The 5G-enabled OnePlus Nord is shaping up to be one of the most exciting mid-range smartphones of 2020, but as hard as the upcoming handset's manufacturers may have tried to keep a lid on leaks by gradually revealing its specs and key selling points themselves, there's no stopping the man, the myth, and the legend that is Evan Blass.
Less than 24 hours after publishing the first credible renders of the final OnePlus Nord 5G design, Blass is back with a bang, revealing a full spec sheet that might look sketchy at first glance. That's primarily because the depiction of the unreleased budget-friendly device has absolutely nothing to do with the renders Blass himself already leaked.
But that doesn't necessarily mean the rest of the information contained in the image, claimed to come from a "virtual Nord training presentation", is inaccurate.
In fact, as pointed out by the prolific leaker, these details "line up quite well" with everything that's been rumored of late. We obviously can't know for sure whether that's a coincidence or not, but the phone imagery might be just a placeholder, while the specifications could prove authentic.
A "fluid" AMOLED display and a lot of interesting cameras
Although the presentation slide doesn't spell that out for us, we've been expecting the OnePlus Nord, aka Z, aka 8 Lite, to come with a flat screen for a pretty long time now. As repeatedly speculated in the past, this is set to circle the 6.4-inch mark (apparently measuring 6.44 inches, to be exact), while retaining the "fluid" 90Hz refresh rate of the 6.55-inch OnePlus 8 5G.
The two devices will also share state-of-the-art AMOLED technology, as well as a decent but not impressive resolution of 2400 x 1080 pixels. Thanks to its slightly smaller display diagonal, the Nord will actually upgrade the OnePlus 8's pixel density to a solid 408ppi. Unsurprisingly, the OnePlus Nord is set to offer trendy "fingerprint-on-display" authentication, as well as facial recognition.
Moving on to the camera department, we've known for a little while that a double hole punch would accommodate a dual front shooter system, tipped to include a 32MP sensor with f/2.45 aperture and a wide-angle 8MP lens with f/2.45 aperture and a 105-degree field of view.
Around the back, the OnePlus Nord 5G is pretty much confirmed to rock a quad camera setup comprised of a 48MP primary snapper, an 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle lens, 5MP depth sensor, and 2MP macro shooter. It's important to highlight that the company seemingly plans to bring back the Sony IMX 586 sensor previously used on the OnePlus 7 and 7T for the Nord's main rear-facing camera.
That sounds a little disappointing, but you have to keep in mind this affordable bad boy will be priced around €500 on the old continent. On the bright side, you will get both optical image stabilization and electronic image stabilization from the primary OnePlus Nord camera.
Plenty of memory and storage and a decent battery
Purportedly coated in Blue Marble, Gray Onyx, and Gray Ash colors, the OnePlus Nord 5G tips the scales at 185 grams, thus being slightly heavier than the OnePlus 8 5G. That's a little odd, considering the screen is smaller, and yes, the same goes for the battery, downgraded from 4,300 to 4,115mAh capacity.
In combination with Qualcomm's relatively frugal Snapdragon 765G processor, that should still deliver pretty great running times between charges, possibly exceeding the battery life scores of something like the 6.8-inch LG Velvet. Another key selling point is without a doubt the state-of-the-art Warp Charge 30T technology, which gets the OnePlus 7T from 0 to 70 percent battery capacity in just 30 minutes.
Under the hood, the OnePlus Nord 5G is also set to carry up to a hefty 12 gigs of RAM and 256 gigs of storage space, although the aforementioned €500 are likely to buy you an entry-level 8GB RAM/128GB ROM configuration.
There's no mention of a microSD card slot or a headphone jack, let alone things like water resistance or wireless charging functionality, but all in all, the quality/pricing ratio might be virtually impossible to beat... in India and the select European markets where the OnePlus Nord 5G is expected to be officially released soon.
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Adrian, a mobile technology enthusiast since the Nokia 3310 era, has been a dynamic presence in the tech journalism field, contributing to Android Authority, Digital Trends, and Pocketnow before joining PhoneArena in 2018. His expertise spans across various platforms, with a particular fondness for the diversity of the Android ecosystem. Despite the challenges of balancing full-time parenthood with his work, Adrian's passion for tech trends, running, and movies keeps him energized. His commitment to mid-range smartphones has led to an eclectic collection of devices, saved from personal bankruptcy by his preference for 'adequate' over 'overpriced'.
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