Pac-Man used to be a popular maze game back in the day and there's hardly anyone who hasn't heard of this arcade game. OnePlus, a household name in the smartphone arena decided to bring back some of those fond memories in the most fun and exciting way possible. Launching a new smartphone in its Nord series, OnePlus offers a bag full of surprises and many interesting easter eggs.
OnePlus has a rich history of collector's edition phones and we absolutely loved what the company did with OnePlus 5T Star Wars Edition and OnePlus 7T Pro McLaren Edition, which was more refined than the OnePlus 6T McLaren Edition. With the all-new Pac-Man edition, OnePlus just upped the ante on collector's edition phones. While it's easier to find McLaren and Star Wars fans, the Pac-Man edition of OnePlus Nord 2 takes a targeted approach.
Nevertheless, OnePlus Nord 2 x Pac-Mac Edition is fun, full of surprises and a ton of easter eggs that make it truly cool.
Unboxing
More often than not, OnePlus doesn't get due credit for the way its phones are packaged. Best-in-class premium packaging improves the first impressions of the company and OnePlus has remained consistent over the years. OnePlus Nord 2 Pac-Man Edition has a theme packaging down to the T.
The Pac-Man branding is quite prominent on the packaging as well. Inside the box, you get the phone, 65W charger, Type-C cable, Red Club membership card and a Pac-Man-inspired silicone case is hidden inside a secret compartment. The phone has a subtle Pac-Man embellishment whereas the case completes that Pac-Man theme by bringing in its iconic characters.
Design and some more
On the phone itself, the Nord 2 has a tiny Pac-Man character under the camera module and on the left side of it is OnePlus x Pac-Man branding, which is in its entire subtlety. The back panel has a subtle green shade on the glossy panel, which has dots arranged in a way of a grid, which is again in line with the Pac-Mac theme. OnePlus logo can be found at the bottom right and the iconic Alert Slider on this Nord 2 Pac-Man edition gets a royal blue shade, which ties up the theme altogether.
But the best part of the phone is none of it. The phone's back panel has a fluorescent design that glows in the dark to reveal a neon maze. It's super cool and by far the best design implementation as far as collaborations go.
If you are buying the OnePlus Nord 2 x Pac-Man Edition, there's another cool surprise waiting for you. The overall design of the phone is complemented by a DIY Pac-Man phone holder made of legos. In fact, OnePlus has hidden some cool easter eggs associated with the holder as well. This phone keeps you exploring endlessly. Customers can use their Red Cable Club Membership to redeem the special phone holder and it will be shipped to you separately.
Software tweaked to match theme
OnePlus Nord 2 Pac-Mac Edition's software is tweaked to please Pac-Man fans. Right from the boot screen to the phone menu, you'll see OnePlus has put in a lot of effort in making sure the software aligns with the overall Pac-Man theme. And of course, Pac-Man 256 game is pre-installed on the phone, which you can delete if you want.
OnePlus offers Pac-Man theme wallpapers; some of the icons get an 8-bit pixelated makeover; the fingerprint animation gets a nice Pac-Man touch; and the notification panel has neon and blue colours with a tiny Pac-Man that moves to eat food every time you swipe to see other options. It's the little things that add to the overall user experience.
There's more. OnePlus has added some cool Pac-Man tunes for ringtone and alerts. There's a fun filter in the camera app called PACnormaly, which adds Pac-Man and Ghosts in the viewfinder. To further add the Pac-Man effect, there are some stickers added to the integrated editor in the Gallery app.
The charging animation is also tweaked to show Pac-Man character eating power pellets for a few seconds when you plug the phone in. But these are just a few of many easter eggs we have been able to find so far.
Conclusion
OnePlus Nord 2 Pac-Man Edition packs the same specs as the Nord 2. Right from its 50MP triple camera setup to Warp Charge 65 and Dimensity 1200-AI chip to 90Hz Fluid AMOLED display. So the goodness of Nord 2 is fused perfectly into the Pac-Man theme to give you a fun result.
This collector's edition smartphone costs Rs 3,000 extra, which in our view is worth every buck since there's so much to explore. It's interesting to see OnePlus bring special edition phones in its Nord-series, which is more affordable, and not just limit to its flagship series. Perhaps a Call of Duty edition would have been exciting, but the Pac-Man is still a fun game from its time (read 80s and early 90s) and bound to strike a chord with gaming enthusiasts.
OnePlus could have gone with a matching charger and the cable instead chose to keep it plain and simple. Perhaps, you can use those stickers in the box to give your own Pac-Man theme to the charger.
