Verdict
OnePlus has give rise something a second different with the Nord 4 , thanks to a unequalled all - metal build . functioning and battery living are also excellent , though its ordinary photographic camera keeps it from rave reviews .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
call up when smartphones used to be made primarily of tough alloy rather than fragile trash or cheap charge card ? OnePlus does , and has given us the first metal unibody earpiece of the 5 G earned run average in the OnePlus Nord 4 .
What ’s interesting is that this is n’t a cut - edge flagship phone , but rather a mid - ranger . At a start toll of £ 429 , it ’s go principal to direct with theSamsung Galaxy A55 5Gand undersell theGoogle Pixel 8a .
That ’s not all this strikingly built phone has to offer up either , with a Brobdingnagian assault and battery , a premium 1.5 K AMOLED video display , and decent operation also package in . give way such notable challenger , is that enough to warrant a recommendation ? countenance ’s find out .
Design
The biggest talk stop about the OnePlus Nord 4 is its design , which is a novel thing to say about amid - mountain chain smartphone , where scant resources are typically focused elsewhere .
OnePlus claims that this is “ the only alloy unibody 5 gm smartphone on the market ” , and it might just be right . Most of the body is imprint from one continuous piece of aluminium , although there is a small credit card section around the photographic camera module , likely to facilitate those various antennae . Look carefully and you ’ll also see plastic antenna line dotted around the build , and even around the perimeter of the show .
Still , the override sensation here is of unanimous alloy . While I did n’t put it to the test , one suspects that the Nord 4 would be right smart more amenable to minor drop curtain and dinks , though of course , the crank showing will be as vulnerable as ever .
My model is the touch Mercurial Silver one , which really drives home that metallic theme with an inscribed sloping business line complete . It ’s purely a ocular force , and it ’s not one I ’m particularly partial to , but other members of the TR team feel otherwise . There are Obsidian Midnight and Oasis Green alternatives , and unlike Mercurial Silver , they also come in the sleazy 12 GB RAM/256 GB storage contour .
give that OnePlus has actuate out from the OnePlus Nord 3 ’s plastic form , the Nord 4 is heavier than its herald at 199.5 g , but only by a tittle . With a 7.99 millimetre thickness and a 162.6 x 75 mm footprint , it certainly feels substantive , but it ’s not as bulky a phone as the Galaxy A55 overall .
An IP65 dust and pee resistor valuation does n’t match the Pixel 8a and the Galaxy A55 5 gee , which are both on IP67 , but it ’s still jolly enough for a headphone that retails this side of £ 500 .
Screen
OnePlus may have made a spectacular statement with the metal body of the Nord 4 , but it has n’t bury about the clientele remainder of the phone . It sport a 6.74 - inch Fluid AMOLED display with a pin - sharp 1240 x 2772 ( 1.5 kilobyte ) resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate .
It ’s big and sharp , then , but it also gets nice and hopeful , with a tell summit of 2,150 nits . That relates to HDR content , of grade , and Nord 4 confirm the HDR10 + standard . In more general terms , with motorcar - brightness turned off , I measured a top brightness of about 485 nit . That ’s not bad , topping the Galaxy A55 5 thousand but falling well forgetful of the Pixel 8a .
It seems to be well calibrated too , to the item where the nonremittal Vivid color does n’t fare across as totally obnoxious . It ’s still very punchy though , and the more muted Natural and Cinematic fashion bid a more idealistic presentation of everyday depicted object .
The Nord 4 ’s showing bezel are imposingly thin on three of the four sides , for certain in comparability to the Samsung Galaxy A55 5 one thousand and the Pixel 8a . It does n’t pass on Motorola Edge 50 Fusion level , but then that headphone ’s curved edge pose their own issues .
Performance
OnePlus has equipped the Nord 4 with its latest mid - range cow dung , the Snapdragon 7 Plus Gen 3 , along with either 12 or 16 GB of RAM ( here in the UK at least ) .
The troupe was the first to consecrate to using the Snapdragon 7 Plus Gen 3 in the China - only OnePlus Ace 3V when both launched back in March , so it clearly sleep with its path around this chip .
It results in a phone that feels fast and fluid , as all mainline OnePlus Nord gadget have tended to do . The sensation that this is a good modern and open splintering is endorse up by the benchmarks , which scold the Galaxy A55 5 G and are loosely corresponding to the Pixel 8a .
That latter telephone runs on the same chip as its flagship big pal , the Pixel 8 Pro , so this is genuinely impressive stuff .
It ’s also worth taper out that the OnePlus Nord 4 is throng that 1.5 kilobyte display , so it ’s having to push around more pixels than most of its rivals . Despite this , it still performs well with its ‘ on - cover ’ GPU benchmark .
Storage capacity in the UK are a more - than - enough 256 GB ( with 12 GB of RAM ) or 512 GB ( with 16 GB of RAM ) , which is a solid allotment all round . The larger spec number in all three colours , and will be you £ 479 .
Camera
The OnePlus Nord 4 goes with a 50MP f/1.8 Lytia LYT-600 image detector for its main camera . This is a notably small-scale but more modern sensor than that of the Nord 3 .
It ’s also the exact same main sensor that you ’ll find in the OnePlus Nord CE 4 Lite 5 yard , which is a phone that sells for £ 130 less . That ’s a beneficial face for the CE 4 Lite , but not so good for the OnePlus Nord 4 .
None of that will matter if it can turn out first-class stab of course , and in my examination , the results were pretty decent . It ’s not going to be challenging the Pixel 8a for the mid - range photographic camera title , but it puts in a creditable performance notwithstanding .
It notably does n’t perforate colours up like many other phones – including many previous OnePlus phones . It generally address challenging HDR scenarios adequately , balance light and shadow nicely .
However , one or two snaps on a gay day edged towards feel a piddling wash out , while another on a cloudy day underexposed the national . Meanwhile , the main camera struggled with shots of multitude indoors position close to bright natural light source , with the loose streaming in either interpret the subjects pallid or ( where captured ) foul up out exclusively . We ’re definitely not in flagship territory here .
Conversely , indoor solid food shot count particularly sumptuous . It does a reasonable job with 2x hybrid soar jibe too . Detail definitely drops off , but colours see nice and rude , and are obviously a mate for the 1x mode .
Night modality bring about solid shots , which get the brightness and balance rightfulness , even as it renders details a little soft .
There is a consecrate 8MP radical - wide tv camera which , if anything , punches up its colours quite a number more than the primary sensor . Blue skies calculate right smart bluer with this sensor . These ultra - wide shots have a more refined look in cosmopolitan , alongside the obvious drop cloth in particular level , but it does n’t do a bad chore overall .
The 16MP front camera did a pretty good job capturing peel tone and bright colour , rendering reasonably natural shots , though it ’s not too red-hot on rendering knifelike matter .
This being 2024 , you also get a couple of conversant AI shooting functions . AI Best Face ( fix those group shot blinker ) wo n’t be available until afterwards this twelvemonth , but the usual lasso - to - delete - backdrop - ingredient lineament and the ability to auto - detect and hit masses with a tap are in there already .
Software
The Nord 4 run for on Android 14 , with a custom UI bonk as OxygenOS 14.1 . This is n’t the clean and stylish social function it used to be , having essentially become a variant of Oppo ’s functional but rather charmless ColorOS geezerhood ago , and the overall experience is similar to what we see recently on theOppo Reno 12 Pro .
It ’s very fast and fluid though , with traveling bag of customisation potential and nothing in the way of lag or wallow . OnePlus also joins the AI rush with characteristic like AI Summary , which generates simple round - ups of farseeing articles . AI Audio Summary does a similar affair for recorded lectures and meetings .
Bloatware is an takings , but then it is with most non - Google Android phones . you could opt out of the the like of Microsoft 365 , Block Blast , and Weather 24 at set - up , but there are still three rubbish games and a smattering of third - company apps that you do n’t have any say over .
As for home - brewed efforts , Zen Space is notable for allowing you to choke up out distraction when you really need to knuckle down .
OnePlus is promising four major Android raise here , with six years of security updates . That ’s pretty good start for a mid - ranger , and it run low a niggling beyond the Galaxy A55 5 G with an extra year of security update . It still ca n’t match the Pixel 8a ’s seven - year promise , though .
Battery Life
OnePlus has given the Nord 4 a huge 5500mAh bombardment , much like theOnePlus 12Rbefore it . That produce for phenomenal toughness .
Using the Nord 4 as my even phone , I was able-bodied to get through a 16 - hour twenty-four hours of moderate use – about four hours of screen on time – and was still left with about 65 % . It ’s genuinely potential to get two day out of this thing , or a full day of exceedingly intensive usage look on your habit guinea pig .
It also managed to get through an hour of Netflix streaming whilst losing only 4 % of its charge . That ’s an excellent resolution , with the Pixel 8a ( to use one high - profile instance ) losing 7 % in the same project . It only lose 3 % after 30 second of lightsome play .
charge is way more rapid than moderately much any of the Nord 4 ’s rivals , though you ’ll take to supply the OnePlus SUPERVOOC 100W charger yourself . Fortunately I still had the OnePlus 12R ’s to reach , and I recorded a rapid 0 to 100 % meter of exactly 30 instant .
There ’s no wireless charge provision , alas , though that ’s still not a normal feature at this monetary value . You ’ll get it with the Pixel 8a and Pixel 7a , and that ’s about it .
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Should you buy it?
The OnePlus Nord 4 ’s alloy unibody design makes a real statement and will tolerate up to nicks and scrapes best than glass .
The OnePlus Nord 4 lead OK pic , but it ’s not up there with the best in its family .
Final Thoughts
The OnePlus Nord 4 provides that rarest of things : a strikingly original and right-down bounty purpose in a mid - range package . Its metallic element unibody establish makes it tough and classifiable , and if this marks the return of the metallic element unibody , we ’re all in .
It also benefit from a big , bright , sharp AMOLED display , as well as excellent execution thanks to Qualcomm ’s belated Snapdragon 7 Plus Gen 3 . barrage fire life is excellent , and if you could set your hand on the necessary courser , it ’ll juice up extremely promptly too .
The tv camera bent - up is only OK , however , and you’re able to get a good all - round photographic experience for similar money elsewhere . It ’s not quite a lucifer for the Pixel 8a overall , but the OnePlus Nord 4 is right up there as a suitable mid - range alternative .
Trusted Score
How we test
We test every fluid phone we retrospect thoroughly . We apply industry - standard trial to compare features in good order and we expend the speech sound as our main gimmick over the inspection period . We ’ll always recount you what we find and we never , ever , accept money to review a intersection .
Find out more about how we test in ourethics policy .
FAQs
No , you ’ll take to source a SuperVOOC battery charger separately to take advantage of the telephone set ’s dissolute charging capability .
OnePlus has confide to four atomic number 8 upgrades and six yr of security patches .
Test Data
Full Specs
