I’ve been trying out the OnePlus Nord 4, the new offering from the Asian brand OnePlus to gain a foothold in the competitive mid-range mobile sector. I was surprised to discover first-hand what you can get for 500 euros these days when you go to buy a new phone.
This year, OnePlus wants to once again cover the two most lucrative segments of the mobile phone market: the high-end, with the titan OnePlus 12, and the mid-range, with several models including this OnePlus Nord 4 that I have been testing over the last few days.
It is a mobile phone aimed at a demanding public who, as well as wanting good features, are looking for a reasonable quality/price ratio when buying their next handset.
A design that would be a shame to hide under a case
I’m also one of those people who always carry their mobile phone with a case, but I have to tell you one thing: I would hate to wear the OnePlus Nord 4 with protection, it would be a shame to hide such a beautifully finished design for a device of this price.
It is a lightweight handset, comfortable to use with one hand and, above all, with a high-quality metal construction (aluminum) that visually gives it several advantages over other alternative handsets in the same price range.
I can’t ignore its thickness, at just 7.99 millimeters, it’s a super-thin device that it’s hard to believe is capable of housing these features inside (and the cameras don’t protrude too much either, I’ve seen worse).
The fingerprint reader is integrated into the screen, it works very well on a day-to-day basis and I haven’t had to enter my PIN manually as soon as the reader had calibrated itself enough to recognize my finger the first time. It also has facial recognition.
Unlike the OnePlus Nord CE4 Lite 5G, this model does not have a microSD card slot, so you will have to choose carefully when deciding between the 256 or 512 GB versions of internal storage (these are the ones on sale in Spain).
In addition, you will see that on the left side it retains the now legendary Alert Slider that allows you to set the phone to vibrate, sound or silence with a simple movement.
A good screen, nothing more
I don’t have anything bad to say about the OnePlus Nord 4’s screen, it’s just that it seems like just another screen (in a good way, I mean) in the huge range of phones available in this price bracket.
It offers good image quality when it comes to consuming YouTube, Instagram and TikTok videos, and I can also confirm that it looks good outdoors.
It has a 6.74-inch Super Fluid AMOLED panel with 1.5k resolution, a maximum brightness of 2,150 nits and is compatible with Ultra HDR technology.
The front of the phone is very well used, you’ll see that there are practically no borders and the selfie camera is discreetly integrated in the center of the top of the panel.
What I didn’t like so much was the sound, I think the speaker (despite being dual stereo) distorts the audio when you turn up the volume, so it’s not a phone I would recommend for someone who is going to spend a lot of time listening to multimedia content directly from their phone.
The Snapdragon 7 Plus Gen 3 processor from 2024 competes strongly with the design section in terms of what is the best thing about this mobile h222222222
If at the beginning I spoke highly of the design of the OnePlus Nord 4, now I also have to say the same about its performance.
What a delight of fluidity in everyday life. I have been using it daily to consume videos on YouTube and TikTok; the latest on X (Twitter); as well as other everyday tasks, and there has not been a single moment when I have noticed that it is lacking power somewhere.
It is clear that it is not a device that comes here to stand up to a Nubia Redmagic 9 Pro or an Asus Zenfone 11 Ultra in terms of raw power in gaming, but it does very well in everyday use.
OxygenOS 14, OnePlus’ customization layer based on Android 14, is far from a clean bloatware experience: I came across a good handful of pre-installed apps as standard.
Most interestingly, OnePlus guarantees six years of security updates and four years of Android updates, so you’ll have a phone for a while.
An all-terrain camera that isn’t afraid of the night
The photographic equipment of this mobile, in case you don’t have it to hand, consists of the following sensors:
50-megapixel main camera
8-megapixel wide-angle camera
16-megapixel front camera
Mid-range mobiles, even if they have a good camera, rarely stand out both day and night. Well, with the Nord 4, this is the case.
Starting with night photography, the camera performs outstandingly, with absolutely sharp images and not the slightest trace of noise.
You’ll get two days of battery life without needing to plug in.
With its 5,500 mAh battery, the OnePlus Nord 4 moves into the category of phones that can easily operate for two days straight without needing to be plugged in.
I had a hard time draining the battery during the day, and in the end I ended up plugging in the charger at night many nights just out of habit, not because I needed to.
As is now common in the mobile phone market, only the cable comes in the box, but not the charger. The brand’s most powerful charger, the OnePlus SUPERVOOC 100 W, is sold separately and costs 59.99 euros.
Given that the charger did not come in the box, I cannot verify the accuracy of the 28 minutes that the manufacturer says it takes to charge this device to 100% with the SUPERVOOC adapter.
Verdict: is the OnePlus Nord 4 worth buying?
The OnePlus Nord 4 is the balanced purchase for all those who are only clear about two things: they don’t want to spend more than 500 euros on their next mobile phone, and they’re not looking for anything in particular other than having the phone with the best possible quality/price ratio within this price range.
It is not the best in terms of performance, nor is it the best in terms of the camera (although it sets the bar very high), and you will surely find an alternative that is better in terms of the screen or the charging options (it does not have wireless charging), but what is difficult is to find an alternative as balanced as this one.
I would only recommend looking for other alternatives if, within the same price range, you have an absolute preference for phones that excel in very specific areas. For example, a phone that is very focused on raw power (like the POCO F6 Pro) or a phone with totally clean software with more years of updates ahead (like the Google Pixel 8a).
