OnePlus Nord 2T Review - Should You Buy

The OnePlus 10T: A Powerhouse of Efficiency and Performance

When it comes to flagship phones, one of the most important factors to consider is performance. The new OnePlus 10T has caught my attention with its impressive specs and power efficiency, which sets it apart from other mid-range devices in its class. The device's peak score is a whopping 99%, with a stability rating that surpasses even high-end phones like the Nord 2, which scores around 60%. This is a testament to the phone's ability to handle demanding tasks without throttling or slowing down.

One of the key features that sets the 10T apart from its competitors is its power efficiency. The device's more efficient chip has eliminated throttling, which is a major advantage for gamers. According to the reviewer, the 10T is around 10-15% faster than the Nord 2, although this difference may not be noticeable in everyday use. However, the stability that comes with the phone's performance makes it feel noticeably better, especially during longer gaming sessions.

The OnePlus 10T also boasts a sleek design and a high refresh rate display. The reviewer notes that while the device doesn't compete directly with flagship phones featuring Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processors, its power efficiency and software features make it a formidable option for those seeking a fast and responsive phone without breaking the bank. The Oxygen OS 12.1 on top of Android 12 plays a significant role in this aspect, providing a seamless user experience.

The OnePlus 10T's camera hardware is identical to that of the Nord 2, with no notable upgrades or additions. This includes a 50MP main camera, an 8MP ultra-wide lens, and a 2MP monochrome sensor for improved portrait shots. While the camera performance is solid, especially in good lighting conditions, it struggles in low-light environments with noise and white balance issues creeping in. The reviewer notes that while the phone's night mode feature does make a noticeable difference, the video capabilities leave much to be desired.

One of the most significant drawbacks of the OnePlus 10T is its LCD display instead of AMOLED. However, if you're on a tighter budget, the Nord C2 Lite starts at £279 and offers some features like microSD card slots and headphone jacks that are absent from this device. Ultimately, the choice between these devices comes down to individual preferences and priorities.

Camera Features and Performance

The OnePlus 10T's camera hardware is impressive, with a combination of sensors that deliver solid results in good lighting conditions. However, as mentioned earlier, the phone struggles in low-light environments. The reviewer notes that while the night mode feature does improve image quality slightly, it also takes longer to capture images compared to other devices.

The device's 32MP front camera is capable of producing bright and sharp selfies, although I was disappointed by its performance in video recording. The top-out resolution is capped at 4K, with poor stabilization making it difficult to use for handheld footage or situations requiring smooth panning. The AI-enhanced feature does help improve the dynamic range during video capture.

Considering the overall camera capabilities of the OnePlus 10T and other devices like the Galaxy A53 and Pixel 6A, which offer more significant upgrades in terms of hardware sensor quality, I'm left wondering if this device truly offers enough to justify its price point. While it's a solid option for those seeking a powerful but affordable phone, there's little room for innovation or upgrade beyond what's already available from the competition.

Comparison and Recommendations

If you're considering purchasing the OnePlus 10T, I would recommend weighing its pros and cons against other options in its class. The device offers impressive power efficiency, a fast processor, and Oxygen OS software, making it an attractive choice for those seeking a responsive phone without breaking the bank. However, if budget allows, alternatives like the Galaxy A53 or Pixel 6A might offer more significant upgrades in terms of camera hardware and overall performance.

Ultimately, while the OnePlus 10T is worth considering due to its power efficiency and affordability, I'm left wondering if it truly justifies its price point based on the limited upgrades compared to other devices. Nevertheless, for those seeking a solid but affordable phone with impressive specs, this device is definitely worth exploring further.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enokay hands up if like me you're starting to feel just a little bit overwhelmed by the sheer number of phones that OnePlus are pumping out this is the brand new Nord 2T I also have the where is it this one the Nord C2 light and there's about eight nine other options available anyway let's put that just to one side for a moment and talk about this guy it is the new Nord 2T which is a slightly upgraded and also surprisingly slight cheaper version of the Nord 2 this guy which came out 9 months ago in July 2021 so while this isn't quite a full Nord 3 and from the front you'd be kind of hard pressed to tell the difference between them there are still some welcome upgrades here to the processor we get more RAM faster charging there's a few camera software tweaks and of course we get the latest oxygen OS and Android software this is basically their Flagship mid-range phone if that makes sense the Nord 2T starts from £369 which is actually less than the £399 the Nord 2 originally sold for and also we're getting 8 gigs of RAM rather than six along with 128 storage if you want you can actually pay an extra £80 to get this with 12 gigs of RAM and 256 storage but really I probably wouldn't do that I would stick with this uh the entry level model which I have here because this is a mid-range phone it is all about value for money and I probably wouldn't bother going for 12 gigs of RAM especially as this does now support RAM boost which is not an exact replacement for having uh more RAM but it does use a little bit of your storage and while not as fast it can well as it says on the tin boost your RAM if and when necessary so 369 that makes this pretty interesting actually not just because it's 30 cheaper than the n 2 was although because that's been out for a while it's now discounted so about the same price but not only does this undercut the iPhone SE by 50 Quid this is also cheaper than the Galaxy the a53 at 399 uh which I reckon is probably this guy's closest rival plus of course you get the new 80 wat super vuk charger in the box the same one that you get with the flagship 10 Pro and actually means you can top this up from 0 to 100% in 27 minutes which is not too shabby at all and you get the charge included and it's 30 cheaper so arguably this is a better value option the a53 but I think in practice it's going to come down to day-to-day performance camera quality and also the software support which I think is one area Samsung may have this beat because they offer four years of Android updates with a fifth security year update whereas we only get two years of Android updates promised with a third year of security updates anyway moving on what do you make of this design I've got the very glossy Jade fog color here which as you can see has a slightly green tint to it but it is basically grayy silver even though there's another color called gray shadow but they both get Gilla glass 5 on the front and the back nothing new there although we do get this new metallized frame and some minor silver accent frames around on the camera I must admit it's not my favorite design uh from a distance these camera modules look quite impressive and almost imposing but actually up close the lenses are kind of all over the place it kind of looks like an illegitimate child of the Huawei p50 and the OnePlus 9 from the front you really can't tell any difference versus the original Nord 2 both phones have this slightly chunkier chin at the bottom which means we have this asymmetrical bezel but none of that really matters and at 8.2 mm thick and with a 6.43 in screen it is really comfortable to hold and use and I also do appreciate that we get a screen protector on it as well the screen itself is actually identical to the Nord 2 there is no difference still 90 HZ still full HD AMOLED still 6.43 in which is a little bit disappointing I had kind of hoped for a bump up to 120 HZ like we get with the Galaxy a53 although one new feature is that we now get dual ambient light sensors one on the front and one on the back which apparently makes it better at sensing lighting conditions around you and adjusting the screen's brightness accordingly not exactly a headline upgrade though I think you'd agree we do still get stereo speakers although in my experience the bottom firing one is a lot louder so it can sound a little bit one-sided and like before there is still no micro SD or headphone jack here both of which we do get on this the new Nord C2 light which is also about1 cheaper now we do get a pretty good size 4,500 mAh battery in here again no surprises same as before and while I have already been using this for a few days it does seem to perform quite well I'm getting to about 11:00 p.m. at night with about 25% still in the tank plus of course you can quickly top it up thanks to that super vuk charger although the is still no wireless charging now we'll come to this camera in just a second but first I reckon the biggest upgrade with this 2T is the fact that we have this new dimensity 1300 processor which is a smaller 6 nanom chip versus the 7 nanm dimensity 1200 AI that we get in the standard Nord 2 and it's actually a decent little upgrade putting it side by side with the n 2 which actually is the highest spec 12 gig model I have here so it's not actually quite on an even playing field with a 2T but despite that in multicore the 2T is 14% faster although we're not seeing that change for the single core but then if we switch over to the 3D Mark Wildlife stress test not only is the peak score 10% higher but just look at that stability 99% versus around 60 so this new more efficient chip has basically eliminated throttling which of course is a really big deal for gamers so it's about 10 to 15% faster than the Nord 2 not something you'd really notice in everyday use although as would say the stability that you get especially with longer gaming sessions will be noticeable but I think for most people day-to-day use I would much rather have seen a 120 HZ upgrade over this 90 HZ for me at least that would have been a much more significant upgrade but still while this doesn't compete with the performance of proper Flagship phones with Snapdragon 8 gen 1es it's still plenty fast enough for COD mobile and even a bit of genin impact but it is still mainly thanks to oxygen OS and we're now on 12.1 on top of Android 12 that makes the biggest impact for the 2T feeling fast and responsive to use Plus there's a healthy amount of customization options although in China and some other countries OnePlus phones have now fully transitioned to oppo's color OS but at least here in the UK we are still on oxygen OS so the demens 1300 is all about power efficiency but it does also unlock a few new software features for the camera with improved night mode shots and also better dynamic range in video so let's talk about this camera which won't take long because the camera Hardware on both the front and the back is a identical to the Nord 2 there is nothing different we get the same 50 megap main camera the 8 megap Ultra wide and also a 2 megapixel what they call monol lens which is essentially a depth sensor for improving portrait shots and we're also getting the same 32 megap selfie camera up front so while there is nothing really new the camera is still pretty good given the price and as you can see from these photos I've taken with it in good light we do get bright sharp and natural looking shots although as expected it does start to struggle a little bit in low light with noise and white balance issues cropping in although side by side with the Nord 2 the two T's improv night mode does seem to make a small but noticeable difference you can also see that the 2T takes these night mode photos a lot faster which of course is important if you have moving subjects so you get less blurry night mode shots although I must admit I am a bit disappointed by the video it tops out at 4k on the back and TTP up front and in good light the quality is decent but honestly the rubbish stabilization makes 4K pretty much unusable unless you're standing still and even TTP can look a bit jerky of course lighting makes a big difference and I would recommend turning on the AI enhancement which significantly improves the dynamic range but I think that while I haven't fully reviewed the Galaxy a53 yet my impression so far is that that does offer for a better camera system it's a tricky one this because on the one hand this is cheaper than the n 2 and also better with the faster charging uh the extra Ram the faster and more stabile stabile stable processor and a couple little camera software tweaks and also the slightly refresh design but I'm not really sure if that's a good thing or not so certainly if you were considering buying a Nord 2 then don't get the 2T but on the other hand have they done enough to really keep up with the comp competition like the Galaxy a53 and indeed the pixel 6A both of which are a little bit more expensive than this so bear that in mind I think for 369 this base model is definitely worth considering but I just wish there was a bit more of an upgrade here perhaps to 120 HZ perhaps a slightly improved camera uh from a hardware sensor point of view it's just a bit boring but what do you reckon would you be tempted to buy this or maybe the a53 or the pixel the iPhone SE let me know in the comments below but also while I haven't talked about it that much it is worth considering this if you are on a tighter budget the Nord 2 no Nord C2 light uh which starts at £279 and also as to say you get some features like micro SD and headphone Jacks that you don't get with this the main downside of this is that it's an LCD rather than AMOLED screen but if you can live with that definitely worth considering thank you so much for watching guys if you want to see more from me don't forget to hit that subscribe button and ding that Bell icon on all those annoying YouTuber things and I'll see you next time right here on the tech chat homeokay hands up if like me you're starting to feel just a little bit overwhelmed by the sheer number of phones that OnePlus are pumping out this is the brand new Nord 2T I also have the where is it this one the Nord C2 light and there's about eight nine other options available anyway let's put that just to one side for a moment and talk about this guy it is the new Nord 2T which is a slightly upgraded and also surprisingly slight cheaper version of the Nord 2 this guy which came out 9 months ago in July 2021 so while this isn't quite a full Nord 3 and from the front you'd be kind of hard pressed to tell the difference between them there are still some welcome upgrades here to the processor we get more RAM faster charging there's a few camera software tweaks and of course we get the latest oxygen OS and Android software this is basically their Flagship mid-range phone if that makes sense the Nord 2T starts from £369 which is actually less than the £399 the Nord 2 originally sold for and also we're getting 8 gigs of RAM rather than six along with 128 storage if you want you can actually pay an extra £80 to get this with 12 gigs of RAM and 256 storage but really I probably wouldn't do that I would stick with this uh the entry level model which I have here because this is a mid-range phone it is all about value for money and I probably wouldn't bother going for 12 gigs of RAM especially as this does now support RAM boost which is not an exact replacement for having uh more RAM but it does use a little bit of your storage and while not as fast it can well as it says on the tin boost your RAM if and when necessary so 369 that makes this pretty interesting actually not just because it's 30 cheaper than the n 2 was although because that's been out for a while it's now discounted so about the same price but not only does this undercut the iPhone SE by 50 Quid this is also cheaper than the Galaxy the a53 at 399 uh which I reckon is probably this guy's closest rival plus of course you get the new 80 wat super vuk charger in the box the same one that you get with the flagship 10 Pro and actually means you can top this up from 0 to 100% in 27 minutes which is not too shabby at all and you get the charge included and it's 30 cheaper so arguably this is a better value option the a53 but I think in practice it's going to come down to day-to-day performance camera quality and also the software support which I think is one area Samsung may have this beat because they offer four years of Android updates with a fifth security year update whereas we only get two years of Android updates promised with a third year of security updates anyway moving on what do you make of this design I've got the very glossy Jade fog color here which as you can see has a slightly green tint to it but it is basically grayy silver even though there's another color called gray shadow but they both get Gilla glass 5 on the front and the back nothing new there although we do get this new metallized frame and some minor silver accent frames around on the camera I must admit it's not my favorite design uh from a distance these camera modules look quite impressive and almost imposing but actually up close the lenses are kind of all over the place it kind of looks like an illegitimate child of the Huawei p50 and the OnePlus 9 from the front you really can't tell any difference versus the original Nord 2 both phones have this slightly chunkier chin at the bottom which means we have this asymmetrical bezel but none of that really matters and at 8.2 mm thick and with a 6.43 in screen it is really comfortable to hold and use and I also do appreciate that we get a screen protector on it as well the screen itself is actually identical to the Nord 2 there is no difference still 90 HZ still full HD AMOLED still 6.43 in which is a little bit disappointing I had kind of hoped for a bump up to 120 HZ like we get with the Galaxy a53 although one new feature is that we now get dual ambient light sensors one on the front and one on the back which apparently makes it better at sensing lighting conditions around you and adjusting the screen's brightness accordingly not exactly a headline upgrade though I think you'd agree we do still get stereo speakers although in my experience the bottom firing one is a lot louder so it can sound a little bit one-sided and like before there is still no micro SD or headphone jack here both of which we do get on this the new Nord C2 light which is also about1 cheaper now we do get a pretty good size 4,500 mAh battery in here again no surprises same as before and while I have already been using this for a few days it does seem to perform quite well I'm getting to about 11:00 p.m. at night with about 25% still in the tank plus of course you can quickly top it up thanks to that super vuk charger although the is still no wireless charging now we'll come to this camera in just a second but first I reckon the biggest upgrade with this 2T is the fact that we have this new dimensity 1300 processor which is a smaller 6 nanom chip versus the 7 nanm dimensity 1200 AI that we get in the standard Nord 2 and it's actually a decent little upgrade putting it side by side with the n 2 which actually is the highest spec 12 gig model I have here so it's not actually quite on an even playing field with a 2T but despite that in multicore the 2T is 14% faster although we're not seeing that change for the single core but then if we switch over to the 3D Mark Wildlife stress test not only is the peak score 10% higher but just look at that stability 99% versus around 60 so this new more efficient chip has basically eliminated throttling which of course is a really big deal for gamers so it's about 10 to 15% faster than the Nord 2 not something you'd really notice in everyday use although as would say the stability that you get especially with longer gaming sessions will be noticeable but I think for most people day-to-day use I would much rather have seen a 120 HZ upgrade over this 90 HZ for me at least that would have been a much more significant upgrade but still while this doesn't compete with the performance of proper Flagship phones with Snapdragon 8 gen 1es it's still plenty fast enough for COD mobile and even a bit of genin impact but it is still mainly thanks to oxygen OS and we're now on 12.1 on top of Android 12 that makes the biggest impact for the 2T feeling fast and responsive to use Plus there's a healthy amount of customization options although in China and some other countries OnePlus phones have now fully transitioned to oppo's color OS but at least here in the UK we are still on oxygen OS so the demens 1300 is all about power efficiency but it does also unlock a few new software features for the camera with improved night mode shots and also better dynamic range in video so let's talk about this camera which won't take long because the camera Hardware on both the front and the back is a identical to the Nord 2 there is nothing different we get the same 50 megap main camera the 8 megap Ultra wide and also a 2 megapixel what they call monol lens which is essentially a depth sensor for improving portrait shots and we're also getting the same 32 megap selfie camera up front so while there is nothing really new the camera is still pretty good given the price and as you can see from these photos I've taken with it in good light we do get bright sharp and natural looking shots although as expected it does start to struggle a little bit in low light with noise and white balance issues cropping in although side by side with the Nord 2 the two T's improv night mode does seem to make a small but noticeable difference you can also see that the 2T takes these night mode photos a lot faster which of course is important if you have moving subjects so you get less blurry night mode shots although I must admit I am a bit disappointed by the video it tops out at 4k on the back and TTP up front and in good light the quality is decent but honestly the rubbish stabilization makes 4K pretty much unusable unless you're standing still and even TTP can look a bit jerky of course lighting makes a big difference and I would recommend turning on the AI enhancement which significantly improves the dynamic range but I think that while I haven't fully reviewed the Galaxy a53 yet my impression so far is that that does offer for a better camera system it's a tricky one this because on the one hand this is cheaper than the n 2 and also better with the faster charging uh the extra Ram the faster and more stabile stabile stable processor and a couple little camera software tweaks and also the slightly refresh design but I'm not really sure if that's a good thing or not so certainly if you were considering buying a Nord 2 then don't get the 2T but on the other hand have they done enough to really keep up with the comp competition like the Galaxy a53 and indeed the pixel 6A both of which are a little bit more expensive than this so bear that in mind I think for 369 this base model is definitely worth considering but I just wish there was a bit more of an upgrade here perhaps to 120 HZ perhaps a slightly improved camera uh from a hardware sensor point of view it's just a bit boring but what do you reckon would you be tempted to buy this or maybe the a53 or the pixel the iPhone SE let me know in the comments below but also while I haven't talked about it that much it is worth considering this if you are on a tighter budget the Nord 2 no Nord C2 light uh which starts at £279 and also as to say you get some features like micro SD and headphone Jacks that you don't get with this the main downside of this is that it's an LCD rather than AMOLED screen but if you can live with that definitely worth considering thank you so much for watching guys if you want to see more from me don't forget to hit that subscribe button and ding that Bell icon on all those annoying YouTuber things and I'll see you next time right here on the tech chat home\n"