Verdict
An challenging mix of old and Modern , the OnePlus Nord CE 4 Lite has some obvious strengths , but an already - aging chipset and short - sighted software system support hold it back from being an affordable mid - range recommendation worth holding onto .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
OnePlus ’ Nord crease slot neatly into the mid - reach segment , this year manifesting as three tiers of twist ; the most small of which is the OnePlus Nord CE 4 Lite . Mouthful of a name away , the CE 4 Lite aims to deliver as much from the more agiotage Nord CE 4 while keep toll down .
This sub-£300/€330 earpiece place its focus on video display and battery , contain within a acuate pattern and skylark new package tricks within the recent release of the company ’s OxygenOS user experience .
Design
compare to last year ’s modelling , the Nord CE 4 Lite sport a uninfected , more squared design that I think look more contemporaneous and bounty ; not least because of the move away from monotone colours to a reflective ending on its back that recreate with luminosity in interesting way . India gets the most bombastic ‘ Ultra Orange ’ finish , but in the remainder of the world , the Mega Blue and Super Silver ( pictured ) colourways are n’t half tough either .
The plastic human body feels sturdy in the hand , but the sheeny finish on all but the skeletal system is an absolute incubus for pick up smudges and air hole lint ; so unless you opt for a sheath , bear to forever be down it if you like your phone presentable at all times . There ’s also no three - phase physical alerting slider here , render the excogitation a little less original compare to some of OnePlus ’ higher - end offerings ( including theOnePlus Nord 4 ) .
Even with a larger battery than its forerunner , the 4 Lite is both fractionally thinner ( 8.1 mm vs 8.3 mm ) and lighter ( 191 Gram vs 195 gramme ) , meaning it ’s comfortable enough to use for extended periods .
The trickle - down benefits of this Nord generation signify this is the first Lite to tote IP - certify protection against dust and piddle entry , also found on the Nord CE 4 . A rating of IP54 is behind what you ’d find on thebest smartphonesout there but it ’s a nice addition that only ups the durability agent , compare to late model .
Screen
One of the biggest rise between generations has to be the Nord CE 4 Lite ’s display . The most detectable change is the welcome switch from an IPS LCD panel to OLED tech , meaning better demarcation with deeper blacks , more vivacious coloring and the potential for enceinte tycoon efficiency ; specially if you like dark mode or an AoD ( Always - on showing ) .
The phone in reality uses the same Samsung E4 AMOLED technical school found on theOnePlus 11 , which also concede it significantly better brightness end product liken to the Nord CE 3 Lite ’s blind . It now top out at 2,100nits ( versus 680nits ) , assure better - looking streamed content and gaming , while an overall luminousness betterment ( 1,200nits ) mean it ’s much easy to see outdoors too , even on a cheery day .
The British Summer was also kind enough to contribute a handwriting in testing out another trickle - down benefit from OnePlus ’ more premium late offerings : Aqua Touch .
An algorithm helps figure out which touch inputs are coming from the substance abuser , and which are mistakenly coming from urine droplets ( like rain ) , press out the jittering and mistouches you might have encountered with wet touch screen in the past . In practice , it work passably well and I was able to follow YouTube without the playhead skipping about the station , while typos when message were only ever relegate to my fat fingers .
I was less enthused by the pre - fitted screen protector , if only because – like the sound ’s back – it draw fingerprints and slur unmercifully . The shift from a capacitive to an in - showing fingerprint detector voice cool , but it ’s too low down on the display and a touch slow by comparison too .
The silver screen also still outputs at up to 120Hz for skillful tranquil , reactive UI interaction , but it only step between 60Hz and 120Hz when set to ‘ auto ’ , meaning weaker superpower optimization than panels on more premium gadget .
Performance
One major surprise that raised an supercilium at the Nord CE 4 Lite ’s reveal is OnePlus ’ choice of processor . It runs on the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 get hold in both the CE 3 Lite and the CE 2 Lite before it ; a 6 millimicron chipset that was originally inclose back in 2021 – that ’s ancient in mobile chipset years .
Despite the scrap ’s age and underwhelming benchmark mark , however , the combine effect of OnePlus ’ software optimisations and that snappy 120Hz video display think the CE 4 Lite feels fine – nice even – to expend in solar day - to - twenty-four hours position .
Do I care app load metre were shorter ? Sure . Do games default to the downcast ocular setting and frame rate by nonpayment ? dead . Out of the box , though , this Nord delivers a perfectly acceptable user experience for its miserable mid - range standing , at least for the clock time being .
8 GB of constitutional RAM can be supplemented by the system let you change state up to 8 GB of the phone ’s UFS 2.2 storage into additional virtual RAM , which is handy when it come to multitasking and tailor down those app lading fourth dimension , even if neither memory nor storage are the fastest around these days .
One performative acclivity that the CE 4 Lite ’s marketing stuff lie with to shout about ( OnePlus ’ website literally highlight this detail in ALL CAPS ) is its ‘ 300 % Ultra Volume Mode ’ ( up from 200 % on the CE 3 Lite ) . When you turn the intensity up to full , pressing ‘ up ’ on the rocker an additional clip sends the phone ’s speakers into overdrive .
At 100 % volume , the CE 4 Lite does a amazingly astral line of work of offering enough clarity and point without overrefinement to beat out the superb ( but also four prison term more expensive)Sony Xperia 1 VI – a earphone known for its fantabulous stereo speakers – in terms of tawdriness .
With 300 % musical mode engaged , while the headphone is undeniably louder still , any semblance of sound quality crumples ; highs peak at a sharp boo , mids persist mostly intact , while the loudness also highlights the talker ’s unfitness to render basso pure tone effectively , purely as a result of natural philosophy .
Camera
A coup d’oeil at the phone ’s back and you ’d be forgive for assuming the Nord CE 4 Lite shoot with a main and an ultra - wide photographic camera , however , that 2MP lower-ranking sensor is strictly there to support the elementary tv camera with depth data ; meaning you ’re really only shooting with a single rear Chrysophrys auratus here .
OnePlus has trade the 108MP primary camera on the CE 3 Lite for a little 50MP sensor this generation ; the same young Sony LYT-600 module find on the Nord CE 4 ; one tier up in the serial . While a pocket-size sensor with fewer pixels and only a 2x lossless sensor crop ( versus 3x antecedently ) sounds like a fairly damning downgrade on paper , there ’s one big difference that works in favour of this Modern Lite Nord : OIS .
While pixel bin and electronic image stabilisation ( EIS ) worked well enough on last year ’s Lite in most conditions , grim igniter shooting was easily its feeble attribute and the OIS system here goes some way to pull out back images shoot in dingy lighting from useless to usable . It can help with inactive television shot too , however , when walking or in bumpy circumstance , most of the time the stabilization is too jerky against the footage to be effective .
Elsewhere , it ’s a more familiar shot experience , with decent - looking imagery , provided you do n’t pixel - peep too closely(fine contingent does n’t make up well to examination , becoming a little muddy up nigh ) , while post - processing perhaps working a small too hard to tidy up up scene and boost colours in a lot of berth .
High contrast or more murkily - lit scenarios do highlight the sensor ’s modified dynamic range and colour capture , while portrait mode is perhaps a little too heavy handed ; specially when macro nip come with a pleasing enough natural depth fall - off anyway . Speaking of macro , if it was n’t already evident , the near - useless dedicated macro sensor from the last Lite has been proscribe , but I do n’t miss it and neither will you .
Noticeable shutter meantime and video still top out at 1080p at 30fps are likely both symptom of the CE 4 Lite ’s utilisation of that old Snapdragon chipset , as other telephone set around this cost can manage higher resolve and fast frame - rate capture .
Software
While I favour my Android user experiences closer to store – as give up by the likes of Google ’s Pixels , Sony ’s Xperias and Motorola ’s sound – OxygenOS is one of the more appealing heavy Android - establish experience out there , and the Nord 4 CE Lite keep a mess from the company ’s high-pitched - conclusion software system offering .
While you do n’t get the full ‘ Trinity locomotive engine ’ experience of OnePlus ’ more exchange premium gadget , a portion of the technology – RAMVita and ROMVita – are on hand to keep both store and storage in as ship - a - shape as potential , behind the scene .
OxygenOS also grants plenty of customisation over its look and sense , offers utile multitasking puppet and shortcuts – even direct from the fingermark detector on the lock screen door – and swash an additional profoundness of ascendence over thing like scheduled power profiles and ‘ The Shelf ’ , an iOS Control Centre - like home for your widgets .
For all there is to enjoy within OxygenOS as it come along on the Nord CE 4 Lite , there are a few thing holding the experience here back . For one , if you ’re looking to snap up a phone that rides the latest wave of AI - powered functionality , beyond AI Smart Cutout and target remotion within the OnePlus Photos app , you wo n’t see much else beyond Android ’s aboriginal intelligent features , as supplied by Google .
Second , the 4 Lite ’s more low-priced standing means the user experience comes with a little out - of - box bloat ; not the company ’s own apps ( although there are some that replicate Google ’s aboriginal offerings ) , but the like of Booking.com and some ad - riddled pre - loaded games . gratefully , they can be uninstalled .
The most egregious issue of the mint , however , is the sound ’s lacklustre software commitment . OnePlus was pushing the envelope at the upper destruction of its portfolio before Google and Samsung ball up the door off the industriousness with a walloping seven - year hope of both OS and security update across their mid - range and insurance premium gadget , and yet the Nord CE 4 Lite comes with the promise of only two years of osmium updates and three years of security .
I ’d now consider this below industry standard , even in the mid - range distance and it ’s one of the prosperous things OnePlus still has time to change to give more low-priced offering like the 4 Lite more life out of landfill .
Battery Life
This 2024 Nord line is the first propagation to promote retiring 5,000mAh and in the case of the CE 4 Lite , that takes the soma of a capacious 5,110mAh cell ( essay in this inspection ) , unless you ’re in likes of India , where EU regulations ca n’t reach ; meaning users there get an ever larger 5,500mAh battery inside their Nords .
Discrepancy aside , this is one of the phone ’s biggest marketing points . Paired with the relatively modest hardware at work , I was frantic to see just how much life I could get out of the phone , and for certain enough , that large mobile phone delivers .
In testing , the CE 4 Lite dish out up an impressive 10.5 hours of screen - on time on a single explosive charge , confidently making it a two - day phone ; even with extended gaming and cyclosis in that time . As an example , an hour of Netflix and 30 minutes of light gaming – both at 50 % brightness – sapped 5 % and 3 % of rush , respectively . That ’s up there with some of the best in the business right now , include the said Xperia , iPhone 15 Plusand theiPhone 15 Pro Max .
As for charge , the Nord CE 3 Lite was fast ( at up to 67W ) but the 4 CE Lite is quick , clear out at 80W when pair off with a compatible SuperVOOC charger . Outside of India , OnePlus does n’t embark this Nord with a baron transcriber in - box ( although the admit red USB cable does put up peak charge speeds ) , so you ’ll have to fork out extra if you do n’t already have one .
I tested the phone with the OnePlus 11 ’s 100W SuperVOOC power adapter and as promised , the phone refilled completely in approximately 50 minute , with a 50 % rush look at only 23 minute . If this were a more premium gadget with twofold - cell battery architecture , then that 80W acme would belike replenish the headphone even quicker .
OnePlus has also rated the battery for 1,600 cycles before lose 20 % of its original charge content , so longevity should n’t perceptibly diminish over the average lifetime of the phone . 5W reverse wired charging is on the table too and if you do n’t have a SuperVOOC battery charger but do have a modern PD - stock charger , you ’ll still be able to get up 55W into the Lite , which is still fast than the latest iPhones , Galaxys and Pixels .
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Should you buy it?
You need an low-priced organic light-emitting diode display - lug speech sound with a unclouded exploiter experience and great battery lifetime .
You want a mid - ranger with AI smarting , camera versatility or a right farsighted - condition software promise from its Lord .
Final Thoughts
It ’s absolved to see where OnePlus pulled back on the Nord 4 and Nord CE 4 to answer up the OnePlus Nord CE 4 Lite .
The fact that the exploiter experience remains mostly unchanged from the company ’s more premium phones , the electric switch to an OLED filmdom and the bully battery life are all welcome inclusions for this entering , but this does in truth feel like the last generation of Lite able to get out with using that ageing Snapdragon 695 processor , and the software program hope is n’t particularly environmentally friendly ; both of which detract from the overall software system .
The same amount of money could rather buy you even more challenging mid - rangers , like thePoco X6 Pro(£279 on Amazon at the time of written material ) , with twice the storage and an additional year ’s support on both the bone and security fronts . Not to bring up more premium gimmick that have had clock time to strike in cost , such as theGoogle Pixel 8aand even theiPhone 13 .
Trusted Score
How we test
We test every fluid phone we critique thoroughly . We use industry - received tests to equate feature of speech properly and we use the telephone set as our chief gimmick over the review period . We ’ll always say you what we determine and we never , ever , take money to review a ware .
retrieve out more about how we test in ourethics insurance .
FAQs
Unless you pick up the Indian modelling , no .
The model prove in this reexamination was shipped in a retail box without a face . The bearing of an included case will vary by area or you may grease one’s palms one directly from OnePlus .
Yes , up to 2 TB via microSD card .
Yes , but the 2nd SIM occupied the hybrid microSD slot , meaning you ca n’t flourish storage at the same time as running two SIMs .
Test Data
Full Specs
