It doesn’t look like a OnePlus phone

OnePlus is making big strides in the mid-range smartphone segment with its new Nord N10 5G, building on the “original” Nord brand that released just a few months ago. This new phone is not yet available in the United States, although OnePlus says the day is approaching. While we wait for our full review, here’s a little, how-to guide to help you out.

I gave up on editing the dust here, sorry. Super bright phones are difficult to photograph and I move.

For starters, the Nord N10 5G is large. It’s bigger than the original high-end North, and even the OnePlus 8. It’s almost as tall as the nearly monumental OnePlus 8 Pro and taller than the gargantuan iPhone 11 Pro Max. It’s also 190g, which is pretty big for a cheaper phone. Regardless of your weight, the N10 5G is a big boy and should prove popular for those looking for a size at a lower price.

It is also the first OnePlus phone since the OnePlus Two to have an LCD screen. While it’s 6.49 inches, 1080p, and 90Hz, it lacks the kind of overdrive OLED panels it’s good for, resulting in a generally smooth experience, but also a bit smeared at times. (And that’s only when performance holds up, which it doesn’t always.) The screen also has a punch-hole camera cutout and a big chin, the latter reminiscent of the Xiaomi Pocophone F1.

It won’t be competing with the company’s other displays, but it’s still a pretty decent display – although I reserve final judgment for when it gets a price in the US. Right now, the phone costs just € 50 less than the original North in Europe.

The build quality is solid, but it still feels cheap. The phone is bulky and you can squeeze and twist it without any annoying noise or bending, but the shiny plastic back and frame don’t look very premium, even compared to the original Nord, which used similar materials. I couldn’t tell you specifically what’s different, but something about it definitely feels different. The N10 5G is also the company’s first phone since the OnePlus 6 to feature a rear-mounted capacitive fingerprint sensor. Unlike the old Nord, OnePlus chose to include a headphone jack on the N10 5G, a nice touch. It’s also at the bottom, which is my favorite spot because it’s easier to pocket a phone upside down – which most of our readers do.

In perhaps the biggest change to the physical design, OnePlus has removed the Alert Slider, a feature of all OnePlus phones since the OnePlus two. New owners won’t bemoan the loss, but it adds to the overall experience that it’s not really a OnePlus phone.

The speakers (stereo via the earpiece) are at the usual smartphone tariff: they are thin, lack bass and distort a bit at maximum volume, but they get very loud.

The N10 5G has no water resistance, unlike the previous Nord, which the company called “splash resistant,” although this phone also does not have an explicit IP rating, like all OnePlus phones until now. ‘to the recent OnePlus 8 Pro.

Before digging into the software experience, I should note: we encountered several issues with our review unit that delayed our full review of the phone – not that this matters too much to most of our readers, as you don’t cannot buy one in the United States until an undefined future date. Nonetheless, any discussion of software and performance should be preceded by a warning that our unit may have been faulty, so take all of the following with a grain of salt, as it’s subject to change when we post our full review.

The Nord N10 5G uses OxygenOS 10.5 based on Android 10, rather than the latest OxygenOS 11. based on Android 11. Although no OnePlus software experience has been “stored” for some time, it is closer. OnePlus also only promises one update to the new version of Android 11, which is frankly unacceptable, although you would otherwise get two years of software updates. (All the more reason to spend some extra cash on the old North, I guess.) Personally, I’m not a fan of OxygenOS 11’s visual changes, which look like an inconsistent OneUI knockoff, but it’s less offensive. than some other skins, and for now the phone uses the older OxygenOS 10, which I prefer the look of. In the deeper Android changes, I noticed the usual issues with delayed notifications, as OnePlus is known to do.

In my experience, performance on the N10 5G was hit or miss. In normal to light use it did most tasks very well, although stuttering was both frequent and apparently inevitable. Mix up anything graphically intensive, like a light game, however, and you’re in for a bad patch. I have never used another Snapdragon 690 powered phone so can’t say if the performance issues were a lack of hardware power, a software glitch, or a combination of the two. We also ran into issues with Wi-Fi connectivity and the touchscreen, although they could be hardware faults in our review unit, which is being replaced.

In a strange move, OnePlus also provided the microSD N10 5G expandable storage. It’s a first for any OnePlus device since the 2015 OnePlus X, and it’s a confusing decision for the feature to debut on a mid-range phone. At least that means you’ll have plenty of space for media, or run out of the 128GB of UFS 2.1 storage provided. Camera samples and discussion will have to wait for our final review, as the changing updates have just arrived. At least you can rest easy knowing that OnePlus’ habit of throwing in a shoddy macro camera continues – all is well with the world.

… the N10 5G doesn’t really “feel” like a OnePlus phone …

The battery life was difficult to assess as the issues encountered made the phone difficult to use. But in my use it was on track to be quite good – I think about 6-7 hours of screen time. Thanks to the support for Warp Charge 30T, it recharged quite quickly and much faster than other mid-range phones.

I hate to pass judgment considering this is not our final review and some of the issues we ran into might be hardware issues specific to our review unit, but even excluding this part of the experience the N10 5G doesn’t really feel “like a OnePlus phone – likely helped by details like the lack of an alert slider, microSD expandability, and the unusual hand feel, among other intangibles. Of course, the model we used is a European import, but something in the overall experience reminds me of using a Chinese import phone, in a distinctly nasty way. Hopefully more time with the OnePlus N10 5G changes this opinion.