OnePlus Nord CE4 Lite 5G Review: It could be better
When searching for a device that strikes the balance between affordability and power, you will inevitably have to ask yourself this question: what are you willing to compromise?
This middle ground here is where brands need to play their cards right. Some phones, like the Nothing Phone (2a) for instance, do away with speedy charging but dons respectable dual 50MP cameras. Others, like the POCO F6, blaze with 90W charging but makes do with a 50MP+8MP camera array instead.
A good mid-ranger is one that fills the gaps, or at least, fills them just enough to not make its users want for more. In other words, despite the cutbacks to fit the price point, it still provides more than it lacks.
The OnePlus Nord CE4 Lite 5G is a little bit of a mixed bag. It is by no means a bad phone as it has undeniably great qualities to it, but at the same time, it seems to lack the X factor needed to stand out in an overly saturated market.
As aforementioned, it’s all up to what you’re willing to compromise on. So if you have your eyes on the Nord CE4 Lite and you’re digging around for information, here’s what you can expect.
What’s in the box?
What’s in the box? The usuals, you know, SIM ejector, guides, a USB Type-A to Type-C cable.
The big pain here is what’s NOT in the box. And what you won’t find inside is a charging brick supporting its supposedly 80W charging. That’s right, so if you’ve been hyping yourself up for a fast charging device, just know you’re going to need to fork out that extra dough for an adapter that actually supports it.
Based on what we’ve seen, an 80W power is included in the box in certain regions; India being one example. But for the rest of us, namely in Europe and somehow even Malaysia, the charger has been omitted.
This may or may not have something to do with the Common Charger Directive imposed by the EU in a bid to reduce e-waste. But as you’re well aware, Malaysia is farrrrr from Europe, so there are still some questions left to be answered.
Anyway, moving on – no phone case provided either.
Looks great, feels plastic
To be succinct with my opinions, my first two reactions when unboxing the CE4 Lite were basically, “Whoaa, this looks pretty great!”, followed by “Oh, why does it feel like…that?”.
Since there are two trains of thoughts here, let’s look at them separately.
In Malaysia, the CE4 Lite comes in two colours: Mega Blue and Super Silver. There’s also an Ultra Orange available in other regions, but again, we’ve missed out on that.
Our unit came in Super Silver, which, at first glance, gave off a steely, industrial aesthetic. At certain angles, the rear panel emits a lovely metallic sheen that sings of hardiness and got me all giddy with excitement.
Of course, as you would expect on a phone at this range, the rear panels are actually plastic. But something about it just makes it feel…too plasticky? Just tap your fingers along the back panel and you’ll get a flat, clacky sound almost like the one you hear on a tactile keyboard. Which is great on keyboards, not so much on a phone.
Then we move on to picking it up, and it’s somewhat redeemed. The aluminium frame with a matte finish is a great touch and certainly lends it a premium feel, and together with the silver colourway, really brings the whole thing together.
Great displays, but same Snapdragon 695 chip?
Performance did warrant some mixed feelings about the Nord CE4 Lite, mainly because this is the third iteration in a row that the CE Lite series is using the 2021-released Snapdragon 695 chip. The chipset has proven to be reliable, but we’re already in 2024 and it’s about time for something fresh.
Nevertheless, performance-wise, the phone still manages to squeeze out more positives than negatives.
Displays
For starters, display is pretty great. This is all thanks to an AMOLED panel offering 1080×2400 resolution along with 120Hz refresh rate. Colours are crisp and content is sharp, which all adds up to an enjoyable social media bingeing and streaming experience. A nice minute detail I appreciate is that they’ve made the number ‘1’ a bright red in the clock widget, emblematic of the OnePlus brand.
With peak brightness reaching only up to 2,100nits, it isn’t the brightest phone out there, but still passable under bright sunlight.
Overall, where displays are concerned, it’s definitely got the good stuff packed in.
Day-to-day Performance
It’s a little odd that OnePlus can’t seem to move on from the Snapdragon 695, particularly when there are better chipsets being utilized by its competitors. The iQOO Z9 5G, for example, retails at the exact same price but piles on the 2023 Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 that’s far more reasonable.
That said, the three-year-old Snapdragon 695 still holds up well on the Nord CE4 Lite. It excels at basic day-to-day uses, which means your social media, streaming, and communication apps will run unproblematically.
The dual stereo speakers are commendable if you keep them below the conventional 100% range. There is an option to max it out to 300% under Ultra Volume Mode, but here’s where a bit of sound distortion starts to appear, especially with bass-heavy music.
On another note, Oxygen OS 14.0 isn’t revolutionary. It’s everything you’ve already been acquainted with if you’re an Android user. I wouldn’t say it’s heavy on bloatware, but it does come with pre-installed games that you probably wouldn’t ever touch.
Gaming Performance
As far as gaming capabilities go, graphic-intensive open-world games like Genshin Impact are a major no-no. I mean, it is playable, but you’ll have to compromise with the lowest possible graphical settings and lowest FPS available. Visuals, at this point, become quite fuzzy and you’ll lose the thrill of great sceneries that make open-world games enjoyable. If you’re able to look past pixelated graphics, then it’s worth mentioning that once you’ve toned the settings down, the gameplay returns to being smooth.
Mobile Legends, however, performed surprisingly well. We could go a good hour and a half with no lag or stuttering in gameplay. Out-of-match animations can get a bit jerky, particularly when you’re toggling between characters and character skins with extravagant transitions and visual effects. Once you’re in-game, though, it runs like a well-oiled machine.
A plus side to all this is that we didn’t encounter any overheating issues throughout, at least with Mobile Legends. So game away!
Basic cameras that do the job
There isn’t really much to write home about when it comes to its cameras. It’s definitely not its strong suit, and really just gets by. For the record, the setup consists of a 50MP wide camera backed by a 1/1.95″ Sony LYT sensor supported with OIS, and a 2MP depth camera. As you can probably tell, that one 50MP camera is the heavy lifter.
From our experience, colour reproduction is fairly decent if the lighting is good. We did notice that the automatic exposure tends to overblow the whites just a smidge, though not all the time, and usually isn’t too detrimental that it ruins the shot entirely. It does well with other colours though, as you can see from the samples below.
In Portrait Mode, the Nord CE4 Lite renders the bokeh impressively, and succeeds in accurately outlining the subject despite the complicated background. The picture directly below is a good example of that, where you’ll see even the frayed ends of the floral decor still in focus and not inadvertently blurred out as part of the bokeh background.
The simple camera array is expected for devices in the lower mid-range segment. I do miss the option of an ultra-wide lens though, and having that addition would have at least given the Nord CE4 Lite an edge over its rivals. For now, you’ll have to stick with the 1x and 2x zoom on the main sensor.
Full marks for batteries
An absolutely undeniable positive for the Nord CE4 Lite is its long-lasting battery. With a 5,500mAh battery packed into the device, you can expect to get at least 11 hours of screen-time before the warning sign pops up.
Letting the phone run for hours on end with YouTube playing in the background, we managed to get 10 hours of videos, along with another hour of Mobile Legends and social media scrolling. Once again, even after hours of continuous video playback, I was pleasantly surprised that there was no overheating whatsoever. We weren’t in an air-conditioned room either.
Naturally, when we talk about batteries, we have to touch on charging too. Unfortunately, as mentioned earlier, the Nord CE4 Lite in Malaysia does not come with a charger, which means we miss out on the 80W SUPERVOOC charging. If you’re like us and you’re relying on a standard Android charger, you’ll have to put up with 2 hours plug-in time before hitting 100%.
What’s the verdict?
Truth be told, we’re in a bit of a conundrum here. We are big fans of mid-rangers and making tech accessible to everyone, so whenever a brand releases a budget-friendly device, we always try our best to like it.
You’re not making a bad choice if you decide to grab yourself the OnePlus Nord CE4 Lite. As we’ve elaborated – it has great, vivid displays, impressive all-day battery life, and cameras that – if you’re not too fussy with versatility, focal lengths, and all that – will get the job done.
Our main pet peeve here is the aging Snapdragon 695 processor which barely makes the cut, and the lack of a power brick (assuming you’re buying yours anywhere in Europe or Malaysia).
Again, not a bad choice. But, at the same RM1,399 price range, it’s easy to find phones that seem far more up-to-date than the Nord CE4 Lite.
Off the top of my head, the Redmi Note 13 Pro, iQOO Z9, POCO X6 Pro, and the HONOR 200 Lite all utilize newer and proven processors within the same price bracket. Or, if you’re willing to top up a little more, the Nothing Phone (2a) or POCO F6 with a few more bells and whistles are worth considering.
But at the end of the day, that’s all up for you to decide.
Read more of our articles below!
