OnePlus Nord 3
The new kid on the block
Ever the spec-conscious brand, OnePlus is pushing up to 16GB RAM, a 5000mAh battery, and a lot more into the Nord 3.
OnePlus Nord 2T
Tried and true
Quite simply one of the best phones you can get in this price range, it performs like a flagship model, at a fraction of the cost.
The recently announcedOnePlus Nord 3and theOnePlus Nord 2Tare cut from the same cloth, but there are specific differences that make the Nord 3 super appealing, least of which is that it goes on sale this month.
The Nord 3 has an improved display, revamped internals and what’s sure to be better battery life, make it hard to beat when compared to the Nord 2T. However, if you’re looking for a phone that’ll do its job, do it well, and save you money in the process, the Nord 2T is worth a long look as well. Don’t take our word for it, though. Here’s a breakdown of what each phone has to offer.
Price, availability and specs
We’re still waiting to fully see where the OnePlus Nord 3 winds up, but the preorder page in Ireland is live right now, while for the US and UK it says it is coming soon. It’s currently priced at€499.00 in Ireland, marked down from €549.00 as a preorder promotion until July 31. That full €549 cost is expected to be full price for the Nord 3 with 16GB of memory and 256GB of storage once it launches.
The OnePlus Nord 2T, however, is available on Amazon, even in the US, and is currently priced at $389, or around£330 if you buy it via Amazon UK.
Design and build
The OnePlus Nord 3 carries a similar design to what we saw with the OnePlus Nord 2T. It has a physical alert slider (huzzah!), a volume rocker on the left side of the housing, with a power key on the right side (next to said slider). The OnePlus Nord 3 is roughly the same size as the Nord 2T, too. The former measures 162.6 x 75.1 x 8.1mm, while the latter measures 159.1 x 73.2 x 8.2mm so the OnePlus Nord 3 is slightly bigger but only very slightly. The weight of the two phones is nearly the same too, with the Nord 3 weighing 193.5g, while the Nord 2T weighs in at 190g.
It definitely feels as if OnePlus tweaked a few things about the Nord 2T’s design, called it good enough and then focused the rest of its work on internal optimisation. As far as color options go, with the OnePlus Nord 3, you’ll get to pick between Misty Green or Tempest Gray colour options. The Nord 2T has colour options in the form of Gray Shadow and Jade Fog.
The only major obvious design change involves the rear camera array. On the OnePlus Nord 2T, there’s a bump on the back of the phone where the camera lenses are housed. However, on the Nord 3, that design element doesn’t exist. Instead, the entire back of the phone appears to be a level surface, save for the camera lenses themselves.
On paper, the most notable difference between the Nord 3 and Nord 2T is the display, with the Nord 3 receiving what we’d consider a significant upgrade in display quality. The OnePlus Nord 2T has a 6.43-inch AMOLED display, with a resolution of 2400 x 1080 pixels, with amax refresh rate of 90Hzand is HDR10+ certified.
The OnePlus Nord 3, however, boasts a 6.74-inch Super Fluid AMOLED display with a resolution of 2772 x 1240, a 40Hz to 120Hz dynamic refresh rate, a touch response rate of 1000Hz, and 10-bit color depth, in addition toHDR10+ support.
Not only does the increase in overall resolution help improve the display performance, but the variable refresh rate will equate to a smoother scrolling and gaming experience across the board. Not to say the Nord 2T’s display is bad, but if given the choice, the Nord 3’s display is the one we’d go with.
Hardware and software
The OnePlus Nord 2T is respectably equipped with a MediaTek Dimensity 1300 processor, 8GB or 12GB of memory and 128GB or 256GB of storage. You’ll also get a 4500 mAh battery that supports OnePlus' 80W Supervooc charging feature. There’s a USB-C 2.0 port on the bottom of the phone for charging and data transfer.
The OnePlus Nord 3 gets the MediaTek Dimensity 9000 processor, 8GB or 16GB of memory and the same 128GB/256GB storage options. The Dimensity 9000 offers some performance improvements, but where you should see the biggest change is when it comes to battery life.
Admittedly, that’s in part due to the slightly larger 5000mAh battery that also supports the same 80W fast charging. It’s the first Nord device with 16GB of memory, which should go a long way in helping with multitasking and gaming.
As for software, both the Nord 2T and Nord 3 will runAndroid 13, both of which are based on Oxygen OS 13. However, the Nord 3 will come with OxygenOS 13.1, adding new features and capabilities that the Nord 2T has yet to receive.
Furthermore, OnePlus has stated that the Nord 3 will receive three OS updates and four years of security updates. The OnePlus 2T will stop receiving major updates after its second OS update.
The OnePlus Nord 3 has dual rear-facing cameras. The main camera is a 50-megapixel shooter with OIS support, and a focal length equivalent of 24mm. The ultra-wide camera on the Nord 3 is 8MP, with a 112-degree field of view. It also boasts a macro shooting mode at 2-megapixels. The front-facing camera of the Nord 3 is 16-megapixels.
The OnePlus Nord 2T has a similar camera setup, with the main camera coming in at 50-megapixels as well, but with an older, less capable sensor. The ultra-wide camera is 8-megapixels, with a 120-degree field of view. There’s also a monochrome camera that measures 2-megapixels. The front-facing camera is 32-megapixels.
While the core specifications look similar, there are some key differences between the two phones and their respective camera arrangements. For example, The Nord 3’s zoom range goes from 0.6x to 20x, while the Nord 2T offers 0.6x to 10x zoom.
And then there’s the monochrome camera on the Nord 2T that’s been replaced by a macro camera on the Nord 3. Which one you’ll find more useful comes to personal taste, but we have to imagine that the macro camera will be the clear winner here. Anyone can take a photo and apply a monochrome filter to it after the fact, but getting up close and personal with your photo subject isn’t something all phones can do. In this case, the Nord 2T.
It’s hard to know exactly what to expect until we actually have a Nord 3 in our hands of course, and we’re able to confirm the camera experience is vastly improved as we hope it will be.
Which one is right for you?
OnePlus upped its game with the Nord 3, bringing some higher-end specs down to a mid-range phone. The Nord 3 should offer solid performance, long battery life and have a camera experience to match. In addition to the fact that it’ll have four years of major OS updates, it’s for those reasons we’re going to recommend it over the Nord 2T.
Ever the spec-conscious brand, OnePlus is pushing up to 16GB of RAM, a 5000mAh battery, and a whole lot more into the Nord 3.
For those who don’t want to wait for the Nord 3 to start shipping, or you simply want to save a bit of money and don’t mind using a phone with some older hardware, the OnePlus Nord 2T is a worthy alternative.
