OnePlus has launched the OnePlus Nord 2T in the Indian market recently. It has been positioned as an upgrade to the bestselling OnePlus Nord 2, and rather impressively comes with a slightly lower price tag for similar variants – the OnePlus Nord 2T is priced at Rs 28,999 for 8 GB/ 128 GB and Rs 33,999, which is actually below the launch price of similar variants of the OnePlus Nord 2 (Rs 29,999 for 6 GB/ 128 GB, Rs 34,999 for 12 GB/ 256 GB). The big question is whether the Nord 2T is actually a significant upgrade over the Nord 2. And well, judging by what we have seen, the answer is: not quite. In fact, if you already have a Nord 2, you can afford to give the Nord 2T a miss.
That is because the OnePlus Nord 2T is basically the OnePlus Nord 2 with a fresh coat of design paint and maybe a few hardware tweaks. It is a bit like having a very good car with perhaps a different hood and a slight change to mileage.
The OnePlus Nord 2, it should be remembered, was a very good phone. So an upgrade to it would clearly make it even better. To be honest, we are not too sure whether the Nord 2T does that. In fact, we could not spot any clear difference in performance between the Nord 2 and Nord 2T in our experience with both devices.
That is because the two devices are so utterly similar. They have the same 6.43-inch AMOLED Display with full HD+ resolution and 90 Hz refresh rate, and support for HDR 10+ content. Then there are the cameras. OnePlus says that the Nord 2T comes with the same main sensor that came on the more expensive OnePlus 10R. That is true. But it is ALSO the same sensor that was present on the OnePlus Nord 2!
a main 50-megapixel Sony IMX 766 sensor with OIS, an 8-megapixel ultrawide and a totally decorative 2-megapixel mono sensor on the back, and a 32-megapixel Sony IMX615 selfie camera in front with EIS.
Yes, OnePlus has claimed that there is some additional AI magic in the cameras of the Nord 2T thanks to the MediaTek Dimensity 1300 processor, but it does not really jump out at you. We thought that the cameras on the Nord 2T just seemed to deliver slightly brighter colours, but in terms of detail, they are very similar to the Nord 2 – actually the difference is not evident right off. Both phones have the same 4500 mAh battery and about the same battery life as well – a day of normal use.
This brings us to the two biggest points of difference on paper between the Nord 2 and the Nord 2T – the processor and the battery charging. The Nord 2T comes with a Dimensity 1300 chip as compared to the Dimensity 1200 on the Nord 2. The number might be higher but there is no real change in performance – Call of Duty, Asphalt and other games play at pretty much the same settings as on the Dimensity 1200. There is no difference in regular performance either.
There is a difference in Battery Charging times – the OnePlus Nord 2T gets charged in slightly less than half an hour thanks to the 80W charger that OnePlus reminds us is the same as on the OnePlus 10 Pro (but not the OnePlus 10R, which has a 150W charging edition). That is very impressive. But then the Nord 2 got charged in about 30-35 minutes. So that extra charging power actually saves you just five to ten minutes. As per OnePlus, both phones can give you enough power to see you through a day if you charge them for 15 minutes.
In fact, the biggest difference we could see between the two phones was actually the design. And that too in the Sandstone finish on the Gray Shadow version of the Nord 2T. The Nord 2T also tries to pretend it has two cameras at the back instead of three! But that apart, the two phones are exactly alike. They even have the same dimensions and weight – 159.1 mm x 73.2 mm x 8.2 mm, and 190 grams. Yes, some might point out that the Nord 2T comes with Android 12 out of the box, and will get updates for a longer period of time as compared to the Nord 2, which was recently updated to Android 12, but we are not too sure how much of a difference that really makes to most users (if updates mattered THAT much, the Pixel would have been a bestseller and Android One would have dominated the mid-segment).
We are not saying that the OnePlus Nord 2T is a bad phone. It has what you need in a very good device – a good display, a powerful processor, a decent main camera, a good battery with Fast charging and a clean interface. The problem is that the Nord 2 had pretty much the same. Yes, you will get a processor that sounds newer and a charger that saves you about ten minutes (and a Sandstone finish if you are the senti cellular types), but unless those really matter, we see no reason why anyone with a OnePlus Nord 2 should consider “upgrading” to the OnePlus Nord 2T.
