OnePlus Nord CE 5 review: Battery to UI, this mid-ranger ticks right boxes

Though a core-edition model with a cost-effective pricing, the OnePlus Nord CE 5 offers a capable hardware, some smart AI touches, big capacity battery with support for fast charge, and a clean UI

OnePlus has launched the next-generation Nord smartphones in India, comprising the OnePlus Nord 5 (review) and OnePlus Nord CE 5. As per the annual tradition, the former is slightly inclined towards the premium segment, whereas the latter aims to strike a balance between budget pricing and specifications that the company offers.

 

Aligning with the same, the OnePlus Nord CE 5 is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 8350 Apex chipset, which is a slightly tweaked version of the MediaTek Dimensity 8350 chip. It packsw a massive 7100mAh battery, brings native AI tools and is priced at Rs 22,999. But does it really stand out in the mid-ranger smartphone segment? Let’s find out:

 

Design

The OnePlus Nord CE 5 offers a clean look overall. However, it does take the mantle from its predecessor Nord CE 4 to sport a plastic black rather than coming with the mirror back, which we had seen in Nord CE 3 Lite around two years ago. The decision to ship the most budget-friendly model in the Nord 3 lineup with a mirror back design and then switching to plastic thereafter still seems a poor decision with regard to aesthetics.

 

Nonetheless, it is what it is now, so apart from the plastic back, the smartphone features a vertical camera module resting on the top left corner, somewhat giving an iPhone 16 vibe. Even the OnePlus Nord CE 5’s Nexus Blue colour reminds me a lot of the iPhone 16 Ultramarine colour variant. The OnePlus branding is right at the centre of the back panel, aligning with the Apple branding in the iPhone 16.

 

Coming to the sides of the frame, the OnePlus Nord CE 5 sports a metal finish on the side frames of the panel. The right frame features a spotless design, whereas the left features the power and volume buttons. The top frame features a clean look, but the bottom houses a SIM tray, a USB-C type port for charging and data transfer, and a speaker grille. One thing to note here is the absence of a customisable smart button. Additionally, measuring 8.17mm in thickness and weighing 199g, the OnePlus Nord CE 5 stands tall as an aesthetically pleasing, lightweight smartphone that’s comfortable to use and can be used single-handedly too.

 

As for endurance, the OnePlus Nord CE 5 has a durable build but, for its display, it might be a wise idea to back it up with tempered glass otherwise, it’s possible that the glass can crack or get damaged slightly. The smartphone features an IP65 rating for dust and water resistance.

Display and audio

The OnePlus Nord CE 5 has a 6.77-inch fullHD+ AMOLED display with support for Ultra HDR colour depth and contrast. The flat display and sleek bezels in the OnePlus Nord CE 5 offer generous viewing space and a noticeable multimedia experience. The viewing angles seemed fine to me, with extreme reflection ruining my multimedia experience a rare thing.

 

The display boasts a peak brightness of 1,430nits, which is enough for everyday use. Using the device indoors was perfectly fine, but using it outdoors under the harsh Delhi sunlight became a  issue at times, especially due to glare. While using GPS during my motorcycle ride at around 1 pm, I did have to occasionally stop once or twice at certain places with harsh lighting conditions to be able to see the next turn.

 

The 120Hz refresh rate of the display makes scrolling smooth and the overall UI snappy. OxygenOS 15 adds to that by letting you tweak refresh rates per app, even push some beyond the usual cap.

 

As for the colour reproduction, for a range of colours, the OnePlus Nord CE 5 is able to successfully bring almost accurate colours on the screen. The red and green shades seem pretty bright and punchy, which makes the viewing experience good. However, when it comes to the deep shades of black, the smartphone did struggle a bit to do justice to that. Overall, I was satisfied with the display.

 

Coming to the audio department, the OnePlus Nord CE 5 comes with a single bottom-firing speaker. In terms of audio output, it is fairly loud, which is impressive. While watching movies and web series, I didn’t feel the need to wear earphones as the loudness was apt. Even while gaming, playing BGMI especially, the audio was up to the mark. I was quite satisfied with it. I was clearly able to hear all the movements, starting from the sound of picking up objects in the game to every detail of my enemy’s footsteps. The audio has a range of 0 to 100 per cent as usual in terms of loudness however, it also packs an ultra volume mode boost beyond the 100 per cent limit, which hits the spot right.

Performance and Gaming

The OnePlus Nord CE 5 is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 8350 Apex system-on-chip (SoC). It is paired with up to 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM and up to 256GB of UFS3.1 storage. Graphics is handled by the Arm G615 MC6 Graphics Processing Unit (GPU). As for the operating system, the OnePlus Nord CE 5 boots on OxygenOS 15.0, which brings out-of-the-box Android 15.

 

In terms of performance, the OnePlus Nord CE 5 handles everything quite well. Whether it is multitasking between apps like Chrome, YouTube, Camera, Photos, Netflix, Prime, or games like BGMI, Mortal Kombat, EA Sports FC Mobile Football, the smartphone handled all operations without any lag. The opening and closing of apps and their animations were pretty smooth and quick, which was really impressive. But does that mean that the device always stayed cool, too? Now that’s a different story.

 

OnePlus smartphones are not unaware of heating as they do tend to heat up, especially when they’re getting charged or are indulging in intensive gaming sessions. The OnePlus Nord CE 5 comes with a graphene-based composite vapour chamber cooling system in place, which, as per the company, covers all major heat sources within the device, enabling consistent thermal performance even during extended gaming sessions. However, my experience was different. This goes without saying that any smartphone will heat up when you try to push its limits, and Nord CE 5 is no different. The device does heat up sometimes while getting charged or when you engage it with heavy gaming and simultaneous multitasking. But the heating was still somewhat limited to a moderate level, and the device saved itself from becoming a portable iron. At the moment, this light to moderate heating is something that I can overlook, but it is expected to increase, at least a bit if not more, with long-term usage.

 

My gaming experience on the OnePlus Nord CE 5 was decent. I didn’t encounter any frame drops or any lag while playing BGMI. The movement of my in-game character was pretty smooth and lag-free. Even in intense combat situations, the smartphone delivered a fluid and enjoyable experience. Other games like Mortal Kombat, EA Sports FC Mobile Football, Subway Surfers, and more performed well. The gaming experience is further enhanced by a dedicated gaming hyperboost setup, which cranks up the frame rates and overall performance to the maximum. As mentioned previously, the audio output while gaming is loud enough to make it satisfactory.

On-device AI tools

The OnePlus Nord CE5 is powered by a comprehensive suite of artificial intelligence (AI) features through a combination of OnePlus AI and Google AI. OnePlus AI brings features including:

• AI Search: AI Search combines on-device processing with Google’s Gemini cloud models to let you find files, settings, or notes using natural, conversational language. It responds with context-aware results, making searches feel intuitive instead of robotic. In my experience, the feature worked just fine. It became my golden retriever, who would fetch and retrieve everything that I would ask it to.
• AI Toolbox 2.0: The OnePlus Nord CE5 comes with AI Toolbox 2.0, a smart sidebar that shows relevant tools based on the app you’re using. It includes handy features like AI Summary, Translation, Writer, and Reply to help you read, write, or respond quicker without breaking your flow.
• AI VoiceScribe: It helps turn voice and video chats into useful text. It supports over 20 languages and works across apps like WhatsApp, Zoom, and YouTube. You can record, summarise, or translate conversations, with summaries saved to Notes and live subtitles shown on screen. Full transcriptions can also be stored for later use. It was able to transcribe my calls in real-time. The feature was able to correctly grasp the stuff that I talked in English, however, it did struggle a bit in terms of accuracy when I switched to Hindi.
• AI Creativity: The OnePlus Nord CE 5 brings a suite of AI-based photo editing tools that make refining images quick and easy. With features like AI Detail Boost, Unblur, Eraser, and Reframe, it can sharpen photos, remove unwanted elements, and even suggest better crops or filters by analysing the scene. It’s a handy set of tools for users who want polished results without spending too much time editing. For me, these AI tools did end up proving their worth.

Gemini AI features on OnePlus Nord CE 5 bring:

 

Search to search: Circle to Search lets you look up anything on your screen—just draw a circle around text, images, or video parts to get instant results, without leaving your current app. Nowadays, it stands as one of the most basic and yet classic features when it comes to AI.

 

Gemini AI Assistant: Google Gemini on the Nord CE5 works as an on-screen AI assistant that responds to natural queries and understands what you’re viewing. It integrates with both OxygenOS apps and Google services to handle tasks like summarising videos into Notes or setting reminders. With Gemini Live, it even interprets visual content in real time—from videos to PDFs—and offers helpful, context-aware guidance as you go.

Camera

The OnePlus Nord CE 5 comes with a dual-camera setup on the back, featuring a 50MP Sony LYT-600 main sensor and an 8MP OmniVision OV08D10 ultra-wide sensor. The main camera captures detailed, vibrant images in daylight. The colours slightly tend to be more punchy than true-to-life, but the calibration feels well-judged, bringing in a touch of vibrancy without going overboard or looking too artificial. The lossless zoom up to 2X works well and retains the majority of the details. Going beyond 2X begins a compromise on the picture quality, if someone goes above 10X, then the image will come out as very blurry and hazy. The ultrawide camera also slightly compromises picture quality.

 

In night-light or dim-lighting conditions, the pictures seem pretty decent, too. The sensor is able to judge the source of light in low-light conditions and then slightly tone down the light being emitted from it to let other objects around it be seen clearly in pictures. I won’t say that it is the best camera that I have seen but I can’t say that it doesn’t do its job. It might be safe to say that this can be a go-to pick for casual photographers who aren’t obsessed with the picture quality or detailing.

 

As for the selfie camera, the 16MP Sony IMX480 sensor does a fair job of staying true to reality. There are two things that I liked about the front camera– first being the ultra-wide mode in front camera, and the second is that it does not soften the edges of objects or someone’s face, rather it retains the texture of the skin and stays true to reality. It’s good for video calls and meetings, and you can depend on it to some extent to click a good selfie too. 

Battery and Charging

The OnePlus Nord CE 5 packs a 7100mAh battery with support for 80W SUPERVOOC charging. Since it packs such a huge battery so it has made the phone slightly thick but the majority of users won’t even notice it as it will fit perfectly in their pockets.

 

With moderate usage, the OnePlus Nord CE 5’s battery backup easily lasted me for more than a day however, if someone plans on playing games or engaging in high-performing multitasking straight for hours, then it will probably last them for around nine to ten hours. As for the charging speed, the 80W charger, shipped in the box, can easily do a full-cycle charge in around 60 minutes.

Verdict

The OnePlus Nord CE 5 gets the basics right and delivers reliable everyday performance, smooth multitasking, and excellent battery life. The AMOLED display is vibrant, the UI feels clean and responsive, and the built-in AI tools add genuine value without being gimmicky.

 

That said, the plastic back doesn’t feel very premium, the cameras are good but not standout, and the phone does heat up slightly under pressure. Audio is loud but limited to a single speaker, and the absence of stereo sound or a smart alert slider might be missed by some.

 

Overall, the Nord CE 5 is a solid pick for users looking for a well-rounded daily driver with modern features and strong battery support. But if your priorities include top-tier cameras, premium design, or better thermal management, there are other smartphones in this segment worth exploring, including its elder sibling, the Nord 5.

OnePlus Nord CE 5: Unboxing

 

 

 

 

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