Connect with us

Technologies

Nothing Phone 2 Review: A Flashy Phone That Needs to Be Cheaper

The Nothing Phone 2’s lights stand out, but it’s not without its problems.

The first Nothing Phone impressed us with its solid all-round performance, its low price and of course its flashing lights. But it never officially made it to the US, aside from an unusual beta program. This second-generation phone is here to change that. 

When it goes on sale in the United States and the wider world from July 16, the Nothing Phone 2 will have a range of upgrades, from the processor to the design. But at $599 and £579 (with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage) it’s $100 more than the first generation, and the competition at this price point has never been more fierce. Especially as my test model with 12GB RAM and 256GB of storage actually costs $699.

Image of the Nothing Phone 2

Google’s Pixel 7A in particular has a slightly better dual camera, and its pure Android 13 software is slick to use. The Pixel 7A’s processor isn’t as powerful as the Nothing Phone 2’s, but the Google phone’s much more affordable $449 price tag more than makes up for that. Then there’s the Pixel 7 Pro — Google’s flagship — which has one of the best cameras it’s possible to find on a phone and is currently on sale (with 128GB of storage) for only $649 at Best Buy. If photography is important to you, I’d recommend spending the small amount extra. 

There’s also the OnePlus 10T, which boasts the same powerful Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 processor as the Nothing Phone 2, has a similar camera setup, and can currently be picked up directly from OnePlus for only $400. Even the OnePlus 10 Pro with its superb camera system is only $480. 

The Nothing Phone 2’s flashing LED lights are the main thing that separates it from the competition, and while they’re certainly an interesting quirk, they’re arguably something of a gimmick and not a feature I can see myself genuinely using over time. The phone’s large screen, powerful processor and decent battery life are better reasons to consider buying this device, but at $599, it’s difficult to justify the Nothing Phone 2 over the increasingly strong competition. 

A familiar, flashy design

Visually, there hasn’t been a big departure from the first generation. The back is still transparent, letting you see a little of what’s inside the phone, including the exposed screw heads and various connecting segments. The glass is gently curved at the edges now to give it a slightly more premium feel when you hold it.

But it’s the flashing lights — or glyph, as Nothing calls it — that’s the big family resemblance here. Those LEDs light up the back of the phone and can alert you to incoming notifications. Or you can use them for alarms, to show battery charge status, or simply as basic fill light when you’re recording video. 

Nothing Phone 2 is Flashier than Ever

See all photos

The Phone 2 provides a bit more customization over the glyph this time around, letting you create custom light patterns for certain contacts or apps. There’s also a glyph timer that’ll gradually tick down as it reaches zero, and it can also give a convenient visual cue about other time-related things, such as when your Uber is going to arrive, so you can put it down and focus on sorting out your hair while keeping an eye on its progress. Nothing says it’ll be working with other app developers to integrate this functionality. 

The glyph lights certainly made the original phone stand out against the competition, and though they’re arguably something of a gimmick, it’s nice to see a bit of fun and flair in phones. Especially in midrange phones like this, where interesting designs tend to take more of a back seat to keep prices down. The glyph lights have turned heads when I’ve used the Nothing Phone in front of my friends, but interest quickly fades once the initial curiosity is satisfied. Can I genuinely see myself making use of the lights over time? Honestly, no. 

Image of the Nothing Phone 2

But the glyph lights aren’t the only physical things to care about. The aluminum frame is 100% recycled. There’s a fingerprint scanner hidden beneath the display, which works well most of the time. And the phone is IP54 rated to help keep it safe when you have to take calls in the rain. The 6.7-inch display is big and bright enough to do justice to vibrant games or to YouTube videos you’re watching while on the move, and its adaptive refresh rate lets it drop down to only 1Hz to help preserve battery life or ramp up to 120Hz for smoother gaming. 

Older chip with big potential

Powering the Nothing Phone 2 is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 processor backed up by either 8GB or 12GB of RAM (as reviewed). That’s a slightly older generation processor, but it’s still a potent chip that can fully handle most things you’d ever want to throw at it, from video streaming to photo editing to gaming. It chalked up some great scores on our benchmark tests, and it handled demanding games like PUBG and Genshin Impact perfectly well at max settings. 

Nothing Phone 2 performance comparison

Nothing Phone 2 1,739 4,544 2,778Pixel 7A 1,439 3,560 1,855OnePlus 10T 1,405 3,812 2,773
  • Geekbench 6 (single core)
  • Geekbench 6 (multi-core)
  • 3D Mark WildeLife Extreme
Note: Longer bars equal better performance

Nothing says it used an older chip because it wanted something tried and tested that would offer a more stable platform at a more reasonable price, and I think that’s probably a fair trade-off. Motorola’s foldable Razr Plus is doing the same thing. It might not be the most recent chip Qualcomm makes (that would be the 8 Gen 2), but it’s still something of a powerhouse that’ll cope with almost anything you’d ever want to do with it. 

The Phone 2 runs Android 13 at its core, but Nothing has done a lot to customize the interface. It’s a very monochrome experience, with a heavy reliance on dot-matrix style texts and icons. There are a variety of widgets that use these designs, and even the app icons are black and white to keep with that minimal monochrome aesthetic. That could make it quite difficult to find the apps you want if you rely on those color cues, but you can turn this off in the settings if you want.

A feature that I can see being quite handy is creating folders of apps on your homescreen and hiding them behind an icon — I’m imagining filling this folder with my work-specific apps like Outlook, Zoom and Slack and then covering them up with the briefcase symbol so I don’t have to look at them on my weekend. Lovely stuff. 

Image of the Nothing Phone 2

I don’t often like UIs that heavily customize the look of Android, but there’s something quite stylish about the design that Nothing uses on its phones. If you’re into that kind of stark minimalism, then you’ll no doubt enjoy it. 

Nothing promises that the Phone 2 will receive three years of OS updates and an additional fourth year of security updates. That’s a little below the five years that Samsung offers on its phones, but it could certainly be worse. Still, I’d hope to see all manufacturers extending their support period up to and beyond five years to keep phones safe to use for longer and therefore keep more of them out of landfills. 

Same cameras, better processing

The back of the phone is home to a 50-megapixel main camera and a 50-megapixel ultrawide camera. Hardware-wise, that’s pretty much the same setup we saw on the Nothing Phone 1. But the improved Snapdragon processor allows for a lot better software processing, with Nothing promising improved colors, exposure and better HDR techniques to help you take nicer-looking shots. 

I’ve spent some time testing the camera, and I’m pleased to see vibrant, sharp images that look better than the ones I saw from the first generation phone. Still, it isn’t perfect, with some bright skies still being blown out in the highlights and a heavy-handed sharpening that results in odd image anomalies. Against the cheaper Pixel 7A, I generally prefer the shots from the Pixel. 

Waterfront view on Nothing Phone 2.
Waterfront view on Pixel 7A

The Nothing Phone 2’s colors are OK in this example, but there are noticeable patches in the white clouds where it has overexposed the image, resulting in blown-out details. And that’s despite the buildings themselves looking darker. The Pixel 7A’s HDR skills have resulted in a much nicer-looking image overall here. 

Waterfront view on Nothing Phone 2.
Waterfront view on Pixel 7A

Switching to the ultrawide lenses on both phones, the story is much the same, with the Nothing Phone 2 managing to again overexpose sections of the sky while underexposing the buildings next to the river. The Pixel 7A’s shot is much more balanced.

Nothing Phone 2 sample photo
Pixel 7A sample photo

Neither phone has a dedicated telephoto zoom lens, but both offer 2x digital zoom modes, using cropping and image sharpening to get closer to your subject. I generally prefer the overall look of the image from the Nothing Phone 2, but though the fine details are sharper, the software sharpening has caused some issues. 

Nothing Phone 2 sample photo
Pixel 7A sample photo

Zooming in to 200% on the 2x zoom images, it’s clear that the Nothing Phone 2’s shot looks generally sharper. However, look where I’ve circled in red — on the Pixel 7A the vertical slats are clearly rendered, whereas the Nothing Phone 2’s heavy-handed processing has turned this into a weird spiral mess. So while it’s artificially added more detail in some areas, it’s seriously reduced it in others.  At full screen you may never notice this, but it’s worth keeping in mind, especially if you often digitally crop into images later.

Nothing Phone 2 sample photo
Nothing Phone 2 sample photo
Nothing Phone 2 sample photo
Nothing Phone 2 sample photo

Other images from the Nothing Phone 2 are generally bright and vibrant, albeit with that overexposure problem often noticeable. 

Nothing Phone 2 sample photo
Pixel 7A sample photo

Ignoring the default mirroring on the Nothing Phone 2, both phones have taken generally well-exposed, sharp shots here. I prefer the white balance and richer yellow of my jacket in the Pixel’s shot, but it’s a close call. 

Overall, though, I think the Pixel 7A takes the better photos, which is impressive considering it’s quite a bit cheaper than the Nothing Phone. If photography is important to you, then you should consider looking toward Google — either the 7A or splashing a bit more on the 7 Pro.

Decent battery life

Powering everything is a 4,700-mAh battery that with reasonable use should get you through a full day. It put in a decent effort on our rundown tests, dropping to 91% after two hours of YouTube streaming on full brightness. For reference, the Pixel 7A dropped to 90% after two hours, while Samsung’s Galaxy A54 dropped to 87%. 

As with all phones, your actual results will come down to how much you use your device. Hammer it with video streaming and demanding gaming all morning and you’ll need to give it a boost in the afternoon. Most of you will probably just get away with giving it a full charge when you go to sleep each night. 

Image of the Nothing Phone 2

It supports 45-watt fast charging, which Nothing says will take it from empty to full in 55 minutes. That’s decent enough, though it’s a ways behind the 80- or 100-watt charging we’ve seen on other phones outside the US. At this price, though, I can’t argue too much. It has 15-watt wireless charging too, as well as reverse wireless charging if you want to use your phone’s battery to power up your headphones, or another phone entirely.

Is the Nothing Phone 2 a good phone to buy? 

The Nothing Phone 2’s flashy LEDs certainly make a statement, and both its processor performance and battery life are strong. But the extra $100 Nothing wants over its predecessor has changed the game. It’s gone from being an affordable budget option to quite a pricey midranger, while the competition has been getting stronger. 

Image of the Nothing Phone 2

The Pixel 7A is arguably its biggest rival, and personally, it’s the phone I’d go for over the Nothing Phone 2. Its processor isn’t as powerful, but it’ll still handle almost all your daily needs, and its camera is better. Plus it’s quite a lot cheaper. I’d also consider the OnePlus 10T over the Nothing Phone — it didn’t impress me at its full price at launch, but its current $400 price makes it a worthy option. 

If you love the idea of those flashing lights making your phone stand out from the crowd, then the Nothing Phone 2 is certainly worth considering. It’s a good phone, it’s just about $100 too expensive right now. If you can pick it up with a bit of a discount after the launch excitement has dwindled a little, then that’d be a good use of your money. But at full price, you’ll really need to love those lights to justify the spend. 

How we test phones

Every phone tested by CNET’s reviews team was actually used in the real world. We test a phone’s features, play games and take photos. We examine the display to see if it’s bright, sharp and vibrant. We analyze the design and build to see how it is to hold and whether it has an IP-rating for water resistance. We push the processor’s performance to the extremes using standardized benchmark tools like GeekBench and 3DMark, along with our own anecdotal observations navigating the interface, recording high-resolution videos and playing graphically intense games at high refresh rates.

All the cameras are tested in a variety of conditions, from bright sunlight to dark indoor scenes. We try out special features like night mode and portrait mode and compare our findings against similarly priced competing phones. We also check out the battery life by using a device daily as well as running a series of battery drain tests.

We take into account additional features like support for 5G, satellite connectivity, fingerprint and face sensors, stylus support, fast charging speeds and foldable displays, among others that can be useful. And we balance all of this against the price, to give you the verdict on whether that phone, whatever its price is, actually represents good value.

Nothing Phone 2 specs comparison chart

Nothing Phone 2 Pixel 7A Galaxy A54 5G
Display size, resolution, refresh rate 6.7-inch OLED; 2,412×1,080 pixels; 1-120Hz 6.1-inch OLED; 2,400×1,080 pixels; 60/90Hz 6.4-inch Super AMOLED; 2,340×1,080 pixels; 120Hz
Pixel density 394 ppi 361 ppi 403 ppi
Dimensions (inches) 6.38 x 3.00 x 0.33 in 6.00 x 2.87 x 0.35 in 6.23 x 3.02 x 0.32 in
Dimensions (millimeters) 162.1 x 76.4 x 8.6 mm 152.4 x 72.9 x 9.0 mm 158.2 x 76.7 x 8.2 mm
Weight (grams, ounces) 201g (7.09 oz) 193g (6.81 oz) 202g (7.13 oz)
Mobile software Android 13 Android 13 Android 13
Camera 50-megapixel main. 50-megapixel ultrawide 64-megapixel main, 4K at 6fps. 13-megapixel ultrawide, 4K at 30fps 50-megapixel wide, 12-megapixel ultrawide, 5-megapixel macro
Front-facing camera 32-megapixel 13-megapixel, 4K@30fps 32-megapixel
Video capture 4K at 60fps 4K 4K
Processor Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 Tensor G2 Exynos 1380
RAM, storage 8GB + 128GB. 12GB + 256GB 8GB + 128GB 6GB + 128GB. 8GB + 256GB
Expandable storage No No Micro SDXC
Battery, charger 4,700 mAh; 45W wired charging 4,385 mAh; 18W fast charging, 7.5W wireless charging 5,000 mAh; 25W wired charging
Fingerprint sensor In-display Side In-display
Connector USB-C USB-C USB-C
Headphone jack None None None
Special features 5G-enabled, IP54 water resistance, flashing rear lights 5G (5G sub6 / mmWave ), IP67 rating 5G (mmw/Sub6), IP67 rating
Price off-contract (USD) $599 $499 / $549 (mmW) $449 (6GB/128GB) at launch
Price (GBP) £579 £449 £449 (6GB/128GB) at launch
Price (AUD) AU$1,120 converted AU$749 AU$649 (6GB/128GB) at launch

Technologies

Tariffs Explained: Latest on Trump’s Shifting Import Tax Plan, and What It Means

Continue Reading

Technologies

Apple, I’m (Sky) Blue About Your iPhone 17 Air Color

Commentary: The rumored new hue of the iPhone 17 Air is more sky blah than sky blue.

I can’t help but feel blue about the latest rumor that Apple’s forthcoming iPhone 17 Air will take flight in a subtle, light-hued color called sky blue.

Sky blue isn’t a new color for Apple. It’s the featured shade of the current M4 MacBook Air, a shimmer of cerulean so subtle as to almost be missed. It’s silver left too close to an aquarium; silver that secretly likes to think it’s blue but doesn’t want everyone else to notice.

Do Apple employees get to go outside and see a real blue sky? It’s actually vivid, you can check for yourself. Perhaps the muted sky blue color reflects a Bay Area late winter/early spring frequent layer of clouds like we typically see here in Seattle.

«Who cares?» you might find yourself saying. «Everyone gets a case anyway.» I hear you and everyone else who’s told me that. But design-focused Apple is as obsessive about colors as they are about making their devices thinner. And I wonder if their heads are in the clouds about which hues adorn their pro products.

Making the case for a caseless color iPhone

I’m more invested in this conversation than most — I’m one of those freaks who doesn’t wrap my phone in a case. I find cases bulky and superfluous, and I like to be able to see Apple’s design work. Also, true story, I’ve broken my iPhone screen only twice: First when it was in a «bumper» that Apple sent free in response to the iPhone 4 you’re-holding-it-wrong Antennagate fiasco, and second when trying to take long exposure starry night photos using what I didn’t realize was a broken tripod mount. My one-week-old iPhone 13 Pro slipped sideways and landed screen-first on a pointy rock. A case wouldn’t have saved it.

My current model is an iPhone 16 Pro in black titanium — which I know seems like avoiding color entirely — but previously I’ve gone for colors like blue titanium and deep purple. I wanted to like deep purple the most but it came across as, in the words of Patrick Holland in his iPhone 14 Pro review, «a drab shade of gray or like Grimace purple,» depending on the light.

Pros can be bold, too

Maybe the issue is too many soft blues. Since the iPhone Pro age began with the iPhone 11 Pro, we’ve seen variations like blue titanium (iPhone 15 Pro), sierra blue (iPhone 13 Pro) and pacific blue (iPhone 12 Pro).

Pacific blue is the boldest of the bunch, if by bold you mean dark enough to discern from silver, but it’s also close enough to that year’s graphite color that seeing blue depends on the surrounding lighting. By comparison, the blue (just «blue») color of the iPhone 12 was unmistakably bright blue.

In fact, the non-Pro lines have embraced vibrant colors. It’s as if Apple is equating «pro» with «sophisticated,» as in «A real pro would never brandish something this garish.» I see this in the camera world all the time: If it’s not all-black, it’s not a «serious» camera.

And yet I know lots of pros who are not sophisticated — proudly so. People choose colors to express themselves, so forcing that idea of professionalism through color feels needlessly restrictive. A bright pink iPhone 16 might make you smile every time you pick it up but then frown because it doesn’t have a telephoto camera.

Color is also important because it can sway a purchase decision. «I would buy a sky blue iPhone yesterday,» my colleague Gael Cooper texted after the first rumor popped online. When each new generation of iPhones arrive, less technically different than the one before, a color you fall in love with can push you into trading in your perfectly-capable model for a new one.

And lest you think Apple should just stick with black and white for its professional phones: Do you mean black, jet black, space black, midnight black, black titanium, graphite or space gray? At least the lighter end of the spectrum has stuck to just white, white titanium and silver over the years.

Apple never got ahead by being beige

I’m sure Apple has reams of studies and customer feedback that support which colors make it to production each year. Like I said, Apple’s designers are obsessive (in a good way). And I must remind myself that a sky blue iPhone 17 Air is a rumored color on a rumored product so all the usual caveats apply.

But we’re talking about Apple here. The scrappy startup that spent more than any other company on business cards at the time because each one included the old six-color Apple logo. The company that not only shaped the first iMac like a tipped-over gumdrop, that not only made the case partially see-through but then made that cover brilliant Bondi blue.

Embrace the iPhone colors, Apple.

If that makes you nervous, don’t worry: Most people will put a case on it anyway.

Continue Reading

Technologies

Astronomers Say There’s an Increased Possibility of Life on This Distant Planet

Using the James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers are working to confirm potential evidence of life on a distant exoplanet dubbed K2-18b.

Astronomers are nearing a statistically significant finding that could confirm the potential signs of life detected on the distant exoplanet K2-18b are no accident.

The team of astronomers, led by the University of Cambridge, used data from the James Webb Space Telescope (which has only been in use since the end of 2021) to detect chemical traces of dimethyl sulfide (DMS) and/or dimethyl disulfide (DMDS), which they say can only be produced by life such as phytoplankton in the sea. 

According to the university, «the results are the strongest evidence yet that life may exist on a planet outside our solar system.»

The findings were published this week in the Astrophysical Journal Letters and point to the possibility of an ocean on this planet’s surface, which scientists have been hoping to discover for years. In the abstract for the paper, the team says, «The possibility of hycean worlds, with planet-wide oceans and H2-rich atmospheres, significantly expands and accelerates the search for habitable environments elsewhere.»

Not everyone agrees, however, that what the team found proves there’s life on the exoplanet.

Science writer and OpenMind Magazine founder Corey S. Powell posted about the findings on Bluesky, writing, «The potential discovery of alien life is so enticing that it drags even reputable outlets into running naive or outright misleading stories.» He added, «Here we go again with planet K2-18b.Um….there’s strong evidence of non-biological sources of the molecule DMS.»

K2-18b is 124 light-years away and much larger than Earth (more than eight times our mass), but smaller than Neptune. The search for signs of even basic life on a planet like this increases the chances that there are more planets like Earth that may be inhabitable, with temperatures and atmospheres that could sustain human-like lifeforms. The team behind the paper hopes that more study with the James Webb Space Telescope will help confirm their initial findings.

More research to do on finding life on K2-18b

The exoplanet K2-18b is not the only place where scientists are exploring the possibility of life, and this research is still an early step in the process, said Christopher Glein, a geochemist, planetary researcher and lead scientist at San Antonio’s Southwest Research Institute. Excitement over the significance of the research, he said, should be tempered.

«We need to be careful here,» Glein said. «It appears that there is something in the data that can’t be explained, and DMS/DMDS can provide an explanation. But this detection is stretching the limits of JWST’s capabilities.»

Glein added, «Further work is needed to test whether these molecules are actually present. We also need complementary research assessing the abiotic background on K2-18b and similar planets. That is, the chemistry that can occur in the absence of life in this potentially exotic environment. We might be seeing evidence of some cool chemistry rather than life.»

The TRAPPIST-1 planets, he said, are being researched as potentially habitable, as is LHS 1140b, which he said «is another astrobiologically significant exoplanet, which might be a massive ocean world.»

As for K2-18b, Glein said many more tests need to be performed before there’s consensus on life existing on it.

«Finding evidence of life is like prosecuting a case in the courtroom,» Glein said. «Multiple independent lines of evidence are needed to convince the jury, in this case the worldwide scientific community.» He added, «If this finding holds up, then that’s Step 1.»

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © Verum World Media