OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite launched in India: 4 reasons to buy the phone (and 2 reasons not to buy)

OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite launched in India recently as a successor to the Nord CE 2 Lite from last year. The handset is on sale in the country via Amazon and the OnePlus website and has some pretty exciting launch offers, along with a pair of free Nord CE buds for a limited time. The phone is touted to be a perfect mid-ranger, especially for those looking to buy a phone under Rs 20,000. The Nord CE 3 Lite ships with an IPS LCD display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 SoC with 5G network support, and OxygenOS custom skin out of the box. The design of the phone is quite impressive with dual circular rings on the back and a boxy design. 

The OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite is priced at Rs 19,999 for the base model and Rs 21,999 for the 8GB/256GB version. The handset comes in Pastel Lime and Chromatic Gray colour options. Before you jump and purchase the phone, here are the top four reasons to buy the device and also reasons to skip buying the phone, based on our review.

4 reasons to buy the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite

Good design: As said, the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite has a unique design, especially thanks to the Pastel Lime colour option. The biggest visual change over the predecessor is the two large circular cutouts on the back to house triple camera sensors. The phone has a boxy design with rounded edges for a comfortable in-hand feel. The back panel is still plastic and can get scratched easily.

The Nord CE 3 Lite has retained a 3.5mm headphone jack but there is no alert slider. The phone measures 8.3mm in thickness and weighs 195 grams.

Clean UI: The OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite runs on Android 13-based on OxygenOS 13.1 custom skin out of the box. The UI is clean with no bloatware and pesky advertisements. The OxygenOS is moving closer to OPPO’s ColorOS and it might not be a bad thing. In comparison, similarly priced Redmi or Realme phones throw ads or come with pre-loaded bloatware applications that hamper the user experience.

Decent battery life: The OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite packs a 5000mAh battery with 67W fast charging support. The charging speed can take the battery from 0 – 100 percent in about 45 minutes, which is impressive. The battery life is also pretty decent with about 6 hours of screen-on-time with the 5G network enabled.

Capable stereo speakers: The OnePlus Nord CE 3 has stereo speakers and this is a big advantage. The sound gets pretty loud and also clear at the same time. This is a particularly positive aspect for those who consume a lot of media through the phone.

2 reasons not to buy the Nord CE 3 Lite

Cameras could have been better: The OnePlus Nord CE 3 features a 108MP primary camera and dual 2MP sensors. On paper, the 108MP camera seemingly looks like a big deal but the output results are not very promising. The daylight images are quite decent but there is scope for HDR improvement. The high-exposure areas apparently are just white on many occasions. The colour output is slightly muted. 

The lack of an ultra-wide-angle lens is disappointing. Instead, we get regular macro and depth sensors. The close-up macro shots are not very impressive and the edge detection on the depth sensor is not very efficient. 

LCD display: In the age of bright AMOLED screens, all we get is the LCD screen on the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite. However, the refresh rate is still at 120Hz. The screen is not very bright at just 680nits although the viewing angles are decent. There is Widevine L1 support for HD streaming as well but there is some backlight bleeding issue going on.