The OnePlus Nord 5 has now been publicly announced. So, it is time for us to sit down and go through its features, its specifications and use it for some time to ascertain whether or not this is a suitable replacement for the predecessor, the OnePlus Nord 4.
Without further ado, Let’s dive in and have a look. at, the design
Design
The OnePlus Nord 5, in terms of design, takes a slightly different approach from what was seen previously on the OnePlus Nord 4. On the OnePlus Nord 4, the design was largely a metal unibody with the exception of the upper third of the rear, which was a glass panel, which also contained the horizontally mounted camera array, For the OnePlus Nord 5.
OnePlus has decided to revamp its design, returning to the more traditional aluminium side rails and frame, sandwiched between two glass panels. The front panel is made of Corning Gorilla Glass 7i (a codeveloped material by OnePlus). Additionally, the camera has undergone a change, now featuring a vertically orientated camera module, unlike the previous horizontal design.
In terms of how the phones look, my personal preference stays with the OnePlus Nord 4. However, that does not mean that the OnePlus Nord 5 is by any means a bad looking phone. The use of a matte rear glass panel. Which has a soft touch finish. Apart from the embossed OnePlus logo slap bang in the middle is very nice and I do appreciate that, they have been able to use glass but also apply a finish that allows for some grip.
The overall dimensions of the phone are very similar however, the OnePlus Nord 5 is a smidgen wider. And this allows for a slightly larger screen. Measuring in at 6.83” diagonal the screen itself is a very good quality panel and is extremely bright even when used in direct sunlight and, when used with my prescription lens sunglasses.
I have had no issue reading, any text on the screen or viewing the content on the display. On the display whilst wearing these sunglasses. Oddly enough this has actually been something that has been very important over the last few weeks, in the UK as we are currently experiencing unseasonably sunny weather.
The screen also has a high PPI count of 450 due to it being a 1.5K FHD resolution panel made up of 2800 x 1272 pixels with 19.8:9 aspect ratio. In a nod to gaming the screen also has up 144 HZ refresh rate set at 4 stages (60/90/120/144Hz) and has a touch response rate of up to 3000 HZ which puts it in the same space as the REDMAGIC 10 Air for gaming.Lastly for those with a sensitivity to Pulse Width Modulation the Oneplus 5 comes with a PWM of 3840 Hz which again is flagship grade.
As for the rest of the design. It is very similar to what you would. And come to expect from OnePlus. We do have the inclusion of two speakers. One on the bottom and an Amplified earpiece at the top. And this delivers a very clear and crisp sound stage as long as you don’t turn the volume up too high.
The one major other difference between previous generation, OnePlus Nord devices and the OnePlus Nord 5 (and indeed the OnePlus 13 and previous number of generations), has been to change from the Notification slider to the “Plus” button. As I mentioned, in my unboxing article, this button comes pre-configured out of the box to act like the notification slide. 
However, If you require it to perform other functions can be chosen from a settings menu. And it does allow for you to customize this button to a certain extent. I have not found the need to change the function of the “Plus” button during my time with the device. I can see how it may be useful for people, who prefer to have other controls at a finger press away.
Hardware
The hardware on the OnePlus Nord 5. Is particularly impressive the internals of the phone are very much what you would have expected to find a medium to low price flagship from the middle of 2024.
We find that there is a Qualcomm Snapdragon. 8s Gen3 Chipset driving the phone and this is suitably supported by the Adreno 735 GPU. Qualcomm and Oneplus have worked together to ensure that Oxygen OS takes full advantage of the chipset and will use the onboard AI to learn usage patterns and then adapt its resource usage in accordance with these usage patterns.
In terms of storage and RAM there are various options available for the OnePlus Nord 5, depending on how much you want to spend, however, for the purposes of the review I have the 512 GB of storage and 12 GB of RAM version. This is the most expensive model. Even if you were to go with the 256GB storage option, you will get 8GB of RAM. The ramp itself is LPDDR 5. and the storage is UFS 4.0 so, suitably fast RAM and suitably fast storage. 
You also have the ability to expand the RAM virtually by up to 12 gigabytes. This will give you a total usable RAM on the most expensive version 24 gigabytes. Which is plenty even for the most heavy duty multitasker. I have had no need whatsoever to even consider changing this setting at all. Powering this computational giant in terms of phones is a 5200mAH. This battery is of a single cell design. But is still capable of very fast. SuperVOOC charging,if used with the appropriate SuperVOOC adaptor, which sadly does not come in the box.
Regarding the battery it will last you easily through a full day and I have regularly been getting through 2 days of usage with my light usage during my work days. Over the weekend I can normally get a full day with about 30% remaining when it comes to lights out. A typical day for me is 7am to at least 1am the next morning. Usage is mainly Emails, Whats App, Social media, Youtube, Web Browsing. I also have the life360 app running all day with no battery optimization allowed.
Next up I want to talk about cooling as doing all the things that you can do on a near flagship tier phone is going to produce some heat so it is.important that a decent cooling system is in place. Fortunately OnePlus have us covered as they have used their knowledge from previous phones in their line up to implement their vapour chamber designs. This is the Cryo-Velocity VC Cooling system with 7,300 mm²in total area, ensuring consistently smooth performance even under heavy load. This exceeds some other flagship level gamin phones which are normally between 5,000 mm². I found that the phone remained cool during prolonged usage even when using it to record 4k 60FPS video it never got too hot.
Gaming was a breeze due to the powerful Chipset and RAM combination as previously mentioned.i was able to play my regular games with non dropped frames or stuttering which I have seen from other mid range devices in the past.
As always I do like to look at how good a signal I can get with these devices as what good is a smartphone if you can’t actually make calls and receive data. I am pleased to say that as this is OnePlus it performs as one of the better for finding signals and maintaining connection to this signal.
This is down to the new design details to the antenna architecture. This time around there are three additional high-performance antennas for 5G and Wi-fi. The addition of the extra Wi-fi antennas has been done with gaming in mind so regardless of how the phone is benig held you will still get a strong and fast Wi-fi signal.
Software
As you would expect with a new phone launched in 2025 the OnePlus Nord 5 come with Oxygen OS 15 onboard which is built of the back of Android 15. I am a fan of the latest Oxygen OS and what it brings to the party. Oxygen OS of course has a healthy smattering of AI on board and the Oneplus Nord 5 features a new offering from OnePlus in the form of AI Plus Mind.
This is a feature that is accessed via the Plus Key on the left hand side of the phone if you choose to configure it in that way in the settings menu as mentioned above. The idea behind Plus Mind is that it works as your personal assistant, understanding your informational needs and helping organise your digital life. It will do this by you using either the Plus Key to trigger a screen shot that is saved into Mind Space. But that is not all as this uses AI to then understand the significance of what has been captured so if you take a capture of an event you are attending then it will extract the details and and it to your schedule for you.
I tried this on my device with an invite to an upcoming event at IFA and it was able to capture all the relevant info and then add it to my calendar with all the details intact. I was actually very impressed by it. This is one of those tools that come along and you think yeah that will be okay but I don’t believe it will work. You then try and it shrugs any preconceived expectations off and works exactly as it was advertised. Nice work OnePlus.
AI Plus Mind to give it its full name will continue to change and improve over time via updates that will be delivered as app updates. This will lead to a more intelligent, streamlined approach to personal knowledge management. It is also going to expand to the rest of the OnePlus family starting with the OnePlus 13 and 13R this month.
Of course all your other AI goodies are covered including AI Search for system wide searching of your data to deliver personalized results, AI Translation which can translate using one of 5 different modes :text, live voice, conversation, camera, and screen translation and it will support up to 29 languages and of course AI Creativity suite which takes care of all your Photo editing needs but this time it also includes AI Reframe which wil analyse a photos to suggest the most optimised crops, filter and compositions to give your photos that extra level of flair.
A lot of these AI tools are essentially very similar to the Google AI suite which is also of course present in the Google photos app or the other Google apps. However where OnePlus puts Google’s AI service front and centre is in the implementation of Circle to Search which is a welcome edition as it is something I use regularly in my day. You also of course have of Google Gemini backed into the phone and it can either be accessed by a long press of the power button or a swipe from the bottom right corner. Once it is open then Gemini will be able to access Oxygen OS App such as Notes, Clock and Calendar to make it easy to get stuff done. This is something I have found that I am using Gemini more and more for these days as it improves with every iteration.
A lot of people don’t like using AI due to privacy concerns, well thankfully OnePlus AI services are protected by Private Computing Cloud which will ensure that your data is processed within a trusted framework which cannot be accessed by OnePlus or third party companies and none of your data is ever stored on external servers.
In addition to all these AI goodies you have the normal staples from OnePlus like Gaming mode which allows you to optimize the phone for gaming and control some essential system resources during said gameplay. The OnePlus Nord 5 will also include the Zen Space app which is great for helping you switch off after a hard day.
The app that I was not expecting to be here is more of a service than an app. This is a feature that I praised massively during my review of the Oppo Find N5 and my recent OnePlus Pad 3 review. I am of course talking about O+Connect which is part of the cross device sharing suite of tools that are all on the OnePlus Nord 5. 
This is big news and a genuine surprise, I would normally only expect this sort of productivity toolset to be on a flagship grade phone. It would be like Samsung adding DEX support to the A series of phones.
I have done a video of how this all works and you can see it here.
I love being able to have this connection open and then if I need to capture a picture of something on my OnePlus Nord 5 it will instantly show up on my Mac in the O+Connect App. It also allows me to transfer content from my Mac to the phone which makes it really easy to load up my phone with Music, Movies and TV Shows for when I am offline. You can actually go as far as use this as a Remote access for your Mac if you wanted to do so from a 6.83”phone screen. I did use it on the OnePlus Pad 3 but found it a bit fiddly on the phone display. I am seriously impressed by this integration software and its presence on the OnePlus Nord 5.
Now I have been using this service on my Mac but everything I have mentioned above is now also possible on Windows and the File sharing is also available on iPads and iPhones
If all of that wasn’t enough, OnePlus has also graced the OnePlus Nord 5 with their superb multitasking environment OpenCanvas which allows you to have simple and easy multitasking especially when used in conjunction with the Smart Sidebar. Here are some screenshots of what you can expect again for me personally, the full benefit of this style of multitasking comes when it is being used on a bigger display like the OnePlus Pad 3 for example. Again though i am also just very pleased that it has been included on this mid tier phone!
Camera
The design hardware and software of the OnePlus Nord 5. It is now time to have a look at the camera. The camera is one area where OnePlus has distinguished the Nord 5 as a mid-tier device.
What I mean by that is this phone only has two camera lenses on the rear and one on the front, which we will come back to. The rear cameras consist of a 50-megapixel wide-angle camera and an 8-megapixel ultrawide camera. Those eagle-eyed among you may have seen there is what looks like a third lens; however, this is only a LED flash.
The camera is by no means a bad camera (it is the same sensor used as one of the OnePlus 13 cameras) ; it is capable of producing good quality photos in various different lighting levels. However, due to the lack of a telephoto lens, you are limited to a maximum of 10x zoom. This zoom is facilitated by digital cropping and some AI tweaking. If you keep the zoom settings within a reasonably short range, i.e., up to around 5x zoom, then you will get good results. Once you go over 5x zoom, things do start to get a little bit messy, and we do start to see some artifacts from the digital cropping and AI tweaking creeping into the photos. This is of course on the 50 MP wide-angle camera.
When using the 8-megapixel ultrawide, you are really only able to utilize this for ultrawide shots, as the name suggests. If you were to zoom into the photo after the fact, you will notice that some of the finer detail is lost. However, if your subjects are reasonably close and you are just wanting to get more subjects into the actual photo, the ultrawide is perfectly serviceable. I would be hesitant to say that this is going to produce equal high-quality landscape shots when using the ultrawide camera.
In terms of video, the rear camera is capable of recording at up to 4K and 60 frames per second. Again, when your subject is reasonably close, these video recordings do come out quite well. I have used the video camera for recording product-style videos, and this was used to record the unboxing video for the upcoming review of the Honor Magic V5. One thing to be aware of when recording at 4K and 60 frames per second is that the phone will get warm. It will not overheat, but it will warm up. This is nothing to worry about as this is normal for a phone when recording higher quality. I mention it so that the potential buyer/user is aware that if they want to record a lot of 4K 60 frames per second video, they will need to let the phone cool down after using this for some time.
The phone also features a front-facing camera, which OnePlus are very pleased about, as it is another 50-megapixel sensor; the Samsung JN5 Sensor to be exact. This is perfect for taking both individual selfies and also group selfies, as it has a wide field of view. As is normal for most selfie cameras these days, there is the option of adding bokeh for focal, and this can be adjusted from within the camera’s settings. There is also the option of using AI beauty mode to smooth out any imperfections in the subject’s faces. Personally, this is a feature I always turn off immediately as I find it creates an image that does not represent the subject in any form of reality. As for video on the front-facing camera, it will also record at 4K and 60 frames per second, which is more than adequate for video selfies.
I have included various photos of the rear cameras down below for you to judge the camera settings yourself. These have been taken at a variety of zoom levels, mostly in good lighting conditions. The camera is not the OnePlus Nord 5’s strongest feature but it is more than serviceable as long as you have modest expectations.
Conclusion
My overall experience with the OnePlus Nord 5 has been overwhelmingly positive. While I may not be the biggest fan of the subtle shifts in its aesthetic and design, the device’s performance has truly impressed me. I would wholeheartedly recommend the OnePlus Nord 5 to a family member, especially if they are seeking a well-rounded smartphone without necessarily chasing the bleeding edge of flagship specifications.
It’s true that the OnePlus Nord 5 does omit a few features that a “spec-hunting” flagship user might prioritize. The absence of wireless charging and a formalized IP rating are two notable omissions that prevent it from being a “true” flagship in every sense. However, it’s crucial to understand that this isn’t the target audience for the OnePlus Nord 5.
Instead, the prime demographic for this phone is someone like my son, now a teenager, who values different aspects. He desires a phone with robust gaming performance, impressive battery life, and a usable camera – areas where the OnePlus Nord 5 excels, ticking all the right boxes.
It’s a testament to OnePlus’s consistent quality that the Nord 4, released last year, remains a very close competitor to the OnePlus Nord 5. I can state this with confidence as my wife continues to daily drive the OnePlus Nord 4, and it’s still going strong a year after its release. I am equally confident that the OnePlus Nord 5 will exhibit similar longevity.
OnePlus further reinforces this confidence by offering significant software support, committing to at least four years of OS and 6 years of security updates. This provides excellent reassurance for long-term usability.
If you are in the market for a high-quality mid-tier phone and are operating within a constrained budget, then I strongly recommend checking out the OnePlus Nord 5. It’s a particularly safe and solid bet if you’re buying for a family member or a teenager and prefer alternatives to Samsung or iPhone.
Well done, OnePlus! This is a superb addition to the Nord lineup, and I have genuinely enjoyed using and reviewing it over the past few weeks. Long live Nord!