First Impressions
The Nord 4’s all-metal design separates it from each different 5G telephone in the marketplace, and paired with a good spec and a tempting price ticket, it might show in style.
All-metal designThe Nord 4 is the primary telephone within the 5G period to supply a full metallic physique design.
Succesful displayThe 6.7-inch AMOLED display with 1.5K decision and 120Hz refresh price appears to be like nice, full with surprisingly slim bezels.
Huge batteryThe Nord 4’s 5500mAh battery is greater than a lot of the competitors, which ought to result in robust battery life.
Introduction
OnePlus has revealed its newest mid-ranger, the OnePlus Nord 4, and I’ve been hands-on forward of its launch in Milan.
Whereas I’m not but able to ship my last ideas, I’m very excited by what the Nord 4 provides; not solely is it the primary unibody metallic telephone of the 5G period, nevertheless it’s backed up by a premium show, quick charging tech and the longest software program promise of any OnePlus smartphone but.
The query is, might or not it’s your subsequent smartphone buy? Listed below are my preliminary ideas.
Design and display
(Nearly) full metallic physique designIP65 mud and water resistance6.7-inch 1.5K AMOLED display
The OnePlus Nord 4 appears like a blast from the previous. Not as a result of it appears to be like dated or makes use of outdated smartphone tech, however due to what it’s produced from.
The Nord 4 is the primary 5G-era smartphone to come back in what OnePlus boasts is an entire metallic unibody, produced from aluminium – although there’s a little plastic window alongside the digicam on the rear that undoubtedly helps with connectivity.
As a result of that’s the explanation we’ve not seen any metallic unibody telephones for the reason that 4G days; 5G wants extra antennas and extra energy, and that’s conducive to a metallic design – normally, anyway.
OnePlus claims that it has a singular antenna association that also manages to ship quick 5G speeds with that absolutely metallic body, and even boasts that the fabric permits mobile sign to be boosted additional.
Reader, I forgot simply how good absolutely metallic telephones really feel within the hand. The OnePlus Nord 4 feels strong, arguably even moreso than premium choices just like the iPhone 15 that boast a glass again, with a cool contact and reassuringly strong really feel. It does imply that it’s pretty weighty, at 200g, however I believe that’s a worthy trade-off.
It not solely feels good; the metallic body signifies that you now not want to fret about your rear panel shattering when dropping the telephone – although you’ll nonetheless want to fret in regards to the display!
The Nord 4 is available in three color choices; Obsidian Midnight, Mercurial Silver and a traditional OnePlus inexperienced within the type of Oasis Inexperienced.
The Mercurial Silver mannequin I went hands-on with may truly be my favorite of the bunch. Positive, the mixture of silver and white appears to be like good, however the machine-etched sample on the rear provides it extra of a character than the plain-backed black and inexperienced color choices.
There’s additionally strong mud and water resistance on supply, rated IP65. It’s not the most effective we’ve seen on the value level with the likes of the Pixel 8a providing IP67, nevertheless it’s a step in the precise course nonetheless.
Let’s not neglect in regards to the show, which I used to be pleasantly stunned by after I first went hands-on with the telephone. It’s a powerful 6.74-inch AMOLED panel, boasting specs like a 1.5K decision, 2150nit peak brightness and an excellent clean 120Hz refresh price that ought to make for a reasonably good viewing expertise. It definitely regarded vivid, detailed and vibrant throughout my restricted time with the telephone pre-launch.
However, for me, probably the most spectacular factor in regards to the display is its bezels. Whereas competing mid-rangers just like the Google Pixel 8a and Samsung Galaxy A55 5G have fairly thick bezels that separate them from their premium brethren, that’s not fairly the case with the OnePlus Nord 4. The bezels are impressively slim alongside three of the 4 edges, bringing it nearer to a flagship telephone than a £429 mid-ranger, actually elevating the general look of the telephone.
Options and spec
Snapdragon 7 Plus 3 power50MP + 8MP digicam setup4 years of OS upgrades
Throughout the OnePlus Nord 4, you’ll discover a fairly performant Snapdragon 7 Plus Gen 3, together with both 8-, 12- or a whopping 16GB of LPDDRX5 RAM and a wholesome 256GB or 512GB of storage. It’s a reasonably normal chipset for the mid-range value, albeit with boosted RAM and storage, although that doesn’t imply it doesn’t ship nice on a regular basis efficiency.
Although I’ve not had an opportunity to benchmark the telephone simply but, it does really feel fairly responsive generally use, swiping by way of the OS and opening apps on the faucet of a button, little question enhanced by the 120Hz refresh price of the show that helps every thing really feel responsive.
What’s extra, OnePlus is assured that the telephone received’t simply really feel responsive on day one, as an alternative claiming that it’ll carry out on the similar stage for a whopping six years due to OnePlus’ proprietary fluency testing earlier than launch.
This primarily simulates on a regular basis use, with a mixture of putting in and deleting apps, taking pictures and principally the rest you’d use your smartphone for, utilizing AI to intelligently tweak your telephone’s efficiency to maintain it feeling simply as responsive. It’s an fascinating concept, however we’re about six years away from seeing if that’s truly the case!
To match that six years of responsive efficiency, OnePlus has additionally assured a boosted 4 OS upgrades and 6 years of safety patches. That’s greater than what you’ll get from flagship OnePlus choices just like the OnePlus 12 and OnePlus Open, and it beats a lot of the mid-range competitors on each fronts too.
It additionally boasts AI options utterly new to the OnePlus assortment; AI Audio Abstract transcribes and summarises lengthy recordings, superb for work and interviews, whereas AI Observe Abstract can summarise lengthy electronic mail threads. There’s additionally AI Translate that’ll primarily do what it says on the tin, although it’s restricted to written textual content moderately than speech.
It additionally makes use of AI to enhance your connectivity, serving to to reconnect you shortly when your mobile connection drops, like when in a raise, and in an analogous vein to Google’s Greatest Take tech, you’ll be capable to repair your folks’ smiles in group pictures – although that performance received’t be out there at launch.
The OnePlus Nord additionally appears fairly succesful within the digicam division, sporting a most important OIS-enabled 50MP snapper with a Sony LYT-600 sensor. That’s already fairly strong, however the algorithm used actually elevates it; it’s the identical as that of the OnePlus 12, that means it captures pictures in RAW for added element, enhances the RAW file after which converts it to a jpeg for storage.
This implies it’s best to get some fairly respectable snaps from the primary digicam, even with out actually high-end smartphone digicam tech – although that’s not one thing I’ve been in a position to check out simply but.
That’s paired with a reasonably normal 8MP ultrawide, and flip the telephone over and also you’ll discover a 16MP selfie digicam for video calls and the like.
It must also haven’t any drawback lasting all day on a cost with a sizeable 5500mAh battery, and with 100W quick charging tech, it ought to severely scale back how lengthy you spend tethered to the wall. OnePlus claims a full cost in simply 28 minutes however, once more, that is one thing I’ll check for the total evaluate, coming very quickly.
Newest offers
Early Ideas
The mid-range smartphone market is stuffed with competitors from the likes of Xiaomi, Google and Samsung amongst others, however OnePlus might carve out its personal area with the Nord 4.
The all-metal design separates it from each different 5G telephone in the marketplace, and paired with a good spec and a tempting price ticket, it might show in style – however I’ll save my last ideas for the total evaluate, coming very quickly.
UK RRP
EU RRP
Producer
Display Measurement
Storage Capability
Rear Digicam
Entrance Digicam
Video Recording
IP score
Battery
Quick Charging
Measurement (Dimensions)
Weight
Working System
Launch Date
First Reviewed Date
Decision
HDR
Refresh Charge
Ports
Chipset
RAM
Colors
›