OnePlus Nord N300 5G review

TWO-MINUTE REVIEW

The OnePlus Nord N300 5G is a fine pick for a budget 5G smartphone under$ 250, and it matches up nicely with what we ’d anticipate from phones in this price range. It may feel unforgivably cheap to some – the plastics bend and creak – but it looks nicer than it feels, and the unique design does n’t broadcast the low price label.

The interface advancements that OnePlus adds to Android are a light touch-useful, if a bit confusing. Oxygen zilches isn’t as heavy- handed as the Samsung One UI on the similar Galaxy A13. The OnePlus Nord N300 feels more like Android as Google intended, and OnePlus suckers will appreciate this.

Actually, we might want a bit more OnePlus invention for this phone, like a mute switch or indeed briskly charging options, though the Nord N300 5G charges briskly than other phones in its class. It also has a big battery, and those power features are its stylish selling point, after the gaudy design.

still, you can get better cameras and performance, but at this price the OnePlus Nord N300 5G will give you a bit more style and battery power than the competition, If you have further to spend.

The OnePlus Nord N300 5G is one of the better phones in the sub-$ 250 range. It’s only available on T- Mobile in the US, and it costs$ 228. You can get this phone free with a contract agreement and no trade- in phone, but only if you subscribe up for a new line ofservice.However, or just upgradingmid-contract, the Nord N300 is a good value for the full retail price, If you’re replacing a lost or broken phone.

In the same price range you ’ll find the Samsung Galaxy A13 5G, and the two look nearly identical on paper. The screen sizes and technology are veritably analogous, as are utmost of the internals. The Nord N300 gets briskly charging, further than doubly as presto as its rival, though it is not the same superfast charge you will find on OnePlus flagships like the OnePlus 10T.

For just a bit more you might consider a OnePlus Nord N20 5G, which gives you a advanced- resolution OLED display. still, indeed that phone is only$ 20 lower than the Google Pixel 6a, which costs a hair under$ 300 right now.

still, the Pixel 6a is absolutely the phone to buy, If you ’re going to spend further. It gives you much better cameras and performance than all of these, though it lags in charging speed, which is the one area where the OnePlus Nord N300 excels.

• Value score: 4/5

ONEPLUS NORD N300 5G DESIGN

• Unique look seems premium from afar
• Cheaper plastics bend and creak

At this price point, rival phones like the Samsung Galaxy A13 and the Motorola Moto G transude a cheap look and feel, with candescent plastics and round edges. The OnePlus takes a different approach with substantially positive results.

The OnePlus Nord N300 looks further decoration, with sharp edges evocative of an iPhone 14, and a matte finish on the reverse that does n’t call attention to itself the way lustrous plastic would. In the hand, that back felt flimsy and indeed a bit loose, but at a regard it gives off a decoration vibe.

The OnePlus Nord N300 gets a microSD card niche, and you can expand the memory to 1 TB if you need further space. There’s also a headphone harborage! You can use your old headphones, or your new headphones. It’s amazing that affordable phones get to keep features we wish were set up on high- end flagship bias.

If only iPhone and Galaxy S possessors were so lucky. Of course, dear phones get sealed up for water resistance, and the OnePlus Nord N300, like its close challengers, ca n’t get wet.

The front- facing camera is cut out of the display in a drop- shaped notch, and it’s small enough to be invisible. It can handle face recognition for unleashing, but you also get a point anthology along the side placed on the power button.

The point anthology was constantly telling us to wash the anthology( or our fingertips), but the face recognition generally stepped in fast enough.

• Design score: 3.5/5

ONEPLUS NORD N300 5G DISPLAY

• 6.5-inch IPS LCD display, 720p resolution
• Grainy and low-res, but colorful

Do n’t anticipate important from the display on the OnePlus Nord N300 5G, and it wo n’t fail. The display is bright enough, indeed outside taking prints. It’s also aplenty large, and maybe shrinking it a bit would break its crucial problem- videlicet that the screen looks coarse. The lower 720p resolution is readily apparent, especially playing the newest games.

At this price, you wo n’t find much better. The similar Samsung and Motorola phones use the same screen size, and all of these displays can refresh up to 90Hz. The Samsung may feel a bit lustrously, thanks to the different tech it uses, but all of these displays serve at the same 720p resolution.

To get a better display, you ’ll have to pay further for a phone similar as the OnePlus Nord N20, with its Full HD OLED screen.

• Display score: 2.5/5

ONEPLUS NORD N300 5G CAMERAS

• 48MP main camera, 2MP “depth,” probably one too many
• Selfie camera is surprisingly good

still, the OnePlus Nord N300 5G is n’t the model to buy, If you want great cameras on a bargain phone. The main camera does a fine job, and can indeed pull off some veritably nice shots if you get lucky. The portrayal mode also works well, on both the main camera and the 16MP selfie cam. still, when lighting and stir get complicated, the Nord N300 makes prints that look unattractive.

There’s a lot of digital stropping going on, which adds dark, differing edges between objects in prints, and brightens highlights in unnatural ways. These prints are good for participating on phone defenses, but zoom in close or crop your print down to size and the image starts to look fake, like a still prisoner from an old VHS tape recording.

We also set up colors to be disappointingly muted. We started our review as the leaves began to fall in New England, and we were hoping for further pop to our shots. Nope. Everything looked like late December, indeed when we were shooting before Thanksgiving.

There are two cameras on the reverse of the OnePlus Nord N300 5G, but one of them is nearly useless. The 2MP depth camera produces near- over shots that look like you ’ve converted your subject to claymation. Detail is absent, and the camera oversharpens to compensate, performing in truly comical images. The main shooter is n’t bad, but it’s embarrassed by this dud.

The selfie camera is the stylish of the bunch, taking 16MP images. Indeed though the main camera uses a 48MP module, it lockers down the print to a 12MP final shot. That means your selfie shots will be advanced resolution than those from the main camera, unless you swindle with the settings. We set up the selfie camera to be indeed more dependable than the main camera, and all our selfies, including portrayal shots, looked good.

• Camera score: 2.5/5

ONEPLUS NORD N300 5G PERFORMANCE AND SPECS

• Specs competitive to rivals in this price range
• Performance was lagging on games and photos

The OnePlus Nord N300 5G uses a MediaTek Dimensity 810 chipset. It is n’t much different from the Dimensity 700 series set up on the Samsung Galaxy A13 and the Motorola MotoG.

On paper it appears a bit briskly, but in practice this is substantially a budget platform. We were suitable to run all of our favorite games and apps, but there were plenitude of detainments and stuttering.

We spent plenitude of time playing the new Marvel Snap game, and detainments then were egregious. The game took longer to open than on other bias. There were lags between plays and special goods, and patches stuttered as they scattered across the playfield.

We also set up interruptions when trying to open the camera and take shots snappily. The OnePlus Nord N300 has a great roadway that lets you double- valve the power button to open the camera, but frequently there was a detention once it opened, as the phone figured out the viewfinder or argued with the screen cinch.

Though the Nord N300 comes with a display able of 90Hz refresh rates, if the processor ca n’t keep up to redraw a game at 90 fps, the technology is going to waste. The N300 5G does n’t pause behind the competition at this price point, but it wo n’t surprise you with flagship- position performance in any point.

• Performance score: 2.5/5

ONEPLUS NORD N300 5G SOFTWARE

• Oxygen OS is a light touch to Android 12
• Phone will only get one major OS update

The OnePlus Nord N300 5G runs Android 12 with a OnePlus Oxygen zilches interface on top. OnePlus takes a veritably light hand with Android, and compared to a Google Pixel 7 running Google’s own replication, the OnePlus looks veritably analogous. This is good for OnePlus buyers, as Google’s interface has progressed and eventually exceeded the point-rich One UI set up on Samsung’s best- dealing Galaxy phones.

That’s not to say OnePlus did n’t addanything.However, which is a screen of contraptions that you can customize and arrange, If you swipe down from the top- right you get the OnePlus Shelf. It’s a useful place to keep tools if you do n’t want to muddy your home screen, and you can turn it off if it is n’t useful. Swipe from the top- left to get the normal settings toggles and announcements.

The phone is only available on T- Mobile, and the carrier preloads way too important bloatware. There are a bunch of junk T-Mobile apps that will try to vend you stuff and make you watch advertisements. There are some stupid bijou games and other games you ’d noway download if they were n’t forced upon you. It’s sad that OnePlus does a great job keeping its interface simple, but T- Mobile trashes it just to earn a many bucks from auspices and mate deals.

While Samsung and Motorola are making lofty pledges about giving druggies times of updates, you can only anticipate one major update if you buy the OnePlus Nord N300 5G on T- Mobile, and it’s a sad update. You’ll get Android 13, the current interpretation of Android, ultimately. That means the only update Nord N300 5G buyers get will bring them up to date and not into the future. The phone will at least get security updates for two times.

• Software score: 3.5/5

ONEPLUS NORD N300 5G BATTERY LIFE

• Big 5,000 mAh battery and faster 33W charging
• Battery life is the Nord N300’s best feature

The OnePlus Nord N300 wisely prioritizes battery life when making offerings to keep costs down. You do n’t get the great screen, or the beautiful photography, but you do get a large battery that lasts further than a day, with fast charging to eclipse you off when you need it.

By “ fast charging, ” we mean 33W charging, compared to the 15W dishes that the challengers use. You ’ll need a special USB- A bowl that hits the right notes, but thankfully OnePlus includes one in the box, unlike the competition. With the special bowl, we managed to completely juice the phone in just about an hour. The challengers, with the same sized battery, will take doubly as long.

Does that matter if the phone formerly lasts all day? It does if you use the power-empty features. The Nord N300 is n’t the stylish phone for gaming, but it can still handle the task, and it’s nice to game for long train rides to and from work with only a quick top- up needed before a night out.
We also imagine this would be a great phone for selfie vloggers. The selfie camera is arguably better than the main camera, so if you ’re traveling the spots and showing off on a 5G videotape sluice, you ’ll drain the battery snappily. That one- hour charge time is just enough to get you back to full power during regale, also back out on the city for further showtime.

• Battery score: 4/5

ONEPLUS NORD N300 5G SCORE CARD

SHOULD I BUY THE ONEPLUS NORD N300 5G?

Buy it if…

Don’t buy it if…