OnePlus launched the OnePlus Nord CE4 Lite smartphone in India today. The successor to last year’s Nord CE4 Lite retains the same SoC, gets an AMOLED screen, a new 50MP camera, bigger battery and faster charging, while retaining the same price. Is this worth the price? Let us dive into the review and find out.
| Box Contents |
| Camera |
| Battery Life |
| Conclusion |
Box Contents
- OnePlus Nord CE4 Lite 5G (8GB+256GB) in Super Silver colour
- 80W SUPERVOOC charger
- USB Type-C Cable
- Protective case
- SIM ejector
- Quick Start Guide and Warranty Information
Display, Hardware and Design
The OnePlus Nord CE 4 5G sports a 6.67-inch (1080 x 2400 pixels) Full HD+ curved AMOLED display with 120Hz refresh rate. The display is bright since it has up to 2100 nits peak brightness. It offers good colour, and the sunlight legibility is good as well. You can select from vivid, and Natural screen colour modes.
There is Aqua Touch that uses HyperTouch algorithm for even smoother touch experience even when the hands are wet.
The phone has a tiny punch-hole that houses a 16-megapixel camera. Above the display, there is an earpiece on the top edge that doubles up as a secondary speaker. It has an in-display fingerprint scanner.
Coming to button placements, the power button is present on the right along with volume rockers. The Dual SIM slot with a hybrid SIM slot is present on the left. The 3.5mm audio jack, primary microphone, USB Type-C port and the loudspeaker grill are present on the bottom. The secondary microphone and vent for speaker are present on the bottom. It has a plastic frame.
The Super Silver colour that we have has a mirror-like metallic gradient transitions along the sides, creating fluid angles and captivating diffuse reflections, according to the company. It also comes in Mega Blue colour that is eye-catching and unique, drawing inspiration from the legendary video game icon, Mega Man. There is also India-exclusive Ultra Orange colour that has a pinkish metallic hue.
Even though the plastic back looks glossy, the fingerprints are not noticeable. With a 5500mAh battery, it still weighs 191 grams.
Camera
- 50MP rear camera with 1/1.95″ Sony LYT-600 sensor, f/1.8 aperture, OIS
- 2MP depth sensor with f/2.4 aperture, LED flash
- 16MP front-facing camera with f/2.4 aperture
The camera UI in the OxygenOS 14 is familiar. There is Pro mode, Panorama, Slo-mo, Time-Lapse, Dual-View video, and text scanner. The rear camera offers 12.5MP output after pixel binning, and the front camera images are 16MP in size.
Daylight shots came out well, thanks to the 50MP sensor, and the dynamic range is better with auto HDR. 2X is good, but as you zoom in you lose details even though you get up to 20X zoom. The portrait mode offers a good edge detection, thanks to the 2MP depth sensor.
The colors are natural, but I felt the IMX890 did a slightly better job in the low light. The night mode is useful, but it takes a few seconds to process. There is also a tripod mode. The 16MP front camera also does a decent job in daylight, but doesn’t do much in low light. The bokeh shots are good, and the edge detection is decent.
Check out the camera samples.
It can record videos in up to 1080p 30 fps with front and rear cameras, with is a restriction to the SoC. There is OIS and EIS which does decent job, but there is no dedicated ultra-steady mode.
Software, UI and Apps
It runs Android 14 based OxygenOS 14 out of the box. It has Android security patch for May 2024. The phone will get 2 Android updates and 3 years of security updates, similar to older CE series phones.
OxygenOS 14 has several features. The Smart Cutout feature is also able to accurately recognize and extract the subject from complex backgrounds, or background that shares a similar color scheme with the subject, or in group photos.
Apart from the usual set of OnePlus apps and Google apps, it comes with several pre-loaded apps such as Facebook, Netflix, Agoda, LinkedIn, Bubble Pop, Word Connect, Tile Match, Myntra, and Microsoft 365. These apps can be uninstalled, but come back once the phone is reset.
Out of 8GB LPDD4X RAM, you get 7.3GB of usable RAM, and about 3GB of RAM is free when default apps are running in the background. It also has DRE or dynamic RAM expansion feature, which uses the built-in storage as RAM. This has up to 8GB of additional RAM expansion. Out of 256GB UFS 2.2 storage, you get about 223.3GB of free storage.
Fingerprint sensor and Face unlock
It has an in-display fingerprint sensor that unlocks the phone quickly, but it is not as fast as a physical fingerprint sensor. You can add up to 5 fingerprints. You can also use the fingerprint for app local and payments in apps.
Furthermore, you can change the fingerprint animation and also disable it, and also enable quick launch option to launch apps directly from the lock screen by holding the fingerprint. The phone also has face unlock feature.
Music and Multimedia
YouTube Music is the default Music Player. It has OReality audio and has customizable Smart, Movie, Game and Music modes, but doesn’t have Dolby Atmos. It doesn’t have FM Radio support. Audio through the stereo speakers is good without any distortion even in full volume. Audio through earphones with 3.5mm audio jack is good as well.
This has Widevine L1, so that you can play HD content on Netflix and other streaming apps. DRM Info apps shows that it has HDR, but HDR doesn’t work on YouTube or Netflix.
Dual SIM and Connectivity
The OnePlus Nord CE4 Lite has support for n1/3/5/8/28A/40/41/77/78 Network Bands in India. It has 4G Wi-Fi and VoLTE, with support for Carrier Aggregation on 4G. Other connectivity options include Wi-Fi 5 802.11 ac (2.4GHz + 5GHz), Bluetooth 5.1, GPS / GLONASS / Beidou. It has OTG support, but lacks NFC support. Moving on, the call quality is good, and we did not face any call drops and the earpiece volume was loud. It uses Google dialer and messages.
The OnePlus Nord CE4 Lite’s body SAR is 0.891W/Kg and head SAR is at 1.174/Kg, which is well under the limit of 1.6 W/kg (over 1 g) in India.
Performance and Benchmarks
The phone is powered by the Snapragon 695 6nm SoC, same as the Nord CE2 Lite and CE3 Lite. It has 2.2 x A78 CPUs clocked at up to 2.2GHz, 6x A55 CPUs clocked at up to 1.8GHz. It has Adreno 618 GPU that promises up to 30% GPU performance increase compared to the predecessor. The phone has up to 8GB LPDDR4X RAM.
It can’t handle graphic-intensive games in full graphics. It reached up to 41°C indoors with Wi-Fi, with about half an hour of intensive gaming.
In 3D Mark wild life stress test, it scored 99.2% which is good. The temperature increased from 29 to 33 degrees, which is not much since the chip is not powerful. That said, check out some synthetic benchmark scores below.
Battery life
Coming to the battery life, the phone packs a 5500mAh (typical) battery, which is slightly bigger than the 5000mAh battery in the CE3 Lite. It can easily last for a day with heavy use and for 2 days with typical use.
I got over 6 and half hours of screen on time with 2 days of use, mostly on Wi-Fi, and occasional 5G use in 120Hz. Since the phone has support for 80W SuperVOOC fast charging, it can charge from up to 100% in less than an hour. There are smart charging, option to stop charging at 80%.
Conclusion
At a starting price of Rs. 19,999, the OnePlus Nord CE4 Lite 5G is a decent upgrade to the CE3 Lite. The phone gets a better AMOLED screen, the camera is good enough, and the phone gets a huge battery bump with support for 100W fast charging. Wish the company had offered a faster SoC and an ultra-wide camera.
Pricing and availability
The OnePlus Nord CE4 Lite is priced at Rs. 19,999 for the 8GB + 128GB model and the 8GB + 256GB model costs Rs. 22,999. It will be available from Amazon.in, OnePlus India website, OnePlus Experience Stores and authorized stores starting from June 27th.
Alternatives
The iQOO Z9 is a direct competition that offers better performance for the same price. If you spend more, there is also Nothing Phone 2a with a better camera and SoC.
Pros
- 120Hz AMOLED display is good
- Decent main camera
- Eye-catching design, IP54 ratings
- Excellent battery life, 100W fast charging
Cons
- No ultra-wide camera
- Same old Snapdragon 695 SoC
- A lot of preloaded apps