OnePlus has become synonymous with flagship phones over budget flagships in recent years. However, last year’s OnePlus Nord N105G proved that the company still has some budget phone chops. The OnePlus Nord N200 5G now costs $240. The Nord N200 would have risen to the top of my list of best budget phones if we only looked at the design. 5G is now available for less than $250. As is so often the case with phones, it’s all about what’s inside. The Nord N200 conceals some cracks beneath its beautiful exterior.
Depending on your priorities, you might not be concerned about its flaws, as the OnePlus Nord N200 5G delivers in a few key areas. But, read on to find out why some may want to skim the latest budget offering by OnePlus.
OnePlus Nord N200 5G Price and Configurations
The OnePlus Nord N200 5G starts at $240 and comes with 4GB RAM, 64GB storage, 5G support, and 5G. The OnePlus Nord N2005G is the perfect phone for you if you are concerned about choosing the proper configuration or color for your phone. The phone comes in one color, Blue Quantum, and there is no storage upgrade.
OnePlus Nord 5G: Performance
It had been concealing it quite well up until now. However, the OnePlus Nord N200 5G’s Qualcomm Snapdragon 480 processor makes it a budget phone. This phone comes with 4GB RAM. It is what I consider acceptable for a budget Android smartphone in 2021. Although 64GB seems a little disappointing, the MicroSD slot allows you to double or triple your storage for as low as $10-20.
The Snapdragon 480 was a budget processor, but it performed well for most of my daily tasks. It was easy to launch a few Google Chrome browser (extensions) tabs and run a Netflix video in the background. There was an occasional stutter, but it wasn’t noticeable. It was amazing that it kept up with the 90Hz refresh rate considering I had to stick to it. If you want to play more than a card or puzzle game, you will need to find other options. This was supported by the Geekbench 5 multicore score of 1,602, Which gave it a decisive edge over the Moto G Power (1.437) with its older Snapdragon 642, but the Snapdragon 690-powered Nord N105G (1.843) was too much.
Graphics benchmarks are a better way to see the gaming prowess and performance of the OnePlus Nord N200 5G than my soon abandoned attempts at PUBG. In the Wild Life Unlimited 3DMark test, it managed just 5.8 frames per second. It could beat the Moto G Power (2.2 fps) and the OnePlus Nord N105G (4.8 fps), although there aren’t any real winners. The OnePlus Nord N200-5G is perfectly capable of basic tasks. OnePlus may need to optimize the animations, but it is remarkable for a phone this low-priced.
OnePlus Nord N200 5G: Charge and battery life
The Nord N200 can compete with flagship phones in battery capacity, just like many budget phones. The massive 5,000mAh battery of the Nord N200 is comparable to the Samsung Galaxy S21 UHT0. It’s easy to imagine that the Nord N200 would last several days. Here are some other components that can wear down. The Nord N200 is unable to compete with the rest.
The OnePlus Nord N2005G at full 90Hz managed to last 10 hours and 28 mins in our tests. This includes constant web browsing via cellular at 150 nits. This was 10:37 when the refresh rate was dropped to 60Hz. This is far below Moto G Power’s 14:04 and even more than last year’s OnePlus Nord 5G’s 11:48.
This was consistent with my experience with the phone. The phone was capable of running a regular 7:30 AM to 10:30 PM schedule on most days. I usually plug in the Nord with between 15-20% remaining. A typical day on a review device involves web browsing for between 90 and 2 hours, streaming Netflix or YouTube, social media use, and finally capturing photos and videos.
The OnePlus Nord N2005G 5G supports an 18W wired fast charge. Although it’s nice that this feature is available, it may be not very pleasant for OnePlus enthusiasts who have grown to expect faster charging. The OnePlus flagships can now charge 65W faster than the 30W charging of last year’s budget OnePlus Nord 10 5G. The Nord N200 reached 32% after 30 minutes of testing. It was 16% by 15 minutes.
OnePlus Nord 5G Cameras
A glance at the back may lead you to believe that the OnePlus Nord N200 5G has a triple camera array similar to flagships like OnePlus 9 Pro. Unfortunately, this is not the case. This is where you will start to feel the budget price. Its primary sensor is a 13MP wide-angle sensor at f/2.2. This is not a good start. The rest of the sensors are progressively less helpful, with a 2MP macro at F/2.4 and a 2-MP monochrome at F/2.4.
I tried to set realistic expectations with this phone. It’s less than $250, and it won’t hold up to flagships that cost $400-500. But I was still disappointed. Even in full daylight, the primary 13MP camera is insufficient and fails under even moderate lighting conditions. The primary camera’s shot is blurred, and the colors are wrong. You have the option to zoom in at 2x-8x, but you should not use these as the colors are worsening and focus is failing.
OnePlus Nord N200 5G macro
The front-facing camera has a 16MP sensor and an unusual f/2.05 aperture. It altered the image even with the beauty mode off (it is on by default). These samples will give you a better idea of its struggles to balance lighting. It was in HDR mode on all these images and couldn’t handle the changing light. The OnePlus Nord N200-5G 5G is not the best choice if a great camera is on your list. Stick with the Nord N10 5G OnePlus if you love it. It produces better images and has an ultra-wide lens.
Software for OnePlus
The OnePlus Nord N2005G runs Android 11. with OxygenOS 11 from OnePlus. Although OxygenOS is a modified version of Samsung’s One UI, it offers a more stock experience and has more customization options than the standard Android. This is changing with Android12. OnePlus promises to update the software on the OnePlus Nord N200 5G. Only one major Android OS update will be available to you, which will launch in a few months. The phone will still be supported for three years with security updates. However, two major updates are recommended, even for budget phones.
Bottom line
The OnePlus Nord N2005G 5G is my favorite sub-$250 smartphone. The camera is the most important of these. If you want to capture photos or videos with your smartphone, you should leave it at home as the Nord N200’s camera is not up to the task. OnePlus can continuously improve its software. But don’t count on it happening.
However, you get only one software update that arrives within a few months after the phone launches. That’s unacceptable. These two shortcomings can be overlooked, but the phone is otherwise excellent. It is comparable to phones twice its price. However, for most people, these concessions are too significant to ignore.
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