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00:00Okay, hands up if, like me, you're starting to feel just a little bit overwhelmed by the
00:05sheer number of phones that OnePlus are pumping out.
00:09This is the brand new Nord 2T.
00:12I also have the, where is it, this one, the Nord CE 2 Lite, and there's about eight, nine
00:19other options available.
00:20Anyway, let's put that just to one side for a moment and talk about this guy.
00:24It is the new Nord 2T, which is a slightly upgraded and also surprisingly slightly cheaper
00:30version of the Nord 2.
00:32This guy, which came out nine months ago in July 2021.
00:36So while this isn't quite a full Nord 3, and from the front you'd be kind of hard-pressed
00:41to tell the difference between them, there are still some welcome upgrades here to the
00:45processor.
00:46We get more RAM, faster charging, there's a few camera software tweaks, and of course
00:50we get the latest Oxygen OS and Android software.
00:54This is basically their flagship mid-range phone, if that makes sense.
01:00The Nord 2T starts from £369, which is actually less than the £399 the Nord 2 originally
01:07sold for, and also we're getting eight gigs of RAM rather than six, along with 128 storage.
01:12If you want, you can actually pay an extra £80 to get this with 12 gigs of RAM and 256
01:17storage, but really, I probably wouldn't do that.
01:20I would stick with this, the entry-level model which I have here, because this is a mid-range
01:24phone, it is all about value for money, and I probably wouldn't bother going for 12 gigs
01:28of RAM, especially as this does now support RAM Boost, which is not an exact replacement
01:33for having more RAM, but it does use a little bit of your storage, and while not as fast,
01:38it can, well, as it says on the tin, boost your RAM if and when necessary.
01:44So £369, that makes this pretty interesting, actually.
01:48Not just because it's £30 cheaper than the Nord 2 was, although because that's been out
01:52for a while, it's now discounted, so about the same price, but not only does this undercut
01:55the iPhone SE by £50, this is also cheaper than the Galaxy A53 at £399, which I reckon
02:03is probably this guy's closest rival, plus, of course, you get the new 80W SuperVOOC charger
02:09in the box, the same one that you get with the flagship 10 Pro, which actually means
02:13you can top this up from 0 to 100% in 27 minutes, which is not too shabby at all, and
02:19you get the charger included, and it's £30 cheaper, so arguably, this is a better value
02:24option than the A53, but I think in practice, it's going to come down to day-to-day performance,
02:29camera quality, and also the software support, which I think is one area Samsung may have
02:34this beat, because they offer four years of Android updates with a fifth security year
02:40update, whereas we only get two years of Android updates promised with a third year of security
02:44updates.
02:45Anyway, moving on, what do you make of this design?
02:49I've got the very glossy Jade Fog colour here, which, as you can see, has a slightly
02:53green tint to it, but it is basically grey-silver, even though there's another colour called
02:58Grey Shadow, but they both get Gorilla Glass 5 on the front and the back, nothing new there,
03:04although we do get this new metalised frame and some minor silver accent frames around
03:08the camera.
03:09I must admit, it's not my favourite design.
03:13From a distance, these camera modules look quite impressive and almost imposing, but
03:17actually up close, the lenses are kind of all over the place.
03:20It kind of looks like an illegitimate child of the Huawei P50 and the OnePlus 9.
03:25From the front, you really can't tell any difference versus the original Nord 2.
03:30Both phones have this slightly chunkier chin at the bottom, which means we have this asymmetrical
03:34bezel, but none of that really matters, and at 8.2mm thick and with a 6.43-inch screen,
03:40it is really comfortable to hold and use, and I also do appreciate that we get a screen
03:44protector on it as well.
03:47The screen itself is actually identical to the Nord 2, there is no difference, still
03:5190Hz, still Full HD AMOLED, still 6.43 inches, which is a little bit disappointing.
03:56I had kind of hoped for a bump up to 120Hz like we get with the Galaxy A53, although
04:02one new feature is that we now get dual ambient light sensors, one on the front and one on
04:07the back, which apparently makes it better at sensing lighting conditions around you
04:11and adjusting the screen's brightness accordingly.
04:14Not exactly a headline upgrade though, I think you'd agree.
04:17We do still get stereo speakers, although in my experience, the bottom firing one is
04:21a lot louder, so it can sound a little bit one-sided, and like before, there is still
04:25no microSD or headphone jack here.
04:28Both of which we do get on this, the new Nord CE 2 Lite, which is also about £100 cheaper.
04:35Now we do get a pretty good-sized 4500mAh battery in here, again, no surprises, same
04:40as before, and while I have only been using this for a few days, it does seem to perform
04:44quite well.
04:45I'm getting to about 11pm at night, with about 25% still in the tank, plus of course
04:50you can quickly top it up thanks to that SuperVOOC charger, although there is still no wireless
04:54charging.
04:55Now we'll come to this camera in just a second, but first, I reckon the biggest upgrade with
04:59this 2T is the fact that we have this new Dimensity 1300 processor, which is a smaller
05:066nm chip versus the 7nm Dimensity 1200 AI that we get in the standard Nord 2.
05:14And it's actually a decent little upgrade, putting it side by side with the Nord 2, which
05:18actually is the highest spec 12GB model I have here, so it's not actually quite on an
05:22even playing field with the 2T, but despite that, in multi-core, the 2T is 14% faster,
05:28although we're not seeing that much change for the single core.
05:31But then, if we switch over to the 3DMark Wildlife Stress Test, not only is the peak
05:36score 10% higher, but just look at that stability, 99% versus around 60%, so this new more efficient
05:43chip has basically eliminated throttling, which of course is a really big deal for gamers.
05:49So it's about 10-15% faster than the Nord 2, not something you'd really notice in everyday
05:53use, although as I say, the stability that you get, especially with longer gaming sessions,
05:58will be noticeable, but I think for most people day-to-day use, I would much rather have seen
06:02a 120Hz upgrade over this 90Hz.
06:05For me at least, that would have been a much more significant upgrade.
06:08But still, while this doesn't compete with the performance of proper flagship phones
06:12with Snapdragon 8 Gen 1s, it's still plenty fast enough for COD Mobile and even a bit
06:17of Genshin Impact.
06:19But it is still mainly thanks to OxygenOS, and we're now on 12.1 on top of Android 12,
06:24that makes the biggest impact for the 2T feeling fast and responsive to use.
06:29Plus there's a healthy amount of customisation options, although in China and some other
06:33countries OnePlus phones have now fully transitioned to Oppo's ColorOS, but at least here in the
06:39UK, we are still on OxygenOS.
06:42So the Dimensity 1300 is all about power efficiency, but it does also unlock a few
06:47new software features for the camera, with improved night mode shots and also better
06:51dynamic range in video.
06:53So let's talk about this camera, which won't take long because the camera hardware on both
06:58the front and the back is identical to the Nord 2.
07:01There is nothing different.
07:02We get the same 50MP main camera, the 8MP ultrawide, and also a 2MP what they call monolens,
07:10which is essentially a depth sensor for improving portrait shots.
07:13And we're also getting the same 32MP selfie camera up front.
07:17So while there is nothing really new, the camera is still pretty good given the price,
07:22and as you can see from these photos I've taken with it, in good light we do get bright,
07:26sharp and natural looking shots.
07:28Although as expected it does start to struggle a bit in low light, with noise and white balance
07:32issues cropping in.
07:34Although side by side with the Nord 2, the 2T's improved night mode does seem to make
07:38a small but noticeable difference.
07:48You can also see that the 2T takes these night mode photos a lot faster, which of course
07:53is important if you have moving subjects so you get less blurry night mode shots.
07:57Although I must admit I am a bit disappointed by the video.
08:02It tops out at 4K on the back and 1080p up front, and in good light the quality is decent
08:08but honestly the rubbish stabilisation makes 4K pretty much unusable unless you're standing
08:12still, and even 1080p can look a bit jerky.
08:16Of course lighting makes a big difference, and I would recommend turning on the AI enhancement
08:21which significantly improves the dynamic range, but I think that while I haven't fully reviewed
08:25the Galaxy A53 yet, my impression so far is that it does offer a better camera system.
08:35It's a tricky one this, because on the one hand this is cheaper than the Nord 2 and also
08:39better with the faster charging, the extra RAM, the faster and more stable processor
08:45and a couple of little camera software tweaks, and also the slightly refreshed design, but
08:50I'm not really sure if that's a good thing or not.
08:52So certainly if you are considering buying a Nord 2 then don't get the 2T.
08:56But on the other hand, have they done enough to really keep up with the competition like
09:00the Galaxy A53 and indeed the Pixel 6a, both of which are a little bit more expensive than
09:04this so bear that in mind.
09:06I think for £369 this base model is definitely worth considering, but I just wish there was
09:11a bit more of an upgrade here, perhaps to 120Hz, perhaps a slightly improved camera
09:16from a hardware or sensor point of view.
09:19It's just a bit boring.
09:21But what do you reckon?
09:22Would you be tempted to buy this or maybe the A53 or the Pixel or the iPhone SE?
09:27Let me know in the comments below.
09:29But also while I haven't talked about it that much, it is worth considering this if you
09:33are on a tighter budget, the Nord CE 2 Lite, which starts at £279, and also as I say you
09:41get some features like microSD and headphone jacks that you don't get with this.
09:44The main downside of this is that it is an LCD rather than AMOLED screen.
09:48But if you can live with that, definitely worth considering.
09:52Thank you so much for watching guys.
09:53If you want to see more from me, don't forget to hit that subscribe button and ding that
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10:00on the Tech Chat.