HOLDING THE GATE: OnePlus Nord CE

A few compromises here and a few upgrades there, and OnePlus has managed to fit the Nord into a comfortable slot

OnePlus is back with another Nord device, but this time, the company has stripped off a few nonessential features from the more expensive variant to give shape to the Nord CE, or Core Edition. The device now sits comfortably in a range that is expected to see a lot more of action in the coming months.

The Nord CE has a minimalist design with a polycarbonate back instead of glass in the original Nord. The phone features the usual three buttons for power, volume up and volume down. A 3.5mm headphone jack is provided. The device is available in Silver Ray, Blue Void and Charcoal Ink colours.

The CE offers a negligibly smaller version of the 2400 x 1080-pixel Fluid AMOLED display used in the original Nord. The display offers the same 90 Hz refresh rate and supports sRGB and Display P3. It provides extensive customisation options including Dark Mode, Reading Mode and Ambient Display. The Nord CE 5G runs on OxygenOS based on Android 11. The device offers the familiar in-display fingerprint sensor along with face unlock. The interface felt smooth and the UI appeared clean without any bloatware to bug you.