The OnePlus Nord CE 4 Lite ticks all the boxes for reasonable phones with a big battery, big screen, and great standby times when you need to load apps. But despite its innovations over its predecessor, it still doesn’t do much to stand out from the crowd of other reasonable Android phones.
fast charging
Aqua Touch functionality
It has a headphone jack
Bored look photos
Generic design
Weak processor
The OnePlus Nord CE family of phones remains the most forgettable, as evidenced by the fact that I had maxed out this review of the OnePlus Nord CE 4 Lite before learning that the TechRadar editor who reviewed its predecessor was meArray. A way to make a lasting impression. . .
A much more affordable option than the other OnePlus phones, adding the recent models into the OnePlus Nord diversity, the CE Four Lite makes a few tweaks to its predecessor, the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite, but does little else to impress. If you compare it to a variety of competitors with prices, it probably doesn’t stand out much.
Let’s start by looking for the improvements: the Nord CE 4 Lite has a smaller screen than its predecessor, but ditches the LCD screen in favor of AMOLED, which is a clear improvement; It’s also a little brighter, that doesn’t mean much.
Another likely loss is the 108MP camera, frankly, the 50MP camera that replaces it is much better. It’s still a little far from “good,” with photographs lacking a bit of color, but it’s still progress.
I’ll also mention Aqua Touch, a feature that OnePlus has built into some of its new phones that makes it much less difficult to use the phone’s screen when you have rainy hands. It’s a small addition, but it can have huge benefits on the quality of life for those experimenting with bath time.
The Nord CE 4 Lite’s charging speed and battery life surpass the CE 3 Lite (and some select-budget competitors that I deserve to charge) as an established OnePlus feature that I like.
A few more minor improvements such as the presence of an under-display fingerprint scanner, software, an IP rating (only IP54, mind you) and more garage area mark small but welcome improvements.
But here everything is replaced. The Nord CE four Lite maintains the slow chipset of its predecessor, as well as its selfie camera, display solution and plastic design.
These innovations make the OnePlus Nord CE 4 Lite more in line with what you’d expect from the price, which is why this phone scores better than the 3 Lite. But “good enough” isn’t enough to make the new smartphone a brilliant recommendation.
The OnePlus Nord CE 4 Lite was announced in mid-June 2024 and went on sale shortly after, being temporarily overshadowed by the more premium OnePlus Nord 4, announced a month later.
At the time of writing, only limited availability has been announced for the Nord CE 4 Lite, but that’s how OnePlus operates: its Nord phones span the entire region. The CE four Lite was shown in the UK and may also come to Australia in the long term given the CE 3 Lite is on sale there, but it is highly unlikely to be successful in the US for reasons indicated above.
In the United Kingdom, you can pick up the phone only in its configuration for £299, which is roughly $380 or AU$580, per context. It has exactly the same price as the CE 3 Lite, a mobile that stands out in the economic telephony market segment.
The OnePlus Nord CE 4 Lite is an archetypal budget phone and its specs match:
It’s hard to get away from the OnePlus Nord CE 4’s design concept. This is rarely a complaint in itself, but the phone probably wouldn’t win any design awards.
Measuring 162. 9 x 75. 6 x 8. 1mm, it’s as huge as most other cheap Android phones. It weighs 191g, so it’s not too heavy; Its plastic frame and backing will probably thank you: this curtain doesn’t look especially premium, but it does provide greater coverage than glass.
Speaking of protection, the phone has an IP54 rating, which means it is resistant to the ingress of soft particles, but only splashes of water, nothing more, so don’t try to take pictures underwater. marines.
The length of the phone means that the volume rocker on the right edge is almost out of reach unless you have two hands. I found that the power button, just below, is within easy reach. On its back edge, there is a USB-C port and a 3. 5mm headphone jack, but there is no alert slider here like on other OnePlus phones.
On the back of the phone are two vertical circular blocks that hold the camera lenses. Due to a reflective panel that surrounds them, they appear much larger than they are; They don’t stick out too much and only open the phone to small wobbles when placed flat on a surface.
You can choose the phone in two other color options, at least in the UK: blue and silver. As you can see in the verification photos, I used the latter, but there is no difference beyond the shade.
What you may not realize from this list of specifications is that, despite its numbers, the Nord CE 4 Lite feels quite minimalist in its design. You have everything you need and nothing more. And your hand distracted between random bumps, levers and dials like on many other Android phones I’ve tested.
OnePlus has opted for a 6. 67-inch AMOLED display on the Nord CE 4 Lite, which is exactly the same length as the vast majority of Android competitors, the AMOLED marks an improvement over the 3 Lite’s flat LCD display.
This also applies to the 1080 x 2four00 resolution and the 120 Hz refresh rate. The CE 4 Lite hits the bar for what you would expect at this price, but does not surpass it in any way. This is reflected in the experience of using the screen: everything is transparent and fluid, but opting for a more expensive phone will get you more colorful colors and a higher maximum brightness.
There’s one standout demo feature, but it’s probably not its display capabilities: it’s Aqua Touch, a feature OnePlus has started installing on its phones. This convenient generation ensures that your touch is as it should be recorded when it rains or rains. hands, making your phone much less difficult to use in the rain or shower.
When you boot it up, the OnePlus Nord CE 4 Lite comes with OxygenOS 1four. 1 preloaded – it’s a fork of Android 1four, with OnePlus making changes to Google’s original operating system. The company has promised two years of updates (i. e. , to Android 16) and three years of security updates. It’s not a huge amount of money, but it’s more than anything.
OxygenOS remains a popular UI among phone fans, and I think I get it: it has a distinctive look, with a unique font and flavor that sets it apart while ensuring icons and buttons are easily understandable. .
Included are many cool features, such as Zen Space, which allows you to lock your phone to focus, and a great source of customization offers.
Also on the table are a lot of pre-installed apps, which is a little less impressive. These are the same old offenders like LinkedIn, Netflix, Facebook, Amazon Shopping, and AliExpress, as well as some games. There is nothing concrete. It’s off-putting, considering how many reasonable phones full of annoying extras you have to download, but enthusiasts can complain about it.
To put it politely, cameras are obviously a priority for the OnePlus Nord CE 4 Lite – it has the required number (and a self-timer).
The main camera includes a 50-megapixel f/1. 8 sensor; If you’re feature-rich in the budget phone market, you’ve probably noticed this same generation in. . . well, on most phones from those days. The main camera is connected via another 2MP camera, f/2. 4 which, in my testing, doesn’t seem to do much: the autofocus appeared just as fast and accurate when I covered this component with duct tape.
The photos taken by phone are decent: they are clear and detailed enough that you can see your subject without malicious errors or primary glitches. However, the images were precisely colorful, as you can see in the camera samples section, and I found that there were some contrast issues in some shots.
Sometimes on phones, AI-based scene optimization can save the day, but I didn’t notice much of that on the Nord CE 4 Lite. As I said, the images are suitable for use, but will never raise eyebrows.
OnePlus has granted CE 4 Lite users access to a magic eraser feature, which is rarely unusual on phones at this price point. This works pretty well, as long as you keep the phone’s processing strength (which is limited) in the brain and only give the AI easy tasks.
The lack of an ultra-wide camera means you get what you’re given when you point the phone at a subject and you can’t take a step back to see more scene. I would say the same thing about the lack of a telephoto lens. lens for zoom, but I was pleasantly surprised by the virtual zoom; The fact that you can only go up to 10x this way means that you get a clever amount of detail at the maximum range.
On the front of the phone is a 16MP camera, f/2. 4, and the most I’ve said about the rear camera applies here too. The photographs are transparent but lack dynamism, and I also found that even the briefest amount of sunlight would blow up selfies.
There’s a minimum of extra modes here: photographers get portrait, professional, night, and landscape features, while videographers get dual view, time-lapse, and slow-motion. In general video mode, you can stream up to 1080p and 30 consistent frames. with second.
One of my biggest court cases with the Nord CE 3 Lite’s predecessor, its weak processor, and the company’s blatant reaction to using the exact same kit on this new phone.
This is the Snapdragon 695 chip, a mainstay of budget phones for years. In the Geekbench 6 benchmark test, it returned a multi-core score of 1,968, which is precisely fast.
When playing high-end titles, I rarely noticed a lag or weird stutter, and in intense action, I found that inputs can sometimes be a little laggy. To be fair, though, I have to say that my issues didn’t seem as dramatic as they did with the CE 3 Lite, despite employing the same processor.
Like its big brother, the Nord CE 4 Lite has 8GB of RAM, but the storage length is greater than 256GB, so you can have a lot more compatibility on the phone; Keep in mind that all of this is priced the same as last year. model. It’s a big improvement.
In terms of audio, the Nord has a 3. 5mm headphone jack, so you can connect worn-out headphones. Its Bluetooth 5. 1 connectivity rarely lives up to the 5. 2 to 5. 4 criteria seen on most smartphones today, but the differences will be negligible beyond how far you can pay attention from your phone.
Stereo speakers are as small as you’d expect from a smartphone, but they’re wonderful for listening to voice memos, social media videos, and more.
If there’s one feature you can rely on in all budget phones, it’s battery life: the space stored in fancy internal components can be used with a larger battery, and the OnePlus Nord CE 4 Lite is no exception.
The phone packs a 5,110 mAh battery, making it one of the new budget phones that surpasses the previous 5,000 mAh battery.
Having that much power ensures that the Nord will easily last a full day of use, whether it’s simply checking the weather or playing Call of Duty: Mobile all day.
On my longer testing days, the Nord had at least a quarter of its speed on the second day of use, and that figure was higher when I hadn’t used the phone much the day before. I can’t believe you can just use the phone for two days without charging it under any circumstances, but its lasting strength was still admirable.
Its charging speed is equally praiseworthy: 80 watts of power ensures that the phone goes from empty to full in just over half an hour. Of course, you’ll need a compatible charger and in the box you’ll find a USB-A to USB-C cable.
The phone offers opposite wireless charging, so you can plug a cable into the phone and use it to rate the device. This will require a USB-C cable for whatever you need, whether it’s USB-C, micro USB, or Lightning device.
Basically, you get what you pay for with the OnePlus Nord CE four Lite, just like with its predecessor and the entire Nord lineup.
So you might not pick up the CE 4 Lite and feel cheated: its screen, speed, battery life, and camera prowess are pretty much what you expected given its price.
However, if you have a larger budget, you should know that you can buy a larger phone without having to spend much more money.
While largely positive, this OnePlus Nord CE 4 Lite review makes it clear that the phone has issues. Here are some other features you may want to consider:
I tested the OnePlus Nord CE 4 Lite for about 3 weeks and the tests were done with the new Nord 4.
The testing procedure applies to real-world use (taking photos, making calls, playing games, streaming Netflix) and lab tests (benchmarks, battery tests, and software checks) to provide a complete overview of the device.
I’ve been reviewing smartphones for TechRadar since early 2019, and in that time I’ve used a lot of OnePlus mobiles, as well as other devices in the price segment. As stated in the introduction, I tested the Nord CE 3 Lite.
Learn more about how we test
First revision in August 2024
Tom Bedford deputy phone editor at TechRadar until the end of 2022, after moving up the ranks from editor. Although he has specialized in phones and tablets, he has also ventured into other technologies such as electric scooters, smart watches, fitness, mobile games. and much more. He was founded in London, United Kingdom and now works for the online entertainment site What To Watch.
She has degrees in American Literature and Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia. Prior to working at TechRadar, he freelanced in technology, gaming and entertainment, and spent many years working as a mixologist.
Fast! Logitech’s G Pro X Wireless Gaming Headset Gets a Huge 50% Discount
I used to think AI was scary, but those Google AI features are just sad
This AI ghost from beyond could guide you through the museums of the future
TechRadar is from Future US Inc, a leading foreign media organization and virtual publisher. Visit our corporate site.