Hands-on with the fullmetal OnePlus Nord 4

OnePlus has officially launched the Nord 4, and while the handset isn’t formally stepping on North American soil, I got the opportunity to go hands-on with this all-metal device. I’ve never reviewed or even gone hands-on with a OnePlus device, but unfortunately, our OnePlus expert, Brad Bennett, could not make the Milan, Italy, hands-on event, so I took his spot.

While I don’t have much experience with OnePlus devices, I have a lot of experience reviewing and trying out different handsets, and the Nord 4 stands out. It’s a device with a unibody metal design that feels great to touch and play around with. It was also lighter than I expected, considering the material. The glass display lies flush with the metal sides, so there aren’t any sharp edges. Honestly, the device feels great. Because the handset is all metal, it doesn’t seem to attract fingerprints like a glass smartphone, but it still smudges if your hands are sweaty or have any grease on them. Further, because the handset’s top (where it changes colour) is still glass, you can still get fingerprints on it.

Speaking of the colours, Obsidian Midnight, Mercurial Silver and Oasis Green, honestly, you can’t go wrong with any of the tones. The Obsidian has a gunmetal-like look to it, the Mercurial Silver has these stripes that look great when they hit the light, and Oasis Green…is green, what else do you need?

The unibody design also means that the sides offer the same metal, which helps the device feel like one solid chocolate bar-shaped slab. If I were to drop the handset, there would be no chance of the back cracking or breaking — at least not any of the metal parts.

I also expected the phone would be smaller. The handset boasts a 6.7-inch display, matching many of the market’s flagships. 

Design-wise, I’m a big fan of the dual-tone backing, which reminds me of the Pixel 2 and Pixel 3, both incredibly awesome devices. The bezels around the handset are also relatively thin, which isn’t what I expected from a mid-range device.

I was particularly impressed by OnePlus’ Aqua Touch 2.0 technology, which allows users to continue using Nord even when the display is wet. I tried this out, and the handset worked, to my surprise. At some point, it registered a drop of water as my finger and pulled down the notification shade, but otherwise, it registered my fingers; I could type, search on Google, and more. Some might think this is a dumb feature, but I’ve been caught in the rain and tried to text a friend or change the music in the shower, and my iPhone 15 Pro can’t handle it.

We quickly pulled up the front-facing camera, which didn’t work well with my dark skin, but the rear-facing camera looked like it could take good photos. I didn’t play around with it too much, though. The handset also seemed snappy thanks to its Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 and up to 16GB of RAM.

OnePlus put together a good-looking device that feels great in the hand. It comes in dual-tone that takes me back to the early Pixel era, but it also sports a unibody metal design that seems quite durable. The handset bolsters AI features, has a 5,500mAh battery, and can charge incredibly quickly with 100W charging- although it doesn’t sport wireless charging, which might be a hangup for some. Another potential hangup is the OnePlus software update schedule, which isn’t great from my understanding. The company is now promising up to six years of software updates, but going by Brad’s previous reviews, I’ll see it when I believe it.

I didn’t spend too much time with the handset because it isn’t coming to Canada, but if you happen to be in Europe, the UK, or India and want to purchase a new handset, look at OnePlus’ new mid-range; you might like it. If you don’t want it, at least pick it up and hold the device because it’s a beauty.