Hello everyone, welcome to the comparison of currently the best midrange smartphones. Today we are going to compare OnePlus Nord CE 4 and Nothing Phone 2a, so that you guys can decide which one is best for you. Before diving into the comparison, let me tell you that both smartphones are very good in their category. And you won’t be disappointed with whatever option you go for. One smartphone is better in some departments from the other one, and vice versa.
But since we all have our preferences and priorities, we have this comparison. And also because we all want the best in our budget. So without wasting anymore time, let’s gets started.
Build Quality & Design:
Both the devices have a good built for the price point. Both has plastic back & frame. While Nothing Phone 2a has the brand’s identity of transparent back design, the OnePlus Nord CE 4 has an abstract design on green color. Both phones have IP54 rating for slight dust and splash resistance. While the Nord CE 4 has typical slight curved corners, Phone 2a is little bit more curved. For notifications Nothing has given 3 LED lights on the back. It’s not a full fledged Glyph Interface like the flagship ones, but still got something. Whereas OnePlus have a IR Blaster and a SD Card slot. Both have an in-display fingerprint sensor, which works flawlessly. Weight of both phones are also similar, Nord CE 4 at 186g while Phone 2a at 192g.
All in all, both phones have equally good build quality, with Phone 2a having a funky design and Nord CE 4 having clean design.
- OnePlus Nord CE 4: 8/10
- Nothing Phone 2a: 8/10
Display:
Alright, here comes the segment with neck to neck competition. Both devices have 6.7 Inch Full HD+ (1080×2410) AMOLED Display with 120Hz refresh rate and 10-bit panel. Both has Gorilla Glass 5 along with Always-On Display. There’s HDR10+ support on both devices as well. The only minor difference is in the screen brightness. The OnePlus Nord CE 4 has 1,100 nits of peak brightness whereas Nothing Phone 2a has very slightly higher 1,300 nits of peak brightness. But you won’t notice any difference between the two unless you compare them side by side, then only you will find Phone 2a a bit brighter than Nord CE 4.
Also, if you like watching Netflix a lot at premium plan, then Nord CE 4 also brings HDR10 support, which the later lacks.
- OnePlus Nord CE 4: 7.5/10
- Nothing Phone 2a: 8/10
Performance & Storage:
Now comes the part which will make differences between the devices. OnePlus Nord CE 4 houses Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 7 Gen3 CPU which is based on 4nm structure and has Adreno 720 GPU. On the other side Nothing Phone 2a is equipped with Mediatek’s Dimensity 7200 Pro CPU which is also based on 4nm structure and has Mali-G610 MC4 GPU. If we go with the benchmark results the Nord CE 4 has an edge. But both are more or less powerful enough to handle regular day to day tasks fluidly, along with casual high graphic gaming. Though in Nord CE 4, you get support of Extreme (60fps) with HDR graphics in BGMI, which the later is giving only in smooth graphics.
In terms of memory, OnePlus Nord CE 4 has only 8GB RAM option along with 128GB and 256GB storage options. Whereas Nothing Phone 2a gives us 12GB RAM options for 256GB storage. Do note that Nord CE 4 has UFS 3.1 storage type, whereas Phone 2a is stuck on UFS 2.2 type. This results in faster storage speeds. So there might be slight impact on overall usage.
- OnePlus Nord CE 4: 9/10
- Nothing Phone 2a: 7.5/10
Software:
We know both brands have a strong hold on their software. On one hand OnePlus provides us with the clean UI experience, and on the other hand Nothing offers a ton of features without compromising the smoothness. Both of them runs on Android 14 out of the box, The OnePlus Nord CE 4 has OxygenOS 14 on top, whereas Nothing Phone 2a has Nothing OS 2.5.5 on it. OxygenOS 14 is a pretty stable skin now with no bloatware with very smooth animations over the UI. Nothing OS also carries the same quality while giving a lot of features like top of the class lock screen customization, unique widgets, and a lot more.
Speaking about the updates, OnePlus is giving 2 years of android updates with 3 years of security patches, whereas Nothing will provide 3 years of android updates with 4 years of security patches.
So, Nothing clearly stands out for me in this segment. But at the end personal preference also matters in the UI, so make sure to check out both UIs in real world or at least watch some videos to get better idea.
- OnePlus Nord CE 4: 8.5/10
- Nothing Phone 2a: 9.5/10
Battery & Charging:
Here you can see a clear winner in every aspect. The OnePlus Nord CE 4 really outperforms Nothing Phone 2a. The battery capacity of Nord CE 4 is 5,500mAh whereas Phone 2a has 5,000mAh. Though it shouldn’t make much difference but in real life usage there’s a difference of 1 hour in screen on time (it may vary with usage type). I feel the optimization of OxygenOS 14 is doing a great job here. In terms of charging, Nord CE 4 bundles with 100W charging which charge the device in 30-35 mins. Whereas Nothing don’t provide charger in the box, users have to buy the 45W charger separately, which costs around Rs.2,499. Still it charges the device approximately around an hour. So clearly OnePlus defeats Nothing here.
- OnePlus Nord CE 4: 9/10
- Nothing Phone 2a: 7/10
Camera:
Now comes the most interesting part of this comparison, which one has the better camera? If we talk about specs, then Nothing has an edge because it has 50MP Ultrawide camera which will give more detail while zooming in. Whereas OnePlus is settled (pun intended) for 8MP camera only. The main camera is 50MP on both. On the front also Phone 2a has 32MP camera and Nord CE 4 has 16MP camera. But speaking about the actual performance, things are totally different. Based on many YouTubers and reviewers on X, the Nord CE 4 surpasses Phone 2a in almost every aspect.
The photos from main camera are better on Nord CE 4, it has better HDR, better edge detection, better color management, and better contrast compared to Phone 2a. In ultrawide camera, Nothing do have an edge over the details, but color & HDR management is simply better on OnePlus. Same is the case with front camera. But in video recording Phone 2a has stabilizer on 4k recording as well, which Nord CE 4 completely lacks.
Overall, OnePlus Nord CE 4 has better cameras than Nothing Phone 2a.
- OnePlus Nord CE 4: 8/10
- Nothing Phone 2a: 6.5/10
Sound & Connectivity:
Both devices are almost similar in terms of sound output and connectivity. Both of them have stereo speaker set, but the Nord CE 4 has a little louder one with slight better quality. Both doesn’t have 3.5mm jack as well. For Hi-Res sound on speakers OnePlus is giving Dolby ATMOS support, whereas Nothing is supplementing with Dirac Audio. Also, Nord CE 4 has support for Hi-Res Codecs like aptX, aptX HD, and LHDC. So listening on high end Bluetooth device will be a better experience with Nord CE 4. Also, having no Hi-Res codec on Phone 2a means you can’t even utilize Nothing Earbuds if you are someone who prefer same brand accessories.
In terms of connectivity, both are getting all necessary options like dual-band WiFi 6, GPS, and Type-C 2.0 port. The Nord CE 4 has Bluetooth 5.4 whereas Phone 2a has Bluetooth 5.3, which won’t make much difference in real life usage. And Nothing is giving NFC support as well.
- OnePlus Nord CE 4: 8.5/10
- Nothing Phone 2a: 8/10
Conclusion:
As you can see both devices were neck to neck throughout the comparison. Except battery and camera, no segment is outperformed by a single device. If you are someone who loves a different experience with brighter display, unique software & UI, and longer updates, Nothing Phone 2a is for you. But if you prefer better performance, clean look, clicking good pictures, better battery backup and much faster charging, go with OnePlus Nord CE 4 without rethinking. But at the end, both are very good devices in this sub Rs.25,000 price range and you won’t get a ‘bad’ experience with either of them.
Do let us know which device you prefer out of both? And if you us to compare any of these with another device? Let us know in the comment section below. & Stay tuned with us for more such comparisons.
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