The Nothing Phone 2 might be the best deal you can have for a smartphone with a price below $800. The appearance seems similar to other phones, but everything under the hood screams premium.
The Nothing Company's CEO, Carl Pei, used his experience as the once-top honcho for OnePlus. He's bringing all the greatness that once made OnePlus a brand to be feared in the smartphone industry.
In an interview with popular Youtube reviewer MRWHOSETHEBOSS, Pei admitted that the Nothing Phone 1 was their attempt to bring a good entry-level option for buyers.
However, their intention was always to provide consumers with a more premium smartphone experience as the company evolves. The price, though, has also gone up.
Similar Design
They did not change much of what made the Nothing Phone 1 so attractive to buyers. The 2nd version still has those LED lights that double as indicators for some features of the phone. It comes in a gray or white transparent design with the "glyph" lights separated into different sections, compared to the Nothing phone 1.
It is larger than the previous version and has a curved glass part on the back to give the owner a better feeling when holding it. As some iPhone users say, there's nothing wrong with your phone being boxy, but it helps if a little curve can ease the strain on their hands.
Nothing Phone 2 Has Better Display
Since Carl Pei aims to provide a premium smartphone experience, it's vital that the display is the first thing that they should improve. You'll quickly notice the large 6.7-inch OLED screen with a 120Hz refresh rate that also boasts LTPO tech. That's right, this screen can dial the refresh rate back to 1Hz if necessary to save battery.
The peak brightness jumped from 1200 nits at its peak on the Nothing Phone 1 to 1600 nits on the second version released this month. The bezels are smaller, too, but they still have yet to achieve that uniform bezels arrangement that some flagships have nowadays.
Improved Cameras
It still has the dual 50MP main shooters but with better sensors, now capable of getting 4k videos at 60 fps. Taking photos in low light using Night Mode still needs some improvements.
However, thanks to its improved processor, photo processing seems to have made a giant leap. The Nothing Phone 1 used to have issues with its photos being a little grainy. The quality has improved now.
The selfie camera is nothing to write home about, though it was doubled from 16MP to 32MP. But it still can't record video at 4k, just 1080p. Compared to the selfie camera of Samsung's Galaxy S23 Ultra, this phone has a long way to go. It can't capture completely accurate colors and tends to overprocess the photos and make your skin tone seem lighter.
Nothing Phone 2 Speedier Processor
It's not sporting the newest processor out there yet, but it has the best processor from last year, which is still pretty good - Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1. The snappiness of the processor shows when you navigate between the different screens. Playing most games would not be a problem.
However, the games requiring more work from the processor might cause your phone to heat up. Whatever the case, the Nothing Phone 2's performance does not drop a lot.
Slightly Improved Battery and Charging Speed
The Nothing Company didn't go all out in the battery department. It just went slightly up from 4500 to 4700 mAh. Charging also got faster from 33W to 45W, unlike some other smartphone brands that feature 210W charging for their phones.
Overall, the Nothing Phone 2 is a pretty solid phone. One can categorize it in the high-midrange bracket in terms of price. But to Carl Pei, this is currently the pinnacle of his company's capabilities, and that's nothing to be sneered at.
There's no doubt this company is on the right track. It will rival Xiaomi and RealMe for the "Flagship Killer" crown several years from now.
