OnePlus Nord 4 Review: A Mid-Range Marvel with Metal Elegance

Comparos Rating:8/10

With an aluminum unibody design and initial 5G capability, the OnePlus Nord 4 represents a major advancement for OnePlus. Priced reasonably, it seeks to balance cost with excellent features. Following several days of using the OnePlus Nord 4, here is a thorough evaluation including its design, software, performance, cameras, and battery life.

Design: Metal Nostalgia

With its all-metal body—a rarety in today's industry dominated by glass and plastic designs—the OnePlus Nord 4 stands apart. With dimensions of 162.6x75x8mm and weight of 199.5g, it seems significant but reasonable in the hand. Available in Mercurial Silver, Oasis Green, and Obsidian Midnight, the Nord 4's design radiates nostalgia evocative of the HTC One (M8).

On the camera island—which houses the twin rear camera arrangement—the rear panel shows a subdued green hue with a smooth, glass-like texture. Conveniently found on the left side, the tri-state alert slider—a trademark OnePlus function—allows easy toggling between ring, quiet, and vibration modes. The volume and power buttons are found on the right side; antenna lines are orderly arranged along the edges.

At the top edge lies an infrared (IR) transmitter next to a microphone. Along with another microphone, a USB Type-C port, and speaker grille, the bottom edge hosts The phone's resilience is enhanced by including an IP54 grade for dust and splash protection.

Oxygen OS 14.1

Running Oxygen OS 14.1 based on Android 14, the OnePlus Nord 4 offers a flawless and responsive user interface. Features like Lock Screen Magazine—which randomly changes the lock screen image—introduce themselves through the setup process. Although this function can be interesting, its regular adjustments might turn off some people.

Value is added by AI-driven aspects including the automatic summarizing in the Recorder app and the AI Eraser in the Gallery app, which removes undesired elements from images. Still, the included bloatware—apps like Agoda and Bubble Pop—distorts the generally premium vibe.

Matching the industry-leading support given by Samsung in this segment, OnePlus offers four Android OS updates and six years of security patches for the Nord 4.

Performance: Approaches Expectations

With the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 CPU, up to 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM, and up to 512GB of UFS 4.0 storage, the OnePlus Nord 4 easily tackles daily chores and demanding apps. First in the series to provide on-device AI capabilities, the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 improves the phone's performance for AI-driven workloads.

In practical application, the Nord 4 excels. The phone keeps seamless performance without notable heating problems whether editing 4K films, surfing social media, or running graphics-intensive games like Genshin Impact. Although it holds its own in graphics evaluations, benchmark tests show the Nord 4 somewhat behind rivals such as the Realme GT 6T and Poco F6 in CPU performance.

Appropriate for outdoor use and dimming efficiently for night-time viewing, the 6.74-inch Full-HD+ AMOLED screen provides a brilliant and vivid image. By changing brightness and contrast, the ProXDR function improves image seeing; but, it could lead to differences when sharing images online.

Cameras: generally dependable

Along with an 8-megapixel ultra-wide angle camera, the OnePlus Nord 4 boasts a 50-megapixel primary camera with Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) and Electronic Image Stabilization (EIS). The selfie camera has sixteen-megapixels. With a noteworthy 2x in-sensor zoom function, the main camera records thorough and vivid photos in favorable lighting circumstances.

On color accuracy and edge distortion, the ultra-wide angle camera falls short, nevertheless. The main camera performs well in low-light circumstances; unfortunately, the ultra-wide suffers with noise and detail loss. In well-lit conditions the selfie camera is dependable; in low light it is less so.

The main camera supports 4K/60fps, hence video recording skills are strong. Image stabilization is limited to 1080p/60fps, though; neither the ultra-wide nor selfie cameras provide stabilization.

Battery Life: Reliable

A 5,500mAh dual-cell battery powers the OnePlus Nord 4, hence offering strong longevity. On a single charge, the phone runs around a day and a half in daily use, and its screen-on time is very remarkable—roughly six and half hours. Battery drain overnight is quite slight.

The Nord 4 ran eighteen hours and fifteen minutes in the HD video loop test. Without any notable warmth during the process, the integrated 100W SuperVOOC charger recharges the battery in just 33 minutes.

Comparos Says

For under Rs. 30,000, the OnePlus Nord 4 presents a convincing combination. Strong in the mid-range market, its metal style, dependability, great battery life, and four years of Android OS updates set it apart. Though preloaded bloatware and the ultra-wide angle camera are minor negatives, the main camera performs adequately in most settings.

The Realme GT 6T and Poco F6 give consumers looking for substitutes similar performance; the Samsung Galaxy A35 has a similar software support window. For those who enjoy cameras, the somewhat older Google Pixel 7a is also rather good.