OnePlus Nord 4 5G (Obsidian Midnight, 8GB RAM, 128GB Storage)

Great All-rounder. Value for money.
Pros:1. Love the design. Looks unique and has a great in hand feeling.2. Powerful processor provides a smooth experience. No lags3. GREAT Battery life: Easily lasts two days with moderate use.4. Phenomenal charging speed5. Camera is good, even in lowlight conditions. Can click good photos of the night skiesCon:1. Size: Too big, difficult to use with one hand. Wish it was a bit smaller in size2. Video quality when zooming is not good.Conclusion:Bang for one’s buck. Great phone in this price segment.

A very well balanced phone within 30K
OnePlus Nord 4 is one of those rare phones that may not score 10 on 10 in any one area, but definitely scores 9 on 10 in most. Considering the price segment, the build quality, display, processor, haptics, charging and battery are top notch. Camera could have been slightly better, Samsung S21 FE takes better pictures at a lower price (now) and the Oxygen OS requires some clean up effort while setting up the phone for the first time.

A balanced Premium budget phone.
I’ve never had a OnePlus device before so I’ll be totally unbiased over my experience for this phone since I bought it by the time of of first day launch🤗1) Design: (9.5/10 Subjective)I love it but t’s subjective is you prefer a glass built over a metal or the dual tone colours/texture appeals you less or more, but ultimately it’s one of the most eye catching designs launched this year apart from the Nothing phones that has managed to attain a premium appearance in a very simple unibody structure.2) Performance: (8.5/10)This is what makes it one of the top competitors within the 30k lineup phones. I personally play a lot of gatcha games like Genshin, Honkai and Wuthering Waves, over fps shooting so I would definitely say that gatcha games being heavier in graphics, Nord 4 is capable to provide the most efficient gaming. Practically speaking if you avoid those YouTube reviews with AnTuTu, any android phone would at some point face fps drop if you play in the highest settings and I do believe with what I’ve heard that even with high end processors like Snapdragon 7+ 3, OnePlus always limits it’s potential which is why we do get to see some throttling, but on a long term it doesn’t matter. If you are a daily user with 2-3 hours of heavy gaming per day or more with breaks after every 45 minutes to 1 hour of heavy graphic gameplay, then you could definitely have a great experience. If you are just a normal user, you can choose it blindly.3) Built and UI: (9/10 for strength and quality but 7/10 for being expensive to replace)Ofcourse being metal you would expect a little bit of weight (around 200 grams) but you get used to it and it really feels much premium to feel that metallic weight in your hand. It might get really slippery and if it falls down it might not have scratches except for the glass portion around the camera but might face dents on the metal if the fall is too harsh, so I would suggest to have a back cover, and let’s be honest no matter how premium the phone is even if it looks great, they are all at the end of the day sensitive and how you manage to care for it depends totally on you. Be responsible. And as I mentioned, it’s going to be really expensive to replace a unibody metal frame if it’s cracked or dented even if it’s strong enough to work so be careful.As for the UI I’ve been a Xiaomi user so honestly I don’t feel much different in terms of operating system with bloatware, but I really don’t feel bothered by it as long as I’m able to disable it. I uninstalled and disabled not almost but EVERY single bloatware in this phone that I possibly could have including app market and even the gaming tool so now I don’t get those security checks after installing apps and it feels as clean as any Flagship phone.3) Battery: (8/10)It’s good. Definitely better battery life than my iPhone BUT for how big the battery is, the Oxygen OS hasn’t optimised it’s battery life to it’s maximum just as I mentioned before for its Processor but it’s not a big deal.5500mAH is something we see less as the price goes higher over handheld devices because they try to add more space for gimmicks like wireless charging which in my opinion is not very practical everytime unless you carry a wireless charger everywhere and they are really slow. But the wired charging in OnePlus with the 100 watt out of the box charger is great and it charges the device to full within 30 minutes tho I would suggest to toggle the option from Battery Health settings to charge it till 80 percentage so you can keep it’s battery health stable for long. I hope they optimise it in the future updates but honestly it gives you around 7-8 hours of life with regular usage and even more if you are a light user which is more than enough considering that at some point you will need to charge your device any way.4) Display: (8/10)It’s a very smooth 120hz amoled panel with HDR support in Netflix that I never really use because I watch on my MacBook or the television (it’s just better to watch anything on a bigger display over a phone to keep your visions safe) and an unnamed protection (Panda glass according to few sources) but I’ll be practical over how much it actually matters. Being someone who has changed the displays in the past after getting it broken, it doesn’t matter what Gorilla glass they put on your phone, it’s a glass at the end of the day and if you are not being responsible enough by handling your phone with care, it’s expected for your screen to face damage. Use a good tempered glass around 3-4 USD (200-400 INR) I won’t suggest to go higher because no matter how expensive it is, even if it’s able to handle a bend test, practically any tempered display is penetrable if it falls flat on a rough surface UNLESS you have a good thick back cover. Overall it’s a good display but I feel that the brightness could be a bit bother outside if you live in a heavily bright environment. Personally I didn’t face any issues for the time being as the peak brightness is really good in the sunlight but if you compare it to some cheaper devices, it might feel a little less.5) Heating Stabilization: (9/10)I mean, it’s metal? Ofcourse it’s going to be hot DURING a gameplay but HEATING DOESN’T MEAN PERFORMANCE DROP. Also it’s during the time when you are playing or doing some heavy task but the best part of metal is that it cools down as fast as it heats up and the cooling chamber in this phone is really efficient. Overall It’s definitely better in terms of heat stabilization than any glass/plastic built phones for being a metal although I would say that, if you are travelling in a constantly hot temperature, avoid exposing it to direct sunlight for too long as it might get hot or else again, Use a back cover. BUT I’d also suggest to not use a back cover when doing some heavy gaming because it makes you loose the purpose of having a metal phone with such a good heating stabilization as plastic makes it harder to escape the heat.6) Camera: (7/10 Subjective)This isn’t my place but I would still give some opinion. It is decent and when I say that, it is actually not bad at all infact really good along it’s limitations. It has a very natural tone on the back camera with a really good potrait mode and a decent front camera definitely better than a 25k phone but ofcourse with the specifications you see, there are limitations if you compare it to other phones in the same price. It’s definitely better than Nothing 2a in terms of color and stability but not as close to camera centred phones like Vivo/Realme in the midrange but then again those phones lack either performance or the brand value, as OnePlus is much premium as a brand than Vivo/Realme even if they are from the same company. Again it is subjective and this phone in my opinion is rather a balance of performance along with the things you need in a midrange close-to-flagship phone rather than being an entire camera phone, but it’s still really good even with the limitations of telephoto and other things that I find gimmick because I’m not a camera phone user.Overall: (8.25)It’s a great phone for both everyday users and decent to heavy gamers. I might score it higher in the future if they successfully optimise the Operating system in the future updates and push it to 9 even with a decent camera because this phone has a lot of potential and considering it’s future update promises of 4+6 for Android and security patch, it’s a very good purchase. Just praying that these phones don’t face any green line issues in the future.