OnePlus Nord 5 Display and Battery Life
- Muhammad Rehman
- 49 minutes ago
- 3 min read
The OnePlus Nord 5 gets a bigger and faster display this time around. The handset features a 6.83-inch OLED panel with 144Hz refresh rate and a 1272 x 2800px resolution. Additionally, the panel supports HDR10+, Dolby Vision, high PWM brightness control for reduced eye strain, and the Ultra HDR standard.
The display can get decently bright during real-world performance. In manual mode, our device produced up to 787 nits, while auto mode produced up to 1330 nits. In our experience, anything above 1,000 nits is enough for a comfortable outdoor experience.
The phone has three refresh rate modes - Auto, Standard and High. The latter option is still automatic in the sense that it dials down the refresh rate to 60Hz when the screen is idle, but it prioritizes high-refresh rates in apps. For instance, Chrome doesn't go beyond 90Hz in Auto mode, but boosts up to 120Hz in High mode.
However, the advertised 144Hz refresh rate is not actually available for everyday use in apps and menus. The highest refresh rate that you can manually configure the device to is 120Hz, and even per-app settings do not go beyond that.
The only way to achieve the advertised 144Hz refresh rate is in games. In particular, in the few games that OnePlus has whitelisted. This includes titles like BGMI, Call of Duty: Mobile, and Free Fire. In some cases, such as in Call of Duty: Mobile, the 144Hz refresh rate is automatically achieved in game. In BGMI, there is a slightly convoluted procedure involved in first setting the game to the lowest graphical preset/highest in game refresh rate and then enabling the Adaptive Frame Booster option through the OnePlus gaming overlay. The phone then uses frame generation to achieve the 144Hz refresh rate.
Considering its limited application, it feels disingenuous to claim that the phone has a 144Hz refresh rate display. Sure, the hardware is there, but you really aren't experiencing it most of the time. And if you don't play the games where it is accessible, you functionally just have a 120Hz display, which feels like a scam.
Depending on the market, the OnePlus Nord 5 features either a 5,200 mAh battery or a 6,800 mAh cell. Indian consumers will receive the larger unit, while European users will settle for the 5,200 mAh variant. Interestingly, the 5,200 mAh battery is a downgrade compared to last year's Nord 4.
In addition to the smaller battery, the Nord 5 features a larger display and more powerful chipset, which would negatively affect endurance compared to the previous model. However, we are pleased to report that the more demanding hardware and reduced cell capacity have had little effect on battery life. The Nord 5 performed similarly to the Nord 4 in our battery tests, retaining excellent endurance. We are particularly impressed by the solid web browsing score.
The Nord 5 supports up to 80W charging using the company's proprietary SuperVOOC charging standard, but it can also negotiate 18W over Power Delivery or 33W when PPS is available. For context, last year's Nord 4 supported 100W fast charging, significantly reducing the charging time.
Either way, the charging rate is competitive and is definitely one of the faster ones. The phone can complete a full charging cycle within 42 minutes, while a 30-minute charging cycle replenishes almost 80% of the battery capacity.
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