OnePlus’ latest addition to the Nord CE range stands out with its £299 price in the UK. At that price point, you can’t have everything you want. What has OnePlus decided is key to the CE4 Lite 56 offering?
The biggest flex is the battery. At 5,500 mAh it’s one of the largest you can find in this price range (although some European customers will see a smaller 5110 mAh battery due to regulations around shipping battery cells with more than 20 watt-hours capacity). My review unit has made it comfortably not only through the first day of use but through a second day of normal usage as well.
The phone also supports fast charging at rates up to 80w using OnePlus’ branded Supervooc fast charging. That £299 target price rises up here because while supported, there’s no charger, let alone a fast charger in the box. Wireless charging is absent, but there is a useful ’ reverse charge’ option that allows you to use the CE4 Lite as a power bank and charge devices connected by USB-C at 5W. This is a nice touch that could let you top up wireless headphones if required.
The Nord CE4 Lite’s 6.67-inch OLED screen is a big beast for phones at this price. It also has some of the latest tricks in the display, including a peak output of 2100 nits brightness, the Aqua Touch technology to help register touches in wet conditions, and two refresh rates. You can automatically switch between 60Hz and 120Hz, but it is a binary option. Yet even then, you can now choose to optimise battery life or go for a smoother scrolling and UI experience.
Personally, I’m old school enough not to need a totally fluid display, even though they are very nice, so I’d go for battery life every time.
On the other side, the weakest part of the package looks to be the camera. last year’s Nord CE3 Lite came with a 108-megapixel main lens. This has been replaced by a 50-megapixel main lens, backed up by a 2-megapixel depth sensor. Unsurprisingly, there’s no telephoto lens at this price point, and neither is there an ultrawide camera.
The depth sensor helps in portrait mode, but in essence, this is a single-lens camera. It’s not going to match your £1500 Galaxy S24 Ultra pictures, but the image quality is above what you would expect for £300, although it does follow the trend of increasing the saturation and vibrancy of the colors which can feel a touch artifical.
Which presents an option not many phones can. Are consumers going to trade a great camera for a good camera to gain in other areas? That’s the offer OnePlus is making to customers with the Nord CE4 Lite. How important is the camera compared to battery life, a smooth UI, and a large screen?
At this ultra-competitive point in the market, many will be happy to accept that offer. Assuming OnePlus can convey the benefits clearly, the CE4 Lite’s different choices will be a popular handset for certain consumers.
Disclaimer: OnePlus provided a OnePlus Nord CE4 Lite 5G for review purposes.
