Nothing Phone (2) review: This one’s a head-turner
Nothing less than a really cool phone.
Building on the success of its predecessor, the Nothing Phone (2) is a mid-range smartphone that offers a number of improvements, but comes at a higher price.
From the London-based company founded by Carl Pei, the co-founder of OnePlus, Nothing is known for its unique design and user-friendly software.
What immediately stands out about the Phone (2) is the futuristic design. With a transparent back that reveals the phone’s internals, including the battery, wireless charging coil, and camera modules, it’s an unmistakable head-turner.
The body of the Phone itself, with a thin midframe and pillowed glass back, feels great in your hand. It’s available in both white and dark grey.
If the stylish hardware doesn’t impress you right away, the 6.7-inch OLED display with 1600 nits brightness will surely make you look again. It’s one of the nicer experiences with a smartphone display that I’ve had recently.
With an adaptive refresh rate from 120hz to 1z, it’s also smart enough not to drain your battery.
Under the hood, the Phone (2) is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 chipset that delivers smooth performance even when running multiple apps.
Operating on their Nothing OS 2.0, the user interface is simple and easy to use. Free of bloatware and unnecessary features, the OS feels clean and uncluttered.
My favourite part of the Phone (2) was the Glyph interface which offers a cool way to receive notifications.
You can set up the rear light bars on the phone to light up in different patterns to indicate different things, such as incoming calls, messages, and battery status.
Admittedly, no better way to be interrupted by your phone. The nifty Flip to Glyph feature puts your phone on silent while the lights signal notifications. Not sure if that will necessarily reduce my screen time but it’s a cute effort.
Nothing OS 2.0 lets you tailor everything from app labels and grid design, to widget size and colour themes. The sleek, monochrome icons were a nice change from the branded ones you’re so used to seeing.
The camera on the Phone (2) is also a major improvement over the previous model with a dual rear camera system: the main sensor is now a 50-megapixel Sony IMX766 and a 50-megapixel ultrawide sensor for wide-angle shots.
It also comes with Night mode, Portrait mode, Macro mode and works with Google Lens.
The Phone (2) also has a 11.2-megapixel front-facing camera, which is ideal for taking selfies and video calls.
Shooting videos is great on the Phone (2) with 4K at 60fps on the main rear camera with built-in image stabilisation. The front-cam shoots in 1080 pixels at 60fps for those vlogs and TikToks.
Battery life on the Phone (2) is also excellent thanks to a 4500mAh battery that lasted me a full day on a single charge. Fast charging also means you get to 50% in an hour.
Nothing has been praised for its approach to sustainability and it claims zero waste from the assembling process of the Phone (2) ends up in landfills.
All said, it’s a solid phone with a powerful processor, a beautiful display and a capable camera packaged in an outstanding design.
If you’re tired of the usual Apple and Samsung phones and want to stand out from the crowd, the Nothing Phone (2) is a refreshing bet.
In the UK, it’s available in three variants: 8GB/128GB (£579), 12GB/256GB
(£629) and the 12GB/512GB (£699).
Nothing Phone (2): the details
Name: Nothing Phone (2)
Starting price: £579 for 128GB of storage
What’s good:
- Brilliant design
- Glyph interface
- Battery-life
What’s bad:
- No IP water resistance rating
- Heavier pricetag
Where can I buy it: Phone (2) will be available for purchase in the UK via nothing.tech on July 17, 2023 and is currently available for pre-orders.