Esim oneplus nord. OnePlus Nord N200 5G Review: $300 goes a long way
Smartphone enthusiasts need not apply, everyone else, keep reading
OnePlus is back with another low-cost phone for Canadians called the OnePlus Nord N200 5G.
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There’s a lot to love about this budget phone given that it offers so much for such a low price. However, keep your expectations in check because there’s a pretty noticeable difference between being able to do something, and doing it well.
I’ll also preface this review with the fact that I was unable to get my SIM card working in the phone. I’m with Koodo, and when I put in the SIM card, the 4G logo appears, but then quickly disappears. I can make calls and send texts, but for some reason, data doesn’t work. I’ve been working with OnePlus on a fix, but so far, I haven’t found a solution.
This OnePlus chart shows what bands and carriers this phone works with.
If you know for certain the Nord N200 5G works with your Canadian carrier (see the chart above), this isn’t an issue. Still, it’s definitely something worth keeping in mind if you’re considering this smartphone.
Where the value lives
Out of all the sub 400 phones I’ve used, the Nord N200 is easily the most responsive. It’s not Snapdragon 888-level or even comparable with flagships from 2020, but the day-to-day usability is good. Even when there is a bit of lag, it’s usually brief.
All of this is because the phone features a Snapdragon 480 5G chipset and 4GB of RAM. The 90Hz display also helps make the phone feel smoother than your average 300 handset. A slightly better processor would have helped the Nord N200 feel more modern, but as I said above, its performance is admirable for such a cheap device.
“From Angry Birds 2 to COD: Mobile, the N200 just keeps performing.”
The display measures in with a 1080 x 2400 pixel resolution and a 6.49-inch panel with 406 pixels per inch (ppi). While its screen isn’t as colour-accurate as the OnePlus 9 Pro, for example, I still found it looked pretty good and didn’t have any significant issues with it.
What surprised me the most was the ability to play games without any noticeable lag. From Angry Birds 2 to COD: Mobile, the N200 just keeps performing. It’s weird that the phone would occasionally lag a bit when navigating the home screen or performing other simple tasks, but once it’s in gaming mode, it just works. I’m not suggesting that gamers should all run out and get this phone, but for kids who like to game, it could be a good starter phone.
The Nord N200 5G also includes 18-watt fast charging, a nice feature to have, for sure, but it’s not as much of a selling feature as the ultra-fast 65-watt charging the company includes with its flagships. That being said, the 5,000 mAh battery lasts a really long time, so you can get a day or more between charges in some cases.
6.49-inch Fluid AMOLED 2400 x 1080 pixels, 20:9 aspect ratio, 90Hz refresh rate
6.49-inch LCD, 1080 x 2400 pixels, 20:9 aspect ratio, 90Hz refresh rate
5.81-inch FHD (1080 x 2340) OLED display, 443 ppi, 19.5:9 aspect ratio
13-megapixel (f/2.2 wide) 2-megapixel (macro) 2-megapixel (depth sensor)
64-megapixel (f/1.79) 8-megapixel (f/2.25, 119-degree ultrawide) 2-megapixel (macro) 2-megapixel (monochrome)
12.2-megapixel dual-pixel camera with autofocus, OIS and EIS, f/1.7 aperture, 77-degree FOV
8-megapixel f/2.0 fixed FOCUS 84-degree FOV
Fingerprint sensor (side mounted), accelerometer, gyro, proximity sensor, compass, barometer
Fingerprint (rear-mounted), accelerometre, gyro, electronic compass, ambient light sensor, proximity sensor
Proximity, ambient light, accelerometer, gyrometer, magnetometer, barometer
Colours: Blue Quantum, 18-watt fast charging
Colours: Midnight Ice, dual stereo speakers, MicroSD card slot
6.49-inch Fluid AMOLED 2400 x 1080 pixels, 20:9 aspect ratio, 90Hz refresh rate
6.49-inch LCD, 1080 x 2400 pixels, 20:9 aspect ratio, 90Hz refresh rate
5.81-inch FHD (1080 x 2340) OLED display, 443 ppi, 19.5:9 aspect ratio
13-megapixel (f/2.2 wide) 2-megapixel (macro) 2-megapixel (depth sensor)
64-megapixel (f/1.79) 8-megapixel (f/2.25, 119-degree ultrawide) 2-megapixel (macro) 2-megapixel (monochrome)
12.2-megapixel dual-pixel camera with autofocus, OIS and EIS, f/1.7 aperture, 77-degree FOV
8-megapixel f/2.0 fixed FOCUS 84-degree FOV
Fingerprint sensor (side mounted), accelerometer, gyro, proximity sensor, compass, barometer
Fingerprint (rear-mounted), accelerometre, gyro, electronic compass, ambient light sensor, proximity sensor
Proximity, ambient light, accelerometer, gyrometer, magnetometer, barometer
Colours: Blue Quantum, 18-watt fast charging
Colours: Midnight Ice, dual stereo speakers, MicroSD card slot
It’s also worth noting that the smartphone features a side-mounted fingerprint scanner. This is a first for OnePlus, and it works well here. It’s not as convenient as an in-display reader, but it’s fast, and so far, I find that it opens on the first or second press.
I was also surprised by the quality of the N200’s built-in speakers. They aren’t mind-blowing, but the stereo speakers get decently loud, and they don’t feature much distortion. For those that still care, the N200 has a 3.5mm headphone jack too.
0 can only do so much
While overall the phone works well enough, once you start using the N200 5G, you’ll immediately notice that it’s a lower-end device.
The first hint is that its haptic engine sucks. Haptics are one of the subtle things that people don’t notice if they’re good, but will definitely take note of if they’re bad. With the N200, the haptics are too powerful and make typing feel like the phone is fighting back against your touch. With a 300 phone, I wouldn’t normally point out random stuff like this, but good haptics would go a long way towards making the N200 feel more mid-range and less low-end.
The other give-away that the N200 is lower-end is its plastic design. It definitely looks better than both the N100 or N10 from last year, but it’s undeniably cheap, and the Gorilla Glass 3 on the screen doesn’t feel very glassy. The rear of the device is a little better since it features a nice matte finish, but the Blue Quantum colour is pretty boring compared to the fun blue or the real Nord line.
One thing that you won’t notice right away either is that the phone is only slated for a single major Android update. Since it’s currently running Android 11, the N200 will only ever a single upgrade to Android 12 and won’t get Android 13. OnePlus says the device will still receive three years of security updates, but that’s it.
OnePlus has also opted to remove its trademark mute switch from the N200. I’m sure that OnePlus fans aren’t happy with this, but t seems like a logical corner to cut on a phone priced this low.
Say… cheese
The Nord N200’s camera is another letdown in both quality and speed.
The array features a regular lens, a monochrome lens and a macro lens, but they all snap pictures that look too smooth. Plus, for some reason, the Macro lens doesn’t turn on automatically when you get really close to a subject. Instead, you need to manually enable it, unlike other OnePlus phones.
“The weirdest part about the selfie cam is that there are literal sliders to soften your face, increase the size of your eyes, decrease your nose and make your face thinner overall.”
The first real issue is that sometimes the camera features a bit of shutter lag when you try to take a picture. Sometimes it’s fine, but it’s not fun playing a guessing game of “is my camera going to work or not?” What’s weird about this is the camera will show you a preview of an image that looks fine, but then once you dive into the gallery to inspect it, you’re greeted with a blurry mess.
The phone is also unable to render the HDR image on the display when you’re taking a picture, so often, photos will look slightly different. This doesn’t take away from the experience, but it’s something to be aware of.
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Then, once you actually take the picture, it’s a bit of a crapshoot. Sometimes the colours are really muted and sometimes they’re super vibrant, but most of the time, unless you have 100 percent perfect lighting, the images turn out soft. This means you lose a lot of detail whenever you zoom in or crop a picture.
You can still get decent pictures that feature great colour in daylight if you stay very still, but I wouldn’t bank on being able to zoom in or crop them. You’ll also likely want to have an editing app on hand to fix the camera’s mistakes.
Portrait mode was fine as well, but the FOCUS dropoff wasn’t overly natural-looking, so I wouldn’t expect to snap many great photos with that mode unless you want to take a lot and hope trial and error will work to cut out your hair cleanly.
This all also applies to selfies, but portrait mode selfies feature a weird boost in colour after you take the picture that would have been nice to apply to all the photos the phone takes. Still, the images are mostly undersaturated and too smooth for my liking even though the N200 has a 16-megapixel shooter.
The weirdest part about the selfie cam is that there are literal sliders to soften your face, increase the size of your eyes, decrease your nose and make your face thinner overall. I don’t want to get too into it, but I hate this and I think it’s detrimental to put things like this into a phone since it suggests that you should change your face to make it look better, which is just wrong in 2021.
The one surprisingly good part of the camera is the video function. It’s not amazing by any means, but it does a good job of capturing colour and sound while remaining stable. It’s still pretty soft like the rest of the camera, but out of all the camera features, it disappointed me the least.
Maybe someday OnePlus will bring a good Nord here
If you need a phone and only have 320 I would push you towards the Nord N200 5G since the features phones typically offer at this price point are pretty bleak. However, if you were able to wrangle up a few hundred more dollars, I think most people would be better off with the 475 Pixel 4a.
It’s not that the Nord N200 is an unusable phone (minus my LTE issue) it’s just that it’s very bare bones and OnePlus didn’t really cut the right corners to provide the best phone experience. I’d prefer if the N200 was a bit smaller, cut the zoom/ultrawide lenses and featured a better haptic engine and chipset in the handset instead.
In the end, the Nord N200 features a decent screen and a processor that can run multiple apps at once for 320.- any way you look at it, this is an undeniably great deal, especially if you don’t care that much about photography
It’s not that the Nord N200 is an unusable phone (minus my LTE issue) it’s just that it’s very bare-bones.
OnePlus Nord N30 5G Review
I love portable technology—if you can put it in a or a bag, I’m probably into it. I’ve covered phones and tablets of all shapes and sizes, and reviewed everything from game consoles to laptops in my decade-plus career. Prior to joining PCMag, I wrote articles for Android Authority, How-To Geek, MUO, New Atlas, Tom’s Hardware, and plenty of other tech publications.
The Bottom Line
Anyone in the market for a 300 smartphone should shortlist the OnePlus Nord N30 5G. It packs a fantastic camera, solid real-world performance, and a nice, bright display.
PCMag editors select and review products independently. If you buy through affiliate links, we may earn commissions, which help support our testing.
OnePlus Nord N30 5G Specs
OnePlus launches Android phones for less money than many competitors. The 299 OnePlus Nord N30 5G comes with features you don’t expect to see on a budget phone, such as Rapid charging, a high-resolution camera, and a speedy screen. It’s in a competitive price segment, however, with devices like the Moto G Power 5G (299) and the reduced-price Google Pixel 6a (299), which offer similar features for the price. The Nord N30 5G outperforms Motorola’s latest, though, making it our new Editors’ Choice for 300 phones.
A Striking Visual Experience
The OnePlus Nord N30 smartphone presents a stylish, modern, visually appealing design. Its dimensions are 6.5 by 3.0 by 0.3 inches (HWD), and it weighs 6.88 ounces. The phone is available in a dark Chromatic Gray colorway that doesn’t necessarily stand out but looks classy just the same.
You’ll find a sizable 6.72-inch LCD panel gracing the front. The screen has an aspect ratio of 20:9 and boasts a 2,400-by-1,080-pixel resolution. That makes for a pixel density of 391ppi, which is what we expect from a phone at this price in 2023. The screen has an adaptive 120Hz refresh rate and a 240Hz touch response rate, both of which are above average for 300 phones. Thanks to itds 680 nits peak brightness, I had no issues seeing the screen under all sorts of lighting conditions, including direct sunlight.
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OnePlus opted for a glossy plastic panel for the rear, though it mimics the appearance of glass. The polished finish adds a touch of sophistication, but it attracts dust and fingerprints. The camera module is neatly positioned in the upper-left corner of the device. It includes an unorthodox arrangement of two massive round lenses that stand out visually. There’s also an LED flash that’s plainly visible. The midframe is plastic rather than metal.
Motorola Moto G Power (2022)
Nokia 2780 Flip
Apple iPhone SE (2022)
OnePlus doesn’t offer an official IP rating for dust and waterproofing, so you must be careful with the phone around water.
The power button on the phone’s right edge also serves as a fingerprint scanner. I found it to be more finicky during testing than I prefer; I needed to enter my PIN quite a few times when the scanner failed to read my print. The phone’s left side holds the volume buttons, while the bottom features a 3.5mm headphone jack, a USB-C port, and a speaker. The company’s beloved ringer switch isn’t on the Nord N30, but a combined SIM/microSD tray is located on the left edge.
Respectable Snapdragon Speed
The N30 boasts impressive performance thanks to its Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 5G chip and 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM. This midrange processor delivers a solid user experience, making it suitable for basic multitasking, gaming, and everyday tasks. For storage, OnePlus offers only one model, with 128GB of UFS 2.2 storage. The RAM and storage specs, though, are generations behind what’s current (LPDDR5X and UFS 4.0, respectively), which mostly means they are slower.
In PCMark Work 3.0 benchmark scores, the N30 achieves an impressive score of 10,245. This benchmark evaluates the device’s performance across various work-related tasks, such as web browsing, video editing, and data manipulation. While the score is good, the recent Motorola Moto G Power 5G scored 11,945 on the same test, while the Google Pixel 6a scored a little lower at 9,558.
The OnePlus Nord N30 performs admirably regarding CPU output, as demonstrated by its GeekBench 5 single-core score of 688. For multicore tasks, the Nord N30 achieved a score of 2,044, indicating its good ability to handle resource-intensive applications and deliver smooth multitasking performance. The Moto G Power was in the same range, with scores of 879 and 2,269. The Google Pixel 6a scored a better 1,018 and 2,601 on the same test.
For gaming, there were some slowdowns while playing Genshin Impact, a resource-taxing game, when on the Low graphic settings. It’s playable, but you’ll definitely see frame-rate issues here and there.
While the OnePlus Nord N30 may not match the raw processing power of flagship devices, such as the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra (1,545 and 5,078 in Geekbench), it stands out as a reliable performer within its midrange category. Users can expect the device to handle day-to-day tasks effortlessly, offer a decent gaming experience, and provide smooth multitasking capabilities.
Regarding battery life, the OnePlus Nord N30 is reliable, offering all-day power that can easily keep up with your usage demands. Equipped with a 5,000mAh battery, this affordable smartphone ensures you won’t be left scrambling for a charger.
We tested the battery by streaming a YouTube video over Wi-Fi with the screen brightness set to the maximum. The N30 lasted 11 hours and 18 minutes in this test. For comparison, the Moto G Power outlasted the OnePlus phone with 13 hours and 35 minutes of runtime, while the Pixel 6a lasted 12 hours and 55 minutes. Battery life is one area the Nord N30 could improve upon a little bit.
The OnePlus Nord N30 supports OnePlus’ proprietary fast 50W wired charging, versus the 15W wired charging offered by the Moto G Power, so you can quickly top up your battery when needed. With the included charger, the device can replenish a significant portion of its battery capacity quickly. We filled the battery from empty in 55 minutes, which is great for a battery this large. There’s no wireless charging.
Fantastic 108MP Cameras
One of the standout features of the OnePlus Nord N30 is the camera system. The 108MP, f/1.75 main sensor with electronic image stabilization has a higher resolution than is typically found on budget-friendly devices. (The Motorola Moto G Power 5G has a 50MP main camera.) Last year’s OnePlus N20 featured a 64MP main camera, so this is a big upgrade in the number of pixels.
A 2MP depth camera and a 2MP macro camera support the primary shooter. These aren’t the ultrawide angle and telephoto lenses we prefer to see on modern phones, but they do add to the versatility of the handset in their own way.
Overall, the photos impress. When shooting with the main camera, you almost forget you’re using a 300 phone. The phone bins pictures down by a factor of nine (nona-binning) to 12MP by default, though you can use the Extra HD mode to get full 108MP images if you wish.
As you might expect with an affordable phone, it struggles to capture clear images in unfavorable lighting conditions. However, if there’s at least somewhat decent lighting, you can expect to grab some really nice pictures.
Images taken with the secondary camera don’t look as good. Using the macro camera for extreme close-ups nets soft images.
You can capture 1080p or 720p video at 30fps. For slow motion, the phone supports 720p at 120fps. The videos I captured with the primary camera looked good. The phone cannot capture 4K-resolution video, which the Pixel 6a can do for just a little more money.
A 16MP selfie camera adorns the front. It takes decent enough photos but won’t impress you as much as the results from that high-resolution rear camera.
Establishing the Connection
The phone doesn’t compromise on connectivity, offering impressive 5G capabilities that set it apart from its competitors. It doesn’t support mmWave 5G spectrum but does include the critical C-Band spectrum of US carriers for good speeds.
In our rigorous speed tests, the OnePlus Nord N30 5G demonstrated its ability to harness the power of T-Mobile’s 5G network. In an area with strong T-Mobile 5G Ultra Capacity service, the OnePlus Nord reached download speeds of 762Mbps and upload speeds of 106Mbps. By comparison, the Moto G Power attained 702Mbps down and 98Mbps up. In an area at the edge of T-Mobile’s 5G coverage (without 5G UC), the Nord N30 hit 2.2Mbps down and 0.9Mbps up. The G Power notched speeds of 1.2Mbps down and 0.5Mbps up in the same spot.
We ran similar tests to ensure the phone’s Wi-Fi was up to snuff. First, we placed the Nord N30 and Moto G Power in the same room as our Wi-Fi 6E router (though the phone only supports up to Wi-Fi 5) to see if there was a difference in performance. There wasn’t, with each phone offering speeds of about 600Mbps down and 175Mbps up. The devices also performed similarly at the edge of the router’s range, with the OnePlus getting 10Mbps down and 2Mbps up. Motorola’s budget phone offered 11Mbps down and 2Mbps up in the same spot.
Call quality is nothing short of impressive. Even in a relatively loud room, I could hear the person on the other end clearly, and they could hear me, too. The volume is also quite good, with the earpiece peaking at 78.3dB and the speaker at 93.1dB. This is about what I expect for phones in this price range.
I tested the phone’s stereo speaker quality by listening to “Silent Shout” by The Knife. The phone offered acceptable volume levels and minimal distortion, even during our bass-heavy test track. It wasn’t as crisp and clear as more expensive phones like the Pixel 7a or the Galaxy S23, but it still sounded good.
Finally, OnePlus included the relatively dated Bluetooth 5.1 standard, which works well enough but doesn’t offer the latest range and speed benefits of Bluetooth 5.3. The phone also has NFC on board for mobile payments.
Breathing in OxygenOS
Compared with other Android skins, I’ve always been a big fan of OxygenOS. Unfortunately, it’s become more cluttered and less like stock Android in recent years. However, it’s still one of the better manufacturer overlays, and OxygenOS 13.1 (based on Android 13) found on the Nord N30 5G is solid overall.
OnePlus will offer a single Android version upgrade to the N30 and three years of security updates, which is standard for most phones in this price range. It can’t hang with the Pixel 6a’s three Android versions and five years of security updates. If longevity is your main concern, you’ll want to examine Samsung’s offerings, but if you’re okay with only jumping to Android 14, you’ll be well-served by the Nord N30.
OxygenOS feels good on this handset. It deviates from the stock Android on Google’s Pixel phones, but it’s still aesthetically pleasing and easy to use (and closer to stock than Samsung’s phones). OnePlus includes minimal extra apps out-of-the-box, so you don’t have to waste time deleting stuff to get the phone up and running.
Wearing the 300 Crown
The OnePlus Nord N30 is a great phone for the price. The company doesn’t disappoint budget-conscious shoppers with its latest entry. Between the solid performance, respectable battery life, and capable 108MP camera, you end up with a phone that takes the throne as our Editors’ Choice in the 300 price range. If software updates and camera performace are paramount to you, however, the Pixel 6a is an incredible value.
