OnePlus Nord 5 Review: Mid-range phone that feels like a flagship

New Delhi: There’s a quiet confidence in how the OnePlus Nord 5 presents itself. It doesn’t try to shout with flashy gimmicks or overhyped features. But the moment you pick it up, there’s a strange pause, a little surprise, because it just doesn’t feel like a typical mid-range phone. There’s no plasticky feel, no corner-cutting in sight. It looks and feels grown up.

Read More: Check OnePlus Nord 5 and Nord CE full pricing list 

This isn’t the friendly Nord you recommend to your college-going cousin anymore. This is the Nord that got serious, and finally decided it deserves a proper seat at the grown-up table.

OnePlus Nord 5 Review: Design and Build

The Nord 5 is all about subtle design confidence. Our review unit came in the Marble Sands variant, a platinum silver-white finish that looks clean and premium, though it’s a bit slippery. If you’re someone with butterfingers, slap on a case. It also comes in Phantom Grey and Dry Ice colours.

At 8.1mm thin and 211g, it’s a good balance of sturdy and sleek. It doesn’t feel heavy in the hand despite housing a huge battery. The flat-edged frame gives it that boxy modern look, and the rear camera bump has just enough personality to not be boring. There’s Gorilla Glass 7i protection on the front, and an IP65 rating for water and dust resistance, decent for everyday clumsiness.

The only design gripe? The beloved alert slider is gone. Replaced by a new Plus button that, while functional, doesn’t really feel necessary. Long-time OnePlus users might miss the good old switch. We definitely did.

OnePlus Nord 5 Review: Display

The Nord 5 packs a 6.83-inch 1.5K OLED display with a 144Hz refresh rate, but you’ll have to enable that manually in settings. By default, it switches between 60Hz, 90Hz, and 120Hz to save battery. Once that 144Hz is turned on, though, scrolling through Instagram or swiping between apps feels absurdly smooth.

Peak brightness of 1,400 nits means it’s usable in harsh Delhi sun, while the 3,840Hz PWM dimming helps during late-night doomscrolling. Watching a few episodes of Dahaad in bed, the screen felt vivid without straining our eyes.

Then there’s Aqua Touch 2.0, a feature that keeps the display responsive even when your fingers are sweaty or fresh from hand sanitiser. Sounds like a gimmick, but surprisingly helpful when you’re walking outdoors in Mumbai humidity.

Add to that HDR10+ support, 10-bit colour depth, and 450ppi sharpness, and this display punches above its segment. For bingeing, gaming, or just reading, it delivers.

OnePlus Nord 5 Review: Performance

The Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 chip inside this phone feels like an overachiever. Paired with up to 12GB LPDDR5X RAM and 512GB UFS 3.1 storage, the Nord 5 is fast. Really fast.

We edited 4K videos, ran BGMI at 144Hz, switched between Google Docs, WhatsApp, and Chrome tabs, the Nord 5 never flinched. It stayed cool too. Thanks to the dual vapour chamber cooling, the phone didn’t get uncomfortably warm during extended BGMI sessions. Surface temps hovered around 40°C, even when pushing the phone hard.

OxygenOS 15, based on Android 15, runs smoothly with minimal bloat. You get four years of OS updates and six years of security patches, a promise that’s reassuring in the current Android scene.

And yes, Open Canvas multitasking is supported, but unless you’re used to foldables, it’s not something we ended up using much on this form factor.

OnePlus Nord 5 Review: AI Features

Unlike many recent phones that throw AI into everything just for headlines, the Nord 5’s AI features feel genuinely useful.

The new Plus Key unlocks “AI Plus Mind,” which lets you save anything, a quote, a note, a screenshot, and it’ll automatically tag and organise it. There’s also AI Search, which lets you type natural queries like “screenshot from yesterday” or “photo with dog,” and it just works.

Other AI tools include AI Eraser for cleaning up photos, AI Unblur for fixing shaky shots, and even AI summaries for calls and notes. These aren’t headline grabbers, but they work quietly in the background and make everyday usage smoother.

You also get Google’s Gemini assistant and Circle to Search built-in, adding to the overall smart experience.

OnePlus Nord 5 Review: Camera

The Nord 5 brings a triple camera setup with a surprisingly good 50MP Sony LYT-700 primary sensor with OIS. It handles daylight shots with detail and balanced colours. Whether it’s shooting close-up textures or wide landscape frames, the results are consistent.

Skin tones are fairly accurate and the dynamic range is handled well. It won’t beat an iPhone 15 Pro in low light, but for the price, it’s more than capable.

The 8MP ultra-wide is basic but fine for city shots and large group selfies. But yeah, in low light, it struggles. You’ll notice distortion and softer detail.

Selfie fans get a 50MP Samsung JN5 sensor. In good light, it’s bright and sharp. In low light, results aren’t as clean, but it’s still solid for casual reels and video calls.

Video recording is where the Nord 5 surprises. 4K at 60fps comes with solid focus tracking and a reliable OIS+EIS combo. We shot a video in a moving rickshaw, and it didn’t look like a shaky mess; that’s a win.

Read More: All you need to know about the OnePlus Nord 5 Camera

OnePlus Nord 5 Review: Battery

Here’s where the Nord 5 quietly flexes. A massive 6,800mAh battery means you’re good for nearly two days on regular use. Even on a heavy day, gaming, hotspot use, streaming, video calls, it easily lasts a full day without panic.

The 80W SUPERVOOC fast charging tops up the phone in under an hour. And it supports other standards like 18W PD and 33W PPS, which means you can use your MacBook charger at a café to juice it up. That kind of flexibility just makes life easier.

Verdict: Mid-range killer, without the drama

The OnePlus Nord 5 doesn’t try to be flashy. It just shows up, delivers what matters, and steps aside. In many ways, it’s what the term “flagship killer” originally meant: great performance, clean design, strong camera, and useful software without burning ₹60,000.

Sure, we’d trade the new Plus button for the classic alert slider. And the selfie camera could be a bit sharper in low light. But for what it offers, these feel like fair trade-offs.

At the end of the day, the Nord 5 is the most complete phone in this segment right now. We rate it 4.5 out of 5. It’s got style, substance, and the kind of balance that makes it hard to argue against.