Review OnePlus Nord N100
It has been presented for several months, and today we have it here. It is the cheapest terminal of the OnePlus brand. As expected, it has limited hardware that we want to test and find out which are the strongest and weakest points.
This OnePlus Nord N100 comes in a black box with the letters N100 in blue on the top. The characteristics and the CE symbol (European Conformity) appear on one of the sides that indicate that it meets the legal and technical minimums in terms of safety to market it in Europe.
As soon as we open it, we find a small box with the instructions and the guarantee. When removing it, we find the terminal wrapped in a non-reusable plastic bag. Below is the red cable that characterizes OnePlus and the current charger (Chinese version) from 5V to 2A / 9V to 2A of 18W of power. However, we want to thank the store again for adding a European charger instead of an adapter.
software
This OnePlus comes updated with Android 10 under the Oxygen Os 10.5.3 customization layer, upgradeable via OTA (automatic update via notification). But the good thing about this operating system is that there is an Oxygen Updater application with which to search and force updates.
This system is a modified version of Android with the best features and functionalities that the Android community proposes. It is a global ROM that includes several languages, including Spanish and Catalan. It does not include Galician or Basque.
Even so, it is a complete operating system, and it works well.
As for the applications, there is no problem. It has Google services installed so you can access the Play Store (app store) without problems. It also brings YouTube, Chrome, Maps, Gmail, and native Android applications such as File manager, calculator, calendar …
The main menu includes many hidden functions.
This operating system includes many customization options. You can choose the icons, the font, or the theme that the phone uses. In addition, it also allows you to change the style with which you interact with the phone, adding gestures or using traditional buttons.
On the other hand, you can also choose the refresh rate that the screen uses (60Hz or 90Hz), and in case you want to hide the selfie camera, there is also a mode to hide it.
And despite being a very simple terminal, it also includes a Games optimization application. In this section, we can activate the “Game Mode (Fnatic)” to improve the performance of games by blocking notifications and optimizing the data network.
As for security, this terminal has a fingerprint reader on the back in which up to 5 fingerprints can be configured. It also has facial recognition that works well. It is fast and accurate and is capable of unlocking us even with sunglasses. I have also tried the mask, and the result is positive. On the other hand, if I put on my sunglasses and the mask is no longer capable of unlocking the mobile.
Unlocking test
The security level of this OnePlus is Widevine L3 to play videos from Netflix, HBO, or Amazon Prime Video with the highest quality. Perhaps here, it does not matter so much since the quality of the screen is HD +.
After passing the Malwarebytes antivirus, it has not detected malicious applications.
Design and Materials
This new terminal preserves the general lines of the Android phones of 2020 in every way. It is an all-screen terminal with a hole in the screen (5mm) for the selfie camera. The margins or frames are approximately several millimeters. The bottom of the screen increases to 5mm. It is a panel with curved corners that makes the usable surface approximately 90%.
It is a “small” device. It measures 75.1mm wide, 164.9mm high, and is 8.5mm thick, bringing its weight to 188g. The design is very elegant despite being made of glass and plastic. It is not certified for water resistance, but its structure is resistant to splashing water.
This model is “Midnight Frost” (blue-black) being a very nice color.
The front part stands out for its hole in the screen that is located on the left side. It mounts a 6.52-inch IPS LCD panel with an HD + resolution of 720 x 1440 pixels. Pixel density per inch is 247ppi. It is a screen rounded at the corners and has 2.5D glass with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection. The aspect ratio remains at 20: 9.
The screen refresh rate goes up to 90Hz, making transitions between applications faster and more dynamic.
The screen quality is quite good, and the colors are very vivid, and the brightness is good. In addition, as usual, the software allows you to calibrate the screen colors and has a “night” mode to protect your eyes.
In the review of the OnePlus N10 5G, I mentioned that the response on the screen was not correct. This time the operation is correct.
In the back, it has a module with 3 cameras and an LED flash that protrude a couple of millimeters from the phone’s body. In the center, we have the fingerprint reader, and just below it appears the brand’s logo and name. As I have already mentioned, the color is very beautiful, but it gets dirty very easily (fingerprints remain).
The edges of the back are finely curved to make it more comfortable to grip.
The right side has the button on and off (“power”), and on the left is the slot for nano-SIM cards and the volume up and down button.
The bottom part has the USB type C (reversible), the stereo speaker, the microphone, and the 3.5mm Jack connector for headphones. The top part does not contain anything.
Power and Hardware
OnePlus has managed to get a very inexpensive terminal designed for those looking for a basic smartphone and who are not going to squeeze the most out of it. Therefore, to get an idea of this phone’s power and be able to compare it with other cheap phones, we have subjected it to the AnTuTu Benchmark version 8.4.5 performance test, achieving a score of 145,807. This is a fairly low figure at this point in the year and despite the price.
And since the new AnTuTu version 9.0.1 test has also come out recently, we also wanted to test it to make future comparisons. In this case, the result amounts to 153,901 points. This is a slight increase in the score, but it is not significant.
Then I leave you the captures of the two versions of the AnTuTu performance test and the video of the performance test of the latest version.
