In the style-conscious city of Milan, OnePlus has just revealed a quartet of new devices that all impress in their own ways. But the big threads of this launch are more power, and more metal.
All four of the new devices — the OnePlus Nord 4, OnePlus Pad 2, OnePlus Nord Buds 3 and OnePlus Watch 2R — carry upgrades that will take on comparable mid-priced devices across the phone, tablet, earbuds and wearables worlds. But the aforementioned metal comes from the Nord 4, Pad 2 and Watch 2R, which use aluminium extensively for a unique look.
Below are summaries of the four new OnePlus devices that just got announced at the OnePlus Summer Launch Event. So take a look and see if they sound worthy of a Milan debut.
OnePlus Nord 4
The star of today's show is the Nord 4, which we think is one of the best cheap phones of the year, as you can read in our OnePlus Nord 4 review.
To give you the gist of this phone here and now though, the Nord 4's a dazzling-looking phone thanks to its aluminum body, that comes in a choice of black, silver or green. It's got a big display, a big battery, and a competitive price that matters all the more in the budget phone world.
We're a little less sure of the camera quality, or OnePlus' reasoning for providing only four years of full software updates. Plus it's a pain that it looks like the U.S. is going to miss out on this phone, since American customers tend to only be offered the cheaper Nord N-series devices. But we really like this device overall, and it's a worthy headliner for today's event.
OnePlus Pad 2
We have only just sampled OnePlus' latest tablet in our OnePlus Pad 2 hands-on, but we're confident that OnePlus has done an excellent job of powering up an already-capable slate.
The bones of the Pad 2 are the same as the Pad 1, but now OnePlus has expanded the screen, upgraded the chipset, reworked the Stylo and Smart Keyboard accessories and added the super-useful Open Canvas multitasking system first introduced on the OnePlus Open. You do have to pay more for the privilege though, which may make some users wonder why they'd pick this rather than spending a little extra for an iPad Air M2.
This is only a first-impressions though, so check back soon for a full review if you're tempted to eschew Apple's established family of tablets in favor of a well-rounded Android alternative.
OnePlus Nord Buds 3
On sale from 16th July in either Starry Black or Soft Jade, and costing $79/£79, the Nord Buds 3 are the latest cheap but well-equipped earbuds from OnePlus, hoping to show users you don't need to spend upwards of 200 bucks to get a good audio experience.
Living inside an oval-shaped case, the Nord Buds 3 wear a mere 4.4 grams to keep your ears minimally burdened when you wear them. Plus they're IP55-rated for peace of mind in case you drop them somewhere wet or dusty.
The Nord Buds 3 feature big 12.4mm drivers that are then tuned with OnePlus' BassWave 2.0 to bring out those tasty low notes. But there's also Master EQ to let you switch between three different pre-sets to tune things how you like. That's all delivered via a Bluetooth 5.4 connection.
The real treat that the Nord Buds 3 bring is Adaptive ANC, not always a given at this price point. OnePlus' testing says that the Buds are capable of up to 49dB noise cancellation, which has earned them a High Performance Noise Cancellation” certification from TÜV Rheinland.
To make things even more convenient for the users, the Nord Buds 3 are capable of Smart Noise Cancellation, which adjusts the ANC automatically depending on the sound level around you. There's a Transparency mode to help you listen to the outside world when you need to as well, plus a triple microphone set-up to keep your voice clear when you're on calls.
OnePlus claims the Buds 3 offer 12 hours of battery life, but only with the ANC off. Total battery life, including the extra charges in the case, is 20 hours with ANC on, or 44 with it off.
OnePlus Watch 2R
Finally, we've got the OnePlus Watch 2R, which is on sale today for $229/£249, a $70/£50 discount compared to the OnePlus Watch 2 at launch.
The Watch 2R features a new lighter body, made of aluminum just like the Nord 4. This comes in either Forest Green and Gunmetal Gray, two new color options. But in a further change from the OnePlus Watch 2, the green Watch 2R has got a two-tone design, with the outer casing of the watch coming in a contrasting silver.
Other than that, it's all the same great features seen in the OnePlus Watch 2. In case you don't know what those are, the central appeal is that this is a smartwatch with two brains — using Snapdragon W5 and BES 2700 MCU Efficiency chips to run the watch's two OSes — Wear OS 4 in regular mode, and RTOS in battery saver mode to eke out every last drop of battery. OnePlus says it'll last up to 100 hours in smart mode, and 14 days if you keep it in Battery Saver mode.
And when the time comes to recharge, you can get up to 7.5W charging with the included cradle that'll fill up the 500 mAh battery in an hour. You can always trust OnePlus to bring the speed when it comes to charging.
Other key points to cover are the generous 2GB RAM and 32GB storage memory specs, its IP68 rating and resistance to 5ATM of pressure, and the connected OHealth app, which can be downloaded on any Android phone to give all the same features that a OnePlus phone would offer. Through this you can monitor your sleep patterns, heart rate, stress levels and of course your tracked workouts, with plenty of data available to analyze your performance.
