OnePlus Nord CE3 hands-on review
Software
The OnePlus Nord CE3 ships with Android 13 and OxygenOS 13.1 out of the box. The company has already released its OxygenOS 14 beta but the final version for this specific device will be some way off. The phone is expected to get updates for three years from launch.
There isn't much new to say about OxygenOS 13.1 on the Nord CE3 over what has already been said over the past year for every OnePlus, Oppo, and Realme device, since they all share the same basic software and UI. That's going to continue going forward, for better or for worse.
Launcher
At this point, the best thing to say about OxygenOS 13.1 is that it's functional. It comes with a lot of features and conveniences built-in, such as floating windows, split screen, smart sidebar, and quick launch with easy gestures that make it easy and convenient to multitask in various ways.
Settings
Visually, your mileage may vary, but the UI isn't particularly overbearing compared to, say, MIUI, and better looking than the stuff you find on vivo phones. It integrates well enough with the direction Google is going with its UI for Android, similar to OneUI which it often draws inspiration from. Things like customizable fonts, icons, and lockscreen make it also possible to tune it to your specific taste while still being decent-looking out of the box.
Features
There weren't any major issues or bugs during testing, except for one. OnePlus likes to include its own browser on these Nord phones, simply titled Internet. We use the term "own" somewhat loosely here, as it doesn't seem like OnePlus itself makes this in-house. Setting aside concerns about using a seemingly unknown browser for all your web needs (especially when Chrome is already pre-installed), the browser also cannot be removed and more concerningly, cannot be updated. We faced this issue on other recent Nord phones as well where the app simply refuses to update through the Play Store and shows an error every time you try.
Aside from that, there isn't a lot to complain about OxygenOS 13.1. It certainly doesn't have the same guiding principles as when it started out and that continues to bother some to this day. But the ship has already sailed on that topic and if you are just joining this platform you won't find much to be upset about.
Performance
The Nord CE3 is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 782G chipset. It has an octa-core design with 1x 2.7GHz Kryo 670 Prime core, 3x 2.4GHz Kryo 670 Gold cores, and 4x 1.8GHz Kryo 670 Silver cores along with Adreno 642L GPU. You get a choice of 8GB and 12GB LPDDR4X memory and 128GB and 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage.
The Nord CE3 has good everyday performance. The phone feels snappy and immediately responsive, and although the screen is rarely refreshing at 120Hz, the scrolling feels smooth and fluid.
The overall performance of the Snapdragon 782G is nearly identical to that of the Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 found on the Honor 90. This means while the CPU performance is adequate for general use, the GPU is lackluster. The Nord CE3 lags significantly behind the Nord 3 in gaming performance and is also outperformed by some cheaper competition, like the Infinix GT10 Pro. If gaming is an important use-case then the Nord 3 is a much better option.
GeekBench 6
- Multi-core
- Single-core
Poco F5
Infinix GT 10 Pro
OnePlus Nord 3
Nothing Phone (1)
Honor 90
OnePlus Nord CE3 5G
Galaxy A54
AnTuTu 9
Poco F5
Motorola Edge 40
Infinix GT 10 Pro
Nothing Phone (1)
Honor 90
OnePlus Nord CE3 5G
Xiaomi 13 Lite
GFXBench (onscreen)
- Aztek Vulkan High
- Car Chase ES 3.1
Poco F5
OnePlus Nord 3
Motorola Edge 40
Infinix GT 10 Pro
Honor 90
OnePlus Nord CE3 5G
Nothing Phone (1)
GFXBench (offscreen)
- Aztek Vulkan High 1440p
- Car Chase ES 3.1 1080p
OnePlus Nord 3
Infinix GT 10 Pro
Motorola Edge 40
Honor 90
Xiaomi 13 Lite
OnePlus Nord CE3 5G
Nothing Phone (1)
3DMark (offscreen 1440p)
- Wild Life Vulkan 1.1
- Wild Life Extreme
Poco F5
Motorola Edge 40
Honor 90
Xiaomi 13 Lite
Nothing Phone (1)
OnePlus Nord CE3 5G
Galaxy A54
Reader comments
- Dason
- 13 Oct 2023
- rKx
The biggest engineering blunder is keeping SIMTRAY at the bottom and putting holes on either side The quick guide sent with the phone describes only one hole . This has made the microphone getting damaged. The two wholes should have been at two ex...
- Dr Ajay
- 08 Oct 2023
- Dkb
What about battery endurance ratings and glass protection