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Just like the name of the phone suggests, the Nord CE Lite range is the ‘lightest’ line of One Plus’ non-flagship smartphone series, ‘Nord’. Characterised by its lightweight build, mediocre camera, and quick-on-its-feet processor, the Nord CE 3 Lite is a good contender for the entry-level 5G smartphone segment. The CE Lite series of the Nord range of smartphones has gotten extremely popular in recent times especially due to the fact that they are really affordable.
In this review, I will be sharing my long-term review of the One Plus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G smartphone. In the last 6 months, the smartphone has been my constant companion going to all the places I’ve been to, be it the office, a launch event, a conference or a staycation.
The review will be divided into three essential categories, i.e, design, experience and, of course, performance.
Highlights
- Large display (6.72-inch FHD+ display)
- 80 per cent charge in 30 minutes
- Responsive touch
- Snapdragon
Let-downs
- Camera
- No IP rating
- No AMOLED display
Design and Build Quality
The one thing that I really appreciated about this product is that it did not try to do anything out of the box. At first, I wasn’t even able to differentiate between this and the CE 2 Lite. The phone has an IPS LCD display and 680 nits of peak brightness. The 6.72-inch screen comes with corning Gorilla glass protection as well.
The clean boxy design of the Nord CE 3 Lite comes with a plastic back but for some reason, it does not look ‘plasticky’. One Plus has done a great job making the device look premium. The buttons on the side of the phone (volume and power button) are standard except that the power button has a fingerprint sensor, something I have disliked dearly.
On the left side of the device is a SIM tray and a microSD card slot. Volume buttons are located here as well. A prominent design element in this phone is the camera module. The lens enclosures are so huge that at first, one could mistake this for a high-end device. The phone also has visibly thick bezels too.
One major standout feature in this phone is the 3.5mm audio port. This is a huge bonus for audiophiles. The phone also has type-c support which is standard in all Android phones today. I never truly understood why the 3.5mm audio port was done away with. Nonetheless, it was refreshing to find it on the phone. Speaking of audio, the CE 3 Lite has stereo speakers that are not that bad, to be honest.
Performance
Camera
I want to address the camera in the beginning. The camera is perhaps the only letdown of this device. Given the price point, there isn’t much that can be done about it but a little quality would have really made this phone a bang for the buck.
The 108-megapixel primary camera uses Sony’s ISOCELL HM6 sensor. Photographs are not at all up to the mark. Low-light photography, however, did give me a little hope.
Daylight photography is average. Vibrant colours and sharp images kept my hope for the camera alive but after multiple photographs, the camera showed its drawbacks. Optical image stabilisation (OIS) is lacking so, no running while filming. The 3X Lossless Zoom is a gimmick and utterly disappointing. The missing OIS is also felt while taking low-light photos. Low light photography in this is a hit-and-miss. Shots look great but they do miss detailing. Macro photos are decent.
The 16-megapixel selfie camera is a let-down. The portrait mode feature is a gimmick as it doesn’t take photos as you’d want it to. Lastly, the videos were disappointing as well. My team and I went to interview Jayen Mehta, MD, Amul, and I took the Nord CE 3 Lite in the hopes of using it as a secondary camera for candid videos. This was the biggest mistake of that trip. Video quality is nowhere where I’d expected it to be.
Battery
The Nord CE 3 Lite’s battery really amazed me. Equipped with a 67W SuperVOOC charger, the phone charges to 100 per cent in a jiffy. As compared to CE 2 Lite’s 33W charging, CE 3 Lite’s 67W charging is a huge overhaul. Apart from the charging experience, the 5,000 mAh battery itself is a behemoth.
The charger, however, says 80W. This is part of One Plus’ Endurance Edition. The brand claims that the phone will retain 80 per cent of its battery after four years. The technology behind One Plus’ Nord CE 3 Lite is what amazes me. It takes about 30 minutes for the phone to reach about 80 per cent charge. After this point, the phone trickle charges, meaning that it takes it sweet time (about 30 more minutes) to reach a full 100 per cent. This takes the total time needed for 100 per cent to an hour.
Display
The One Plus Nord CE 3 Lite comes with an IPS LCD panel offering an FHD+ display and a 120Hz refresh rate. Just in case if you’re wondering, no, the display is not as contrasty as the AMOLED displays seen on the CE 3 Lite’s competitors.
The touch screen is extremely responsive which leads to accidental touches at times. An AMOLED screen would have been great and really made the phone a top contender at its price range. The 6.72-inch display offers a great viewing experience, be it movies or a YouTube video. No HDR support, though.
There is no screen bleed and no discolouration. Would an AMOLED display have been a better choice? Of course. But, it is what it is. One Plus decided to skip the AMOLED display and go for FHD+ instead. In simpler terms, the use of an LCD display instead of an AMOLED one means that the blacks are less deeper and the colours are less vibrant. HDR content is not supported. However, not all is lost. The 20:9 aspect ratio and the 2400 x 1080 resolution along with its 120Hz refresh rate make it a great device to watch content.
Audio
They gave us a 3.5mm audio port! In an era where brands are shoving type-C ports down customers’ throats, One Plus decided to stick to practicality for the CE 3 Lite. The phone also has stereo speakers that offer more than decent sound output, be it for gaming, movies or YouTube.
Connectivity
Connectivity is one of the cornerstones to a great smartphone experience and One Plus is not blind to this fact. The phone offers WiFi6 and Bluetooth v5.1. It is NFC-enabled as well. No radio, though.
Gaming
Despite belonging to the entry-level 5G smartphone segment, the One Plus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G is a good phone as far as performance is concerned. The phone’s Snapdragon 695 processor along with its 8GB RAM kicks in and offers a seamless gaming experience. Even gaming while app-to-app hopping, streaming app running in the background and web browsing with multiple active tabs is not an issue.
CPU
I cannot emphasise enough how impressive the Snapdragon 695 is. The CPU scored 899 and 2,063 points in Geekbench 6’s single-core and multi-core assessments, respectively. AnTuTu, on the other hand, gave the phone 412,150 points. For reference, the iQoo Z7 5G has a score of 4,36,524 points.
Experience: OS and UI
In terms of the operating system, the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G runs an Android 13-based Oxygen OS 13.1. This Android OS sticks to its promise of a fluid and smooth user experience. There has been no stutter or lag since I’ve been using this device. Daily apps like WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, , LinkedIn, Twitter and Reddit run surprisingly smoothly. Heavy apps/games like Genshin Impact and BGMI did take a little toll on the phone’s processor and GPU. After over 60 minutes of constant gaming, the phone did heat up.
One Plus’ OxygenOS is as usual fun to use. It allows for a lot of personalisation. I could opt for different colour palettes for the UI by taking an image as a reference. Furthermore, fonts, icons and themes, all are customisable.
Staple OxygenOS features such as Zen Mode are there. Whether you have any use for them is up to you.
The RAM management in the CE 3 Lite is great. Applications start off exactly where leave without refreshing. However, if you run heavy apps, the chances of apps reloading upon re-opening other apps is high.
Overall, the phone is great to use. Not one moment went by when using it felt like I was using an affordable entry-level smartphone. Another thing that stood out for me was the weight. The phone is really light (195 grams). Although I prefer heavy phones, the fact that this phone was light came in handy multiple times.
OnePlus has also guaranteed two major Android updates as well as security patches for three years for the Nord CE 3 Lite 5G. Out of all the Android features, this one really hit the spot. No one wants to buy a phone that’ll get obsolete after a year.
The user experience was as amazing as expected from a One Plus device Is it perfect, though? Not even close. There are a lot of things that could have been better like the display, the build quality and most importantly, the camera. However, given the price and the segment it is competing in, there isn’t much room for complaints. Overall, this is a solid 6 out of 10.
