The OnePlus Nord N100 is the cheapest OnePlus phone till date.It is not yet available in India but the rumoured price will be around Rs.10000 INR.Many say that by this step OnePlus is returning back to its roots.I, to put it bluntly, do not agree.
OnePlus got its reputation by launching phones which had flagship specifications and was priced quite reasonably.They didn’t compromise with the quality and by reasonable price they never released it at very low budget.Even now any OnePlus fan would boast of a smooth performing phone with almost everything you can possibly have.
So if you consider the latest phones then OnePlus 8 (https://techknowsp.com/oneplus-8-vs-oneplus-8-pro/) was slightly more expensive and by OnePlus Nord (https://techknowsp.com/oneplus-nordpretty-much-everything-you-asked-for/) the company returned back to its roots. Now coming back to the OnePlus Nord N100 it is a low budget phone with lots of compromises.I will leave the criticism for later but before that let’s have a look at what it has to offer.
APPEARANCE
The OnePlus Nord N100 is available in Midnight Frost colour.The back has a matte finish but with a shiny texture.It is built of plastic.The back also houses the triple camera module and the physical fingerprint sensor.The front is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 3 and has a single punch hole camera on top.In short the phone looks elegant but you cannot neglect the plastic built.It is 8.5mm thick and weighs 188g.
A 6.52″ IPS LCD display is featured with 720×1600 resolution.The aspect ratio is 20:9.The 720p LCD display is topped with 90Hz refresh rate which gives a smooth experience.To be frank the OnePlus Nord N100 tries to overcome the comparatively low quality 720p display with the high refresh rate.Still the touch experience due to the high refresh rate may be better but video watching will not be of a very attractive experience.
One very favourite feature, atleast I love it,and that is the 3.5mm audio jack which retains its place in the OnePlus Nord N100.Stereo speaker is also present.
PERFORMANCE
Under the hood is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 460 chipset which has an octacore processor that clocks a maximum speed of 1.8GHz.The SoC runs on 11nm technology.The GPU is Adreno 610.This processor is suited for the lower end phones and you can expect smooth performance at par with the price.
4GB RAM and 64GB internal storage variant is the only one available.You can expand storage via micro SD card which shares a SIM card slot.
Android 10 is featured out of the box.Similar to all OnePlus phones you also get OxygenOS in the OnePlus Nord N100 and as I have said many times this software skin is perhaps the best after stock Android.
CAMERAS
A primary 13MP f/2.2 camera is housed in the triple camera set-up on the back which is followed by “those” two 2MP f/2.4 macro and depth sensors.The quality of the cameras can be ranked as average.Videos of [email protected] can be captured.
On the front is a punch hole 8MP f/2.0 selfie shooter which supports HDR.This also can shoot videos of [email protected]
BATTERY
A big 5000mAH battery is present which supports 18W fast charging.The battery is more than enough to go along for one day easily and thinking of the 720p resolution the OnePlus Nord N100 may go long into the second day with one full charge.
CONCLUSION
To be very honest I am dissatisfied with the OnePlus Nord N100.I never expected OnePlus to come up with this kind of a phone.The 90Hz refresh rate is good but it cannot cover up the quality of 720p display.Processor and cameras are of average nature.The two good things I found in the phone were the Oxygen OS and the big battery.
I will leave the decision of buying this phone on you.But please share with me what are your thoughts on the OnePlus Nord N100?Do you like the phone and more importantly do you expect such phones from OnePlus?