Review Summary
Expert Rating
OnePlus is taking a leaf out of its old playbook for the latest Nord 4, and I am all in for this throwback. The new Nord smartphone marks the return of an all-metal body, which the company introduced on the OnePlus 5 (review) in 2017.
As you’d expect, the metal design is much sturdier, and dare I say unique, in a segment where almost all smartphones use a mix of polycarbonate and glass materials. Apart from this, the OnePlus Nord 4 carries a bigger battery, draws power from a new Qualcomm chipset, and offers AI features to keep up with the trend. Do all these upgrades make it worthwhile? Let’s find out.
Table of Contents
Verdict
There’s no doubt the Nord 4 is the most refined Nord smartphone ever, and it may even feel slightly more premium than the OnePlus 12R (review). The new Qualcomm chipset, metal body, and solid battery backup definitely give it an edge. Its camera performance is reliable, though OnePlus may want to add new AI features. The dual-tone finish may raise some eyebrows, and in that case, you can go with the Motorola Edge 50 Pro (review).
Design and display
| OnePlus Nord 4 | Realme GT 6T | Motorola Edge 50 Pro | |
| Thickness | 8mm | 8.6mm | 8.2mm |
| Weight | 199 grams | 191 grams | 186 grams |
| IP Rating | IP65 | IP65 | IP68 |
As I mentioned, the Nord 4 rocks a metal body, and OnePlus has almost nailed it. Despite its sturdy build, the smartphone boasts a slim design and doesn’t feel overwhelmingly heavy. Mind you, this is after adding a much chunkier 5,500mAh battery. It also receives a much-improved IP rating (IP65) for protection against dust and water over OnePlus Nord 3’s IP54 rating. There are phones in the segment with an IP68 rating, but this is a step in the right direction.
However, its dual-tone design can be polarising. I can understand the brand’s design decision to stay edgy, which is at least the case with the Oasis Green colour unit I am reviewing. I like the Mercurial Silver the best as it even complements the metal design. Many users may prefer the Obsidian Midnight variant due to its subtle finish. Maybe OnePlus can explore a white-coloured variant in the future, depending upon Nord 4’s general reception.
Apart from the standard ports and buttons we’re used to seeing on top-tier Nord smartphones, there’s been a new addition. IR Blasters have become common on new OnePlus smartphones since the OnePlus Open (review) launch last year, and there’s one on the Nord 4 as well. I appreciate this addition as I can control almost everything at home (TV, projector, and ACs) directly with the smartphone. There could be some compatibility issues if your home appliances are outdated.
The display experience on the Nord 4 is more or less similar to last year’s Nord 3 with some nifty upgrades. The new model gets ProXDR support with select apps (mainly Photos) for an ultra-HDR viewing experience. There’s Aqua Touch support, which I enjoyed using in all of this year’s OnePlus smartphones. Sadly, the display protection remains sub-standard (Panda Glass), while competitors have started offering Gorilla Glass Victus in the range.
| OnePlus Nord 4 | Realme GT 6T | Motorola Edge 50 Pro | |
| Display size | 6.74-inch AMOLED | 6.78-inch AMOLED | 6.7-inch AMOLED |
| Peak brightness | 2,150 nits | 6,000 nits | 2,000 nits |
Otherwise, the display continues to offer a 2,772 x 1,240-pixel resolution, adaptive refresh rates (up to 120Hz), and the same 93.5 percent screen-to-body-ratio. I don’t mind the same display specifications as long as the viewing experience remains uncompromised, which rarely does. That means all OnePlus devices (Nord and non-Nord series) of 2024 now have an AMOLED panel for a punchier viewing experience.
For our display test, I compared the Nord 4 against Realme GT 6T (review) and Motorola Edge 50 Pro. The Realme GT 6T remains the undisputed leader in the segment for offering the best brightness indoors and outdoors, maybe even a notch better than the iPhone 15 Pro Max and Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. You can check out that display test on our Instagram (and maybe follow if you don’t do that already).
In terms of colour reproduction, I found the Nord 4 to be the best among the two devices. During my tests, which involved playing YouTube videos in full HD resolution, the Nord 4 excelled. It’s worth noting that while there’s HDR playback support, the feature remains unavailable on Netflix at the time of writing.
Cameras
The biggest similarity among this year’s Nord smartphones, and the primary differentiator from the top-end numbered series, lies in the camera. The Nord 4 carries the same camera system as the Nord CE4 (review). While the latter performed adequately in our review, customer expectations in the sub-Rs 35K segment have been sky-high with the introduction of telephoto cameras by Realme. The OnePlus Nord 4’s camera specifications are modest at best.
The back includes a 50MP OIS camera (Sony LYT-600 sensor) and an 8MP ultra-wide camera. The front has a 16MP selfie shooter.
Daylight
The overall camera experience on the OnePlus Nord 4 may feel snappier due to a more powerful processor, but there’s not a substantial difference in the output compared to the Nord CE4. Images in daylight continue to feature a natural finesse with a slight degree of high contrast for a more dramatic approach. Most colours will look natural and close to the actual scene.
I compared the camera performance against the Motorola Edge 50 Pro, and there’s a visible difference in the overall brightness and colour reproduction. For instance, the Edge 50 Pro typically boosts green and blue spots for aesthetic appeal. The same can be achieved on the Nord 4 via the native editing app. It depends on your preference.
Otherwise, both smartphones excel at capturing details while minimising noise levels. The portrait shots also look good, and in my case, the phone has managed to detect the complexion accurately. Facial details are still not the best.
Ultra-wide
You will notice a colour consistency between the primary and ultra-wide cameras in most cases. However, the Nord 4 tends to add a warm layer for outputs with the ultra-wide lens. Details remain decent, if not the best.
The Edge 50 Pro exhibited a similar camera performance as you will notice both images are nearly identical. You can argue Moto turns out to be more versatile as its ultra-wide camera doubles as a macro camera.
Selfie
Selfie shots with portrait mode look much more natural than those taken with the primary camera. A simple point-and-shoot image may appear a little dull, but this is easily fixable by adjusting the brightness. In that case, the Motorola Edge 50 Pro performs relatively better. I compared the same shot with the Realme GT 6T, and the Nord 4 did a significantly better job with edge detection and skin complexion.
Low light
I was mostly pleased with photos in dim conditions, which was also the case with Nord CE4. That’s also because the Nord 4 increases exposure time by default to capture more light. However, in extremely dim conditions, things can get very tricky. Even enabling night mode does not offer a big relief. To be fair, that’s a setback with most smartphones in this range.
You will notice Nord 4 performing relatively better than the Motorola Edge 50 Pro, but the difference isn’t substantial.
Video
Video performance on the Nord 4 is decent and there is support for 4K recording at 30fps. However, stability isn’t always the best and you may notice some jitters. Additionally, the front camera only allows full HD recording at 30fps.
Therefore, upcoming creators may want to increase their budget and probably consider a Realme GT 6T. For serious content creators, iPhones remain the best for video in any segment.
Performance and software
In many ways, the Nord 4 feels more premium than the pricier OnePlus 12R. Its top 256GB variant utilises the faster UFS 4.0 storage type, which we now know isn’t available on the OnePlus 12R. The Nord 4 is also eligible for extra years of software updates. There’s a lot of noise around AI, which wasn’t the case at the launch of the OnePlus 12 series.
The Nord 4 features Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 SoC paired with up to 12GB of LPPDR5x RAM and 256GB of UFS 4.0 storage (priced at Rs 35,999). The base model offers 8GB RAM and 128GB of USF 3.1 storage at Rs 29,999. The variant I am using has 8GB RAM and 256GB storage for Rs 32,999. Therefore, this variant goes up against Realme GT 6T (Rs 32,999) and Motorola Edge 50 Pro (Rs 34,999).
Based on the synthetic benchmarks, the OnePlus Nord 4 attained decent scores in AnTuTu and Geekbench. However, the Realme GT 6T with the same Qualcomm chipset performed better, likely due to OnePlus’ old habit of underclocking the peak performance to avoid heating issues. OnePlus had to be extra mindful of heating because of Nord 4’s metal chassis.
I can safely say that I did not encounter abrupt heating issues during my week-long test. The phone may sometimes feel warm, possibly due to Delhi’s humid weather.
You may feel the extra warmth during intense gaming, though it does not affect the performance substantially. I played BGMI on the Nord 4 and was happy to see an average fps of 55, which was better than what Motorola Edge 50 Pro offered. In fact, the Nord 4 consumed less battery at the end of a 30-minute-long BGMI round. The flat display also ensured a smooth touch experience.
There’s not much to complain about the software experience either, as OnePlus is known for offering a near-stock Android experience with its own added flavour. Some of those additions remain my absolute favourites, including Shelf for a quick glance at some productivity apps and ORelax for a peaceful audio experience. Apart from those, OnePlus is taking a leaf out of OPPO’s playbook and introducing features like Linkboost, AI Note Summary, and AI Audio Summary. The same features are available on the newly launched OPPO Reno12 series, plus some others.
| Pre-loaded apps | OS Updates | |
| OnePlus Nord 4 | 48 | 4 years OS, 6 years security |
| Realme GT 6T | 52 | 3 years OS, 4 years security |
| Motorola Edge 50 Pro | 41 | 3 years OS, 4 years security |
We may see more tools in the coming days following the OxygenOS 15 update. Until then, you can enjoy Gen AI integration via Google’s Gemini app and ChatGPT from the Play Store.
Battery and charging
The Nord 4 is the fourth OnePlus smartphone of 2024, featuring a much bigger 5,500mAh battery. Despite this chunky addition, OnePlus has managed to cap the weight under 200 grams – a remarkable achievement.
Unlike the cheaper Nord smartphones, the Nord 4 uses a dual-cell battery, which attains a full charge in just 23 minutes. Even the battery backup is equally impressive despite using the device with the highest settings enabled (AOD, 120Hz refresh rate, and Vivid display mode). Even in the PCMark battery test, the Nord 4 exhibited a respectable performance.
| Phone | Charging Time (20-100 percent) |
| OnePlus Nord 4 (100W) | 23 minutes |
| Realme GT 6T (120W) | 32 minutes |
| Motorola Edge 50 Pro (125W) | 32 minutes |
Users can easily prolong the battery life by over a day by choosing modest settings.
Final Verdict
OnePlus’s efforts to push the boundaries with design and battery have truly paid off, making the Nord 4 a highly impressive smartphone. It may not be the most powerful device in its segment, but it gets the job done for most users. The cameras are decent, if not the best.
However, I’d still recommend the POCO F6 (review) or the much more affordable Infinix GT 20 Pro (review) for hardcore gamers. Upcoming content creators may also want to look at the Realme GT 6T only if only shooting 4K videos with the front camera matters to you.
But if you want a reliable performing device with an out-of-the-box design, the Nord 4 will surely impress.
Editor’s rating: 8.5 / 10
Reasons to buy
- The Nord 4 boasts a sturdy metal design with an IP65 rating.
- The Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 offers a smooth and reliable performance.
- Super-fast charging support. 5,500mAh battery attains full charge in just 23 minutes.
- OnePlus continues to offer a clean software experience for its high-end smartphones.
Reasons to not buy
- Video recording is average.
- Cameras are not as versatile as there’s no macro mode or telephoto camera.
