Nothing Phone (2) Review: Oodles of cool but with a pinch of salt

The Nothing Phone (2) in more ways than one is what the Phone (1) should’ve been.

If there was a phone that belongs in a Berlin techno rave, then it has to be the Nothing Phone (1). Its seizure-inducing glyph lights are right at home inside a dark rave cave further exaggerated by the monotone motif of its interface. It would be something a clubgoer outside the legendary Berghain would tote. Its geometric symmetric shapes drove comparisons to the iPhone but are also very much in line with Scandinavian minimalism. It was a unique phone — right from software to hardware — unique in a good way because it felt fresh.

The Phone (2) builds on its foundations. It is better in every way possible. It also builds on top of its “Nothingness” with a more customisable user interface that allows more control over the glyph lights which in some cases are now actually useful, not just cool, in a nonchalant way like Carl Pei.  

But while doing so it gets more expensive as well, by almost 20% — so it’s not just inflation, it is a more premium, more capable device. The end result is something that has oodles of cool!

Refined Design with Glyph Utility

The Phone (1) was almost iPhone-like with the extra bling of the transparent back coupled with the glyph lights. The Phone (2) drops the iPhone-like flatness on the back — but now is rather curvaceous on the back. It has a pillowed glass back which now makes the phone very ergonomic. Nothing has curved the back ever so slightly while still retaining the flat aluminium spine of the phone. This means it lays flat on a surface despite being curved from the side edges.

Overall, this has been smartly done as Nothing is now able to get a unified brand language while also having a more refined design which is more comfortable for most people. The Glyphs are also now customisable and can be used for things like a torch or even a timer. In fact, there is integration with Zomato and Uber and those apps can tap into the glyph lights for live notifications.

In total, there are 33 glyph LEDs up from 12 on the Phone (1) and they can be mapped for notifications from different apps which is very interesting. There is a glyph composer app designed by Swedish House Mafia, the legendary electronic trio who are also investors in Nothing. This app provides a virtual drum machine of sorts which allows users to programme patterns of the lights and sounds for notifications. This package also gets IP53 certification which is basic splash protection.

Improvements Under the Hood

The advantage of this phone being heavier is firstly, the battery is larger at 4,700mAh and it has a beefier processor in the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1. This is reflected in the performance of the phone which is now rapid. It may not have the top-tier Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset, but seriously most people will not be able to tell the difference. This is because the software — Nothing OS 2 has been tuned to a T which means the Nothing Glyph OS comes to life on the 6.7-inch 120Hz OLED screen.  

Yes, this screen is also bigger at 6.7-inches than the older model bringing it in line with the iPhone. The punch hole for the front-facing 32-megapixel camera is now moved to the centre and it performs really well. It is an excellent selfie camera.

The display itself is quite nice — it is vibrant, bright and relatively colour accurate. Since Nothing is using a flexible OLED screen, the screen wraps around systematically and the bezels are minimal. It uses LTPO technology that enables the refresh rate to toggle dynamically between 1Hz to 120Hz. The brightness levels are excellent at 1,600 nits which means you'll have no problems using the phone outdoors. You’re going to enjoy watching movies and TV shows on this phone as the HDR playback is also excellent. 

The stereo speakers also make the situation even more enjoyable — they are loud and clear, right up there with flagship quality phones. Even typing on the phone is fun and parts of this review were written on the phone as the haptic feedback was supple yet forceful.

Flagship-Level Performance

For most people, the Nothing Phone (1) was very performant. It is a fast and smooth phone where users can glide across the interface as if they are on the silver surfers hoverboard. You get all of that and more with the Nothing Phone (2). Thanks to the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 you are getting performance that is very close to flagship phones.

This phone flies. It flies like an F-35 even though it may have the hardware of a MiG 29. Why? Because like I mentioned, the software has been tuned to a T by engineers that Nothing has poached from OnePlus who were behind the equally smooth Oxygen OS. Then, the motif of the OS is also close to stock Android. And this phone is packed with oodles of RAM — in the case of my top of the line unit 12GB of DDR5 RAM with 512GB of UFS 3.1 storage.  

High resolution games like Asphalt 9 look gorgeous with no perceptible frame rate issues. I managed to edit some videos with utter ease on Adobe Premiere  Rush and it was as if I was editing the video on an iPhone 14. That is high praise.

Improved But Not Standout Camera

Another weakness of the Nothing Phone (1) that has been addressed are the cameras. It gets dual 50-megapixel sensors — the primary one being a Sony IMX890 sensor which is there on the OnePlus 11, OnePlus 11R, OnePlus Nord 3, and Oppo Reno 10 Pro. Yeah, many BBK group companies are using this sensor and now even Nothing joins the party.

The results are promising — the Nothing camera takes a solid leap, but at the same time, it is still the most inferior camera system on a phone that I have tested upwards of Rs 40,000. No prizes for guessing, if you’re into still photography, the recommendation is still the Pixel 7, but that’s not to say that the camera here is bad.

Au contraire, when given good lighting, it is an excellent camera with a colour accurate palette, though it gravitates towards a colder profile. Low light performance is helped by the new sensor and OIS as well and the phone is certainly very usable now. Similarly, 4K video is also very usable now. Impressively, Nothing has managed to keep the colour profile consistent between the two cameras as well, like the iPhone. 

But the issue is that the processing of the photos is slow. And the end results are good but not brilliant. Also, the portrait mode is also not very flattering in most scenarios. The Acko Drive team took a couple of portraits, and I came out looking like a pangolin who had been massacred by an orangutan — maybe that’s just my charming looks.

In fact, a phone like the OnePlus Nord 3 which uses the same sensor but uses a different ISP from the Dimensity 9000 performs  slightly better. The OnePlus 11R which is similarly priced and specced is a leap over the Nothing Phone (2) camera.

This is a huge step for Nothing, but I think they are another similar step away from competing with the big boys.

Long Battery Life 

The battery life of this phone is excellent. With a 4,700mAh battery and more efficient processor and display, this was bound to happen. I have been clocking more than 12 hours on a single charge with this phone for the past 5 days. In the battery mark test it managed over 17 hours. This could even be a two day phone for some people who have light usage. While not the fastest charging phone, it does now get 45-watt fast charging which is faster charging than the likes of Apple and Google. Even Samsung’s phones top out at just 45-watts. There is also 15-watts fast wireless charging. There is this cool transparent and braided USB Type C cable also part of the package which makes things just a wee bit nicer.

Verdict 

The Nothing Phone (2) in more ways than one is what the Phone (1) should’ve been. Not that the Phone (1) was not good, but considering it is Carl Pei, one expected more. Well, it seems the second time’s a charm.

Painstaking effort has been put in to make this phone the coolest cat in town. Is it for everyone? No. Is it a good bargain? No. What can go wrong buying it? Nothing! Confused right? It basically depends on what kind of a person you are!

Its design is impressive but the glyphs and transparency motif is divisive by their nature. For example, a lawyer would likely not want his phone to light up like a nightclub with all kinds of strange 56K modem sounds flaring up in a client meeting. It is a cool trick and Gen Z and millennials who want something different will probably love this on the other end of the spectrum. 

I do like this. As a reviewer when someone sees a Nothing phone, it is always a conversation starter. And now the glyphs are actually useful for some things.

Then there is the issue of the price because its cameras still don’t measure up for something that crosses the INR 40,000 barrier. They are decent, but if photography is dear to you and you use your phone to create content for Instagram -- you can do better. But if that is not the case, then I can wholeheartedly recommend it as it is an impressive device with superlative fundamentals -- sterling performance, great battery life, good design and build quality and clean software. There is nothing wrong with that! Right?

Also Read: Samsung Galaxy F54 Review: Striking Balance of Features & Affordability