IN PICS | OnePlus Nord CE 4 First Impressions: This Mid-Segmenter Brings A Premium Kick

It started out as a flagship killer, but recent times have seen OnePlus become a more formidable presence in the mid-segment of the smartphone market. And leading its charge in this highly competitive zone has been the OnePlus Nord series, which has run up some big numbers. OnePlus has just released the OnePlus Nord CE4 5G, which is the latest in the Nord CE (CE stands for ‘core experience’) sub-series. It looks to carry forward the OnePlus Nord CE tradition of delivering a solid performance for not a lot of bucks…oh, and selling a lot of units in the process. Here are our quick thoughts on the latest Never Settler. [Image credit: ABP Live/Nimish Dubey]

A premium feel, and a very interesting green shade - The OnePlus Nord CE4 is a tall and slim phone at 162.5 mm, 8.4mm, respectively and weighs 186 grams, which is light for its size. It has a premium-ish feel to it, with a flat front, a slightly curved glass back, and straight sides that are a rage these days. As in so many phones these days, design innovation has been focused (pun intended) on the camera unit - the OnePlus Nord CE4 comes with cameras placed inside what looks like a vertical capsule that juts out. There seem to be three cameras on the back, but the third disc is just a flash with a black dot in the middle. The phone comes in two shades - the grey Dark Chrome is smart but predictable, while the Celadon Marble is a blend of different shades of light screen with a touch of glitter (which shows in the sun), giving the phone a very marble-like look. There is no talk of Gorilla Glass protection but the phone has IP54 splash resistance. It started out as a flagship killer, but recent times have seen OnePlus become a more formidable presence in the mid-segment of the smartphone market. And leading its charge in this highly competitive zone has been the OnePlus Nord series, which has run up some big numbers. OnePlus has just released the OnePlus Nord CE4 5G, which is the latest in the Nord CE (CE stands for ‘core experience’) sub-series. It looks to carry forward the OnePlus Nord CE tradition of delivering a solid performance for not a lot of bucks…oh, and selling a lot of units in the process. Here are our quick thoughts on the latest Never Settler. [Image credit: ABP Live/Nimish Dubey]

A definitely mid-segment spec sheet - The Nord CE series has always been about solid mid-segment specs and the OnePlus Nord CE4 ticks most mid-segment boxes. It comes with a 6.7 inch FHD+ AMOLED display with 120Hz refresh rate, and is one of the first in the Indian market to run on Qualcomm’s new mid-segment Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 processor, which is supposed to come with support for special AI features. The phone has two RAM and storage options - 8 GB/ 128 GB and 8 GB/ 256 GB - and is one of the few OnePlus to come with expandable storage (up to 1TB, if you can find a microSD card of that capacity). It started out as a flagship killer, but recent times have seen OnePlus become a more formidable presence in the mid-segment of the smartphone market. And leading its charge in this highly competitive zone has been the OnePlus Nord series, which has run up some big numbers. OnePlus has just released the OnePlus Nord CE4 5G, which is the latest in the Nord CE (CE stands for ‘core experience’) sub-series. It looks to carry forward the OnePlus Nord CE tradition of delivering a solid performance for not a lot of bucks…oh, and selling a lot of units in the process. Here are our quick thoughts on the latest Never Settler. [Image credit: ABP Live/Nimish Dubey]

A LYT sensor that is supposed to be ‘lit’ - OnePlus could join the mid-segment camera wars with the twin shooters on the OnePlus Nord CE4. Most of the heavy shooting is likely to be done by the main 50-megapixel Sony LYT-600 sensor, which comes with OIS, support for RAW HDR for greater detail and 4K video, and features a new Portrait Mode (2.0). There is a secondary 8-megapixel ultrawide camera, and selfies are handled by a 16-megapixel snapper. Not much has been said about that dotty flash, but we are just delighted at the absence of those ‘bleh’ 2- and 5-megapixel ‘depth’ and ‘macro’ sensors. It started out as a flagship killer, but recent times have seen OnePlus become a more formidable presence in the mid-segment of the smartphone market. And leading its charge in this highly competitive zone has been the OnePlus Nord series, which has run up some big numbers. OnePlus has just released the OnePlus Nord CE4 5G, which is the latest in the Nord CE (CE stands for ‘core experience’) sub-series. It looks to carry forward the OnePlus Nord CE tradition of delivering a solid performance for not a lot of bucks…oh, and selling a lot of units in the process. Here are our quick thoughts on the latest Never Settler. [Image credit: ABP Live/Nimish Dubey]

Breathes OxygenOS and charges fast… really fast - This is a OnePlus - of course, there’s OxygenOS and OF COURSE, the battery charges fast. The OnePlus Nord CE4 runs on OxygenOS 14, OnePlus’ famously clean interface, on top of Android 14. OnePlus has committed to two years of software updates and three years of security updates, which is reasonable without being exceptional. The battery, however, is definitely exceptional. Rather remarkably, OnePlus has squeezed in a massive 5,500mAh battery into that slim and relatively lightweight frame of the Nord CE4. And of course, as it is a OnePlus, normal charging speeds are not an option - the Nord CE4 charges at a staggering 100W and comes with a 100W SuperVOOC charger in the box, that can get it from nothing to 100 per cent in half an hour. It started out as a flagship killer, but recent times have seen OnePlus become a more formidable presence in the mid-segment of the smartphone market. And leading its charge in this highly competitive zone has been the OnePlus Nord series, which has run up some big numbers. OnePlus has just released the OnePlus Nord CE4 5G, which is the latest in the Nord CE (CE stands for ‘core experience’) sub-series. It looks to carry forward the OnePlus Nord CE tradition of delivering a solid performance for not a lot of bucks…oh, and selling a lot of units in the process. Here are our quick thoughts on the latest Never Settler. [Image credit: ABP Live/Nimish Dubey]

At Rs 24,999, it is in a very competitive zone - The OnePlus Nord CE 4 is priced at Rs 24,999 for 8GB + 128GB and Rs 26,999 for the 8GB + 256GB storage model, and while that is a very competitive price, it lands the phone in the middle of the mid-segment wars, with some very formidable opponents, ranging from the very value for money Redmi Note series to the innovative Nothing Phone 2a. Just how well its blend of good design, decent specs and clean-ish software fare against them only time will tell. It started out as a flagship killer, but recent times have seen OnePlus become a more formidable presence in the mid-segment of the smartphone market. And leading its charge in this highly competitive zone has been the OnePlus Nord series, which has run up some big numbers. OnePlus has just released the OnePlus Nord CE4 5G, which is the latest in the Nord CE (CE stands for ‘core experience’) sub-series. It looks to carry forward the OnePlus Nord CE tradition of delivering a solid performance for not a lot of bucks…oh, and selling a lot of units in the process. Here are our quick thoughts on the latest Never Settler. [Image credit: ABP Live/Nimish Dubey]