If you thought the Nothing Phone 2A was a good deal, wait for it. The OnePlus Nord C4 is here. For a mere Rs 1000 more, you get the new Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 inside the Nord C4, which is better than the MediaTek Dimensity 7200 Pro inside the Nothing Phone 2A. So, let’s answer the question. Which is the best option under Rs. 25,000?
So we benchmarked the Snapdragon 7J3 for the very first time, and we got higher scores on both AnTuTu and Geekbench 6. In our 40-thread, 30-minute CPU throttle test, the Nothing Phone 2A had better stability, but the average chips and the max chips were higher on the Nord CE4. Now, you can run BGMI at 60 FPS or extreme frame rates on both phones, but nothing runs it at smooth graphics, but OnePlus runs it at HDR graphics. Even the Genshin Impact average frame rates are higher on the Nord CE4. Oh, by the way, the Nord CE4 also has UFS 3.1 storage as opposed to UFS 2.2 on the Nothing Phone 2A, which means that you get higher read-write speeds as well when you test the storage. As for those who don’t care about gaming or benchmarks, both phones have very smooth animations. Nothing has more stutters than OnePlus.
That’s not just me saying it. You guys are saying it too. So in terms of performance, clearly OnePlus wins. The Note C4 has a larger 5,500 mAh battery compared to the 5,000 mAh battery inside the Nothing Phone 2A. The Phone 2A has great battery life to begin with. We got seven to eight hours of screen-on-time when we first reviewed it, but OnePlus beats it because we got 8–9 hours of screen-on-time, and you can easily make it last for two days even on moderate to heavy usage. Also, OnePlus offers the 100W Superbook charger inside the box, which takes 29 minutes to charge the phone from 0 to 100. Nothing takes 70 minutes for a full charge. So easily, in the battery department, OnePlus wins. Now here’s a fun fact: do you see the line around the nothing phone 2A? Well, that is the antenna band. So along with that antenna line, you also get more 5G band support compared to the Nord C4. In our daily usage in India, both the phones offer great call quality and 5G performance as well. But when you take it internationally, the phone 2A could be better. The Nord CE4’s new design has a slightly upgraded camera module, but it’s all still plastic on top of plastic, and there’s still no alert slider. But the couple of functional additions that you’ve got with the Nord C3, like the micro SD card slot and the infrared blaster, are both present on the Nord CE4. Also in hand, it feels damn nice. Plus, you also get that iPad 54 rating. Now the nothing phone 2A doesn’t have the memory card slot or the infrared blaster, but it has this transparent plastic with these glyph lights. And it’s not just a gimmick; it’s actually functional. For example, if you order something from Zomato, the delivery progress can be tracked on the progress bar. And of course, you also get notifications with glyph lighting as well. And even the Nothing Phone 2A has an IP54 rating. So design-wise, the Nothing Phone 2A wins. On the display side of things, you can see that the Nord CE4 has very slim bezels, but they are not really symmetrical. On the contrary, the Nothing Phone 2A has slightly thick bezels, but they’re symmetrical.
Now, brightness metrics are unfortunately becoming a gimmick these days, but we took the displays outdoors, and what we noticed is that the phone 2A has a brighter display compared to the Nord CE 4. In fact, it even has a brighter display indoors as well. But OnePlus has three advantages. Firstly, you get HDR video playback on both YouTube and Netflix. For nothing, it’s only available on YouTube. The color tuning of the display is definitely much better on the OnePlus compared to nothing. And finally, the haptic feedback experience is tighter and more refined on the Nord CE 4 compared to the phone 2A. That’s not the aqua touch feature, which was introduced in the OnePlus 12 and the 12R, that’s also present here. And if you’re talking about PWM dimming, both of these phones offer 2160 Hz of PWM dimming, so that’s good. Now, on the display side of things, if nothing has higher brightness and better symmetry, OnePlus has better haptic feedback, better color tuning, and better HDR grading. What do you prefer? If you’re using high-res TWS buds, you get LHDC and LDAC support on both phones; that’s not a problem. But, you know what? Take a listen to the sound using the stereo speakers on both of these phones. Did you also think that OnePlus has a more refined sound with better details compared to nothing? Because I thought so. What do you think? Let me know in the comments below. The software on both of these phones was slightly tough to evaluate because OxygenOS 14 based on Android 14 is a very good experience, and you also get the promise of 2 years of software updates and 3 years of security updates. There are some really nice features in the form of a search bar on the home screen itself. There’s also that fine dock, which is very, very useful. Plus, of course, OxygenOS also copies iOS’s dynamic island implementation. OS 2.5, which is also based on Android 14, is definitely a much cleaner experience in that regard. I really like the dot matrix font design, the enlarged folders, the glyph lighting, and, of course, the quick settings on the lock screen itself. Plus, Nothing also offers 3 years of software updates and 4 years of security updates. You know what? Nothing’s software experience is what OnePlus’s experience used to be a few years ago. So for software, nothing wins it for me. Now, OnePlus uses the Sony LYT600 sensor for the primary camera, which was also used inside the Realme 12 Plus.
And you can see it here; it captures more natural details compared to the ISOCELL GN9 used by the Nothing Phone 2A. But where the Nothing Phone 2A pulls ahead is in HDR tuning. The highlight and shadow control are much better. And I took a bunch of shots, and every single shot showcased that the Nothing Phone 2A’s HDR is better. However, the color reproduction is better on the Nord CE4. The reds, the pinks, and the orange in the pillow out here look more accurate on the Nord CE4 compared to the Phone 2A. But unlike good color sense consistency with flagship cameras, don’t expect that with these phones. But when you shoot your people, your friends, and your family, then the OnePlus offers better details and better skin tones as well. Even against the light, the HDR tuning has been done better on the OnePlus, unlike the landscape pictures, and the Phone 2A just brightens the face, as you can tell. The portraits have a better edge cutout, and the bokeh drop-off looks better too. Again, not C4; it’s best for people’s photos. Now, talking about low light, there’s something off with OnePlus’s night mode these days. I had a problem with the OnePlus 12.
That problem continues with the Nord CE4 as well. I feel it could have been tuned much better than what you are seeing right now. The pictures are darker, the shadows are not well exposed, and nothing’s low-light pictures look better. Now, talking about ultra-wide While the Nothing Phone 2A has a 15-megapixel ultra-wide camera, it doesn’t have autofocus, so it never gets shots in focus and it never has details. It always looks blurry. The 8MP camera on the Nord CE4 actually takes better pictures than the Phone 2A. Also, the selfie camera performance is better on the OnePlus. You get better skin tones, and you get more details. You also get better portraits and better HDR as well. Especially take a look at this shot, where you will see a hazy sort of bloomy effect on the nothing, where OnePlus doesn’t have that problem. And low-light selfies—no points for guessing. OnePlus wins.
However, for selfie videos, the Phone 2A offers 1080p 60fps higher frame rate video recording, so it’s better than the OnePlus. Now, both phones can also shoot 4K 30fps videos, but OnePlus doesn’t offer stabilization for some odd reason. Therefore, nothing is better. Now, you can use the ultra-steady mode at 1080p 60fps, but 4K is not available. So if you like taking more photos, I’d say pick OnePlus.
