Other than a few deviations , OnePlus has a penchant for value intersection . The premiumOnePlus 12offers a ( mostly ) ranking stage set of lineament and a neat experience over similarly - priced flagship such as the Galaxy S24 Plus or the Pixel 8 professional . Similarly , the $ 500OnePlus 12Roffers exceptional public presentation and a flagship - like experience for its cost . TheOnePlus Nord 4 , which sits in a price bracket right under the 12R , has its own benefit , but one that stands out is its metal back .
The OnePlus Nord 4 is the first and currently theonly 5 constant of gravitation phone to feature ametal back panel . Not only is it a striking design but it also has another trait that perceivably make it more exciting than other phones : Its metallic element consistency potentially helps improveperformance .
Metal is a better music director of heat than glass or plastic and is superior at glow heating outward — meaning the Nord 4 should go cooler than other speech sound . The effectiveness at cooling is also expected to complement the chipset repulse the Nord 4 ( theSnapdragon 7 Plus Gen 3 ) . Despite being a dupe of Qualcomm ’s confusing naming , the Snapdragon 7 Plus Gen 3 is powerful enough to run most demanding tasks and is likely geared to go AI lotion in the future .
So , does the Nord 4 ’s metallic element back help its Snapdragon chip run better and nerveless ? I found out .
How I tested Nord 4’s cooling
The biggest perceived benefit of the alloy back when it comes to gambling . In addition to thevapor cool chamberinside the headphone , the metallic element back helps radiate inner heat generated from the chipset or the battery — the two primary reservoir of heat inside the sound . I played around ( literally ) with the OnePlus Nord 4 extensively to see if the theory holds up in practice .
To evaluate the metal back ’s effects on the Nord 4 ’s functioning , I localize out to prove how in effect it keep heat buildup inside the body . The evaluation was divided into three parts , or potential contributor of heat generation and trap inside the phone . Other than gaming , I also try out challenging scenarios , such as 4 K television recording and high - speed charging , that can lead to the sound draw hot .
For each of these tests , I pass the job for 30 minutes to have the warmth build up inside the body and on the surface . After the completion of each task , I look for the phone to chill down to the original temperature using aninfrared caloric cameraand noted the fourth dimension taken in each case . Here ’s how the mental testing panned out .
Heating while 4K video recording
telecasting transcription forever engages multiple parts , which , besides the camera itself , include the phone ’s chipset , reposition , and image signaling processor ( ISP ) . The presentation being constantly engaged is yet another reason for the ironware to feel weight — and , therefore , fire up up as a result . So , for my analysis , I fix the OnePlus Nord 4 to record a 4 thou picture at 60 frames per bit . The eternal sleep of the preferences , such as white balance wheel , were pass on to automatic . Although the video was shot indoors , my frankfurter contributed to some reasonable motion capturing and , as a resultant , occasional refocusing of the sensor .
The telecasting was shot in an atmosphere - conditioned way , despite which the phone ’s external surface wake up significantly . After I ended the recording , I leave the phone to cool down down . Here are my main findings :
While the 17 - hour span may seem torturing , the lovingness subside within five minutes , and the phone started to finger dusty .
How cool is fast charging?
The Nord 4 care at 100W , which is commendably flying . Although the phone charges fully within 35 to 40 mo , that guarantee some heat genesis in the operation . I pursue a similar unconscious process as the last time but with one central variety . The telephone was charged and afterward left to cool down without any aviation conditioning .
Here is what I found out :
It claim longer to recall to its original temperature ( which still seemed grave due to the tender elbow room ) . However , to my surprise , the tender room did not importantly slow down down charging as I retrieve it would . Perhaps it would if the speech sound arrive at temperature in the reach of 120 academic degree or higher , which , thankfully , it did n’t .
This also goes on to back my initial hypothesis that a metal back would cool off faster in an air - conditioned room than one without . But to affirm my findings , I track down an extensive serial publication of psychometric test with variations to see how each affects the Nord 4 .
The Nord 4’s ultimate test — gaming
Gaming is easily one of the most demanding tasks for a speech sound . to boot , its propensity to stir up is take a hop to increase if the computer hardware struggle to keep up with the demand of the game — and that is what create the Nord 4 , a non - flagship headphone , the ideal prospect to study the effects of warming .
For this series of tests , I run one of the diagrammatically heaviest cross - platform games , Genshin Impact , at the Highest graphics place setting with texture pose to High and the intended frame rate specify to 60 fps . These preferences make the good of ironware sweat , so test how the Nord 4 confine up would have afford us the insight we were looking for .
Besides sprain to the in high spirits options , I also used OnePlus ’ own HyperHDR feature that upscales standard contentedness to HDR for upright visibility , specially in morose shot . But it also increases the brightness and , therefore , demands more of the earpiece ’s computer hardware .
In plus to the temperatures , I enter the Nord 4 ’s performance usingGameBench , a professional game - benchmarking tool . I must disclose that while GameBench helped me with a free journalists ’ permit for the app ’s Pro translation , it did not have remark on my finding .
The trial is subdivided into four part , adding one property at a time to help consolidate the findings good .
Part 1
The first one start with me runningGenshin Impacton the Nord 4 through its paces but in an air - conditioned ambiance . This would allow the phone to cool down effectively while I punt and then leave the phone to cool down . Here are my findings from the test :
Interestingly , the telephone cooled more efficaciously than it did in the case 4 kB recording test I ran above , further solidify my belief that a cooled environs can improve its cooling . For most of the time , the phone stay warm to the cutaneous senses but never got uncomfortably hot . The internal temperature of the CPU , as per GameBench , stick around 108 grade fluorine , which does n’t show a significant remainder from the temperature at the external aerofoil .
While encounter , the game consistently ran without any renowned stutters . GameBench identify it to deliver a logical 57 shape per secondly over the form of 30 minutes , with the occasional frame drop assign to preparation meals , cutscenes while speaking to unplayable characters , and loading screens .
Part 2
For the next part , I tested without any external cooling . I play the game on the OnePlus Nord 4 while ride in a room without AC to see how red-hot the phone cause .
As I noted in Part 1 of this test , the Nord 4 ’s external temperature fair matches its intimate temperature . So , I expected it to heat up much more without releasing oestrus due to sitting in a raging room . But I was surprised when the phone got importantly hotter than usual .
About 15 minutes into the biz , the Nord 4 start out to heat up up importantly . It contact a temperature that I would prefer my hot shower to be at on a cold-blooded day . While I could endure the heat because it was still short of scalding , I would prefer not to comply . At the remnant of the 30 minutes , I was happy it was over .
During most of the gameplay , the internal temperature float around 120 degree Fahrenheit , so the outbound channeling was expected . With temperatures soaring so high , the Nord 4 also throw a monition while plow off the HyperHDR feature of speech . determination from this part prompted me to deepen one more routine about this test .
Part 3
In this part , I played the game without air conditioning but set the phone to cool down in an melody - train way , assuming that if my theory was accurate , it would help the phone cool quicker despite the higher temperature .
Once again , the phone got disadvantageously hot . But setting it down in a cooler room than used to roleplay the game really help accelerate up the cooling process . Here ’s what I discover out :
In the AC room , the Nord 4 give back to a tank temperature five minutes earlier than the last test . In fact , it achieved its initial temperature in under 10 minutes , finally returning to 88 degree in about 20 minute of arc of total time .
By now , I was pretty convinced my possibility holds . But I could n’t reason out without one final test — involving materials other than shabu .
Part 4
For the last and final part of my play test , I roped in two more speech sound other than the OnePlus Nord 4 . The duo admit theRealme GT 6 , which comes with a plastic back and frame made out of plastic . It launch the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 , a potato chip like to the Nord 4 ’s Snapdragon 7 Plus Gen 3 . Besides the Realme with a plastic back , I chose the OnePlus 12R with a spyglass back and metal side systema skeletale . Although the OnePlus 12R run a more powerful Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip , I choose it for the deficiency of a glass earpiece with functioning matching the other two . All of these headphone were test with airwave conditioning to inspect how quickly each material cools .
The following summarizes the finding from launch the same instance ofGenshin Impacton the three sound :
( Metal , values from Part 1 above )
( Plastic )
( Glass )
The results could n’t be readable and show a convincing picture of the Nord 4 ’s ability to dissipate high temperature well than the other two twist . The Realme GT 6 , with a plastic back , retain the most heat internally and takes the longest to return to its original temperature . The OnePlus 12R clearly generate less rut internally as the more powerful chipset requires less effort to attain the same operation . However , it also immobilise a significant amount of heat inside the eubstance , use up only somewhat less clip to cool down down .
Had an external cooling source been absentminded , we can imagine the Nord 4 to feel the hottest while the other two twist would trap more heat in spite of appearance and trammel as a outcome .
The Nord 4’s metal back really works
While I admit the method acting I apply above is not typically the stuff from science labs and donnish journals , it gets the point across fairly well . It clearly conveys that metal helps effective cooling of the smartphone , specially when using it for demanding job such as gambling .
The OnePlus Nord 4 ’s metallic element casing acts as a large radiator for the tiny CPU , and I ca n’t help but draw a parallel with a PC that uses a passive cooler much bigger than the CPU . Of course , an dynamic chilling solution such as a sports fan — either build - in or as an accoutrement — would highly amp up the cool spree . Notably , while I try out the black edition , the phone ’s color may also have an essence on its cooling . The No . 1 cause why that may happen is because black is better at radiating heat to the standard pressure than any other colouring material . The second reason applies more specifically to the Nord 4 , whose silver finish has microscopic textures that give it a wave - like convention .
Meanwhile , heat buildup inside other devices can not only throttle execution but also risk the internals getting cooked , specially if you run to overclock game configurations on midrange earphone . This demand more in effect cooling answer beyond the now plateauing evaporation cooling chambers , and this is where metal becomes effective .
Simultaneously , there are drawback to metal constructions that we ca n’t ignore . Firstly , it can embarrass 5 G signals — even though OnePlus has on the face of it discover a cure by swerve down the sizing and up the number of antennas . Secondly , the phone is bound to heat up more when used outside , in the Dominicus , and this can be specially tiresome while traveling to hotter places . third , it restrict features such as wireless charging and hinders functions likeMagSafe , which is why we may not see metallic element replacing glass on more expensive phones .
For all it ’s deserving , though , metallic element , coupled with increasingly potent midrange chips , can be a breakthrough in phone carrying out , as we see on the OnePlus Nord 4 .
