OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite Review – Modest Upgrades, Great Value Budget Phone

The successor to last year’s OnePlus Nord CE 2 Lite, the new OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite that has just been launched in Malaysia is their latest budget addition to their line-up in Malaysia that adds several needed refinements including doubling the storage while paring the price down to just RM1,099.

We previously unboxed and took a firsthand look at its build and design. After taking it around for a whirl, here’s our OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite review where we share if it’s really worth your money!

OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite Review – Performance and Benchmarks

Compared to the older Nord CE 2 Lite, our newer OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite review sample weighs about the same at 195g but is slightly taller and wider as well as slightly slimmer to boot. 

Oddly enough, both phones use the same midrange Snapdragon 695 processor built on a 6nm process paired with a 5G modem though the newer Nord CE 3 Lite has a slightly larger 6.72-inch IPS LCD 120Hz display, double the amount of storage for units sold in Malaysia at 256GB, a larger 108MP primary rear camera sensor, faster 66W wired charging and the customary update to Android 13 and OxygenOS 13.1 out of the box with two years of OS updates and 3 years of security updates. 

In effect, these are modest updates to a proven design including two new colourways which consist of a safe and plain Chromatic Gray and in the case of our OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite review sample, an eye-catching shade of Pastel Lime. There is however no official drop or water resistance rating though the display is protected by Gorilla Glass of unknown provenance.  Here’s how the phone stacks up on paper:

Price	RM1,099
Display	6.72-inch IPS LCD, 1,080 x 2,400 pixels resolution, 120Hz refresh rate, 391ppi, 240Hz touch response rate
Processor	Snapdragon 695 5G
OS	Android 13 with Oxygen OS 13.1
Memory	8GB RAM/ 256GB storage
Cameras	108MPF/1.7 w/ autofocus + 2MP F/2.4 macro camera + 2MP depth sensor [rear]/16MP F/2.4 [front]
Battery	5,000mAh w/ 67W SuperVOOC fast charging
Size/Weight	165.5 x 76 x 8.3mm /195g

The Sapdragon 695 processor is a bit long in the tooth, seeing as it debuted back in 2021 though it’s more than serviceable for a midrange phone. Of note is that Oxygen OS 13.1 does have the option to allocate storage for additional virtual RAM called RAM expansion with a minimum of 4GB and up to 8GB of virtual RAM on demand. Fortunately storage isn’t an issue as the phone has a dual nano SIM/microSD card slot that supports up to 1TB microSD cards.

On default RAM expansion settings, our OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite review sample scored the following in benchmarks:

3D Mark Wild Life	1,215
3D Mark Wild Life Unlimited	1,208
3D Mark Wild Life Extreme	361
3D Mark Wild Life Extreme Unlimited	355
Geekbench 6 Single core	754
Geekbench 6 Multi core	1,830
Geekbench 6 OpenCL	1,317
Geekbench 6 Vulkan	1,230
PC Mark Work 3.0	10.051
PC Mark Battery Life	18 hours 54 mins

In terms of performance, the Snapdragon 695 processor in our OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite review unit did not wander too far off similarly equipped models like the Honor X9a. In effect, it’ll handle most general tasks like web browsing, emails and whatnot without issue while most games of recent vintage like Call of Duty Mobile and PUBG can be handled on low settings. 

The relatively efficient and proven CPU in tandem with the rather aggressive app management in Oxygen OS 3.1 enabled the phone to survive a whopping 18 hours 54 minutes in PCMark’s battery life test and it’s easily able to last northwards of two days with casual usage. The 67W SuperVOOC fast charging managed to juice it up in short order with the bundled charger juicing it to full in over an hour and 15 minutes from dead zero.

The provided IPS FHD+ LCD display offers fair performance with good colour rendition and sharpness for the odd Netflix show or two though brightness isn’t stellar outdoors under direct sunlight unless you max out the brightness and stay somewhere near the shade. Of note is that the refresh rate only maxed out to 120Hz when you’re navigating the user interface with most games and YouTube capped at 60Hz while web browsing is capped at 90Hz. It’s hardly stellar but serviceable for what you pay for. 

Paired with the display are stereo speakers that offer good volume and a fair amount of detail at normal sound levels but where it differs from the norm is that you can kick up the volume even higher to double at 200% using their Ultra Volume mode by simply holding the volume rocker up. This results in sound loud enough to fill a busy LRT carriage at rush hour and to their credit, it still manages to run through pop music and gaming at this ludicrous level of noise without distortion.

In general, the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite is a competent design that does the job on the performance front though it doesn’t offer any surprises.

OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite Review – Cameras

On the imaging front, the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite upgrades the rear primary camera to a large 108MP sensor with autofocus though it lacks optical image stabilisation. This is paired with two additional cameras though they are mostly afterthoughts with a secondary 2MP macro camera and a 2MP depth sensor riding shotgun. 

This combined setup enables the rear amera to take snaps at a lossless 3x zoom by cropping the feed from the main camera sensor and up to 6x digital zoom for stills while videos are capped at 1080p@30fps and up to 6x digital zoom. Up front, you get a 16MP selfie camera that can also take up to 1080p@30fps video.

Shots off the rear camera work best in daylight conditions with good colour rendition and detail though anything beyond 3x starts losing detail. Shots in low light offer fair quality but zoomed in shots do not fare as well. The front selfie camera does the job and like the rear camera, works best in daylight conditions. Videos for both the front and rear are middling at best.

Should you buy the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite?

The OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite integrates a selection of essential upgrades to a proven design to keep it competitive for 2023. For the modest price of RM1,099, you’re getting a large LCD display, exceptional battery life and serviceable performance for general use while also enjoying a free case and charger thrown in for good measure. If you’re looking for a budget phone that covers the bases, the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite is a sound choice.

OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite review sample courtesy of OnePlus Malaysia. For more details and to purchase please visit their official site at https://www.oneplus.com/my/oneplus-nord-ce-3-lite-5g