OnePlus Nord N30 5G review

Design

As already mentioned, the Nord N30 5G is the same device as the Nord CE 3 Lite, and both borrow heavily from the Realme 10. So, the design isn't exactly new or revolutionary. Then again, it doesn't need to be. We think the N30 5G looks very stylish and "dignified", particularly in the Chromatic Gray color our review unit came in.

If you are after something more playful and youthful, definitely go for the Pastel Lime color. If the Nord N30 is ever offered in that color, that is. We saw that dye on our Nord CE 3 Lite review unit and liked the look quite a bit. The back of the phone has an iridescent finish which plays with the light in interesting ways, shifting the color hue in the process.

OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite

Color hues aside, we can't say we particularly like the glossy plastic finish of the back of the phone, though. It is a real fingerprint magnet. Unless you use a case, you can never keep it clean.

On the flip side, we enjoy the design elements around the camera bumps on the back of the phone. These incorporate gentle slopes that provide a nice little accent. While the position of the LED flash is slightly awkward, we also like how it fits into the mix.

The flat sides on the Nord N30 5G make for a pretty modern look, in our opinion. We appreciate that the manufacturer went for a matte rather than a glossy finish for the plastic frame. It does not gather dirt or fingerprints like the back of the phone.

The Nord N30 5G front glass is mostly flat but does taper off at the edges into the middle frame. The area of the display itself is still flat enough to comfortably install a screen protector. In fact, the phone comes with a pretty decent plastic one pre-installed.

We like that the selfie punch hole isn't overly big, and neither are the top and bottom bezels. These do seem a tad bigger than on the Realme 10 Pro, but not by much. After all, the Nord N30 5G does have a bigger overall footprint at 165.5 x 76 x 8.3 mm while still housing the same size 6.72-inch display.

The phone's earpiece is nicely tucked-away near the top bezel. And so are the proximity sensor and light meter.

Build quality

For the most part, the OnePlus Nord N30 5G is unapologetically plastic. This includes its back side and middle frame. And, like we've said in the past, that's not necessarily a bad thing either. Plastic has its merits as a strong and light building material. Sure, the back of the phone might be a bit more prone to scratches than a potential glass counterpart, but plastic doesn't shatter quite like glass. It also doesn't dent quite like metal. So, there's that.

The Nord N30 5G feels very solid and well-made. There is practically no flex to the chassis to speak of. Nor is there any major hollowness to the back side. The phone also feels good and comfortable in the hand.

As already mentioned, the front of the Nord N30 5G is made of glass. Asahi Dragontrail Star glass, to be more specific, rather than the more popular Corning alternatives. Still, it's an appreciated addition in terms of durability. Beyond that, there is no mention of ingress protection or special protective coating.

Controls

The Nord N30 5G has a pretty standard control setup. As already mentioned, it lacks the signature OnePlus alert slider. At least existing OnePlus users will appreciate the familiarity of having the volume buttons on the left-hand side. These are nice and "clicky," with plenty of tactile feedback.

This is where the SIM tray is located as well. The N30 5G has dual Nano-SIM card slots and a hybrid microSD card slot that shares space with the second SIM.

The right side of the Nord N30 5G has the power button and fingerprint reader combo. We are not huge fans of its design. It sits almost flush with the phone's frame, making it hard to feel out and not particularly easy to press either. Left-handed operation is a bit of a chore with this setup too.

As for the capacitive fingerprint reader itself - it works great. It is fast and reliable, but we would expect nothing less from this mature technology. You can have it always on or set it to trigger and read once the power button is pressed. Your call.

The top frame of the phone is practically empty, save for a secondary microphone hole.

The bottom is pretty busy, with the main speaker on the right side, the main mic, and a 3.5mm audio jack on the left. In the middle - a Type-C port.

In terms of controls, the front of the phone has a punch hole for the selfie camera and a nice slim earpiece/speaker on top of the display. A proximity sensor and light sensor are also tucked away in the top frame above the display to the right of the earpiece.

In case you were wondering, there is no notification LED.

Connectivity

The Nord N30 5G is a dual-SIM device, just like its Nord CE 3 Lite and Realme 10 Pro siblings. It supports 5G, both SA and NSA connectivity. For local connectivity, the Nord N30 5G offers dual-band Wi-Fi ac, Bluetooth 5.1 with A2DP, LE and aptX HD, as well as NFC. There is GPS, GALILEO, GLONASS, BDS and QZSS support for positioning.

A plain USB 2.0 data connection backs up the Type-C port on the phone. That means a theoretical max transfer speed of 480 Mbps. On the plus side, you do get USB Host/OTG support. There is no video output or anything else fancy from the Type-C port.

The Nord N30 5G has a pretty full set of sensors. These include a TDK-Invensense icm4x6xa accelerometer and gyroscope combo, an oplus stk33c02 light and hardware proximity combo, an akm ak0991x magnetometer and compass combo and a Bosch bmp380 barometer/pressure sensor. Not too shabby at all for a budget device.