7 Best OnePlus Nord Tips and Tricks That You Should Know

After the much hype and hullabaloo, the OnePlus Nord is finally here. And this time, it has brought back the long-dead tagline of ‘Flagship Killer,’ all thanks to its use of quality mid-range processors and smooth experience. However, a phone is much more than its use of processor and camera sensors. The software also plays a vital role, and more importantly, it depends on how you tweak the insides of your phone.

Since its formal launch, we spent a good time with OnePlus Nord and collected a bunch of essential tips and tricks based on our experiences and findings.

If you want to eke the best out of OnePlus Nord, here are the top tips and tricks you should know.

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OnePlus Nord

Still haven’t bought the OnePlus Nord? Check it out here, if you haven’t already.

1. Quick Launch Shortcuts for Fingerprint

Who doesn’t love shortcuts? Well, if you do, you are up for something cool with the OnePlus Nord. With your new phone, you can access app shortcuts right from the fingerprint scanner. Yeap, you read that right.

All you need to do is tap and hold the fingerprint scanner for a little longer than usual. Once the phone is unlocked, the shortcut menu will be displayed right away.

To enable this feature, head over to Settings > Utilities > Quick Launch, and toggle the switch.

Having done that, tap on the Shortcut Settings option to add all the apps you’d like in the Quick Launch menu. So, if you use Google Maps a lot, this is one the quickest way to access it. The best? You can also add Settings shortcut to it.

The only downside to this feature is that you’ll have to keep Face Unlock disabled. But if you ask me, the fingerprint unlock is fast enough.

2. Face Unlock

If you can’t part with the Face Unlock feature of your OnePlus phone, how about making it a tad smart? You might have observed that the phone immediately opens to the home screen when unlocked.

At times, it can be a bit problematic. Imagine a scenario where you just want to check the notifications, but the screen unlocks midway means you’ve to take some more steps.

Thankfully, there’s a way to change that. To do so, go to Security & lock screen > Face Unlock, and disable the ‘Auto unlock once … ‘ option.

Now, your phone will unlock the moment it sets its eyes on you. But unlike before, it won’t rush you to the home screen.

3. Ambient Clock Style

With the OnePlus Nord, OnePlus has added a slew of sleek clock styles to the ambient display. Now, you can have a mix of analog and digital clock faces on your lock screen. And truth be told, the combination of white and red really looks chic.

To enable a particular clock face, head over to Customization > Clock Style, and select a style.

At the same time, you’d want to select what all information you’d like to show up on the lock screen. To make the selections, go to Display > Ambient Display and toggle on the options you’d want to be displayed.

4. Switch Back to Power Menu

Do you find it annoying when the Google Assistant pops up when you long-press on the Power button? Because, you can simply summon the Google Assistant by swiping diagonally up on the home screen. So, if you want to have the traditional power menu back, worry not, there’s an easy way.

Head over to Settings > Buttons and Gestures and select the ‘Press and hold the power button’ option. Select Power Menu from the options and that’s about it.

So, what benefits does it bring? For starters, if you are using the phone with a single hand, you can take a quick screenshot using the screenshot option.

Cool Tip: Did you know that you can trigger Amazon Alexa using the Power button? To do so, install the Alexa app on your phone and use the same settings as above to select Alexa from the Assistant menu.

5. Enable Dark Mode in More Apps

The Dark Mode is a blessing in disguise for phones like the OnePlus Nord with AMOLED display. Not only does it let you squeeze out more juice but also renders a cool look. All you need to do is enable the mode from the Quick Settings menu and the said mode will be activated on certain apps.

All that is cool. But did you know that you can force this mode on certain apps? Yep, you read that right! There’s a cool experimental feature that lets you get the most out of the AMOLED display.

Navigate to Settings > Utilities > OnePlus Laboratory and select the ‘Enable dark tone in more apps’ option.

Next, toggle the switch next to the app you want to enable the dark mode. Once done, relaunch that app, and that’s about it. Hello, dark side.

Meanwhile, Star Wars fans can have a peek at some cool wallpapers here.

6. Hello 48-Megapixel Shooter

The OnePlus Nord lets you shoot using both the 12-megapixel lens and the 48-megapixel or 12-megapixel. However, the camera selects only 12-megapixel mode by default.

To switch over to the 48-megapixel mode, navigate to the Photo mode on the camera mode and tap on the icon-named 12-MP. Select 48-MP, and that’s about it. Cool, right?

Did You Know: You can activate Filters while the 48-MP mode is enabled. To enable it, tap on the little Filter icon on the top-right corner of the screen, and select one from the list.

7. Re-Arrange the Camera Modes

Do you use all the camera modes? If no, you can just kick out some of the lesser-used modes from the camera interface. This simple act lets you reach your favorite modes faster, but it also helps in lending a clean look to the camera interface.

To do so, open the camera settings by tapping on the button at the top-right corner and scroll down until you see the option for Custom Modes. Tap on it to select it.

Now, tap on the Minus sign against the modes you’d want to remove. Moreover, you can also re-arrange some of the modes by dragging them up/down.

Except for the setting for the wide-angle selfie mode, the OnePlus Nord’s camera settings share a lot of similarities with the OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro. Click here to find the best camera settings for your OnePlus phone.

Get the Most Out of Your OnePlus Nord

So, these were some of the settings that you can change on your OnePlus Nord. Of course, these are not the only ones out there. If you want, you can head over to the Utilities and fiddle with Parallel Apps and App Locker options. Or, you can change the display type to Vibrant (Display > Vibrant Color Effect). In short, there’s a lot to explore on your new phone.

And have you tried out the Dirac Audio Tuner inside Sounds & Vibrations? Share your tips and experiences in the comments below.

Next up: How does OxygenOS stack up against Samsung’s One UI? Check out the comparison below to see what you are missing on.

Buy

OnePlus Nord

Still haven’t bought the OnePlus Nord? Check it out here, if you haven’t already.