Nothing Phone (2) full review

 

Chapter 1: Introduction

This is the Nothing Phone 2, the sequel to one of the flashiest phones to come out last year. So what's new on the Nothing 2 and could it be worth upgrading to? I'm Will for GSMArena and let's find out in our full review.

Chapter 2: Design and Display

The Nothing Phone 2 is a premium upper mid-range phone and like the Nothing 1, it brings nice specs and a unique design. The two phones look very similar with a glass back dominated by the arrangement of bright LED lights. The back is again transparent so you can see some of the internals. It's very slightly curved and the flat aluminum frame offers a bit of grip. This time around you get IP54 rated ingress protection which is a bit more than the IP53 on the Nothing 1 and another design change is the larger size due to the bigger display. It's a 6.7 inch LTPO OLED with a 1080p resolution and a 120 hertz refresh rate. Because of the LTPO tech, the refresh rate is even more adaptive now, able to dial down from a smooth 120 hertz all the way down to 10 Hertz when idling or even to 1 Hertz if the brightness is high enough. For some reason though, there's no support for high frame rate gaming here. The Nothing 2's display is also brighter, we measured a maximum of about 500 nits with the manual slider and this can boost to around a thousand nits in auto mode if you need it. And besides that, the Nothing 2's display is sharp, contrasty, and color accurate. It has Gorilla Glass protection and it supports HDR 10 plus video as well as 10 bit color, a nice showing.

Chapter 3: Audio and Interface

For audio, the Nothing 2 has a pair of stereo speakers. They have very good loudness, well presented highs, and some bass too. If you'd like to hear for yourself and compare to others, you can check out the provided link. You can wake up and unlock the Nothing 2 with an under display fingerprint reader. It's quite fast and the phone can come with 128, 256, or 512 gigs of storage but that's not micro SD expandable. The interface of the phone is Nothing OS 2.0 on top of Android 13. It's customized but still organized in a similar fashion to stock Android. There are quite a few custom widgets though which match the overall look of the UI. You can use large folders to free up space on your home screen while still having quick access to the apps or you can do the opposite and blow up an app icon to widget size. Most system apps provide quick shortcuts if you tap and hold on them and for software support, Nothing promises three years of OS updates and four years of security patches.

Chapter 4: LED Notifications

Now let's talk more about the Nothing 2's glyph LEDs. Just like before, the glyphs can light up to let you know about incoming messages, calls, and notifications. They blink in different patterns based on different ringtones and you can assign these based on notification type and individual contacts. Something new though is the composer feature which lets you create your own custom ringtones and patterns. The glyphs can also give you status updates for things like the volume or a meter while you're charging the phone. You can also use the glyphs as a countdown timer and they support integration with certain third-party apps as well.

Chapter 5: Performance and Battery

One of the biggest upgrades on the Nothing 2 compared to the previous model is the new chipset. Rather than an upper mid-range Snapdragon 778G Plus, now there's full on flagship silicon, a Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1. Nothing claims that the performance is up to 80% better now and the Nothing 1 was no slouch. As expected in benchmarks, the Nothing Phone 2 blows its predecessor away, earning scores on par with last year's Android flagships. It's only really bested by the new flagships sporting the Snapdragon HN2. And on top of the great peak performance, the thermal management and sustained performance are respectable too. The Nothing Phone 2 has a larger battery capacity than the Nothing 1's, 4700 milliamp hours versus 4500. However, even though screen on times have improved, a just average standby score meant a lower overall endurance rating of 103 hours for the Nothing 2. Still, that's pretty good. Charging has been upgraded from 33 watts to 45 this year and again you don't get a charger in the box. With a proper adapter, we were able to charge the Nothing 2 from 0 to 62 percent in half an hour, a notable improvement. And like last year, there's support for wireless charging and reverse wireless charging.

Chapter 6: Camera

Now let's go over the cameras. The Nothing 2 has a 50 megapixel main cam and a 50 megapixel ultra wide, pretty much the same as last year. However, there is new processing on the Nothing 2 and we like it. The default 12.5 megapixel photos from the main cam are excellent with plenty of detail and balanced sharpness. We like the natural looking rendition of fine details like foliage. The colors are likable, the contrast is high, and the dynamic range is wide but not over the top. There is a two-time zoom on the viewfinder sourced from the main cam. These look nicer than a simple crop and upscale with decent detail and sharpness. The other qualities match those of the default photos. Portrait mode shots are just alright. The subject is well exposed and looks good but the separation from the blurred background can be off, especially around hair or complex backgrounds. In dark conditions, the Nothing 2 will automatically use night mode processing. These shots from the main cam are great. They're detailed and sharp with excellent exposure and color rendition, low noise, and wide dynamic range with minimal blown highlights. You can record videos from the main cam in up to 4K at 60fps. 4K videos look very good with nice dynamic range and contrast and true to life colors. The detail level is good but could be better, perhaps because of the always-on stabilization. The stabilization itself works fine though there is a visible jello-like effect. And in low light, the main cam's 4K videos are alright. There's good enough detail and adequate dynamic range and some visible noise too.

Chapter 7: Ultra Wide Camera

Now let's switch over to the ultra wide cam. Its 12.5 megapixel photos are very good for this sort of camera with nice detail and good contrast, balanced dynamic range, and colors which match the main cam's. And since this camera has autofocus, you can use it to take macro close-ups. They're really nice. Subjects come out detailed, sharp, and colorful and there's no noise. In low light, you again get automatic med mode shots and these are great. There's enough detail, good exposure and dynamic range, low noise, and lively colors. The ultra wide cam can capture very good 4K videos during the day. There's plenty of detail, balanced sharpness, good contrast, and wide dynamic range. The ultra wide also has always on stabilization and while it's good for the most part, we also observe some jello effect here. At night, the ultra wide cam can take decent 4K videos even if they're a bit dark.

Chapter 8: Selfies and Conclusion

Finally, we have selfies taken with the new 32 megapixel front-facing cam. These have a pretty wide field of view by default and the quality is decent. There's no noise, good contrast, and wide dynamic range and the colors are lively. The detail and overall sharpness could be better though. So there you have it. The Nothing Phone 2 goes above and beyond the Nothing 1, bringing a bigger and brighter screen, a flagship chipset, faster charging, and improved camera quality. As far as Flagship Killers go, this is on the pricier side but you won't find a unique glyph setup anywhere else. If standing out from the crowd is something you're willing to pay a premium for, then the Nothing Phone 2 is worth recommending. Thanks for watching guys. Let's have a look at a couple of alternatives to the Nothing Phone 2, starting with the Poco F5 Pro. Another option is the OnePlus Nord 3. Let us know what you think and I'll see you on the next one.