It’s a cloudy and humid day in Vietnam, and we’re on a wooden boat in the middle of the Mekong River. Lush green canopies bless us overhead, and a gentle afternoon breeze flows, as an elderly Vietnamese grandma with more arm strength and agility than three of us guests combined on the boat, steers us ahead with grace. She looks back every once in a while, and smiles kindly, and I can’t help but want to capture it. Thankfully, I have just the phone for it. The latest OnePlus Nord 5, which I’m here to test. From cafes to river deltas, to dinner cruises, the latest Nord flagship was witness to it all, and here’s what it’s truly capable of. 

Design

While there are three colour variants of the OnePlus Nord 5, I feel I’ve got the prettiest of the lot - Marble Sands with a pearly white shimmery finish. There’s also the more staid Phantom Grey with a matte finish and a Dry Ice with a soft-blue reflective finish. The phone weighs around 211 grams, and the build feels sleek despite the 6.83 inch display. 

OnePlus loyalists, brace themselves — the iconic Alert Slider has now been redesigned and repurposed. It’s now called the Plus Key, and can be used to toggle between ring, vibrate, and silent modes. A single press, meanwhile, is customisable — you can map it to functions such as opening the camera, flashlight, translation tool, or even the new AI-powered Mind Space digital vault.

Display & multimedia 

The 6.8-inch OLED display is bright and vivid, as expected, and is a delight to use for someone who likes bigger smartphones and ample screen real estate. The display also offers adaptive refresh rates of up to 144 Hz. I cue up Flex X Cop, a South Korean detective drama with a fair bit of humour, centered around a chaebol heir who ends up working for the local police department. The visuals really pop on the OLED display, with the darker-toned scenes not losing any detail. With plenty of action and car chases, it’s truly a delight to watch the series on this smartphone. The audio is crisp and well-rounded. I revisit an old favourite, Kiiara’s Gold, and the bass surprisingly doesn’t suffer at all on the handset. 

Camera

The OnePlus Nord 5 features a dual-camera system that includes a 50 MP Sony LYT-700 main sensor and an 8 MP ultra-wide lens. On a dinner cruise along the Saigon River stretch that runs through downtown Ho Chi Minh City, we got the chance to capture some low-light photos, and these turned out pretty great. The neon colours on high-rises that dot the riverbank, as well as the warm accent lights on these buildings, were captured well. Portrait mode renders a soft, pleasant bokeh effect with accurate edge detection. I took a couple of ultra-wide shots of the riverbank and the traffic alongside, during the day, and zoomed in to see that it had captured the frame with a fair amount of detail. In more low-light conditions, the colour tones shift a bit, when I switch between the main camera and the ultrawide lens. If you’re a perfectionist, there’s an AI Recompose feature that will help you re-frame the shot in post-processing so your frame has the perfect pleasing proportions. 

The front camera is a 50 MP ISOCELL sensor, and delivers some decent selfies. The camera is good enough to use to log in to online meetings and webinars, as the video quality isn’t grainy at all. Both the front and rear main cameras on the OnePlus Nord 5 support 4K 60fps video capture, and are great for capturing short videos on a trip or for a vlog.

Tech Specs

The OnePlus Nord 5 is powered by the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 platform, which also powers the likes of Motorola Edge 50 Ultra and realme GT 6. It’s a fairly capable processor that allows for extended gaming sessions without the device heating up much, and easy multitasking across apps. I had a couple of sessions of Call of Duty: Mobile, and the frame rates stayed consistent at 60 fps for most of the gameplay. During a 20-30 minute gaming session, the smartphone didn’t heat up at all, nor were there any lags or stutters on-screen. The unit I reviewed had 12 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage.

Circle to Search and Gemini Live Camera both find their place on this smartphone, which now packs in more AI features than ever. With the latest update, there are real-time call translation capabilities, along with summaries. There’s also AI Voice Scribe, which has the ability to integrate with third-party apps such as WhatsApp, Instagram, Telegram, Google Meet, YouTube and more to provide real-time captions or audio summaries of conversations. 

The OnePlus Nord 5 also lets users transfer files seamlessly between a OnePlus device and a Mac or Windows PC, and directly view phone files from their computer, without the need to download anything.

Battery 

The OnePlus Nord 5 is equipped with a 6,800 mAh high-density battery and one of the longest-running we’ve seen in this segment.  With moderate usage that involved taking photos and videos, streaming music, and catching up on reels, the smartphone would easily still have at least 50 per cent battery left at the end of most days. The smartphone supports 80 W SUPERVOOC charging, and it takes the smartphone close to an hour to charge fully from zero. 

Verdict

The OnePlus Nord 5 continues the brand’s tradition of offering value-packed devices, now with a touch of AI flair and reliable performance to back it up. From its eye-catching design and vibrant OLED display to the dependable dual-camera setup and marathon battery life, the Nord 5 ticks most boxes for Indian users looking for a solid all-rounder with an affordable price tag.

That said, the absence of the iconic Alert Slider may disappoint loyalists, and while the cameras are capable, they’re not necessarily a leap forward. Still, with AI integrations like Mind Space and Circle to Search, plus efficient multitasking and smooth gaming, the Nord 5 makes a strong case for itself in a crowded mid-premium segment.

Published on July 9, 2025