Nothing Phone(2) *REVIEW* - Overpriced?

    Let me get straight to the ANSWER... Nothing Phone(2) is NOT Overpriced!!!

As a consumer electronics company, Nothing's AIM is to create tech that stands out. During an interview, Nothing's CEO Carl Pei mentioned that Nothing wants to help people spend less time on their smartphones because doing so will allow us to focus better on our jobs and maintain our digital well-being.

Yes, Carl actually makes sense...

 ₹44,999 worth spending? Let's find out...

Starting with the ---Design---:  This device feels and looks premium, for sure. With the curved back glass, bezel-less design and the 'glyph lights', this guy is an eye-catcher!

Unlike the Phone(1), this device has 11 LED strips with 33 addressable lighting zones, which we will come to in a bit.

Yes, the Phone(2) looks a lot like the Phone(1),[Hello Apple], but come on, this device still looks elegant and feels more comfortable, and I say that... It's a confident design!

Okayyy ---gLYPH LIGHTS---: This year, there are three significant features, the progress bar, essential notifications, and glyph composer.

1] Progress Bar: The LED strip in the image below acts like a sand timer. It displays how far your Uber or Zomato delivery boy is. It also functions as a volume level indicator which is quite handy.

2] Essential Notifications: You can now set customized ringtones for essential contacts' notifications, which, when received, the LED strip shown below will glow, notifying you about the messages from your loved ones excepttt your BOSS 😬

3] Glyph Composer: Nothing teamed-up with Swedish House Mafia, an electronic trio [Known for their singles "Don't you worry child" and "Moth to a Flame". I love their music], to let us bring out our creativity with the new Glyph Composer, which allows us to record our own ringtones with the help of some built-in audio presets!

The Next big change is in the ---Performance--- department. The Phone(2) packs in the 'Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1' better and more efficient than the 8-Gen 1 processor. To learn more about the 8-Gen processors, click here to view my post.

Simply put, it's a flagship-grade processor where you can run heavy tasks & games and multitask like a pro without hiccups!

As I always say, optimized software with a flagship chipset gives rise to a performance beast! This is where the ---NOTHING OS 2.0--- comes into play! As Nothing releases only one phone a year, the software team has sufficient time to polish every detail in the phone's OS.

Nothing OS 2.0 packs monochrome widgets, which are super elegant and super useful. You can even bring quick setting toggles to the home screen and always-on display! The animations, fonts, etc, are eye pleasing too.

Nothing OS 2.0 Widgets

Initially, there'll be minor bugs that will be fixed as Nothing is very good at it.

Coming to the ---DISPLAY---, Nothing provides a 6.7" flexible OLED display which helps in maintaining the symmetrical bezels all around. It's a 120Hz LTPO display, which, simply put, is butter smooth and power efficient. 1600 Nits peak brightness offers excellent outdoor visibility. 

Regarding durability, it offers Gorilla Glass 5 and a recycled all-aluminium frame; thus, it's a solid phone!

The ---Battery--- of this device is top-notch, with a capacity of 4700mAh. Its excellent software optimization allows up to 7 hours of screen-on-time even during heavy usage.

Also, the phone supports wireless and reverse wireless charging. 

Now let's dive into the ---Cameras---: The Phone(2) has a decent camera setup, featuring a 50MP Sony sensor for the primary camera, a 50MP Samsung sensor for the ultra-wide & macro camera, and a 32MP selfie camera.

These cameras deliver close-to-natural shots with great colour-science consistency. The sharpness and details of the human subjects are maintained well. Selfies are also crip and close to natural.

The Phone(2) performs surprisingly well in the video department with good video stabilization.

This device struggles slightly while taking portrait photos and night-mode shots. These problems can be fixed with a software update.

Here are some camera samples from the Nothing Phone(2) 👇

Credits: Carl Pei's Twitter handle.

    

Coming to the ---Connectivity---: Nothing Phone(2) has 19 5G bands!!! Therefore, this phone is supported globally. So in the connectivity department, it's a big thumbs up 👍

The ---Speakers--- are loud and crisp. The earpiece is surprisingly very loud and clear!

Okay... By now, you should have a clear picture about the Phone(2).

The Phone(2) has 2 international competitors, the Pixel 7a and the OnePlus 11r.

If you are looking for a camera phone under 45k, the Google Pixel 7a is the one for you. The computational photography and AI algorithms by Google which kicks-in during tricky situations is at another level. But Google needs to catch up in the performance, connectivity and display categories.

The Phone(2) and the OnePlus 11r (₹39,999) are closely matched. Phone(2) has a slight edge in the camera department. The OnePlus performs better in night mode photography.

The software on both phones is excellent. The Nothing offers clean and elegant stock Android-like experience with useful features and better widgets, whereas the OnePlus packs in more features to play with.

The OnePlus leaps ahead with 100-watt charging, which charges from 0-100 in just 25min!!!. But Nothing offers wireless and reverse wireless charging, which some people find super useful as all cars nowadays have a wireless charger.

The Phone(2) performs neck-n-neck with the OnePlus 11r. The better performer is the one whose software is better optimized with the chipset.

Better optimization = WIN!

In my opinion, spending 2-3k more on the Nothing Phone(2) against the OnePlus 11r and Google Pixel 7a is really worth cuz it's has a better design, glyph lights are more practical, cameras are great, and moreover, the Phone(2) performs better than it buddies.

Also, Nothing as a brand has established a different identity. Imagine turning on the glyph lights in a concert from between the crowd... Yea! I know, right? It's so cool 😁

Stay tuned for more; I'll catch you in the next one ✌