Feels like the OP we have known with all the good specifications!!
The OnePlus Nord series has had a great start in the market as they have captured the mid-range and premium mid-range segment as we saw the recent launch of the OnePlus Nord CE 2. OnePlus Nord 2 (Review) launched last year has been a very successful smartphone in the premium mid-range segment as it provides almost all the flagship specifications.It came with a great build and design, a 90Hz AMOLED display, a powerful Mediatek Dimensity 1200 chipset for gaming and performance, and good battery life with 65W fast charging. The most important thing that sets this smartphone apart is its clean software experience with no bloatware. Now with the OnePlus Nord 2T, OnePlus has made some minor improvements to make it slightly better.
With the slightly newer design, a newer Mediatek Dimensity 1300 chipset, slightly faster 80W fast charging, and Android 12 running out of the box, does this really worth an upgrade over the OnePlus Nord 2 launched last year? Is it worth buying compared to other smartphones in this price segment? Let's find out in the full review.
OnePlus Nord 2T Design:
Compared to the OnePlus Nord 2, the OnePlus Nord 2T sports a slightly different design as the back has a slightly different camera module where the main camera is present on the top, and just below it is the second module that consists of the ultrawide and the macro camera. Beside these camera modules lies a LED flashlight.
The back has a smooth matte finish that feels slightly textured and the camera module protrudes slightly. However, the back does catch some fingerprints quite often. There is no IP rating at the back but you get splash resistance so that it can survive small splashes of water. The weight is similar to that of the OnePlus Nord 2 i.e. 190 grams and is also thicker at 8.2mm.
Around the sides, there is a polycarbonate frame instead of metallic where the right side gets the power button and the alert slider which is good to see as OnePlus is removing it in its upcoming smartphones.
The left side has the volume buttons. To the bottom, there is a USB Type-C port, a loudspeaker grille, a primary microphone, and a dual SIM card slot.
There is no slot for a microSD card and no 3.5mm headphone jack also. On the front, there is a single punch hole display that has minimum bezels to the sides. Like the OnePlus Nord 2, this one has Gorilla Glass 5 for protection on both sides. Overall, the build feels premium but the design could have been slightly newer and better since this is an upgrade to the OnePlus Nord 2.
OnePlus Nord 2T Display:
Like the OnePlus Nord 2, the OnePlus Nord 2T has a 6.43-inches Full HD+(1080x2400 pixels) AMOLED display with a screen-to-body ratio of 20:9. As this is an AMOLED display, the color reproduction and viewing angles are very good. However, around the sides, there is a slight blue tint still present which was also present on the OnePlus Nord 2.
Like the OnePlus Nord 2, there is a 90Hz refresh rate, which makes everything smoother like scrolling web pages, playing games, and multitasking between applications. However, this seems to be a slight downgrade as you do not get a higher 120Hz refresh rate which is found on other smartphones in the premium mid-range segment and it feels like a big miss.
The 90Hz refresh rate is the standard refresh rate where it does not switch between different refresh rates and there is also a standard 60Hz refresh rate which when turned on yields much better battery life. Combined with a 90Hz refresh rate, you get a 180Hz touch sampling rate which is good for faster touch responses but still, other smartphones like iQOO Neo 6 and Xiaomi 11X have faster 360Hz touch sampling rates.
There is an optical in-display fingerprint scanner that works faster and is accurate. There is also support for HDR on YouTube and also Widevine L1 so you can stream HD content on OTT platforms like Netflix, Prime, etc. but now currently there is no support for HDR on Netflix on the OnePlus 2T. The display seems to be good for media consumption.
OnePlus Nord 2T Performance:
The OnePlus Nord 2T is powered by the newer Mediatek Dimensity 1300 chipset which is just a minor upgrade over the Mediatek Dimensity 1200 chipset present on the OnePlus Nord 2. Both these chipsets have similar clock speeds but the Mediatek Dimensity 1300 supports the newer HyperEngine 5.0 compared to the HyperEngine 3.0 on the Mediatek Dimensity 1200.
However, this does help in slightly better gaming capabilities but there is not much of a difference. Combined with this chipset, you get a similar GPU i.e. ARM Mali-G77 and performance feels smooth as the chipset handles all the tasks thrown at it. In terms of gaming, this chipset handles all the heavy games with ease. For example, BGMI runs at Smooth graphics with Extremeframe rates.
You can also switch to HDR graphics with Ultra frame rates but there is no support for HDR graphics with Extreme frame rates which are slightly disappointing as the similarly priced iQOO Neo 6 has that support. OnePlus have provided a dedicated cooling chamber that does dissipate heat faster after playing for longer hours but there is one difference between the Mediatek Dimensity 1200 and 1300.
In CPU throttling tests, the Mediatek Dimensity 1300 on the OnePlus Nord 2T had major frame drops and could only maintain a sustained performance of around 60-65 percent due to thermal throttling which is worst compared to the Mediatek Dimensity 1200 which could easily maintain a sustained performance of around 75-80 percent.
In terms of benchmarks also, the scores of the OnePlus Nord 2 are slightly better than that of the OnePlus Nord 2T, and OnePlus needs to fix this thermal throttling issue on the OnePlus Nord 2T. Like the OnePlus Nord 2, there are two variants - 8/12GB LPDDR4X RAM with 128/256GB UFS 3.1 storage. In terms of network connectivity, there is support for good carrier aggregation and 11 bands of 5G.
Overall, the performance feels good in all the daily tasks as well as in gaming, but the presence of thermal throttling is an issue that needs to be fixed.
OnePlus Nord 2T Software:
The OnePlus Nord 2T runs on OxygenOS 12.1 with Android 12 out of the box which is good since the OnePlus had been shipping the older OxygenOS 11 on its 2022 smartphones in the past. You get a lot of customizations where you can change the icon shape and size, different wallpapers, animations for fingerprint scanner, and also you get different styles for the Always-On display.
Other features include OnePlus Scout, Shelf, and Work-Life Balance Mode. Since it is Android 12, you get the Privacy Dashboard where you can see which applications are using the camera, microphone, and location, and also depending on the wallpaper, the color applies to some system applications, settings, and quick toggles.
There is no sort of bloatware present which makes the user interface very clean compared to many other user interfaces. In terms of software updates, the OnePlus Nord 2T is assured of another two years of Android OS updates and three years of security updates. Overall, the software experience feels very premium to use.
OnePlus Nord 2T Camera:
The OnePlus Nord 2T sports a similar camera setup as that of the OnePlus Nord 2 which includes a 50MP f/1.9 Sony IMX766 sensor for the main camera, and an 8MP f/2.2 ultrawide camera, and a 2MP f/2.4 macro camera. On the front, there is a 32MP f/2.4 camera.
The images from the main camera come out with a good level of detail and the dynamic range is also good. However, the color looks slightly oversaturated and you do have less noise in the background. Compared to the OnePlus Nord 2, there is no such difference but you do get slightly better sharpness in some images. With the HDR turned on, the images come out with good color saturation.
At night, the details in the images come out slightly softer compared to the OnePlus Nord 2 but still, the dynamic range is excellent and the contrast is also very good. With the dedicated night mode turned on, the images come out with a good level of detail with very less noise in the background. This is one of the very few camera smartphones that perform very well in low-lighting conditions.
The 8MP ultrawide camera does a good job in terms of details that look sharper but at times also look softer. The dynamic range is good but there is a considerable amount of noise in the background. Around the edges, there is a lot of distortion in the images. Similar is the case at night as details come out softer and the dynamic range is just average.
The 2MP depth sensor does a good job in terms of portraits which results in images with good edge detection and details also look good. The skin tones look natural and the dynamic range is also very good. However, the OnePlus Nord 2T lacks a macro camera but you can use the main camera by applying a 2x digital zoom by going closer to an object which results in much better details.
On the front, there is a 32MP camera which results in images with good details, and the dynamic range is very good. The skin tones look natural without any such oversharpening in the background. There is very less noise in the background and in terms of portraits, the skin tones look good but there is some amount of oversharpening in the background. The edge detection is perfect in portrait selfies.
In terms of videos, the main camera can record 4K videos at 30fps and these videos have good dynamic range and details look sharper since there is OIS present, and the noise is very less in the background. The videos come out with a good dynamic range but details look slightly softer on the ultrawide camera. The front camera can record 1080p videos at 30fps and these videos come out with good details and dynamic range.
OnePlus Nord 2T Battery Life:
The OnePlus Nord 2T sports a 4500mAh battery which is a similar sized battery capacity as that of the OnePlus Nord 2. With this battery size, the smartphone can easily last for one single day with heavy usage with the display set to 90Hz and with casual usage that includes streaming social media, browsing web pages, calling, and playing games casually, the smartphone easily lasted for two days and more.
The standard screen-on time was around 6-6.5 hours which is good as that of the OnePlus Nord 2's 6-7 hours of battery life. However, one upgrade you get compared to the OnePlus Nord 2 is in terms of charging speeds as you get an 80W fast charger compared to the 65W fast charger on the OnePlus Nord 2. The smartphone takes around 28 minutes for a full charge from 0 to 100 percent.
However, the difference in charging speeds is not so much.
OnePlus Nord 2T Audio Quality:
The OnePlus Nord 2T sports a dual stereo speaker setup that sounds adequately loud and clear and since there is Dolby Atmos, you get enhanced sound profiles while watching videos, or listening to music. There is no 3.5mm headphone jack though. The only downside is that at the highest volume levels the back of the smartphone does vibrate on the higher side.
Verdict:
The OnePlus Nord 2T feels like a good premium mid-range smartphone as it brings a good premium design, a 90Hz AMOLED display, a powerful Mediatek Dimensity 1300 chipset, good software experience with no bloatware, a good set of cameras, and good battery life with faster-charging speeds.
There are some areas where OnePlus could have improved.
Instead of a 90Hz display, a 120Hz display could have been better, a newer camera setup could have been provided and in terms of thermal throttling, OnePlus needs to fix this issue with software updates.
However, there is not much difference between the OnePlus Nord 2 and the OnePlus Nord 2T.
If you want the slightly powerful chipset and slightly faster-charging speeds, then the OnePlus Nord 2T seems to be a good upgrade but if you do own a OnePlus Nord 2, then there is no sort of upgrade if you are looking for a value for money smartphone that provides everything well, then the OnePlus Nord 2T is worth considering.
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