The $300 price of the OnePlus Nord N20 5G matches the original OnePlus One from 2014, but otherwise a lot has changed from what OnePlus now offers at this lower price. The 2014 $299 “flagship killer” phone was built to rival the best devices from Samsung, Apple, and HTC, complete with a “Never Settle” mantra.
The N20 5G instead brings some nice high-end conveniences — like an on-screen fingerprint sensor and faster 33W charging — but pairs them with a less powerful processor and so-so cameras.
Some of this is to be expected when making a phone for a fraction of the price of $900 or $1,000 for top end devices. And the N20 5G offers surprisingly solid value for money, but don’t expect it to be way above its price range like the OnePlus phones of recent years have.
I’ve been using the phone for the past few weeks and found that while the phone lacks excitement, it can pack enough features to run much of what you need within the $300 price range.
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Decent specs, great performance
The OnePlus N20 can handle games like Call of Duty Mobile, but had some trouble with YouTube TV.
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While the original $300 OnePlus One ran on a then-high-end Qualcomm processor, the N20 5G uses Qualcomm’s cheaper Snapdragon 695 chipset with 6GB of RAM. While it takes a minute to get started once it’s turned on, once it’s charged it seems to be fine, albeit with the occasional hiccup when the battery was below 10%.
Even then, I was able to multitask watching The Departed on Netflix while texting and browsing the web with no major issues, although scrolling did improve when I only had one app open at a time. Playing games like Call of Duty Mobile also worked fine.
The display, a 6.43-inch AMOLED screen, looks good too, although AMOLED panels on budget phones are nothing new, as Samsung puts it on some of its affordable Galaxy A series devices.
The 60Hz refresh rate of the N20 5G makes me miss the 90Hz panels OnePlus has used on most of its phones over the years, especially when scrolling through text-filled websites or even opening the app drawer. . Even cheaper phones, like the $200 TCL XE 30 5G, offer 90Hz displays at lower prices. Browsing TikTok or YouTube was fine on the OnePlus, though, even when browsing with a low battery.
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Oddly enough, the phone struggled to play live content from YouTube TV, with constant frame drops and lags that made watching live content nearly impossible. Watching with DirecTV Stream was a bit better, but it still had some stutters and frame drops when watching live TV.
The mono speaker isn’t great and lacks fullness, but it can get loud and is fine for playing music on Spotify or streaming a movie or TV show, especially in a quiet room.
On the plus side, there is a fingerprint scanner built into the screen and it works well, recognizing my thumb and unlocking the phone quickly and reliably. There’s also a 3.5mm headphone jack and a microSD card slot for adding an additional 512GB of storage. You also get NFC for tap-to-pay mobile payments, a feature that even some $400 phones like the Moto G 5G are missing.
In addition to the lower screen refresh rate and processor, there are a few other areas where OnePlus has scaled back compared to its flagship devices. The phone has an IP52 rating, so it should survive dust and raindrops, but don’t take it to a pool or shower. It also lacks wireless charging, which is a common omission for most phones under $300.
OnePlus says it will get one major Android software upgrade (from Android 11 to Android 12) and three years of security updates. Most higher-end Android phones promise major software upgrades for at least three years, and Samsung even promises two to three years of software updates with four years of security updates on its cheaper Galaxy A phones. It’s a little disappointing to see OnePlus settling for just one major upgrade here, especially when the phone is still running Android 11.
I also wish the vibration motor was a bit stronger in this 173g phone as the haptic feedback when texting felt inconsistent and the buzzing for notifications like calls and texts was weak.
Three rear cameras have macro aspirations, marginal results
The 16 megapixel front camera on the N20 5G.
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The cameras on the N20 are as follows: a 64-megapixel main camera along with 2-megapixel macro and 2-megapixel monochrome lenses. The Chief Gunner does a respectable job with environments with adequate lighting. Daylight shots at a Mets game or a bar looked fine with a decent amount of detail and color.
Daylight shots are reasonable to share with friends on social media.
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As you would expect from a budget phone, night photography is not a selling point for the N20. It has a “Night Mode”, but those pictures still looked pretty dark. In this example, the New York Mets apple appears to merge into the darkness of the sky.
Night shots are not impressive.
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The macro lens, meanwhile, is useful for meeting some “three rear cameras” specs, but not great for much else. The macro camera was inconsistent with focusing and the result lacked sharpness and detail. I wish more companies would stop including these cameras and use that money to upgrade more valuable features like the screen, processor or speakers.
There’s also a monochrome lens, but no special setting for shooting with it and it seems designed instead to help the main photographer, like on other OnePlus phones.
A macro shot of the OnePlus N20 lacks details and clarity.
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In the top left corner is a 16-megapixel camera. Like the main shooter on the back, selfies look good when given enough light.
The included gallery app is frustrating even when using basic functions like pinch to zoom. I noticed when I gestured to zoom out that the N20 was lagging. Zooming in, however, often worked fine.
Solid battery life, including fast charger
OnePlus does stand out a bit by including a 33W fast charger with the phone, which is remarkable because manufacturers keep leaving it out of the box.
After 15 minutes of charging, the N20 5G’s 4,500 mAh battery went from 0% to 22%. About 30 minutes of charging took the battery to 49%, with a full charge taking about an hour and 20 minutes.
While I didn’t run any rigorous testing, I had no issues with battery life on my mixed use of the phone.
Settle
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With the OnePlus Nord N20 5G, it’s easy to see where the company is skimping on features to keep costs down. It still covers a lot of the basics well, which could be enough for those on T-Mobile or Mint Mobile looking for a solid, yet affordable option with the carrier.
OnePlus recently expanded the N20 5G to now also be available unlocked, although 5G support is limited to only carriers using T-Mobile’s 5G network (such as Mint, Google Fi, and T-Mobile’s Metro).
It’s a shame OnePlus has deviated so far from what brought it all to its original success, as the US market is in dire need of stronger, cheaper alternatives to Samsung and Apple. The N20 comes close, but too many compromises make it never great.
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