OnePlus Nord 2T 5G hands-on review

Software

The Nord 2T 5G ships with the latest OxygenOS 12.1 running on top of Android 12. The software is identical to that on the Nord 2 5G, which also recently received its Android 12 update.

OxygenOS 12.1 is a known quantity at this point, having reviewed it in the past on devices such as the OnePlus 10 Pro, Nord CE 2 Lite, and the 10R. It is, for all intents and purposes, ColorOS 12 with a different theme and should be familiar to anyone who's coming from an Oppo or Realme device. On the other hand, it's going to seem quite different to those switching from an older OnePlus device, such as the original OnePlus Nord.

OxygenOS 12.1

The launcher is from ColorOS and lets you customize things like the icon shape and size, while also allowing third-party icons. You can also customize the wallpaper and since this is Android 12 the OS will automatically adjust its color scheme for certain apps based on the wallpaper.

The app drawer isn't particularly customizable. It only allows having four icons wide grid with no support for folders. OnePlus also got rid of the Hidden Space feature for placing unwanted icons on a separate screen. Also, the app drawer puts icons that start with numbers at the bottom of the alphabetical list instead of the top as on every other Android phone.

Customization

The settings app has been reconfigured compared to older versions of OxygenOS, so it may take a while to find some things. Options like being able to customize the navigation buttons to assign different functions when you press and hold or double-tap have also been removed. It feels more basic compared to the richer customizability of older OxygenOS versions.

Some of the other features have stuck around, such as the Shelf, which is where you can place your widgets and icons that can now be accessed from anywhere by swiping down on the top right of the screen, Zen Mode, which prevents you from using the phone for a set period of time, Work Life Balance, which lets you set different time slots and apps, which will only provide notifications during that period, and Quick launch, which lets you quickly launch a set of apps from the fingerprint sensor without lifting your finger after you unlock the phone.

Settings

OxygenOS 12.1 also brings a Themes store, where users can download wallpapers, fonts, and entire themes. There are both free as well as premium options with an option to try premium content before purchasing it. You have to make a OnePlus account if you want to download anything, including free content.

The phone does not come with a lot of bloatware. Most of the pre-installed apps actually came from just Google, with Netflix and Spotify being the only third-party apps. Most of these can be uninstalled easily although there are some annoyances in the form of duplicate apps from Google that do the same things as apps from OnePlus, such as the Files and Photos apps.

Themes

In terms of software updates, OnePlus has promised two years of OS updates and three years of security updates for the Nord 2T 5G. Considering the phone ships with Android 12, you can look forward to Android 13 and Android 14 in the future. Having said that, Nord phones typically have a delayed update cycle compared to the mainline OnePlus phones, so you are looking at several months of delay before getting the hot new Android update.

The overall software experience on the Nord 2T 5G was decent. We didn't come across any major bugs or design issues during our testing and the software as a whole was stable. We still don't think much of this ColorOS update masquerading as OxygenOS but OnePlus has promised major revisions and a return to form with the upcoming OxygenOS 13 update.

Performance

The Nord 2T 5G runs on the new MediaTek Dimensity 1300 chipset. Our review unit had 12GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage, which are the highest available options.

Before we started our testing, we had a hard time figuring out what the differences were between the new Dimensity 1300 and last year's Dimensity 1200 found on the Nord 2 5G. Looking at the spec sheet, the two SoC have identical configurations for their CPU and GPU, down to the clock speed.

In fact, the only difference we found is the presence of a suite of features MediaTek has dubbed HyperEngine 5.0, which includes things like AI-based variable rate shading for 3D rendering, smart resource optimization for CPU and GPU to improve efficiency, frame rate smoother, Hybrid AI-GPU Super Resolution for image upscaling, raytracing SDK, and networking improvements. All of these are aimed primarily at improving gaming performance but in a way that we cannot easily measure.

As a result of this, the Nord 2T 5G performs identical to the Nord 2 5G, as the primary CPU, GPU, memory, and storage elements are identical on both devices. We had to rerun the benchmarks on the Nord 2 5G to confirm our findings and the two phones were indeed within test variance.

We also noticed an anomaly with our finding, where the Nord 2T 5G was posting a lower single-core Geekbench 5 score than what the Nord 2 5G back in our original review last year. Rerunning the test on the Nord 2 5G with the latest OxygenOS 12.1 update produced the same low score on the older device, meaning it has been downgraded since its initial release.

This anomaly was only noticed in standard mode and in performance mode, both phones worked as expected. Also, it was only noticed in the single-core result in Geekbench 5 and all other tests, including the Geekbench 5 multi-score run were in-line with what we expected from this chip. It's possible this is due to a bug but we can't be sure at present.

Outside of benchmarks, the Nord 2T 5G performs well for its price category. Apps open reasonably quickly and the scrolling performance is good. The device overall feels responsive and pleasant to use.

In terms of gaming performance, the Nord 2T 5G is able to do quite well. Testing in titles such as Apex Legends, the phone was able to power through at 60fps for the most part, even at higher visual settings. The phone does get a bit warm in hotter climates but never gets uncomfortable to hold. Unfortunately, as mentioned before, most of the games are limited to running at 60fps, as only a handful of titles are whitelisted for running at 90Hz.

The overall performance of the Nord 2T 5G is good but we can't help but feel that it could have been better after nearly a full year since the Nord 2 5G release. We are not sure who to blame here, MediaTek for producing such an underwhelming processor or OnePlus for incorporating it.

GeekBench 5 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Poco F4
  3190
• Realme GT Neo 3T
  3180
• iQOO Neo 6
  3076
• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  2801
• OnePlus Nord 2
  2792
• Realme 9 5G Speed Edition
  2753
• OnePlus Nord 2T 5G
  2694
• Poco X3 Pro
  2574
• Realme 9 Pro+
  2335
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G (India)
  2063
• Poco X4 Pro 5G
  2063
• Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
  1891

GeekBench 5 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Realme GT Neo 3T
  1023
• iQOO Neo 6
  984
• Poco F4
  975
• OnePlus Nord 2
  814
• Realme 9 Pro+
  814
• Realme 9 5G Speed Edition
  795
• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  771
• Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
  743
• Poco X3 Pro
  735
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G (India)
  688
• Poco X4 Pro 5G
  687
• OnePlus Nord 2T 5G
  493

AnTuTu 9

Higher is better

• iQOO Neo 6
  730223
• Realme GT Neo 3T
  726007
• Poco F4
  698586
• OnePlus Nord 2T 5G
  619610
• OnePlus Nord 2
  598022
• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  506432
• Realme 9 Pro+
  416031
• Poco X4 Pro 5G
  384646
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G (India)
  382902
• Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
  379313

GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• iQOO Neo 6
  50
• Poco F4
  49
• Realme GT Neo 3T
  49
• OnePlus Nord 2T 5G
  42
• OnePlus Nord 2
  38
• Poco X3 Pro
  38
• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  28
• Realme 9 5G Speed Edition
  28
• Realme 9 Pro+
  23
• Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
  19
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G (India)
  17
• Poco X4 Pro 5G
  17

GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• Poco F4
  59
• Realme GT Neo 3T
  59
• iQOO Neo 6
  58
• OnePlus Nord 2T 5G
  51
• OnePlus Nord 2
  46
• Poco X3 Pro
  45
• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  33
• Realme 9 5G Speed Edition
  33
• Realme 9 Pro+
  27
• Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
  23
• Poco X4 Pro 5G
  20
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G (India)
  19

GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Realme GT Neo 3T
  85
• Poco F4
  84
• iQOO Neo 6
  84
• Poco X3 Pro
  67
• OnePlus Nord 2
  57
• OnePlus Nord 2T 5G
  55
• Realme 9 5G Speed Edition
  50
• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  49
• Realme 9 Pro+
  41
• Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
  35
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G (India)
  30
• Poco X4 Pro 5G
  30

GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• Realme GT Neo 3T
  98
• Poco F4
  96
• iQOO Neo 6
  95
• OnePlus Nord 2T 5G
  81
• OnePlus Nord 2
  75
• Poco X3 Pro
  75
• Realme 9 5G Speed Edition
  57
• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  56
• Realme 9 Pro+
  45
• Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
  38
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G (India)
  34
• Poco X4 Pro 5G
  34

GFX Manhattan ES 3.0 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Realme GT Neo 3T
  115
• Poco F4
  114
• iQOO Neo 6
  113
• Poco X3 Pro
  93
• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  69
• OnePlus Nord 2
  59
• OnePlus Nord 2T 5G
  59
• Realme 9 5G Speed Edition
  59
• Realme 9 Pro+
  56
• Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
  55
• Poco X4 Pro 5G
  42
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G (India)
  41

GFX Manhattan ES 3.0 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• Realme GT Neo 3T
  145
• Poco F4
  137
• iQOO Neo 6
  136
• OnePlus Nord 2T 5G
  124
• OnePlus Nord 2
  123
• Poco X3 Pro
  102
• Realme 9 5G Speed Edition
  79
• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  77
• Realme 9 Pro+
  68
• Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
  60
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G (India)
  47
• Poco X4 Pro 5G
  47

GFX Aztek ES 3.1 High (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• Realme GT Neo 3T
  22
• iQOO Neo 6
  22
• OnePlus Nord 2T 5G
  22
• OnePlus Nord 2
  21
• Poco X3 Pro
  17
• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  13
• Realme 9 Pro+
  11
• Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
  10
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G (India)
  7.8
• Poco X4 Pro 5G
  7.8

GFX Aztek ES 3.1 High (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Realme GT Neo 3T
  32
• iQOO Neo 6
  32
• OnePlus Nord 2T 5G
  31
• OnePlus Nord 2
  30
• Poco X3 Pro
  26
• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  19
• Realme 9 Pro+
  17
• Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
  15
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G (India)
  12
• Poco X4 Pro 5G
  12

GFX Aztek Vulkan High (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• Realme GT Neo 3T
  24
• iQOO Neo 6
  24
• OnePlus Nord 2
  20
• OnePlus Nord 2T 5G
  20
• Poco X3 Pro
  18
• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  14
• Realme 9 Pro+
  10
• Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
  10
• Poco X4 Pro 5G
  8.1
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G (India)
  8

GFX Aztek Vulkan High (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Realme GT Neo 3T
  34
• iQOO Neo 6
  34
• OnePlus Nord 2T 5G
  30
• Poco X3 Pro
  27
• OnePlus Nord 2
  26
• Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G
  20
• Realme 9 Pro+
  16
• Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
  15
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G (India)
  12
• Poco X4 Pro 5G
  12