OnePlus Nord 2 vs. Nord 1

It gets its own launch event, so that’s a big deal and while it looks and feels almost exactly like the original, it brings a host of upgrades under the hood that fix most of the shortcomings of the first generation. OnePlus uses a MediaTek processor rather than the more established Qualcomm Snapdragon series (and that might actually be a genius move), it has better cameras, speakers, haptics, and even a bigger battery, all in the same. 6.4 “device form factor.? Continue reading!

Design, size and display

If it hadn’t been for the camera overhaul (which looks great on the new phone), it’s unclear which is the Nord 2 and which is the original. They are the same size with a 6.4 “screen, roughly the same dimensions, the same style with a glass back and plastic center frame, even the same slight curve on the back for a grip More ergonomic. We think it’s also close to one size fits all: This 6.4 “form factor is just the perfect middle ground, neither too gigantic nor too small either. And just in case you were wondering: the phone’s weight also stayed almost exactly the same, despite a 10% increase in battery capacity. Pleasant!

Both have the 3-way slider to quickly switch between mute, vibrate and ring modes, which is very convenient. Both do not have a headphone jack and a special IP rating against water.

As for the screens, you get the following: 6.4 inches, OLED, 1080p resolution, so almost the same. The screen color grading is tweaked a bit so the colors have a bit more vividness on the new phone, but the difference is really very subtle.

Performance

The big bet OnePlus took with the Nord 2 is that it changed the processor and for the first time uses the MediaTek 1200 instead of the typical Qualcomm Snapdragon used on most phones.

The company claims that this chip offers great improvements over the original North. The Nord 2 running the MediaTek 1200 would have an up to 65% faster processor and 125% faster GPU performance than the Nord 1 powered by Snadragon 765G.

In the popular GeekBench, we did indeed see the second-generation device get higher marks:

Games

The MediaTek chip also had superior graphics performance. We ran the 3D Mark Wildlife test and it ran at around 3 fps on the original North, while the North 2 maintained around 8 fps for the first 10 minutes, more than twice as good.

This particular benchmark is great because it lasts 20 minutes and indicates when and if your chip will accelerate, and we did indeed see the Nord 2 accelerator after about 10 minutes of play, while the Snapdragon maintained its performance.

Yet even after the thermal throttling, which the MediaTek chip was sensitive to, the reference was running at higher frame rates on the Nord 2, so it’s certainly a welcome improvement over the original.

All of this, however, comes at the cost of the new phone heating up a bit more under heavier loads, which wasn’t a problem on the original, so keep that in mind.

Camera

The original Nord came with a decent camera that got the job done, but it certainly wasn’t one of the best mid-range camera systems.

The Nord 2 changes a bit on the front of the camera: instead of four cameras, you get a triple camera setup, which borrows the camera island style from more expensive OnePlus phones and looks very sleek. The original North’s macro and depth cameras, widely regarded as whimsical, are being ditched in favor of … an equally whimsical monochrome lens.

There are actually two cameras that you will be using most of the time: the main one and the ultra-wide one, and here are the differences in the camera specs:

Photo quality

From the first photo you’ll notice dramatic improvements: you get a slightly larger photo that no longer has the crazy contrast we had on the original. The colors are much prettier: you can actually see the green color of the grass in the lower left, the still a little squashed shadows are much better than before too.

The photo above at sunset is simply amazing on North 2: the gradient of the sunset in the sky is beautiful, the colors are slightly warmer and nicer, it’s just a much better overall picture.

One more shot to illustrate the higher performance camera of the Nord 2 which brings out a lot more color and pop.

Main camera in low light

We see big improvements in low light conditions: the Nord 2 captures a lot more light, the photo looks more dynamic, and there is less noise.

We noticed that while it’s a far superior camera overall, the Nord 2 has a few issues like the orange cast in the photo above.

The photo above illustrates once again that when you have incandescent lamps, the white balance of the Nord 2 can be disturbed and produce an orange tint.

Overall, however, images of the Nord 2 in low light bring out the darker parts of a photo more and make for a more vibrant and engaging image.

Ultra Wide Camera

The two photos above show that these phones aren’t perfect, the overly contrasting look of the original isn’t great, but the Nord 2 can also often capture photos with dark and uninteresting colors.

Ultra-wide low-light camera

And while the ultra-wide camera was pretty much useless on the original in low-light conditions, the Nord 2 dramatically improves the quality of photos in such conditions, even just using the ultra-wide camera. large. Big difference!

selfies

One of the coolest features of the original North was a dual front camera with a wide lens and an ultra-wide lens for group selfies. The Nord 2 loses the ultra-wide camera, so you only have one front camera left. We’re not sure if this is a feature we’ll be sorely missed, but it was really nice being able to capture group selfies with the original.

In terms of camera-only processing, you get the same trends as with other cameras: shadows are raised and shallower than on the original, and colors are a bit warmer.

We can’t say that this is a big improvement in daylight, but if you try to take a selfie in low light, the processing is so much better on the Nord 2 because you get a sharp shot with it. sharper details and a lot more light passes through. .

Video quality

Still, there is a great improvement in video quality both in daylight and in low light. Colors appear brighter and more saturated on the Nord 2 compared to the darker, less vivid colors in the original. The new phone also has sharper detail and a higher dynamic range (shadows are crushed on the old phone). When it comes to video stabilization, the two do a similar job, which is good, but not all that great. Videos seem stable when you hold the phone in your hand, but you can see a bit of microjitter in the times when stabilization kicks in.

Battery life

Having a larger battery size might be one of the best improvements the Nord 2 has made. You get a 4,500mAh battery cell on the new phone versus a 4,115mAh battery on the original, which is an increase. by almost 10%.

And that translates fairly directly into an improvement in battery life, without affecting the weight of the phone which has remained roughly the same.

In our battery tests, we got the following scores:

This gives the Nord 2 a slight but noticeable advantage, which could well be the difference between getting through a day of heavy use or not.

Loading time

Another welcome improvement with the Nord 2 is a faster charger in the box: you get a 65W charger on the new phone compared to a 30W charger on the original, and that’s a big difference. OnePlus claims you can fully charge the Nord 2 from 0 to 100% in 30 minutes, and while we couldn’t quite get that number (it took us about 40 minutes to fully charge), that was when even an impressive achievement that even most of the flagships these days cannot boast of.