OnePlus Nord Buds 2r and OnePlus Nord 3 5G first look – Budget Friendly Phone With The Works and Buds Unboxed
Ahead of their official launch in Malaysia, we managed to get our hands on a sample of their latest addition to their midrange smartphone line-up dubbed the OnePlus Nord 3 5G as well as the similarly angled budget OnePlus Buds 2r earbuds. Here’s our OnePlus Nord Buds 2r and OnePlus Nord 3 5G first look where we pop them out of the box and give them a quick whirl around the block.
OnePlus Nord 3 5G first look – Build and Design
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Midrange phones are typically designed as a compromise between performance, specifications and cost though usually something gets lost along the way. Intended as the successor to the earlier Nord 2 2T 5G that was launched a couple of years ago locally, the new OnePlus Nord 3 5G improves on its predecessor in almost every way from its display, processor, cameras and battery performance for the modest trade-off of a slight weight increase by 3.5g to 193.5g.
When compared to the earlier Nord 2T 5G, the OnePlus Nord 3 5G is slightly taller by 3.5mm, slightly wider by 1.9mm as well as a bit thinner by 0.1mm which can’t readily be seen with the naked eye unless you compared both phones side by side.
Dimensions aside, the phone has similar aesthetics as its predecessor with an aluminium chassis sandwiched by a light teal green backplate that they’ve designated as Halo Green. The backplate does bear somewhat of a similarity to the earlier Nord 2T though the camera housing lacks a squarish island and is instead mostly flush with the casing.
The rear of our OnePlus Nord 3 5G first look sample hosts a triple camera array within two camera housings with the upper housing hosting a larger main camera and the lower housing hosting two additional cameras.
Up front, our OnePlus Nord 3 5G first look sample has a flat 6.74-inch AMOLED display with a top-centre mounted punch hole which hosts a 16MP selfie camera.
Our OnePlus Nord 3 5G first look revealed that the phone hosts the ever popular alert slider which is a mainstay for OnePlus designs.
The screen itself is surprisingly large with a 93.5% screen to body ratio on account of slim bezels all around. It’s also rated for 10-bit colour depth and has HDR10+, Netflix HDR and Amazon Prime Video HDR support for all the major content streaming services.
Flanking the phone are stereo speakers tuned by Dolby Atmos with one in a tiny slit just above the selfie camera and one at the base of the phone alongside the USB-C port and SIM card tray.
Unlike prior offerings, the OnePlus Nord 3 5G hosts an alert slider on the right for easier management of notifications along with a power button while the left side hosts a volume rocker.
Interestingly enough, the rear of our OnePlus Nord 3 5G first look sample is protected by Gorilla Glass 5 while the front utilises Dragontrail Glass.
Protecting the rear is a slab of Corning Gorilla Glass 5 while the display itself gets protected by Dragontrail glass which purportedly has similar anti-scratch and protective qualities as Gorilla Glass. The phone is also rated for an IP54 dust and water protection rating which allows it to shrug off modest splashes of water like sweat and rain.
Build quality is solid in the case of our OnePlus Nord 3 5G first look sample and it has a pleasant heft to it while having a wonderful tactility on account of its use of glass on the rear as well as its gently rounded corners and edges. Perhaps the only gripe here is that both the front and rear are fingerprint magnets which require frequent wipedowns.
Out of the box, you get the usual warranty literature, an 80W SUperVOOC fast charger, a USB-C cable and the phone itself. Unfortunately, they didn’t toss in a phone casing this time around though they did pre-apply a screen protector to the display.
OnePlus Nord Buds 2r first look – Build and Design
Also provided with our OnePlus Nord 3 5 first look sample was their latest midrange OnePlus Nord Buds 2r wireless earbuds that come in a rather unique, cerulean shade of matte blue that resists fingerprints wonderfully.
The earbuds themselves, the ear tips and parts of the trim of the charging case are done up in a deeper shade of blue. Compared to the sea of grey and black contenders in the market, the OnePlus Nord Buds 2r looks very distinctive indeed.
While it’s somewhat obvious that it’s made of polycarbonate, the earbuds and the charging case are attractively designed and feel sturdy which is fair seeing its intended role as an affordable pair of wireless earbuds for general purpose use. Of note is the fact that the earbuds are rated for IP55 for dust and sweat resistance which means it’ll be able to survive the odd rain storm or sweat in a workout though the case doesn’t have such protection.
The case itself is a bit on the chunky side but its rounded corners still make it relatively pocketable while allowing for easy one-handed opening. At the rear of the case is a USB-C charging port while an LED charging indicator is located up front though the case itself oddly lacks a pairing or hard reset button.
Seeing that it’s intended as an affordable offering, the OnePlus Nord Buds 2r does not host active noise cancellation and is primarily reliant on a good passive seal by the silicone ear tips to tamp down on external noise.
Bundled with the packaging is a whimsical emoji sticker, a set of smaller and larger silicone ear tips, a USB-C charging cable and the usual paperwork.
OnePlus Nord Buds 2r and One Plus Nord 3 5G Price
At the time of writing, they did not announce how much the OnePlus Nord 3 5G phone nor the OnePlus Nord Buds 2r earbuds would cost save that they would be affordable. In the meantime, we’ll be putting it through its paces! Stay tuned for our full review for both OnePlus devices soon!
OnePlus Nord Buds 2r and OnePlus Nord 3 5G first look sample courtesy of OnePlus Malaysia. For more details please check out their official page at https://www.oneplus.com/my