The OnePlus Nord 2 is finally here, and with that, the price segment of under Rs 30,000 in India is more exciting than ever before. The segment was revived when OnePlus launched the first generation Nord. The latter signalled OnePlus’ return to its ‘flagship killer’ status, bringing in great specifications at excellent pricing. Since then, various manufacturers have each offered something exciting for every user, and three such devices in the market right now come in the form of the OnePlus Nord 2 (review), the new Poco F3 GT (first impressions) and the slightly older Realme X7 Max (review). With three highly able devices lined up in the market, which should be your pick at under Rs 30,000? Here’s what the spec sheets say.
OnePlus Nord 2 vs POCO F3 GT vs Realme X7 Max: Price in India
First, let’s talk about pricing. The OnePlus Nord 2 comes in three RAM and storage options, and cost Rs 27,999 for 6GB + 128GB, Rs 29,999 for 8GB + 128GB, and Rs 34,999 for the 12GB + 256GB variant. In comparison, the Poco F3 GT also has three variants, and are priced at Rs 26,999 for 6GB + 128GB, Rs 28,999 for 8GB + 128GB, and Rs 30,999 for the 8GB + 256GB variant. The Realme X7 Max, meanwhile, has two variants — with 8GB + 128GB priced at Rs 26,999 and 12GB + 256GB priced at Rs 29,999.
OnePlus Nord 2 vs POCO F3 GT vs Realme X7 Max: Design
The OnePlus Nord 2 has the cleanest aesthetics of the lot. It features a neatly finished matte rear panel that’s available in three colours — Grey Sierra, Blue Haze and Green Wood. It features a single drill hole on the display to the top-left, and on overall terms, is measured and suave in terms of its overall design. It measures 8.3mm and 189g in thickness and weight, making it fairly ergonomic by modern day smartphone standards.
In comparison, the Poco F3 GT features a much funkier design statement. The magnetic pop-out shoulder triggers, called ‘Maglev’ add a significantly unique touch and feel to it, and Poco states that it has used aerospace-grade aluminium in the F3 GT’s build, which suggests that it would feel distinctly metallic to hold. Its camera module is a narrow, elongated unit, and the Poco brand falls right at the centre. It has two colours, Predator Black and Gunmetal Silver, and has sharper edges than the Nord 2. The F3 GT bears the same thickness, but is heavier at 205g. It is also the tallest of the lot.
The Realme X7 Max, meanwhile, looks the jazziest and loudest of the lot. It has a bifurcated design language at the back, with part shiny and part matte effect. It is nearly identical in thickness (at 8.4mm), but is the lightest of the bunch, weighing in at 179g. The drill hole front camera is to the top-left, and colour options include Mercury Silver, Asteroid Black and Milky Way. Realme’s branding is rather large at the back of the phone, and its camera module is a rounded rectangle that is also quite sizeable.
OnePlus Nord 2 vs POCO F3 GT vs Realme X7 Max: Display
The OnePlus Nord 2 features a 6.43-inch fluid AMOLED display, with 90Hz refresh rate, HDR10+ certification and Gorilla Glass 5 from Corning on top for screen protection. The Poco F3 GT gets a much richer display, by comparison. It features a 6.67-inch turbo AMOLED panel with 10-bit colour rendering, HDR10+ certification, 120Hz refresh rate, 480Hz touch sampling rate and DC dimming, too. The latter is a neat little feature that helps displays stay on for longer, therefore reducing flickers and improving visual smoothness.
The Realme X7 Max, meanwhile, features a 6.43-inch super AMOLED display panel with 120Hz refresh rate, 360Hz touch sampling rate, and Asahi Dragontrail protective glass on top.
OnePlus Nord 2 vs POCO F3 GT vs Realme X7 Max: Performance
The OnePlus Nord 2 features the MediaTek Dimensity 1200 5G SoC, which has already been proven to offer decent, strong performance. Along with the chip, the Nord 2 gets 6GB, 8GB and 12GB RAM variants, and 128GB and 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage. It runs on OxygenOS, which is also known to typically be a fairly lighter custom interface in terms of its resource loads. The Nord 2 features an under-display fingerprint sensor.
The Poco F3 GT also runs on the same Dimensity 1200 chip, along with 6GB and 8GB RAM, and 128GB and 256GB storage, too. It will feature a dedicated ‘Game Boost’ mode for enhanced performance optimisation when gaming — although MIUI 12.5 is one of the heaviest interfaces in the Android market. It is the only one to offer a side-mounted fingerprint sensor.
The Realme X7 Max also has the same SoC along with 8GB and 12GB variants, and runs on Realme UI — a middle ground between OxygenOS and MIUI. It has an under-display fingerprint sensor, and the standard array of connectivity features including wi-fi 5 and Bluetooth 5.2.
OnePlus Nord 2 vs POCO F3 GT vs Realme X7 Max: Cameras
The OnePlus Nord 2 uses triple rear cameras, featuring 50MP main, 8MP ultra-wide and 2MP monochrome cameras. The front camera has a 32MP sensor. The Nord 2 can record 4K videos at 30fps, or full HD videos at up to 240fps. The Poco F3 GT, meanwhile, features AI triple rear camera, too. It gets a 64MP main camera, 8MP ultra-wide and 2MP macro cameras, along with a 16MP front camera. It can record either 4K videos at 30fps, or full HD at up to 120fps. The Realme X7 Max has the exact same camera configuration as the Poco F3 GT. Video recording, interestingly, goes all the way up to 4K at 60fps, and full HD at up to 480fps.
OnePlus Nord 2 vs POCO F3 GT vs Realme X7 Max: Battery
The OnePlus Nord 2 features a 4,500mAh battery, with 65W fast charging. The latter claims to charge to phone to 100 percent in 30 minutes. The Poco F3 GT, meanwhile, features a 5,065mAh battery with 67W fast charging that claims 100 percent charge in 42 minutes. The Realme X7 Max features a 4,500mAh battery and 50W fast charging, which claims to offer 50 percent charge in 16 minutes.
OnePlus Nord 2 vs POCO F3 GT vs Realme X7 Max: Verdict
It is the OnePlus Nord 2 that we will pick as the winner in terms of performance, as well as camera performance too. It has the lightest software load of the three in terms of custom interface resource consumption, which should make it slightly faster than the others in terms of overall daily performance. We also found the Nord 2 to be the most minimally designed, although gaming fans would at least want to try out the Poco F3 GT since it has all the aesthetics for the task. The Poco F3 GT appears to feature the best display and battery among this lot, while for the Realme X7 Max, it is the least expensive of the three in terms of overall specifications.
Based purely on our spec comparison, the OnePlus Nord 2 might be the most prudent choice of the three for general users, while the Poco F3 GT should be the pick for gaming enthusiasts. We’ll also soon have a comprehensive hands-on comparison of these devices coming up, so do stay tuned for that to get a better idea of how the three phones stack up against each other in the real world.
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