OnePlus Nord CE3 hands-on review

Camera

The Nord CE3 has a triple camera system on the back consisting of a 50MP f1.8 main camera, an 8MP f2.2 ultra-wide camera, and a 2MP macro camera. The 50MP IMX890 is the same as the main camera on the flagship OnePlus 11, minus the Hasselblad tuning. All four cameras are shared with the Nord 3.

The camera app is also borrowed from recent Nord phones. It's fairly simple and while you do get things like a Pro mode, there is no way to save images in a RAW format.

Camera app

Getting right into the image quality, the Nord CE3 impresses with its main camera. Images are detailed with good resolution and very little over-sharpening or ringing artifacts. Colors and white balance are mostly accurate, although greens still have a slightly yellow hue to them and reds can look magenta. Dynamic range is generally excellent.

50MP main camera

Unfortunately, the 8MP ultra-wide does not impress much. Images are soft and have a hazy, ethereal look to them. Dynamic range is decent but colors don't look great. There is also a fair bit of noise in the shadows, especially in the corners of the frame.

8MP ultra-wide camera

Saving the worst for the last is the 2MP macro camera. These are famously bad and the Nord CE3 doesn't break this tradition.

2MP macro camera

Switching to video, your options are somewhat limited. On the main camera, the 4K video has excellent image quality but is largely unusable due to the complete lack of image stabilization.

Dropping down to 1080p enables stabilization but it's not especially stable and image quality does take a small hit along with a sizable crop. The digital stabilization also adds some wobbling artifacts to the frame, where entire chunks tend to jiggle around distractingly.

This is especially true of the 1080p video from the ultra-wide camera, which has even more distracting wobble along with a softer image.

The most stable video can be found with the Ultra Steady mode enabled, which uses the main camera and further crops into the frame. This mode is locked to 60fps, for some reason.

Conclusion

The OnePlus Nord CE3 is a good mid-range smartphone that impresses with its display performance, smooth and responsive UI, stereo speaker sound, and good main camera quality. The incredibly fast charging is also a fantastic selling point for those who find themselves charging their phone often.

The less impressive aspects include the lackluster graphics performance, missing alert slider, unstabilized 4K video, and substandard image quality from all but the main camera.

At a starting price of INR 26,999 ($325), the Nord CE3 is a decent value, certainly better than the Nord 3, which simply does not justify its higher price (INR 33,999). As long as you aren't focused on gaming, the Nord CE3 should be a good purchase for most users and is the best overall option among the three new 2023 Nord phones.