[Update: The OnePlus Nord N30 is running Android 14. Click here to see what’s new in the software]
OnePlus is no longer the “Flagship killer” company. Its mainline phones no longer sit at a price that’s half of the latest Galaxy phones. Now, its mid-range-priced phones are, well, mid-range phones, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t be good. I was given the opportunity to review the newly-released OnePlus Nord N30. Is this phone worth the $300 price tag, or should you pass it up? Let’s find out.
OnePlus Nord N30 Review: Build and design
First impressions truly begin when you pick up the phone. Picking up this phone, it’s not hard to see that it’s a mid-range device. It doesn’t feel bad by any means; in fact, it feels solid. The metal frame feels great and sturdy, and that goes for the glass back. The whole package feels like OnePlus put a lot of effort into making it feel like a well-built phone.
The only thing making it feel less expensive is the heft. It feels pretty light compared to any flagship phone. However, I’m not going to dock points because this is not meant to be a flagship phone.
As for the design, it represents the design aesthetic that OnePlus has established. It’s the same design language that extends throughout the modern Nord phones. It’s a metal and glass sandwich with two circular protrusions on the top left for the cameras. They jut from the glass, there seems to be some inspiration from Oppo with this phone. The company is popular for having camera bumps that gently slope upward and plateau.
This is a similar case for the OnePlus Nord N30. There’s a subtle slope in the glass leading up to the metal rings around the camera sensors. Speaking of the sensors, there are three of them. The main camera sits in the top circle alone, and there’s a macro camera and depth sensor occupying the bottom one.
The main gripe I have about this phone’s design is the use of such reflective glass. Without exaggeration, this phone’s back is a mirror. This makes fingerprints much more noticeable and taking pictures a nightmare.
OnePlus Nord N30 Review: Display
We’re well past the point where cheaper phones with LCD displays are doomed to have low-quality displays. Imagine a $300 phone with an LCD display back in 2015 (yikes!). Nowadays cheaper phones are coming out with really nice displays, and the OnePlus Nord N30 is an excellent example of this. The display is not only nice, but it’s also beautiful.
Even though we’ve seen flagship phones with high-quality LCDs from the likes of LG and HTC, this display is still a sight for sore eyes. Right off the bat, you’ll notice that the colors are pleasantly saturated. There are points (especially in the red tones), where it’s approaching OLED territory. The cooler tones aren’t quite as punchy, but they still pack a nice punch.
Besides the saturation, there’s a pleasant emphasis on white balance. The panel displays white pretty close to a true scientific white. This is something that characterizes the display on other OnePlus devices like the OnePlus Pad. It gives the display a nicely cool color temperature without being too blue.
The display is only made better by the refresh rate and brightness. It runs at a smooth 120Hz refresh rate. Navigating the interface and using the apps just looks amazing. Moving onto the brightness, it gets more than bright enough to view in the sun. Using this phone in the bright Florida sun, I had no issues seeing the display clearly. As with any display, you’ll only really have trouble seeing it if the sun itself is directly reflected on the screen.
OnePlus Nord N30 Review: Performance
What can I say, OnePlus has a track record of launching well-performing phones for a lower price since 2014. I admit that, after experiencing the performance of the OnePlus Nord N300, I didn’t have high hopes going into this review. However, the difference between the N300 and N30 is like night and day.
The OnePlus Nord N30 is an extremely smooth performer. It just glides through the software without any issues or hiccups. There’s the very rare occasion of stutter or dropped frames, but they’re so few and far apart that they’re negligible. This was a surprise because it’s using a pretty dated mid-range processor, the Snapdragon 695G SoC. No matter what I threw at the phone, it just didn’t want to slow down.
OnePlus Nord N30 Review: Gaming
Moving onto gaming, this is an area where the OnePlus Nord N30 gave me a pleasant surprise. When it comes to gaming, 2D games are an automatic shoo-in. Pixelated RPGs, platformers, Dungeon crawlers, rogue-likes, you name it. There’s no reason that any of your run-of-the-mill games should pose any issue with this phone. Plus, this gorgeous display makes prettier games, like those from Odencat, look stunning (I recommend playing Fishing Paradiso).
3D games
3D games are the downfall of most phones’ gaming performance, but the OnePlus Nord N30 held up strong- really strong. Moderately graphically intensive games like Dragon Ball Legends were no sweat for this phone. More ambitious games like Sky: Children Of The Light didn’t cause the phone to flinch. But, how about we aim for the stars?
Genshin Impact bogs down a lot of phones, and I have to admit that it did knock the phone’s FPS down a bit. However, even on the highest graphical settings, I was able to have surprisingly smooth gameplay. I didn’t get the fluid 60FPS, but the experience was overall smooth with an average framerate at just above 30FPS. It does drop down into the teens every now and then, but it doesn’t stutter or lock up. And again, I’m talking about the highest graphical settings. I was able to consistently play the game with no issues.
OnePlus Nord N30 Review: Speakers
The speakers are another win for this phone, as they produce an amazing sound. A lot of cheaper phones skimp on the speakers. They are almost always alright. The speakers on the OnePlus Nord N30, on the other hand, are comparable to the speakers on my Pixel 6. They produce a surprisingly wide sound with a lot of depth. You don’t only hear the bass, you feel it.
When listening to classical or orchestral music, I don’t only hear the gritty sound of the bows on the double basses, I also hear those accompanying lower tones, albeit not as much as with a larger speaker. The lower tones are strong, but they avoid sounding muddy. When listening to more modern music like late 80s pop, the piercing electric bass still cuts through.
The higher tones are no slouch either, and they’re key if you want the vocals to cut through. Vocals cut through pleasantly. I feel that they could probably cut through a little more, but that’s not to say that they don’t sound great. So, whether you’re watching movies, listening to music, or gaming, you’ll have a great time with these speakers.
OnePlus Nord N30 Review: Camera
Just like with display technology, the camera capabilities of $300 phones have soared exceptionally high in the last several years. This is much the case with the OnePlus Nord N30. It’s a champ when it comes to still photography.
Still photos
Starting off with the exposure and contrast, this phone does a good job of creating a nice balanced photo. The shadows are dark enough without being totally crushed. On the opposite side of the spectrum, however, I found that the images tend to lean on the lighter side. This leads to just a bit more overexposure than I’d like to see. It’s not too bad, though.
Moving onto the colors, OnePlus was able to create photos that are responsibly colorful, but there’s one exception. The blue tones and the green tones are pleasantly juicy, and this makes this phone great for nature and sky shots. The same goes for yellow and bright orange. The earthy tones, however, could use a little boost in my opinion.
So, what’s the one exception? Well, if you watch the camera deep-dives by Juan Carlos Bagnelle, you’d know that digital sensors have a hard time exposing red properly. The reds produced by the OnePlus Nord N30’s camera are absolutely nuclear. They tip the scale in with their saturation and they really singe the retinas.
Low Light
The low-light performance of this phone is solid. You get the basic issues that plague all sensors like additional noise, a lack of color, weaker details, and reduced contrast. However, this phone’s performance was respectable. In fact, the software did a good job of reining in the digital noise.
Video
The still photography is good, but the video quality is definitely lacking. The video stabilization is really good at eliminating shakes. Casually walking, the video was very smooth.
The colors and dynamic range saw a noticeable drop, however. The juicy blue sky and green grass from the photos are gone and so is the nice dynamic range. The over-exposure that was present in the photos is worse when it comes to the videos.
Also, the overall sharpness has been reduced. I can see that the phone employs some sharpening to the footage, but it ultimately looks low-res.
OnePlus Nord N30 Review: Software
This could be a divisive subject considering how much Oxygen OS has changed recently. Due to the company’s merger with Oppo, OxygenOS has taken on a look similar to Oppo’s Color OS. While that may be the case, I rather enjoy the software on the OnePlus Nord N30.
The software looks refined while a bit cartoonish in some areas. This is evident in the app drawer and Quick Settings with large and bubbly buttons.
One major strong point about the software is the set of visual customizations. You can change the wallpaper and theme just like with every other phone, but it goes deeper than that. Starting with the app icons, you can choose from five different icon shapes and dial in the actual size of the icons. There’s even a setting where you can choose how rounded the corners are. That’s only if you choose the rounded square option. There are other settings you can change like the screen transition and the app animation speed.
The software manages to stand apart as its own thing, but it doesn’t stray far from the core Android experience. Whether you’re used to OneUI, MyUX, Stock Android, etc., you’ll be able to pick up this phone and use it without a sweat.
[Updated March 2024] Latest update
The OnePlus Nord N30 is running on Oxygen OS version 14.0.0.201 on top of Android 14. this version of the software has the December 2023 security patch.
With Android 14, this phone got a few new additions to the software like:
Fluid Cloud: When certain apps are minimized, (say, if you start a timer with the OnePlus Clock app), you’ll see a little pill-shaped UI element go to the top of the screen that displays information on it. So, if you set a timer, it will show you how much time is left.
File Dock: This feature will let you pin files into a slide-out dock that lives on the side of your screen. It can be a way to store files temporarily.
Smart Cutout: With this feature, you can open a picture in the OnePlus Photos app and hold your finger down on a picture. Then, it will cut out the object that you’re holding. You’ll be able to copy it, save is as a file, and share it. You can also drag it to the Smart Dock.
Always-On Display: Android 14 brings an Always-On display to the Nord N30. This will show up when you turn your phone’s screen off. It will show you information like the time, date, notifications, and battery status. The Always-On display will also show you an image or animation.
As for the other changes, Android 14 brought the usual slew of performance, stability, and security updates.
OnePlus Nord N30 Review: Battery
This phone has a reliable battery, to say the least. Using it, I had no trouble getting a day and a half out of this phone. This includes moderate usage with gaming, video-watching, and social media scrolling. Power users will get less mileage, but they’ll still be able to make it to bed with a little bit of power in the tank.
As for charging, we all know OnePlus to hook its phones up with fast charging. This phone comes with a charger in the box (woohoo), and it’s a powerful 63W brick. This brick charges the phone insanely fast. I was able to top it off in just over an hour.
What’s missing?
When it comes to what’s missing from this phone, the list isn’t long. There’s no IP water and dust resistance and there’s no wireless charging. Since this is still a budget phone, the lack of them doesn’t dock phones from the phone. Just know that these are some features you’ll be missing out on if you get this phone.
Conclusion
Confession: When I got this phone at my door, I wasn’t all that excited. After reviewing the Nord N300, my hopes weren’t set too high for the Nord N30. However, the more I used this phone, the more I fell in love with it. The more reliable I found it. It excels in just about every area, and that says a lot about a $300 phone.
As I asked at the beginning of this review, is this phone worth the $300 price tag? My answer is no. It’s worth so much more. I highly recommend that you pick up this phone.
