OnePlus Nord 5 Review : Flagship Features at Mid Range Price

The OnePlus Nord 5 , launched on July 8, 2025 , represents OnePlus boldest leap in the mid range segment to date . With Flagship grade components, a premium look and feel, and mature AI driven software , it blurs the line between mid tire and premium offerings .It joins a including the Nord CE 5, Buds 4, Watch 3, and Pad Lite.

Display: Smooth, Bright, and Vibrant

Panel Specs : The device sports a 6.83 inch Swift AMOLED display at 1.5 K resolution ( approx. 2,800 x 1,272px ), offering 144 Hz refresh rate and up to 1,800 nits peak brightness.

Touch and Response : 3,000 Hz instantaneous touch sampling rate and high frequency PWM dimming ( 3,840 Hz ), ensuring precise responsiveness and reduced flicker for comfortable use.

Visual Quality : With 10 bit color depth, HDR10+ support, 100% DCI-P3 coverage , and 1.07 billion colors visuals are crisp, vibrant and immersive.

Durability : The screen is protected by Gorilla Glass 7i, offering solid scratch resistance while preserving slim bezels.

Design and build :

Chassis and Materials : Gone is the metal unibody of previous Nord phones. The OnePlus Nord 5 instead opts for a glass back with a polycarbonate ( plastic ) frame, chosen for a lighter, more elegant feel without compromising structural integrity.
Physical Profile : It is reasonably sized at 163.4 x 77 x 8.1 mm, weighing about 211 g , offering a firm yet balanced in hand presence.
Button Layout : OnePlus drops its iconic Alert Slider. Now replaced with the customizable Plus Key, located on the left frame. This button provides access to sound profiles or AI tools a flexibility upgrade over the fixed slider of old.
Colors : Available in Marble Sands, Dry Ice ( light blue ), and Phantom Grey, each finishes with a matte texture that’s resistant to fingerprints and exudes understated sophistication.

Ingress Protection : The device features IP65 rating for dust and water resistance, it is a step down from flagship IP68 ratings. It handles light splashes , not full submersion.

Camera System :

Rear Camera Setup :

Primary sensor : 50 MP Sony LYT-700 ( 1/1.56″ size, f/1.8 ) with OIS , making it the same sensor used in OnePlus’s flagship OnePlus 13R and delivering excellent detail and low light handling
Ultra wide : 8 MP , f/2.2 with 116° field of view, for wide scenes where flexibility counts.

Front Camera Setup :

A 50 MP Samsung JN5 sensor ( f/2.0 ), a significant upgrade from its predecessor’s 16 MP , now delivering sharp selfies and group shots. supports 4K 60 fps video recording at the front too.

Video : Front and rear camera record 4K 60 fps , and the rear supports 1080p up to 120 fps. Gyro-EIS helps stabilization in both selfie and rear videos.

Image Quality :

Daylight : Colors are rich , HDR balanced , and details are reliably sharp.
AI Reframe and Best Face : These tools smartly enhance composition and recover group shot faults.
Low light : Night shots hold up well, with noise control courtesy of OIS, albeit still not on par with top tier cameras.

Performance and Cooling :

SoC and Memory : The core is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 built on a 4 nm node. It’s paired with to tier LPDDR5X RAM up to 12 GB and UFS 3.1 storage up to 512 GB, resulting in flagship level snappiness.

Thermal Management : A Cryo Velocity vapor chamber cooling system ( 7,300 mm² VC ) helps keep temperatures in check during prolonged tasks like gaming or video rendering.

Experience : Daily usage ranging from multitasking to games like COD Mobile at 144 fps – remains smooth with minimal throttling . Benchmarks approach mid tier flagship numbers, attesting to strong real world performance.

Battery and Charging :

Capacity and Longevity : A massive 6,800 mAh battery ( some regions may spec 7,000 mAh depending on source ), significantly larger than the OnePlus Nord 4’s 5,500 mAh cell.
Fast Charging : 80 W SuperVOOC wired charging gets you to 100% in about 58 to 63 minutes, and 0 to 80% in roughly 30 minutes.
Real World Endurance : Independent tests show the OnePlus Nord 5 lasting over a day and a half under mixed usage. A continuous HD video loop ran for 27 hours , 15 minutes, and PCMark tests reached over 14 hours.
Extras : Supports 5 W reverse wired charging and has bypass charging to reduce battery wear when gaming plugged in.

Software and AI :

Operating SYSTEM : Ships with Android 15 running OxygenOS 15.02 clean, fast , and highly customizable.
AI Tools and features :
- Plus Mind and Mind Space : AI memory hub capturing and analyzing screenshots, extracting context, offering tasks like event scheduling or call summarization.
- AI Voice Scribe and Translation : Supports voice transcription across languages and apps, manages live text / photo translations, covers over 20 languages.
- AI Call Assistant : Real time translation ( India ), post call summary generation.
- Circle for search ( Google Gemini ) : Draw around screen content to trigger contextual search based lookup and assistance.
- AI Photo Tools : Includes AI Detail Boost, Unblur, Reflection Eraser, AI Reframe , and improving group shots with Best Face 2.0.

Extras : Features such as RAM Vita ( optimized background memory ), Hyper Boost gaming engine, Always on Display themes, privacy tools, and dual stereo speakers round off a capable software experience.

Connectivity and Multimedia :

Wireless : Dual band Wi – Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.4 ( with aptX HD, LHDC 5 ), NFC, infrared port, and wireless mirroring via O+ Connect for seamless device to PC interaction.

Audio : Equipped with dual stereo speakers, foregoing the headphone jack but delivering loud, clear sound suitable for media consumption.

Fingerprint Sensor : Fast and secure in display optical fingerprint unlocking featured standard for the segment.

Haptics : X-Axis linear vibration motor delivers precise and premium feel during navigation and alerts.

Pricing :

Storage	Price
8 GB RAM + 256 GB ROM	Rs. 31,999
12 GB RAM + 256 GB ROM	Rs. 34,999
12 GB RAM + 512 GB ROM	Unavailable