One Plus was previously the champion of premium devices at an equal price per person. But it seems that in recent years she has made herself the champion of mid-range devices in the place. It makes sense, premium devices are sold at least at peppered prices since Apple realized that it is possible to sell an iPhone for a thousand dollars and still be successful. At Van Plus they saw that it was good, and now you will not find any flagship device of the company at the launch that is priced as before – that is, at a discount of about 30% on the market price. It has shifted its consumer protection ethos to devices that cost less. Van Plus now has at least 8 such devices launched in 2022, which is twice as much as it had in the same segment a year ago. The main difference between 2022 and 2021 is that the company moved to the direct management of OPPO, its original parent company. The departure of founder Carl Faye also changed the approach, and now holds the reins of Pete Lau, his former partner, who previously served as a senior at OPPO.
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One Plus Nord CE 2
(Raphael Kahan)
Design and structure: Plastic but nice
The design of the One Plus Nord CE 2 goes into what is called “design language” or in simple words, takes some visual features and duplicates them in all kinds of products of the brand so that the consumer can easily identify what their source is. At One Plus as mentioned they have succumbed to the landlord and are using OPPO design to save costs. The advantage here is that it is all about a successful and quite handsome design. Although the device is made of plastic including its chassis – but it is a quality (and slippery) plastic that does not betray its low price at first glance. On the screen is a 5th generation gorilla glass panel protector – which from experience is not very strong – but at least there is it. Many intermediate devices, especially in the cheaper segment, sometimes give up the use of protective glass for the screen and the result is almost disposable devices.
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One Plus Nord CE 2
(Raphael Kahan)
Nord CE 2 has 2 colors – very beautiful animal blue and solid silver gray. Both look good and are very respectful of their owners. It is not a device intended for those who are looking for a gray and unobtrusive device, but it is also not intended for those who are looking for a device with a lot of noise and ringing. Its size is not unusual compared to the competition and it is pleasant to hold with a thickness of 7.8 mm. Also one of the main advantages of plastic is in weight and here it is well expressed – the device weighs 173 grams which is well below the weight of similar sized devices based on glass and metal. What is not here is protection from water and dust. Another problem, is the placement of the speaker near the charging socket that blocks it when using the crib, as well as the placement of the power buttons and volume in front of each other, so it is very easy to produce involuntary screenshots.
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The speaker is in a bad position, but hey, there is a headphone jack
(Raphael Kahan)
Hardware: Excellent screen with a surprising (and warming) processor
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The processor does a good job
(Raphael Kahan)
It is combined with 8 GB of operating memory (there is also a version with 6 GB but not in the country) and 128 GB of storage space. One Plus has included an expansion slot for a memory card, a feature that is also slowly disappearing from the landscape, and it’s a shame. The only bad thing I have to say about the hardware is that it tends to overheat sometimes too much. That is, you will not get a burn, but with prolonged use of the camera – especially when shooting videos – the device has a tendency to warm up noticeably on the border of the unpleasant-for-me-to-hold it. It’s a shame because in the summer it can be really oppressive, but in the winter it can replace a hand warmer in the pockets.
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There’s NFC here
(Raphael Kahan)
The 6.43-inch screen is based on an AMOLED panel and supports a refresh rate of 90 Hz. As before it is a quality panel, but a bit old, it has been equipping OPPO devices for more than two years and despite the pleasant colors and excellent display, it will not compete with panels with a higher refresh rate of 120 Hz that most competitors in the category have. Its resolution – FHD – is not impressive but sufficient. Its main drawback, which is something we’ve already seen in Opo’s Reno 7, is its relatively low brightness. This is not a screen that provides good visibility in the sun. In Israel and for those who spend a lot of time outdoors, this can be a real problem. Another disadvantage of the device is the lack of the most iconic feature of One Plus – the mute button as in the iPhone.
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The screen is a bit outdated
(Raphael Kahan)
The device’s battery is equipped with a capacity of 4,500 mAh. It lasts for a day and a half in average use, but it has the advantage of a super-fast 65-watt charge in the BBK Group standard. It allows full charging in half an hour, and from this experience works great. In addition, reverse charging is supported, which means that the device can be used to charge accessories or other devices. At the multimedia level, the single speaker found here is not particularly impressive, it is useful as a headset and nothing more. There is a headphone jack here – something that has almost disappeared from the specifications of most devices, in addition the device supports all the advanced wireless audio standards and sound quality through excellent Bluetooth headphones. The dessert has WiFi 6 support which means the device is equipped for the near future in terms of fast wireless connectivity.
Software: Android 11 but with improved interface
The smartphone’s operating interface is version 11, OxygenOS. This is not the version of Oxygen that Van Plus enthusiasts remember from time immemorial – the one that looked like a clean Android with some customization capabilities. This is an interface that is much more reminiscent of OPPO’s interface, ColorOS. OnePlus promises two version updates – meaning theoretically the device will get Android 13 in the future – since it is now with Android 11 out of the box. It’s a bit disappointing to find that a device that came out in 2022 is equipped with an Android version from a year and a half ago, but it also allows Van Plus to save itself adapting the device to another version. Especially since Opo’s device – which sells for about NIS 500 more – is also sold with Android 11. In any case, it does not matter much, since the differences in the versions are usually minor.
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One and a half year old interface but works well
(Raphael Kahan)
In any case, the main advantage of this version is that it is much more similar to what was in the One Plus operating interface in the past. That means fans of the brand will feel right at home compared to the One Plus 10 Pro interface which is already based entirely on that of OPPO. As usual there is an option here to customize the entire interface design. In addition, there are many options for customizing alerts at a level of detail that are difficult to find in competitors. Other elements such as the camera app are the ones you will find in the other OPPO devices.
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Excellent fingerprint scanner location
(Raphael Kahan)
It’s important to say this – now that OPPO has emerged from the shadows as the official owner of One Plus, it does not hesitate to match the One Plus devices to the specifications of its devices. It makes more sense financially – even if it might annoy the brand’s longtime customers. One of the disadvantages for example is the inflation of alerts that offer you tips and updates on every pips the device makes. But overall this is a nice interface to use, even if one that is starting to look a bit outdated compared to Android 12 based devices.
Camera: Great in daylight but outdated
The CE 2 camera is the same one from the Renault 7 which is the same one from the Renault 6. That means it has been on the market for at least a year and a half. It is based on a 64-megapixel main sensor, an 8-megapixel wide-angle sensor and a completely redundant 2-megapixel macro sensor. There is a small difference in the main sensor, the one of the Plus Plus offers an F / 1.8 aperture key and its area is smaller but at a minimal level than that of the fireplace from Opo. However the results are quite similar. Since there is no optical image stabilization here – the quality of photography in difficult lighting conditions is not so good. But in daylight you get really good pictures, even if they do not compete with more modern cameras.
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Unnecessary macro camera
(Raphael Kahan)
Unimpressive wide-angle sensor to say the least. It provides reasonable performance and nothing more. In daylight you will get a little more detail but still the images are not exceptional in quality. In addition, the 119-degree shooting angle is slightly narrower than what you get with competing cameras. The aforementioned macro camera is superfluous to unusable. It is based on constant focus so you will need to play with the device to focus the photographed object. In night photography all the sensors do not function equally. This is not a camera for photography enthusiasts. By the way, there is no real zoom here. The double magnification allowed by the photo app is actually a crop of the image to a different size. And not real magnification.
The quality of the video shot is the important point here, as it is the main strength of the camera. But keep in mind that the videos are only usable up to FHD resolution; Although there is 4K support it is difficult to impossible to shoot at this resolution without image stabilization and the built-in electronic mechanism does not really work.
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The camera is not particularly new
(Raphael Kahan)
The selfie camera is 16 megapixels compared to 32 on the Opo device. She’s not bad at all, but she’s not the one you want to photograph for Instagram or Tiktok. The photo app from Opo that was copied here is a little less intuitive than that of One Plus – but it provides quite a few adjustment options and access to all sorts of settings. However in terms of ease of use it is a bit cumbersome, for example the need to access many of the additional features by scrolling through the options, is somewhat awkward. Another problem is the limitation of the AI system not really knowing how to deal with different scenes. Instead of identifying scenes effectively, many times it gets stuck and then just emphasizes the color saturation a bit and that’s it. When it comes to intelligence, this system is not really smart.
Summary and Alternatives: One Plus in Visibility, Opo in Essence
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One Plus Nord CE 2 – not the best at this price but it has its own advantages
(Raphael Kahan)
Overall the One Plus is not a bad device. But it is difficult to understand the logic of One Plus and Opo, the latter sells a model here (through the importer Runlight) which is one by one the same device with a difference of NIS 500 in price. This is when the competitors can get more specifications at a similar price or even less. This Van Plus will be especially suitable for brand and interface enthusiasts, or for those who want the Renault 7 but are short on money. It provides no advantage over the competition and even offers slightly less than most of them. There is nothing that can make me say to someone – buy it – unless he insists on price and brand. And yet this is not a bad device, its positioning is problematic here. If it was sold for less money, it could have been recommended as it has some advantages that can not be ignored – battery, memory expansion slot and excellent sound quality for the category as well as a nice design and low weight. But given the reality, it’s very difficult.