Budget phones don’t have an easy job: they have to do a lot for as little money as possible, and the competition is fierce. We found out what the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite has to offer.
Nord CE 3 Lite is the entry-level model for OnePlus, because at 329 euros it is the cheapest smartphone offered by the brand. While it uses the same chipset as last year’s CE 2 Lite (Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 5G SoC), OnePlus promises a handful of upgrades, including a better camera and faster charging tech. Before going into more detail, let us judge it by its appearance.
design
OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite is available in Color Gray and Pastel Lime (our version). We like the special colors and for a budget device the smartphone looks particularly good. At first glance, you might think it’s an aluminum frame, but both the back and the frame are made entirely of plastic. It also feels good and it’s great that OnePlus is still making such an impression with cheaper materials. Remarkable are the two huge frames for the lenses. According to OnePlus, this has nothing to do with functionality, but was just a design choice. They should represent two drops or ripples in the surface of the water. From the side view, you can see that the edges around the cameras are nicely rounded (like drops on a surface) and this makes for a softer transition. The design language precisely matches that of the latest OnePlus smartphones, such as the 11 and 11R.
On the right side of the device, there is only a power button which also has a fingerprint scanner (and unlocks your phone very quickly). We think it’s great that the volume buttons (but also the SIM/microSD tray) are on the left, so it’s impossible to miss the button by touch. Perhaps the biggest surprise when it comes to connectivity is the 3.5mm jack. We checked it out and OnePlus deliberately chose to provide a physical port for headphones after receiving feedback from the community, simply because it fits the budget concept. What we personally miss is a physical wake-up slider to silence your phone. Bring it back, OnePlus! If you have smaller hands, the Nord CE 3 Lite may not be the best choice for you, because with a screen diagonal of 6.72 inches, it is already a large device. Fortunately, the edges are flattened and the phone won’t just slip out of your hands.
120 Hz screen
The screen offers a good compromise by keeping the price down by using an LCD that supports up to 120Hz at the same time. The refresh rate is adaptive, though we found the auto-switching to be annoying at times when switching between apps. That’s why we always preferred 120 Hz. The FHD+ resolution of 2400 x 1080 pixels with 391 ppi is also decent, but it’s certainly not Ultra HD. Brightness is somewhat limited at 680 nits, which makes it difficult to view content in full sun. Moreover, the animations look fun and the colors look clean. The Nord CE 3 Lite owes this in part to its light-footed Oxygen OS, which is the shell around the supplied Android 13. Oxygen OS makes the device breathe and offers, as we are used to, more than enough options for customization and easy-to-use tools. The most important feature of Nord CE 3 Lite is “200% Ultra Volume”. When you go to 100% volume and turn the device volume up higher, the volume indicator turns red and says “200%”. It should theoretically allow you to listen to music with friends when you don’t have a Bluetooth speaker with you, but we’re afraid this will cause irritation more than anything else. The speaker is no louder than our everyday smartphone at maximum volume, and the sound is a bit more metallic than on expensive phones.
performance and battery
As mentioned, the chipset has remained the same as on the Nord CE 2 Lite. It’s an effective way to keep costs down and for an entry-level model like the Nord CE 3 Lite, we think the choice is fully justified. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 695 5G SoC is fast enough for everyday tasks, and with its 120Hz refresh rate, you won’t catch a smartphone stuttering. It also lends itself to some light gaming (we played Call of Duty: Mobile and Pokémon Go), though the device does get quite hot. Therefore, the smartphone is not really designed for gaming, but if you are just looking for a smooth device, the CE 3 Lite will not let you down. The 8GB of RAM is more than enough, although OnePlus offers a default RAM option for this device. You can enable up to 8GB of your storage (128GB) as RAM. As with 200% volume, it’s a feature that contributes minimally and was added primarily as a marketing gimmick. In any case, we could not detect a measurable difference, also because 8 GB of RAM is in principle more than enough to support the rest of the hardware.
The serious improvement over the sibling from 2022 is battery life. Although it’s the same 5,000mAh battery, the CE 3 Lite supports SuperVOOC charging, increasing the charging power from 33W to 80W. We could easily use a work day without the battery completely dead. If you run out of juice all day, you can bring it from 0 to 100% in barely 40 minutes and that’s awesome.
cameras
Despite its status as a budget device, OnePus wanted to focus primarily on cameras with its Nord CE 3 Lite, as demonstrated by its marketing and design approach. A good 108MP resolution should make the main lens stand out. The 108MP resolution came thanks to the well-known pixel binning technology, as in this case the 12MP resolution can be increased by a factor of 9 to 108MP. Although the resolution is high, the colors are somewhat washed out or faded and the sensor often seems to be searching when there is no bright light source or full sun in the area. While there is HDR support, the chipset doesn’t seem to know what to do with it. The 2MP depth sensor provides the right perspective and sharp macro photos. And not unimportant: the AI support in the chip shows people well, resulting in a natural (realistic) skin tone. Therefore, portrait mode is the best camera option, and it also works very well with the 32MP selfie lens at the top of the screen. Thus, the CE 3 Lite is definitely enough for those who take selfies on a regular basis and are not picky when it comes to absolute clarity or correct exposure. It can also shoot in 1080p, at a maximum of 30 frames per second.
Final verdict
OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite wanted to differentiate itself from its predecessor in two areas: with faster charging technology and better cameras. Unfortunately, it is a bit disappointing in this regard, although of course we are spoiled with expensive smartphones. For the 329 you get a very smooth machine with a 120Hz screen that the average user won’t complain about. Plus, it looks more expensive than it is. If you don’t fall asleep during high-quality smartphone photography, there’s a good chance you’ll be better off with the CE 3-liter than any other budget phone.
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