OnePlus Nord 3 Review: The Return Of The Flagship Killer

OnePlus started off as the plucky upstart that claimed to be a giant killer. Well, for the first three iterations, its phones were dubbed the flagship killers. But then big company energy kicked in. Its portfolio bloated — from high end to low end it participated everywhere. Its fans felt abandoned as it started to stray away from things its “fans” loved. It even lost its mercurial co-founder Carl Pei. While doing so, it wasn’t making rapid headway in doing things that big companies traditionally have done.

Let's just say it lost its way, but 2023 is evidence that it is back on track. In fact, it can be argued it is better than ever as it is striking the perfect balance between the big company energy and the things that we loved about OnePlus, the plucky startup.

There is no other phone that personifies the return of the flagship killer more than the OnePlus Nord 3. Let me explain to you why! And along the way, I will share why this phone is simply the best Android has to offer south of 40 grand!

Boring...but pragmatic

Yeah with that big company energy you also lose some imagination. And the OnePlus Nord 3 plays it safe. Its design is as safe as Steve Carell in The 40 Year Old Virgin. Yeah, there is nothing racy about this — it's a standard 2023 generic smartphone — a candy bar with a 6.7” AMOLED screen that has its edges pushed to the corners with the bottom half hanging out giving a double chin vibe. This is true for almost any phone that is south of Rs 40,000. It also has plastic rails, flattened almost like an iPhone, but it is plastic and the back also has a matte finish in the tempest grey I tested.

Ergonomics are let’s say not the best, but considering the plastic rails, the Gorilla Glass on the back, it should be a fairly sturdy phone -- though I haven’t dropped the phone. What I love is the presence of the OnePlus alert slider toggle switch.

You have these two bug-eyed modules which incorporate 3 cameras including the rather pedestrian macro lens. And you really don’t want to be picking up this phone after having a plate of mutton korma because it’s going to pick up that oil and cling on to it like a crisp white shirt that your mummy bought for your first job interview.

But, it also works because you do get a case in the box which you should almost immediately put on and overall it's slender like your favourite supermodel and fleetingly light which will mean it ain’t causing carpal tunnel. In this package you’re also getting a 5,000mAh battery with 80-watt fast charging and a stereo speaker setup that is solid for everything from Dua Lipa to Star Wars.

The display is also a nice one. It is large, vibrant and warm. It gets adequately bright so watching content on Netflix or playing games ain’t going to be a hassle. The only shade is that it gets Asahi Dragontrail cover-glass rather than the 800 pound gorilla of cover glass tech, Corning! But considering the price I’ll take it!

There is also IP54 splash protection which will protect it from the Delhi rain these days. Its in-display fingerprint scanner also adheres to the fast and smooth mantra of OnePlus phones.

Smooth as your favourite secret agent

OnePlus had mucked up Oxygen OS by merging it with ColorOS. It was like one of those zoonotic jumps, you know the story of the coronavirus moving from the pangolin to the bat turning into a mutant. Well, at least in this case, it wasn’t a pandemic because OnePlus admitted the problem and addressed it and you get the best of ColorOS — the customisation — and the savvy and cool of Oxygen OS.

It is smooth as your favourite secret agent, less 007 more of a femme fatale, providing the user functional dexterity to how they want to use the phone — be it with a lot of bells and whistles or a simpleton Android feel. The mutant of the OS is very stable also and coupled with supple haptics, it is a delight to type on. You really want to get work done on this bad girl!

Because it has the chops in terms of horsepower with MediaTek’s Dimensity 9000 chipset and hilariously excessive 16GB RAM and 256GB storage with UFS 3.1 storage. Yep, this is the same chip as the OnePlus Pad. Boy she is fast like Danica Patrick in an IndyCar. There's this vapour chamber too in this slender device which further fuels its performance making it adept for flagship grade gaming.

You get this firepower in a package that is super slim. I cannot emphasise this more as this is an herculean and impressive engineering feat. It is a flex that you expect from a big company considering the performance you get without compromise.

OnePlus 11 level cameras

The primary camera of this phone is a 50-megapixel primary IMX890 sensor which is there in the OnePlus 11, OnePlus 11R and even the Nothing Phone (2). It also gets optical image stabilisation and considering the price of the phone, its performance is superb. Yes, it doesn’t take the more colour accurate shots. Its photos are vibrant and borderline oversaturated. But the photos are pleasing to the naked eye — shots in the night mode are surprisingly pleasant. The details are rich.

And this camera system works — fast. It makes the Nothing Phone (2) camera look like a Formula 2 car in F1 — and that’s a big deal as the most expensive version of the Nord 3 is Rs 7,000 cheaper than the base model of the Nothing Phone (2).

So the main camera, the one everyone really cares about, is truly solid. But the ultra-wide and macro cameras are like that third wheel on a date you can’t get rid of. The 8-megapixel ultra wide is a necessity and in daylight is very usable but the macro is just like a mole on your face, like the one on me. And it is useless.

Video is not the strongest suit of this phone, but its 4K video chops are decent. It can also shoot 4K at 60 frames per second. In the daytime, video is shake-free and the quality is quite usable for even your Instagram reels. Low light things become tricky. The selfie camera of this phone also is decent enough.

Battery life that flatters to deceive

There are two ways to see the battery situation on the OnePlus Nord 3. One way is to be wowed by the 5,000mAh spec which is more than something like the Nothing Phone (2). Another way would be to say that the 12 hour plus battery life is good enough for most people but isn’t spectacular. But this is fine when combined with its 80-watt SuperVooC charging which gets the job done in 32 minutes.

Either way, the battery life is a 7/10. But then maybe an 8/10 if you are sitting and working mostly and have the charger handy all the time which yes, comes in the BOX. The small kicks these days we smartphone reviewers get, I swear!

But I am disappointed that it is not a 9/10 because it is a 5,000mAh battery as I expected more. This tells me that the MediaTek chip is a gas guzzler. It also tells me that this display also slyly suckles on power like a tick on a dogs back as it isn’t always dynamically ramping down the refresh rate from 120Hz to 1Hz instantly. This is due to the lack of LTPO technology. The battery mark test result is testament to this.

But this will or shouldn’t be a dealbreaker for anyone unless you’re a battery life diva!

Long Story Short....

Seriously, if I am to choose one phone that can do it all for less than Rs 40,000, then it has to be the OnePlus Nord 3. Sure, you can get the Galaxy F54 if you need more battery life. Sure, you can look at the Pixel 7A if you want a better camera, but if you want the one that does it all and doesn’t burn a hole in your pocket — it is the Nord 3. And yes, it is the return of the flagship killer! This is the old OnePlus I’ve missed through this decade!

Also Read: Nothing Phone (2) Review: Oodles of cool but with a pinch of salt