OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G reviewStrong contender in Rs 20,000 price segment

By Sneha SahaOnePlus is back in the game and how. The company’s recently launched flagship OnePlus 11 is everything consumers would want from their smartphone. As I also mentioned in the full review of the OnePlus 11, it is one of the most complete smartphones available in India right now. It offers a solid design and performance, long-lasting battery life coupled with the decent camera performance. Now, the newly launched affordable OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite is also built on the same principle – offering the best at the best price.

OnePlus unveiled two new products in India today – the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G and the OnePlus Nord Buds 2. In this review, I am going to talk about the new Nord phone that succeeds last year’s OnePlus Nord CE 2 Lite, as the name also suggests. On paper, the OnePlus Nord 3 CE Lite looks impressive with a 120hz screen refresh rate, 108-megapixel primary rear camera, 67W SuperVOOC fast charging support, 8GB RAM support, and so on. But the question now is – is the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite worth the price tag? Is it the best phone under Rs 20,000 in India right? Should OnePlus Nord CE 2 Lite users upgrade or wait for the Nord CE 4 Lite? I have been using the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G for the last 10 days now and will answer all these questions in this review, but first, the price.

OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite price in India

It is good to see that despite offering top-notch features, OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite has been launched at the same price as its predecessor.

OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite comes in two variants

–8GB LPDDR4x RAM plus 128GB UFS 2.2 storage model comes at Rs 19,999.

–8GB LPDDR4x RAM plus 256GB UFS 2.2 storage model comes at Rs 21,999.

Now, if you are a power user, the good news is that the Nord CE 3 Lite comes with support for 8GB virtual RAM. This simply means, if the 8GB LPDDR4x RAM isn’t enough, you can expand the memory further.

OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G design and build

There are rarely any design innovations in the under Rs 20,000 price segment and the same goes for the Nord CE 3 Lite. In fact, if you remove the OnePlus logo from the back panel, the phone looks a lot like some of the recently launched Realme phones, but there’s no problem with that. Now, since there are not many design innovations in this one, OnePlus has played around with the colours to give it a different look. The smartphone comes in two colour options — Pastel Lime and Chromatic (greyish). I have been using the lime colour option and, honestly, it looks quite refreshing. So, if you like vibrant colour phones, the lime one should be your choice. However, if you like your phone to be subtle, the grey one should work for you.

While the Nord CE 3 Lite doesn’t offer an innovative design, it sure looks a lot different from its predecessor – Nord CE 2 Lite – which launched last year. So, that’s a good thing. The new Nord phone offers a large form factor but isn’t uncomfortably big. But it also isn’t too compact. So, you may not have any problems using the phone all day long, but it may struggle to fit in your jeans pocket entirely.

The phone includes two large camera modules that include the primary 108-megapixel sensor, while the second one equips two 2-megapixel sensors and these are paired with an LED flash. I would suggest using the phone with a cover since the rear panel tends to register fingerprints very easily. On the front, the phone includes a centre-placed hole punch display with slim bezels on three sides and a slightly thick chin, but not so much that the viewing experience is interrupted. While OnePlus offers minimalistic design on both sides, I liked the boxy design on the sides, which to me looks inspired by the latest iPhone models. On the right, it includes the fingerprint sensor that also doubles as a screen lock button. The fingerprint sensor and even the Face ID unlock the phone quite fast. Now at the bottom, the phone includes dual stereo speakers that are quite loud and offer crisp sound quality.

Personally, I would have liked it if the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite offered a glass back (asking too much for the price? Maybe). The phone offers a polycarbonate build, which also helps OnePlus cut down on weight. It is an extremely lightweight phone, which makes it easy for the user to use the phone easily. To be specific, the phone weighs 195 grams. The glass body would have given a premium touch to the phone, which isn’t the case right now.

OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G display

OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite offers a large display with a higher screen refresh rate, but I miss the AMOLED panel, which is usually offered in this price segment. As far as specifications are concerned, the new Nord phone has a flat 6.72-inch LCD display with a 120 Hz screen refresh rate protected with Asahi Dragontrail Star Glass on top instead of Corning Gorilla Glass. You can switch between the standard 60 Hz and high 120 Hz refresh rate from the Settings menu. By default, the 120 Hz option is turned on.

I would have personally liked an AMOLED panel instead of an LCD panel but the latter isn’t that bad either. The Nord CE 3 Lite screen gets adequately bright at just 20-30 per cent brightness in indoors. On a cloudy day, the brightness level of around 70 per cent worked for me, while when the sun was too harsh, the full brightness level (100 per cent) helped. Overall, the Nord CE 3 Lite gets adequately bright in almost all situations, regardless of lighting.

The viewing angle is also pretty good, but I would have liked it if OnePlus had opted for an AMOLED panel instead of an LCD. Regardless, the Nord CE 3 Lite offers a good viewing experience, and the visuals look crisp, but the colours look dull sometimes. An AMOLED panel would have helped in this situation, especially while watching 4K content.

OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G camera

The Nord CE 3 Lite is a big upgrade (on paper) when compared to its predecessor. Specifications firstthe smartphone includes three cameras on the rear panel – a 108-megapixel primary Samsung HM6 sensor coupled with a 2-megapixel depth sensor and a 2-megapixel macro lens. On the front, the phone includes a 16-megapixel camera that clicks selfies and video calls. The camera specs look pretty solid for the price.

As for the performance, the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite clicks pretty decent pictures, but I believe that it can do much better. I hope OnePlus improves the camera performance through future software updates. Well, not that it is bad right now, but being a OnePlus phone it can get a little better, I believe. Overall, after using the phone for about 10 days, I believe, for a regular user, the Nord CE 3 Lite’s camera does a fairly decent job but a professional photographer should go for a smartphone at a slightly higher price point.

In good light, the phone manages to click good-looking shots but details are often missed, especially when zoomed in. The colours, though, look pretty accurate and Instagram-worthy. I faced focusing issues in various situations, including in good light. In simple words, I had to take my time to adjust the focus and click a well-detailed shot. The phone manages to click decent low-light photos, and wherever the light is too less, the Night model helps.

The portrait shots clicked with the Nord phone also look decent but the edges do not appear too sharp or distinct. So, I hope OnePlus improves that bit in future software updates. But overall, the bokeh shots look good when the background is properly blurred out. The good thing is, the camera app allows users to adjust the background blur before clicking the photo. The macro camera could have been better, in my opinion. The phone struggles to click detailed macro shots in most scenarios but the colours kind of look accurate.

The front camera performance is also pretty decent. In good light, the selfies clicked with the Nord CE 3 Lite 5G look good with a good amount of details, but in most situations, my skin tone looked one shade lighter. This is even after disabling the beauty mode. Portrait selfies also look good with the background properly blurred out, but the edges don’t seem as distinct as I expected.

Overall, the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G offers a decent camera performance. However, I do hope the company takes note of the flaws and upgrades the performance through future software updates. But I must also give it to OnePlus for offering a 108-megapixel camera at this price point, which is rare to find.

OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G performance

OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 5G chipset coupled with up to 8GB LPDDR4x RAM and 256GB UFS 2.2 storage. Additionally, there’s 8GB virtual RAM support as well. Overall, there are no complaints from OnePlus in this department.

I used the phone for about 10 days for all basic tasks. From browsing the social media platform, switching from one app to another, playing games, sending emails and everything else, the Nord CE 3 Lite 5G could handle all of it really well. The phone handles multitasking pretty well. At one point, I had around 14 windows open in Chrome, apps like Netflix, Gmail, Asphalt 9, YouTube and some more were running in the background and still the Nord CE 3 Lite didn’t seem laggy at any point in time. However, I must mention that you do not expect OnePlus 11-like performance from Nord CE 3 Lite. The phone does a good job for the price it comes for.

Another good thing is, the phone was able to run games like Asphalt 9 really well, and a phone price almost similar – the iQOO Z7 5G – struggled. What is even better is that even after playing the racing game for 30 minutes straight, the phone didn’t heat up.

On the software front, the Nord CE 3 Lite runs on OxygenOS 13.1 based on Android 13. Unlike most phones in this price range, the new OnePlus Nord phone offers a fairly clear user interface. There are some third-party apps, but you can get rid of them easily. What is great is that the software is quite easy to use and even first-time OnePlus users will find it easy to get used to the UI. The company claims to offer 2 major updates of OxygenOS and 3 years of security updates on the Nord CE 3 Lite.

OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G battery

The smartphone lasts for one full day easily. The icing on the cake is the fast-charging support. As for the specifications, the Nord CE 3 Lite 5G is backed by a 5000mAh battery with support for 67W SUPERVOOC charging. In the box, OnePlus offers an 80W charger. I used the phone rigorously to do my everyday tasks, but even then the phone lasted easily for one full day. Now, as for the charging, the proprietary charger took around 25 minutes to reach 75 per cent from 9 per cent and the phone was full in charge in about 40 minutes. That’s quite impressive.

OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G reviewshould you buy?

The OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G is a fairly good phone that serves the basic needs of consumers looking for a phone under Rs 20,000. The smartphone looks decent and is superbly lightweight, offers good overall performance (including outstanding speakers) and long-lasting battery life and also clicks decent pictures. However, I believe the camera can be improved further through future software updates. Overall, the Nord CE 3 Lite for a starting price of Rs 19,999 is a good deal with just a few areas where it can improve.

So, if you are looking to upgrade your old Android phone and have a budget of Rs 20,000, the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite can be considered. However, Nord CE 2 Lite users can wait for the next generation model in the series.