a mobile from the past with a current problem

In April 2022, OnePlus presented the OnePlus Nord CE 2 Lite 5G, a terminal designed as an entry-level with mid-range aspirations that did not give much to say. Now the company has released its successor, the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5Gthat we were able to analyze for a week… even if it is not very different from its predecessor.

Features of the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite

A mobile from the past

This terminal is one of the clearest examples of what is happening in the world of smartphones. The similarities with its predecessor are so numerous that it could well have been called OnePlus Nord CE 2 Lite 5G Plus, or Pro. And we would be generous.

We have a screen with a slightly larger diagonal, a camera that goes from 64 to 108 Mpx and fast charging that goes from 33 to 67 W. And that’s it.

This makes the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G a minor terminal in the brand’s catalog, and that last year its predecessor was also minor.

Everyday life with the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G

However, we don’t want to just drop this model because it looks so much like its sibling, so we’ve been using it for a few days.

It is a terminal of very good construction, it must be admitted, even if the materials are entry-level. The grip is decent, and the frames have a texture that prevents them from slipping, although the fact that they are made of plastic is striking.

The same goes for the back, made of very normal plastic and with an enormous capacity to reflect everything and catch fingerprints. I wish I could have tried the lime-colored model, which at least offered something different.

On the positive side, we have the presence of a headphone jack, a microSD slot, NFC… And a double speaker, something that we don’t always have.

Powerful, but just enough

The processor chosen is the same one we saw in the OnePlus Nord CE 2 Lite 5G, the Snapdragon 695, a chipset from two years ago. It has 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of internal memory, and there will be no versions with other capacities.

We’re able to play with it, but not as you’d expect in a mobile of this price, but as you’d expect in a slightly cheaper mobile. However, this is not a major problem.

And this screen?

A mobile over 300 dollars with an LCD screen is not something we expected in 2023. The OnePlus Nord CE 2 Lite 5G was already shocking for that, and this OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G does it even more.

We’ve got a 120Hz refresh rate, but not particularly high brightness (680 nits max) or HDR, of course. And many competitors of this terminal have them.

In addition, the LCD panel offers poorer image quality than OLED panels, and the perforation of the front camera shows us a dark halo that reminds us of cell phones under 200 dollars.

A decent camera, with two more to spare

In the camera section we have to say that the main sensor does an acceptable job, with its 108 Mpx and good stabilization. In addition, it has a lossless 3x zoom, which is done by cropping the image of the 108 Mpx sensor, being a crop, something halfway between optical and digital zoom.

The problem is that the other two cameras don’t do the same thing.

We have two 2MP sensors, a depth sensor and a macro. No, we don’t have a wide angle in a mobile over 300 dollars. It’s ridiculous.

The front camera, 16 Mpx, gives us fairly average results than expected.

The battery is very good

The autonomy of this mobile, thanks to its 5000 mAh battery, is one of its strengths. This allows us to go through the day and, depending on what we are doing, even go through two days and put it in charge at night on the second day.

Additionally, fast charging has been upgraded to a 67W wired system, with a charger included in the box, something some Samsung rivals no longer do.

Android 13 with Oxygen OS 13

In the software section, we have nothing to complain about because the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G arrives with Android 13 and Oxygen OS 13.1, the latest version of the company’s layer, which is the same used by realme and OPPO.

We still like the fluidity of the interface, the options available and the customization, and the only question is how many years of updates this layer will have taking into account the doubts that exist about the continuity of OnePlus in some European countries.

Conclusion: too much competition

This terminal aspires to take on Xiaomi’s Redmi Note 12, Samsung’s Galaxy A34 and Realme’s Realme 10, but it lacks muscle.

The main problem is the choice of the screen, to which is added the absence of a wide-angle camera. It is possible that many do not care about the latter, but if we start to eliminate features, it would be necessary to study why to choose this model and not another like the ZTE Blade V40 Design, which is less powerful, but costs much less and has almost the same specifications.

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