OnePlus Nord CE4 Lite Review: Mixed bag, offering more positives with certain constraints

OnePlus Nord CE4 Lite: After almost a year since launching the Nord CE3 Lite, OnePlus has come up with another intervention in the budget smartphone segment with its OnePlus Nord CE4 Lite. Ticking nearly all the boxes that a modest user craves; the device gives satisfactory vibes and appears to be a promising prospect for OnePlus in dominating the market’s budget segment. In the sections to follow, we shall explore what’s in the store for users with the OnePlus Nord CE4 Lite.

OnePlus Nord CE4 Lite Review: Design

Offering a boxy design with three colour variants, namely: Ultra Orange, Super Silver, and Mega Blue, the in-hand feel of the OnePlus Nord CE4 Lite is soothing. Though it appears to have a thick profile, the device weighs 191 grams, with a thickness of 8.1mm. Despite a plastic body, the back features a shiny glass finish, though prone to smudges. The side buttons are properly embedded, giving a solid build feel. The camera setup has a couple of separate cutouts, confined within a pill-shaped boundary. The users will get a 3.5mm audio jack, along with a speaker grill and Type-C port.

OnePlus Nord CE4 Lite Review: Display

The display is one of the standout departments where this device has received major updates. Featuring a 6.6-inch AMOLED display with a refresh rate of up to 120Hz and peak brightness of 2100 nits, the improvement in the display is palpable. It offers better contrast and colours, taking the content viewing experience to a different level. However, the absence of Dolby support is dearly missed while assessing its multimedia prowess, but the dual stereo speakers seek to compensate for this.

OnePlus Nord CE4 Lite Review: Performance and Software

The OnePlus Nord CE4 Lite is powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 695 5G chipset, which gets the majority of the job done. The chipset, no doubt, leaves users craving for a newer and more powerful performer, as it has already been used in some previous OnePlus devices. Practically, though, the chipset is a competent enable for major day-to-day tasks like binge-watching content, scrolling social media pages and leaving multiple apps running in the background. Gaming, no surprises here, is not so smooth at higher settings but remains smooth nonetheless if you are okay with medium to low settings.

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The device runs on OxygenOS 14.0 based on Android 14. The UI is cleaner, if not the cleanest, akin to OnePlus. The features are useful, while the colours render it a pleasant look. The device is slated to receive two major Android updates and three years of security patches.

OnePlus Nord CE4 Lite Review: Camera

Well, while other smartphones are in a race to miniaturise multiple cameras in their setups, the OnePlus Nord CE4 Lite offers just ‘one’. Yes, effectively only one, because the other, for just record’s sake, is a 2MP depth sensor. Moving to the primary 50MP Sony-LYT-600 sensor, it delivers quality photos under well-lit circumstances, efficiently capturing colours with decent details. The low-light photography is manageable, but not the best, capturing satisfactory details.

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Additionally, the AI Eraser enables users to remove unnecessary things from the background. At the front, there’s a 16MP selfie shooter which captures good photos in properly lighted conditions, albeit with a bit of grain in low light.

OnePlus Nord CE4 Lite Review: Battery

The OnePlus Nord CE4 Lite packs a capable 5500 mAh battery, which is a notable upgrade compared to its predecessor as well the midrange contemporaries. It comes with 80W SUPERVOOC fast charging functionality, taking a maximum of 60 minutes to fully charge the battery. The battery backup is commendable, and if you are not an intense user, it can last up to a day and a half. Additionally, it supports 5W reverse charging.

OnePlus Nord CE4 Lite Review: Verdict

The device clearly offers more pros that outweigh some of the cons it has. Undoubtedly, in this price segment, premium features are hard to come by, yet the device offers a brilliant display, a powerful battery, and a handy boxy design. The OnePlus Nord CE4 Lite does have some room for improvement, such as the processor and low-light photography, but again, our ask needs to be considerate of the segment it belongs to. Overall, the device is a good buy, if not the best, for modest users.

OnePlus Nord CE4 Lite Review: Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Boxy design

• Vibrant display

• Good battery life

Cons:

• Users crave for a better processor

• Low light photography could have been better