Creating a consumer electronics brand from scratch is not easy and doing it with uniquely designed products is less so. The temptation to do the same as the rest of the market is great. It allows cost savings and there is no risk that a decision ends up alienating part of the potential market.
Nothing has achieved this in the last two years by following a unique visual language and with an honest attitude about its ambitions. They don’t want to dominate the smartphone or audio market, but to make a phone and headset that stand out among the dozens of models that populate the mid-range and high-end consumer electronics every year.
This year his most ambitious product is the Nothing Phone (2), his second phone, and at Pixel we have been able to test it for the last two weeks. It is a mobile with high-end finishes and features that starts at a price of 649 euros and that leaves a very good feeling even despite its limitations.
First of all, it solves one of the most obvious problems of the Phone (1). It debuts a new screen that is not only better and bigger, but also brighter. And it complements it with more than decent cameras, a powerful processor and software that is a pleasure to use.
We are talking about a mobile with a 6.7-inch screen. It’s big, but not very heavy, and Nothing has redesigned the rear glass with a slight curve that makes it much more comfortable in the hand.
The star in the aesthetics of the new phone is once again the transparencies and the Glyph, a set of LEDs in the case that can light up with different patterns for different years of use. Last year’s model had 8 segments. This year Nothing has put 16 in a configuration that creates a visually similar layout, but can be leveraged for more.
This LED pattern lights up when there are notifications (now, in addition, it can remain lit for the most important ones, one of the obvious shortcomings of the previous version) or a ringtone sounds. Different patterns can also be programmed with one of the apps that Nothing includes on the phone, Composer, or use the LEDs as fill light when taking a photo.
Nothing is also going to allow applications to make use of these LEDs to indicate progress. The countdown app, for example, pays out different segments as it progresses. Uber, which also takes advantage of it, shows the status of an order or how close the driver is by also turning these LEDs on and off. It’s not a revolutionary feature but it helps the Phone (2) to stand out from other phones on the market and give it its own aesthetic that is difficult to imitate.
Everything in the Nothing Phone (2) is built with love and it is a phone that, weighing in at 649 euros, has nothing to envy in materials to phones that are almost double the price.
Neither does the screen. It is a 6.7-inch OELD panel with LTPO and Full HD resolution and a variable refresh rate from 1 to 120 Hz. It has a brightness of 1,000 nits that can reach 1,600 with HDR content, double that of its predecessor, and It is undoubtedly one of the strengths of the phone.
Everything in the Nothing Phone (2) moves smoothly, and it’s something to thank for two factors. The first is the Snapdragon 8 Gen1, which while not technically the most advanced on the market shares many of the most important features with the Gen2.
The second is that Nothing has done an outstanding job with the software. Although it includes some modifications over the basic version of Android, they are small and focused on details that are mostly cosmetic. It’s about as clean as an Android installation can be found, barring the likes of Pixel phones.
Where the difference in price with the most expensive smartphones is most noticeable is in the camera. We are talking about details that are mostly understandable considering the price, but it is the aspect of this Nothing Phone (2) that weighs down the set the most.
Main camera: It uses a 50-megapixel Sony IMX890 sensor, similar to the one that other mobiles have recently begun to incorporate. It is an excellent sensor that in this case is slowed down a bit by an HDR (high dynamic range) that can become excessive at times and a tendency to saturate the image a lot. Those 50-megapixels allow for convincing digital zoom, too, though it’s a shame there’s no dedicated telephoto lens.
Ultra wide angle: It also has 50 megapixels but not much sharpness, although this type of camera is understandable. It is also less bright than the main one.
Night photography: Good results, but neither camera is particularly bright, so it’s easy to lose detail in low-light scenes.
Portrait mode: Segmentation or cropping of subjects is good, but the bokeh effect is a bit blurry.
Video: Record in 4K resolution at 60 fps and the best thing in this section is its powerful stabilization.
Front camera: Good for video conferencing and selfies with its 32 megapixels if the light conditions are good.
Perhaps it is unfair to ask that this mobile compete with the first swords of the mobile photography market, such as an iPhone or a Galaxy or a Pixel, but in defense of the Nothing Phone (2), it does not stay as far as other mobiles that are They move in the same price range. For most users, it is a very good camera, with quality and a fairly simple, intuitive and fast application.
Two other details that attract attention in the new Phone (2) is the battery, which has grown following the dimensions of the phone and is now 4,600 mAh. With a Full HD resolution screen and Snapdragon optimization, they get more than decent autonomy. At no time during the last few weeks have I noticed that I did not have the strength to endure a day and a half or two days without problems using my mobile in a normal regime (mail, social networks, videos and the occasional photograph).
For practical purposes, in times of the active screen, it depends a lot on the brightness (and the use indoors or outdoors, therefore, especially now) but it can be close to 8 hours if we take the metrics of the phone’s battery application as a reference. The Nothing Phone (2) also has fast charging at 45W and wireless at 15W.
The second factor is that the fingerprint reader under the screen is very fast. Phone (2) also offers the option of identifying yourself by facial recognition, but using only the image taken by the main camera, which is not a very secure system.
In general, and for 649 euros, the Nothing Phone (2) is a highly recommended mobile, especially for those looking to carry something different from the rest in their bag or pocket. It is attractive, well built and comfortable and fluid. It does not lack power and although the camera is not at the same level as that of the most expensive mobiles, it is not far behind either.
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