The OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite takes everything we liked about the Nord CE 2 Lite and makes it bigger, at least in theory. We’ve spent some time with it and we can go out on a limb to say that the Nord CE 3 Lite is better, too, for real. The phone has a spec sheet that’s easy to get behind and recommend, but it’s the price at which OnePlus has put everything together that makes it a real winner. Even with a bunch of new updates, the Nord CE 3 Lite costs the same as the Nord CE 2 Lite at launch, i.e., Rs 19,999. A OnePlus phone under Rs 20,000 can turn many heads, as it is, and the Nord CE 3 Lite, too, is no exception.
You’re getting a major design refresh with the Nord CE 3 Lite which, given the current market trend of incremental launches, is not easy. The Nord Buds 2 launching alongside look exactly like their predecessor (though they are lighter and more compact as a result), as an example. The body of the phone is flat-edged and made of glossy plastic. The chromatic gray variant we have for review is super shiny, almost like a mirror. An obvious downside is that it picks many fingerprints. You can also get the Nord CE 3 Lite in pastel lime which is the phone’s “hero” colour and very eye-catching.
Also Read | OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G quick review: Best smartphone under Rs 20,000?
But moving on, the Nord CE 3 Lite has a bigger 6.72-inch display with a hole punch cutout at the centre. The Nord CE 2 Lite was 6.59-inch. The panel type (IPS LCD), resolution (1080p) and refresh rate (120Hz) are do-overs from last year, and while AMOLED would have been a nicer thing to have, we won’t take this decision against OnePlus considering the price point. The only niggle we have with it is that the display could have been a bit brighter.
The larger display is joined by a pair of dual speakers which is, once again, an upgrade over the Nord CE 2 Lite’s mono setup. The combination pulls content playback well enough, though you should know that there is no HDR support whatsoever. For some curious reason, the phone won’t let us access Netflix, either.
The battery size remains 5,000mAh but the Nord CE 3 Lite can charge faster at up 67W (versus 33W in Nord CE 2 Lite) capable of topping the phone from 0-80 percent in 30 minutes, as per data shared by OnePlus. In our experience, it takes about 46 minutes for a full top-up (from 0%) which is crazy fast for the asking price. Battery life has generally been good.
The same is true about the phone’s brand-new 108MP sensor (which is a Samsung HM6 by the way)— an upgrade over the Nord CE 2 Lite’s 64MP sensor— that takes pleasing photos when you give it lots of light, but low-light photos could surely be better. The are two more cameras in this phone, a 2MP macro and another 2MP depth, same as the Nord CE 2 Lite— and they remain mere spec-fillers as before. On the front, you get a 16MP camera, which is hit or miss, mostly.
The one constant in this generation— apart from pricing— is the choice of chipset. The Nord CE 3 Lite has the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 as the Nord CE 2 Lite. Performance, too, is on expected lines. The phone feels nippy in regular day-to-day use but the phone’s clearly not intended for graphic intensive gaming. You naturally get newer software, aka OxygenOS 13.1 based on Android 13, and except for a few instances, the experience is mostly clean and minimal.
If you’re looking for a stock-ier interface, the Motorola G73 5G is probably what you should be looking at. That’s not the only merit of this Moto phone. It gets you a more useful 8MP ultrawide camera in addition to a 50MP main which is nice and decent. It doesn’t charge as fast (30W) but its Dimensity 930 chip is slightly more powerful in comparsion.
If more power is what you crave, the iQOO Z7 with its Dimensity 920 and 44W fast charging becomes a no-brainer. It also has an HDR10+ ready AMOLED display with up to 1300nits of peak brightness. Its main 64MP sensor also gets turbo-charged with an optically stabilised lens, something that’s hard to come by at under Rs 20,000.
Yet another option to look at is the Redmi Note 12 5G, which is a bit cheaper and comes with a 120Hz AMOLED display and a trio of sensors on the back— 48MP main, 8MP ultrawide and 2MP macro. The phone is also IP53 rated. The Realme 10 Pro 5G is virtually the same as the Nord CE 3 Lite with slower (33W) charging.
If you’re looking for a Samsung, the Galaxy A14 5G may not be as spec-heavy but the software support/reliability and brand recall (paired with a bit more affordable pricing) surely make it worth your time.
