Succeeding Nord CE 2 Lite, OnePlus unveiled a new budget segment smartphone, OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G. The budget range is one of the most competitive sections in the Indian smartphone market, and it will be interesting to see how the new Nord CE 3 Lite 5G will fare against the competition.
Inside the Box
We received the phone, a clear silicone case, an 80W charger, Type-A to Type-C data cable, a SIM ejector pin, and documentation.
Design
The new OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G holds a similar look to the recently launched Realme 10 Pro, especially the placement of camera sensors. The cameras are housed in the same substantial dual circular components. A larger aperture and a more central position for the flash have also been added. The phone misses out on the famous alert slider present on the OnePlus phones.
Overall, the phone gets the basics of battery and processing right. | Photo Credit: Haider Ali Khan
We got our hands on the Chromatic Grey variant of the phone, which offers a nice touch to the aesthetic appeal of the phone. The phone is light and easy to carry around, thanks to its all-plastic body design. For protecting display, the phone comes guarded with Corning Gorilla Glass.
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The front sports a flat glass display with a large cutout in the center at the top for the front camera. The bezels are thicker at the bottom of the display, but the Nord CE 3 Lite also seemingly has thicker bezels at the top than the Realme 10 Pro. Along the sides, the Nord CE 3 Lite has a power button on the right that also doubles up as the fingerprint sensor. We don’t understand why the company has made this move rather than incorporating the sensor on display. On the left lies a dual SIM tray along with the volume buttons.
The top sports a microphone and a slim grille. At bottom lies a second microphone, the other loudspeaker, a 3.5mm headphone jack and a Type-C port.
Display
The new Nord CE 3 Lite 5G comes with a 6.72-inch IPS LCD display with a screen resolution of 1800x2400 pixels and support of 120Hz refresh rate. The display is capable of adjusting refresh rate between 30Hz to 120Hz based on the content consumed. The screen has a peak brightness of 680 nits making the screen visible outdoors comfortably. For a budget-range phone, the colour reproduction is good, producing bright and vivid colours. The display lacks HDR support, which the company could have used to provide a competitive edge over smartphones in the same range. However, the content streamed from Amazon and Netflix is of standard quality.
OS
The new Nord CE 3 Lite 5G is running on OxygenOS 13.1 on top of Android 13. The UI is very clean and just like all the OnePlus phones we have reviewed.
The Nord CE 3 Lite 5G is powered by a 5,000mAh battery. | Photo Credit: Haider Ali Khan
Performance
The Nord CE 3 Lite is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 695, something we have seen in the Realme 10 Pro and the Nord CE 2 Lite. As successor of CE 2 Lite, the phone clocks a little higher in terms of performance. The processor experience is identical to that of Realme 10 Pro. It does a good job of handling every task with comfort, whether you are multitasking or playing games. For gaming, the phone has the support of Adreno 619. We were able to play Battle Royale titles with good graphics quality. Still, we would suggest playing games with normal requirements as higher quality games slowed down the phone.
The variant we reviewed came with 8GB of RAM and 256GB UFS 2.2 storage with microSD expansion. There is also an option for virtual memory expansion, allowing you to create a 4/6/8GB page file on the storage to swap from when the device runs out of system memory.
Camera
The Nord CE 3 Lite 5G features three rear camera sensors, with the main camera being 108MP with an aperture of f/1.75. The second sensor is a 2MP macro lens with an aperture of f/2.4, and the third sensor is a 2MP depth sensor with an aperture of f/2.4. The phone misses out on an ultra-wide lens.
The main rear camera sensor delivers images of great quality in daylight conditions. The colour maintenance is very good, with a fine contrast level. By default, the main sensors capture images in 12MP resolution. We suggest minimum use of the HDR as it renders the natural output. The rear camera also has the feature of 3x lossless zoom, which, when used with a little precision, turns out to be very effective in maintaining details. For capturing images at night, we would suggest using the night mode straight away to get decent image quality. The overall images at night are of average quality.
The new OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G holds a similar look to the recently launched Realme 10 Pro. | Photo Credit: Haider Ali Khan
On the front, the selfie camera is of 16MP with an aperture of f/2.4. The selfies captured were very good, maintaining details very precisely with no over-beautification of the face.
Battery
The Nord CE 3 Lite 5G is powered by a 5,000mAh battery. There is no doubt that the battery can power every task throughout the day with comfort. During our review period, the battery ran almost till the first half of the next day with a single charge on average use. The charging speed of the phone is a plus point. The company has provided an 80W charger, but we noticed that, unlike other OnePlus Nord phones, this specific model took considerably longer to charge.
Verdict
The new OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G presents a good alternative within its range, but it somehow seems identical to the Realme 10 Pro. As an upgrade, it does a good job. Furthermore, we would have liked to see HDR support in the display.
The back design of the phone is quite reflective which made it difficult for us to click images of the phone. Overall, the phone gets the basics of battery and processing right. The company missed out on an IP rating as well.
The Nord CE 3 Lite 5G starts at ₹19,999.
