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As OnePlus flagships keep creeping up the price ladder, the Nord series has been propped up as the value alternative for the Oppo sub-brand. While the Nord brand itself has been diluted to include smartphones at an assortment of price tags, the original Nord‘s formula — solid performance, ad-free, clean — has since been copied and, in some cases, improved upon by many rivals.

In lieu of a OnePlus Nord 3, the Nord 2T is the 2022 affordable flagship from OnePlus, but it is entering a space that has a litany of excellent competitors. Clearly, just throwing specs in a nice-looking package won’t cut it anymore, and the company has long shed much of the goodwill it had fostered through prior excellence in software. In the Android Authority OnePlus Nord 2T review, we try to see if there’s still room for a phone that doesn’t aspire for much but tries to be exactly what it needs to be — a competent mid-range daily driver.

All About OnePlus Nord 2T 5G

Despite just minor upgrades over the Nord 2 (Review), the new OnePlus Nord 2T 5G seems to have it all. OnePlus’ first ‘T’ model in the Nord series isn’t a brand-new phone, but seems to get the basics right by including a proper mid-range processor, an upgraded fast-charging system, a quality display and a capable primary camera with optical image stabilization (OIS).

OnePlus Nord 2T 5G Design

The OnePlus Nord 2T 5G has not received a major design overhaul, mainly because this is just a ‘T’ version of the phone, one that’s expected to bring minor upgrades to the core hardware. There are some design details that have changed and that’s mainly around the back. The camera module now has two large circular cutouts, one of which houses the primary camera and the second houses the ultra-wide and monochrome cameras. The layout looks neat and unique, but the module protrudes quite a bit, making the phone wobble when placed on a flat surface.

The rear panel is made of anti-glare glass and has a soft matte finish which feels quite premium and does an excellent job of resisting fingerprints. The mid-frame is made from polycarbonate and has a chrome-like finish which gathers a lot of fingerprints and smudges, but it makes the device easier to grip. The OnePlus Nord 2T 5G has a weighty, premium feel to it and I’m glad that OnePlus has retained the Alert slider on this phone after removing it from the more expensive OnePlus 10R 5G.

OnePlus Nord 2T 5G specifications and software

The OnePlus Nord 2T 5G uses a MediaTek Dimensity 1300 SoC which replaces the Dimensity 1200-AI SoC in the previous model. This is the only core upgrade you get with the ‘T’ model this year, but more about this processor in the next section. The phone comes with LPDDR4X RAM and UFS 3.1 storage, and has a dual-SIM tray which supports up to two 5G nano-SIM cards, with dual-standby functionality.

Communication standards include, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, NFC and support for the usual satellite navigation systems. The phone is powered by a 4,500mAh battery and can be charged using the 80W charger that comes in the box. The charging speed is another big change compared to the Nord 2, which had 65W fast charging. The Nord 2T 5G still doesn’t get any IP rating for dust and water resistance, something that’s getting increasingly common in the mid-range space.

The phone runs OxygenOS 12.1 which is based on Android 12. The software experience is typically OnePlus but I noticed an odd omission. The Nord 2T 5G is devoid of any live wallpapers and only comes with six static ones. There is a whole collection of static OnePlus wallpapers that can be downloaded from the Themes store, but you will have to sign up with a OnePlus Account for that. In terms of support, OnePlus claims to offer two major Android updates and three years of security updates, which is good enough for a mid-range device.

OnePlus continues its tradition of offering smartphones with minimal bloatware and the only third-party apps that comes preinstalled is Netflix. Because of this, there were no annoying notifications to deal with anywhere in the interface. As for the rest of the software, it’s quite customisable. The theme engine picks colours automatically from the wallpaper and applies it to the widgets and the keyboard. Oddly, the same colour isn’t applied to the system accent colour, which has to be chosen and applied manually from the personalisations menu.

OnePlus Nord 2T 5G Battery

A standard 4,500mAh cell can be found on the OnePlus Nord 2T and the difference, as compared to the Nord 2, is that the battery can be charged at 80W instead of 65W. In overall terms, the faster charging saves about 10 minutes when juicing up the phone from 0 to 100 percent. You can read about my comparison between different charging speeds here.

As far as the battery life goes, I was able to run the phone down after a day’s worth of heavy usage. This included binge-watching a few episodes of Stranger Things, playing a bit of BGMI, and general social media browsing.

OnePlus Nord 2T 5G Cameras

OnePlus smartphones have, since the very beginning, not been the best camera devices. With the OnePlus Nord 2T 5G, however, the company focused a lot on the camera capabilities of the device. There is a triple rear camera setup on the OnePlus Nord 2T 5G, which includes a primary 50-megapixel Sony IMX766 shooter, an 8-megapixel ultra-wide angle shooter, and a 2-megapixel macro lens.

This camera is pretty decent. You can click some very good photos from the OnePlus Nord 2T 5G camera. The primary Sony IMX766 shooter does a great job in capturing the detail, especially in well-lit environments. The colours on the OnePlus Nord 2T look brighter than competing devices, which is something that goes with most mid-range users who want to just click the photo and post on their social media without any edits. I personally prefer a more true-to-life colour tone, but the photos from the OnePlus Nord 2T still look pretty good.

The low light capabilities of this camera are also very good. I tested the OnePlus Nord 2Tduring a late-evening boat ride in Udaipur, and the images are quite decent, both from the primary and wide-angle shooter. The camera captures enough detail to make the images look sharp, and adds enough light, without compromising much on the details. Good stuff. The portrait mode on the OnePlus Nord 2T 5G is also good. At times, when you are against the light, there is a halo effect around the subject, but other than that, the edge detection and background blur is good enough.

OnePlus Nord 2T 5G price in India

The OnePlus Nord 2T 5G is available with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage priced at Rs. 28,999, and 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage priced at Rs. 33,999. The phone is available in two finishes, a greenish Jade Fog and a matte black colour called Gray Shadow. I received the 12GB variant for review in the Gray Shadow finish.

OnePlus Nord 2T 5G Pros and Cons

Final Verdict

The OnePlus Nord 2T 5G at Rs 28,999 delivers everything most users would ever want in a mid-range smartphone, and that’s about it. It does not go above and beyond to deliver something more or add any exceptional value. Everything is within limits whether this is the processor (strictly mid-range), the camera selection (no macro feature), or the display (limited to 90Hz). But whatever it does, it does fairly well and that makes it a decent all-rounder at this price point. However, the top-end 12GB RAM (priced at Rs. 33,999) variant makes little sense mainly because competing devices such as the Nothing Phone 1 (First Impressions) offers better features such as wireless charging and an IP53 rating.

If you’re looking for other options than the Nord 2T 5G, then brands such as iQoo and Realme do offer products that are better value. The iQoo Neo 6 (Review) offers a more powerful Snapdragon 870 SoC, a 120Hz AMOLED display, a bigger 4,700mAh battery, and a macro camera from Rs. 29,999. There’s also the Realme’s 9 Pro+ 5G (Review), which has a capable Dimensity 920 SoC, the same primary camera, a macro camera and a similar 90Hz AMOLED panel as the Nord 2T but starts at Rs. 24,999 for the 6GB variant.

Alternatives of OnePlus Nord 2T 5G

But there are competing smartphones such as the Realme 9 Pro+ 5G (Review) which offer similar hardware at an even lower price, so how does the Nord 2T 5G stack up against the competition and is it the perfect mid-ranger?