The Chinese company, OnePlus, has been rearranging its strategy since 2020 as it seeks to bolster its product lineups in Europe and North America. In the US, Oneplus sells the flagship 10 Pro as well as the N200 5G and, as of recently, the N20 5G devices from Nord. The Nord N20 offers a brighter AMOLED screen with an in-display scanner, a larger battery, and a more streamlined appearance when compared to its predecessor. The N20 5G preserves the 64MP primary camera, the 2MP monochrome camera, and the macro camera but does away with the 8MP ultrawide camera. AMOLED technology has made it possible to include an in-display scanner and update battery capacity.
Strong hardware sells. If a phone simply feels excellent in the hand, it is simple to overlook how inexpensive it is. With the Nord N20, OnePlus is relying on a modern, matte-coated design aesthetic with flattened edges that evoke the iPhone 14 in appearance. The majority of the ports and housings you’d anticipate on a low-cost OnePlus are located around the borders of the Nord N20. A USB-C port, a microSD card slot, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and some addictively clicky side buttons are all included. However, this gadget lacks the famed OnePlus alert slider, just like the Nord N10 5G from a year ago.
The other large sensor on the phone is a monochrome sensor for the phone’s black-and-white photo mode, so you’ll mostly be using the primary 64MP camera for photography. This option is mostly worthless because B&W images taken with or without that lens covered appear the same. You’re better off avoiding the phone’s 2MP macro sensor entirely. Photographs taken at the recommended distance of 4cm (about an inch and a half) from the subject appear blown out, fuzzy, and occasionally very slightly twisted.
The weird mash-up of OxygenOS and ColorOS that was pre-loaded out of the box on the OnePlus 10 Pro with version 12 is not available on the Nord N20 because it ships with Android 11/OxygenOS 11 out of the box. In contrast to the 690’s 8nm technology, the Snapdragon 695 5G is now on a 6nm platform. We anticipate noticeably increased battery life and CPU performance thanks to the increase in battery size, the move to AMOLED, and a more efficient processor.
One of OnePlus’ most distinctive features—the physical alert slider—is absent from the OnePlus Nord N20 5G. Of course, this isn’t a deal-breaker for a handset in this price bracket, and up until now, we’ve become accustomed to the idea that OnePlus rebrands Oppo devices and sells them in the US under the more well-known OnePlus brand since Oppo doesn’t have a presence there.