The new OnePlus Nord 5 has now arrived on my desk for an unboxing. This is the latest mid-tier release from OnePlus and the replacement for the year-old OnePlus Nord 4. I was very impressed by last year’s OnePlus Nord 4 with its all-metal design, so much so that it is still in daily use by my wife, and it is still in great condition. This means that the new kid on the block has some big shoes to fill.

So without further ado, let’s have a tour of this mid-range marvel and see if it lives up to the hype of the Nord brand’s name.

First up, the unboxing video

Here are the Specs

Now is the time for us to do the 360 tour of the device.

Starting on the right-hand side, as is tradition, we can find a volume rocker switch and below that we’ll find a sleep/wake and power key. This will also work as a Gemini key on a long press; that’s it for the right-hand side.

Moving around to the bottom is where we will find, in the middle, a USB Type-C 2.0 port and one of the loudspeakers. We can also find that two pinhole mics are straddling the USB Type-C 2.0 port. This is where the dual SIM tray is also located. It’s interesting to note that the dual SIM tray does have a red rubber gasket, suggesting some waterproofing in the design, even if it hasn’t been officially IP tested.

Continuing around to the left-hand side of the device, this is where we would traditionally have found the alert slider.

This has now been replaced with what OnePlus is calling the “Plus key”. This key can be assigned various different tasks out-of-the-box; it has been assigned to control the alert settings.

So by pressing and holding, you will be able to change the notification settings from all notifications on, vibrate and silent. Whilst I see the benefit of having a multi-function key, for the traditionalist in me, it’s sad to see the alert slider having gone.

Moving up to the top edge of the device, here we have another loudspeaker aperture for the earpiece and amplified speaker combo. We also have another noise-cancelling mic, and it looks like we may also have an IR blaster.

On the rear of the device, we find the dual camera array,

which actually looks like it may have had three cameras due to the way it has been designed. However, this is not the case. What we do have is a 50 megapixel main wide camera and an 8 Megapixel ultra-wide camera, below which sits a dual-tone LED flash.

Lastly, on the front of the phone, we have the 6.83” 1.5 K Swift OLED panel, which is capable of up to 144Hz refresh. But as this is not a dynamic refresh panel. This is done in stages that can be set within the display settings menu. The panel will also support up to 3000 Hz touch sampling rate, which gives for a near instantaneous detection of input on the screen, which is great for gamers.

Of course, the OnePlus Nord 5 will feature Aqua Touch 2.0, allowing use when your fingers are wet and oily.

Up top, we find the front-facing camera, which is a 50MP unit, which is also a wide-angle.
So that completes the 360 tour of the device. In terms of the look and feel of the phone, I do feel that when compared with its predecessor, the OnePlus Nord 4, this is a partial backwards step. Yes, we do have a slightly larger display due to it being slightly wider, but we have lost the all-metal construction, which has been replaced by a metal frame sandwiched between two glass panels. Fortunately, the rear glass panel has a matte finish and is not a glossy fingerprint magnet, and I do like the subtle blue colourway, which OnePlus call Dry Ice
However, I was a big fan of what they did with the OnePlus Nord 4 and the dual tone finish with the metal lower two-thirds, and then the glass-coloured section, particularly in the green version that I had.
In terms of other colours for the back, it is also available in a white colour, which is called Marble Sand, and a Grey/Black colour called Phantom Grey
I will be using this device for the next few weeks to complete the review and check battery life, performance and all the other bits that people want to know about. I will also be able to do some comparisons between this and the Nord 4, particularly since there isn’t any noticeable changes to the cameras.
I am hoping for a slight performance jump due to the newer generation in the 8s Gen 3 Chipset, and also for slightly better battery longevity. This will all be revealed after I have had some time to do further testing.
If, however, you want to pick up an OnePlus Nord 5 straight away, you can get it now from the OnePlus website for the following prices.