and also we're not getting any kind of gorilla glass on here all this kind of extras that are nice to have which make a flagship of flagship uh.

So there may be still some argument to pay the extra 200 pounds or so and go for the OnePlus 9, which also gets you a telephoto lens and that faster chip. So I think for the money. This is actually perfect value and I would probably recommend them all too, but it's not a flagship killer, so yeah. What do you reckon 400 quid? Would you be tempted to buy the word 2, or maybe the Poco f3 or none of the above? Let me know what you make of this in the comments below and if you did enjoy the video a cheeky little like and subscribe would be very much appreciated, especially now, because I am sweltering, I'm trying to hide the sweat stains on my shirt and wipe my forehead constantly, because it's like 30 degrees Celsius, uh, and I am in my sort of dining room because it is so hot upstairs, so I've battled through for you guys to bring you this review and uh. Hopefully you enjoyed it.

Thank you so much for watching guys, and I'll catch you next time right here on the tech chat.

Source : The Tech Chap