Can the OnePlus 8 be a better buy than the Nord?

I have definitely made a lot of Oneplus 8 jokes in my previous posts/videos. So the universe clearly didn’t like it. Hence I ended up with a 9 phone.

I mean a Oneplus 8 joke.

I mean a Oneplus 8 phone. What the fish.

So as I have mentioned earlier that I was looking to buy a Oneplus 8 pro. And then their flash sales sucked and then the news of display issues sucked and then I dropped the idea. 

So I contemplated a few phones after the Oneplus 8 pro’s nauseating display issue news and seeing even a few reviewers return it. I thought of going with Asus ROG 3 but that was just too much phone for me and I never game. So yeah.

But then I thought why not save a ton of money and get Nord. I mean, for my use it will be just perfect. I ordered one and it showed a delivery date which was 25 days far. 

So I was patiently waiting. I mean what else can I do. It’s not like as if all my readers here are waiting for Mubot’s review of Nord or anything. 

Hahahaha……….Self burn. 😐

So I was almost completely convinced for Nord and was waiting patiently despite the fact that my backup phone was behaving so horrid that I actually made a video on it too. But anyway when I saw videos of geekyranjit and Mr phone and saw how much the camera processing of the Oneplus 8 was actually better and how those comparisons were actually proving how much better the image signal processing on the snapdragon 865 was better in comparison with practically the same sensor on a snapdragon 765G on Oneplus Nord, it was time for some serious assessment. I immediately took my notebook out, actually, it was a notepad file and listed the reasons why it could be better to invest in Oneplus 8 rather than Nord.

So let me quickly wrap up the reasons 1 by 1.

-> So the Oneplus 8 has a way better built, feels more flagship-y and solid in hand. 

-> The 865 is miles ahead of 765G in general day to day processing. 

-> Not only that the GPU which is Adreno 650, is again miles ahead Adreno 620. Now I don’t game at all but how these processors and GPU age – that matters a lot. 

-> As mentioned earlier the ISP is also far better on the Oneplus 8. In low light that difference is super apparent on videos by other reviewers. 

-> The storage of 8 is noticeably faster and the USB-C transfers are also faster. But yeah, only if you transfer a lot of files to your PC or laptop. That USB-C alone can help you connect your phone to a host of devices that support USB-C 3.1 GEN1 data transfers for display etc. This is a crucial utility for those who understand it. Duh – of course. 

-> The primary sensor performs slightly better but the ultra-wide is even better than the ultra-wide on Nord.

-> The feature of stereo speakers is a huge asset for people like me who consume a lot of media on their phones. Whilst – washing – utensils. 😐 

-> There is wifi 6 too if I ever upgrade my house wifi router to that too. I mean, it is there if I ever need it. Better than not having one. I mean if I didn’t have a device that can run at wifi 6 then would I even think of getting Wifi 6.

Yeah, this is how you get stuck in the life of tech upgrades and lose your puny wealth. 

-> The battery stats of Oneplus 8 has been coming out slightly better than Nord too on most of the reviews I have seen.

-> Some might say that there is an ultra-wide selfie camera in front too, which can be a good asset in many cases. But, I would like the least amount of punch holes or drills or notches on my display. And having only 1 kinda helps. 

-> And not only that, when I saw few videos of how Netflix etc was being played on Nord, I could notice this weird top bar margin on the phones because of how even Oneplus acknowledges the 2 notches would actually look while watching shows or movies so they kinda hid them. So yeah, I am not entirely wrong here.

-> There are numerous green tint, pink tint, yellow tint, and whatnot tint issues on Nord. Which I know is part of AMOLED life but I couldn’t find such posts or videos wherein people claimed the same on their Oneplus 8 devices. So far it’s been issue free, otherwise, we would have heard some noise on that too. So yeah, there’s definitely that no matter what anyone says or believes in. I mean these are not budget phones in any way. 

-> The very minute curve on Oneplus 8 helps feel the slightly larger screen feel as compact as any other phone in these dimensions. The slight curve is aesthetically pleasing too and can actually never bother anyone till it is just too much.

So would you have paid 14000 rupees more or approx 180 US dollars after these factors and advantages over Nord? 

Well, I did as I did feel this investment would give me a longer run for my money as the flagship processors generally last way longer when it comes to facing all the heavy app updates we generally get on most of the social media apps we use these days. I mean, I have only seen them get more and more features and not strip many. And I would definitely like my phone to behave snappy even after, let’s say a year or more even after all these updates on it. 

Yes, Oneplus phones are generally fast and all but this is the first Oneplus phone with a mid-tier processor on it and with a way old gen GPU on it too. So yeah, no one can actually claim anything till we pass this time. 

The Oneplus 8 will also have a better resale value in the future as compared to Nord too. As I know for a fact that when other companies like Realme, Mi, Poco would launch their snapdragon 765G variants they will be priced drastically low than the Oneplus Nord, which will definitely hamper the resale value of Nord in the long run.

But at this very moment, I can say that Oneplus had positioned its launch with Nord SO WELL that they are getting these insane number of sales and hence the phone is going to be out of stock for at least a month or so. They knew exactly what is going on with the other subsidiary companies under BBK such as Vivo, Realme, Iqoo, etc and when their phones with snapdragon 765G will launch and at what price they will come at. I mean, the Vivo X50 pro with the gimbal – I mean I don’t see it get this kind of sale attention because of its price. Also if you compare Nord’s pricing in other markets, it is seriously not as good as how much it is in India. For example, in Malaysia, a 8gb/128gb model will cost you about 32000 rupees bringing it even closer to Oneplus 8 in terms of pricing there.

So there’s that. I would be comparing the phone’s camera performance with Oneplus 8 pro and will share a 10 to 15 days review of it and how the cameras perform too in detail. I might compare it with Poco x2 too as that phone did so well against the Oneplus 8 pro in the video I made earlier so this could be a surprising comparison too.

I tried my best here to jot down the many anxious thoughts and calculations I had before making the purchase. Hope you all are staying safe. That’s all for today. MuBot out.