It seems a familiar challenge for Carl Pei, CEO and co-founder of London based tech company Nothing. Many years ago, he was tasked with a challenge, then at another popular phone maker he’d helped co-found, OnePlus. Make a phone that appeals to a wider demographic, with its price tag. How does a phone maker approach the mission? Logic dictates, you’d take a formula that’s already had some success, make changes to ensure the final price tag appeals to a broader demographic of potential buyers and not compromise on the ‘personality’ elements. That is the template Pei built with, balancing a tightrope of expectations and input costs (that determined price tags).
What Pei did back them worked because OnePlus’ Nord phones continue to figure prominently today. And nothing tells me the same formula, tweaked for the times inevitably, will not work again with the Nothing Phone (2a). Except, competition is more than before and the audience holds “flagship killer” expectations.
The Nothing Phone 2(a) largely seems to have its ingredients well sorted out, including an eccentric personality you’d associate with the brand’s phones – the Phone (1) and the Phone (2). Value proposition pitch may find a solid footing in the price points of ₹23,999 (8GB RAM + 128GB storage), ₹25,999 (8GB + 256GB) and ₹27,999 (12GB + 256GB). Intervals close enough, to warrant considering spending on a spec higher. Would you?
Competition will be tough. We must reference the OnePlus Nord CE3 5G which is a direct competitor, whilst the higher spec option does compete for attention if the OnePlus Nord 3 is in consideration.
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The Xiaomi Redmi Note 13 Pro phones, more so with the upcoming HyperOS software transformation, figure prominently in conversation. But these phones offer significantly better potential longevity with performance and software refinement, than perhaps the Samsung Galaxy A34 or Motorola Edge 40.
Important to note, and this is at least true for the review sample, the Nothing Phone (2a) needs an India-issued SIM card (yes, a physical SIM card) to proceed with the phone setup.
For e-SIM users, good luck navigating this. I am not entirely sure if Nothing intends to change this flow, with a software update.
On the topic of visual appeal, the Nothing Phone (2a) will be quite easily distinguishable as you use it.
In all fairness, most phones can’t claim to have much success in a sea of sameness they’re all adrift in. It is good to see that as they approached the tougher affordable pricing points, Nothing’s not gone into defensive mode. This is a phone that’s good to hold, and quite noticeable is the slightly coarse finish on the frame which should really aid with grip. Summers are approaching. But after summers come the monsoon rains, which points us to the limited water resistance capabilities.
Look at the camera position, that is akin to “eyes”. It’s been a while since we’ve seen a central camera placement – usually the camera modules find a space towards an edge of the back panel. The transparent back, another Nothing persistence, looks as good here too. There are slight changes to what you see inside, and prominently missing is the wireless charging hardware (quite understandable at this price).
The LED elements (though reduced) called Glyph, still figure prominently whilst gaining relevance from third-party apps. That had started with the Phone (2), and apps (such as Zomato and Uber can give you a fair idea of the status of your request with the illumination (or lack of) of the LEDs on the back. This is an idea that must continue to build better intuitiveness.
Nothing knows audience preferences for screen sizes and has remained firmly in that range – it’s a 6.7-inch AMOLED that peaks at 120Hz refresh rate and can get quite bright too if you have to counter the afternoon sun in prime form. It is adequately crisp when reading, though you could have an argument saying backlight changes (when in auto mode) could be a touch smoother and less perceptible.
You’ll have to balance performance expectations, and that’s true for the price range rather than a specific device. Within the broader landscape, some do better than others. The Nothing Phone (2a) gets its power from the MediaTek 7200 Pro chip, and whilst 8GB RAM allows for significant futureproofing for a few years at least (a lot has to do with the streamlined Nothing OS), do consider the 12GB RAM variant if within budget – it simply adds that much more sense of space to the resources at your disposal. You can allocate up to 8GB virtual memory from the storage too, but we’d not recommend relying entirely on that to drive performance.
For most intents and purposes, the MediaTek 7200 Pro will return smoother and more consistent performance, at least from what we have experienced, compared with phones on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen2. A lot of it of course has to do with the software running atop, which skews comparisons.
The Nothing Phone (2a) is more than a happy bunny with moderate multitasking and doesn’t make you wait as an app loads. There are of course limits to how many apps you can keep active before the strain begins to show a bit, yet for most use cases, that first virtual ceiling is likely to be only occasionally approached. But we did observe that scrolling itself (webpages within Chrome and the Instagram feed being examples) often tends to not be exactly smooth if there are heavy video elements being loaded. Could specific app updates refine the experience?
Nothing hasn’t held back with the dual camera setup – that’s one 50-megapixel wide main camera alongside a 50-megapixel ultra-wide camera. There are some neat smarts too, such as the UltraXDR compatibility they’ve integrated for RAW images (Nothing and Google have worked together on this). For most photos you click, the Nothing Phone (2a) will largely stay within the acceptable range – largely workable photos for social media. Enough lighting comes through, and daytime photos return good levels of detailing as well as sharpness around the frame.
There still needs to be significant optimisation of photography performance, because there is visible inconsistency with colours and dynamic range. As well as night-time photos, which sometimes tend to be darker than they should ideally be. With the optical hardware base that the Nothing Phone (2a) has, those improvements shouldn’t be too difficult.
While the Nothing Phone (2a) is Nothing’s most affordable phone yet, basics haven’t been compromised. A large 5,000 mAh battery (this does almost 24 hours of screen time) with 45-watt fast (enough) charging, a comfortable to use display as well as the design that’s unique to Nothing phones and a clean operating system that has a refinement one expects from modern day smartphones. These provide a good foundation for experience, and nothing tells me this phone wouldn’t be in good stead for at least another 3 years before you may consider spending again on a smartphone. That signifies the Nothing Phone (2a)’s true value.
