Nothing Phone 2 review: With a striking design that's customizable, it's anything but boring

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The fledgling Nothing company was started in 2020 by Carl Pei, one of the original co-founders of OnePlus. And like OnePlus did in 2014 with its OnePlus One phone, Nothing and its Phone 2, stylized as Nothing Phone (2), have injected personality and character in a landscape dominated by comparatively boring phones. 

The Phone 2 is a "value premium" Android device that offers nearly all the pleasures of a full-fat premium phone for an appreciably lower price tag. In this case, the Phone 2 starts at $600, which is certainly a brow-raiser for budget-conscious buyers who enjoy the finer aspects of a phone. Coincidently, its direct competitor in this space is the $700 OnePlus 11.

The Phone 2 cuts a singular path among the best Android phones with its distinctive clear-glass back and remarkably customizable home screen. However, for an excellent phone at such a good price, there must be a catch — it runs on a previous-generation, high-end processor that may show signs of slowing down earlier than phones running on newer chips.

A phone design that stands out in a sea of sameness

The Nothing Phone 2 takes the shape and overall design of a regular phone made of premium metal and glass, except its glass back is clear, visibly revealing some of the device's internal components. 

Except for the circular wireless charging coil, you don't actually see that much — the components are hidden behind aesthetic sectional cover plates, which are either white or dark gray, depending on the color option. Still, it's a clean, unique design when most phones have basic, solid colors covering metal, glass, or plastic.  

The Phone 2's glass back also lets Nothing's "Glyph" lights shine through, which are scattered throughout the Phone 2's back and illuminate in various (and customizable) patterns when you get a notification or a phone call. There's even a light pattern when you plug in the Phone 2 to charge.

Glyphs nostalgically remind one of the notification light that Android phones used to have years ago, which let you know that you had a notification pending review. But those notification lights were on the front of the phones, and Nothing's Glyphs exclusively flash on the back of the Phone 2. You may never see the Glyph lights in action if you don't habitually place your phone screen down. 

Otherwise, the Nothing Phone 2 is surprisingly light and balanced for a phone with a 6.7-inch display at 7.09 ounces. It feels like a feather compared to other large-screen phones like the 8.25-ounce Galaxy S23 Ultra and the 7.8-ounce iPhone 15 Pro Max.

Unique customization, even for an Android phone

Apart from its see-through glass back, the Phone 2's best and most differentiating feature is the unique customization options for app icons. It's a seemingly minor trait, but it dramatically changes your home screen's appearance and makes it more useful. 

For example, you can make individual app icons huge, taking up as much space as four regular app icons — it makes it meaningfully easier to find and tap my most-used apps. 

You can also enlarge app folders to show individual app icons, so you can see which apps are in the folder and tap to open an app without having to open its folder first. You can even customize individual folders themselves to be square-shaped or circular, and add a dot-matrix image for the folder cover.

Nothing's minimalist monotone app icon pack and abstract default theme and wallpaper are also striking, and Nothing's widgets with dot-matrix designs, or sophisticated thin fonts and lines, are beautiful enough to be worth mentioning when I otherwise don't in other phone reviews. 

Unfortunately, certain app icons that don't support the monotone scheme will likely disrupt that clean monotone look. Plus, Nothing's monotone theme will appeal the most if you plan on using a similarly monotone wallpaper rather than a colorful one.

A stunning display and expectedly good battery life

The Phone 2's display is a 1080p OLED panel that's typical in premium Android phones. Swiping around Android and apps feels perfectly smooth and responsive, and you get a beautifully bright, colorful, and high-contrast image typical with OLED panels. I have no complaints whatsoever with the Phone 2's display. 

The inclusion of LTPO variable refresh-rate technology is worth mentioning, as it's uncommon at the Phone 2's $600 starting price — the $700 OnePlus 11 is the only other phone I know of with LTPO that's within the same price range. It's a feature usually found on ultra high-end phones like the $1,200 Galaxy S23 Ultra. 

LTPO technology allows the display to vary its refresh rate between 1Hz and 120Hz. Reducing the display's refresh rate to 1Hz helps save battery life when you're not actively using or scrolling on the screen, like when the always-on display is enabled, or if you're looking at something static.

Yet, the Phone 2's battery-saving LTPO display didn't enable noticeably better battery life — the phone ended my battery test with a 59% result, which is perfectly typical for a large-screen phone without LTPO technology, and identical to the Galaxy S23 Plus. Oddly enough, the Nothing Phone 2 (and many other phones) did dramatically better than the 6.8-inch Galaxy S23 Ultra with a 54% result, despite the S23 Ultra's LTPO display. 

Translated into daily use, the Nothing Phone 2's battery life should easily last a day of casual use, and even heavy usage where the display is lit at around 50% brightness for around five hours. Gaming on the Phone 2 brings that battery life expectation way down, but that's typical on any phone. 

Still, if you value battery life above all else, the primary choice for Android fans continues to be the Google Pixel 8 Pro, which scored 62%. It won't last a full extra day, but it'll end the day with a higher battery percentage, or it'll last a few hours longer before you feel the need to charge it. 

The Phone 2 supports up to 45W charging speeds, which is excellent for a $600 phone. A special mention is warranted for the included charging cable with the transparent USB-C tips, as they look pretty sleek. It also supports 15W wireless charging and 5W reverse wireless charging on the back for charging accessories like wireless earbuds or other phones.

More than enough performance with an older, high-end processor

In terms of processors, the Phone 2 is a year behind other premium phones from 2023. The Phone 2 runs on the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 that powered premium Android phones in 2022, while 2023's crop of high-end Android phones run on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor. 

Still, the Phone 2 screams through Android, apps, and games, but there's the risk it may show signs of slowing down a year before phones like 2023's Galaxy S23 — historically speaking, older processors tend to slow down before newer ones. 

Thanks to a lower price than most premium Android phones from last year, it's easy to excuse the Phone 2 for running on an older processor. Even if you spend more on upgraded models with 12GB RAM and extra storage for $700 or more, the Phone 2 is still a good deal compared to other Android phones with large 6.7-inch displays. 

Nothing pledges to support the Phone 2 with three years of Android operating system upgrades from launch and four years of security updates, which effectively gives the Phone 2 a four-year lifespan.

A surprisingly good camera for a $600 phone

You get two cameras with the Phone 2, including a 50MP main camera and a 50MP ultrawide. It's a shame Nothing didn't include a third lens for zoomed shots, but that's expecting too much for the $600 price range.

I tested the Phone 2's cameras with the Nothing OS 2.0.4 update, where the company included some comprehensive camera updates since launch, and based on my test shots, you get quite excellent photo quality. 

Every phone maker has a style for photos, and what style you like is up to you. Nothing goes for a balanced contrast between light and dark details, with nicely saturated and accurate colors most of the time. The result is usually a rich-looking photo where every pixel appears tightly packed with color, and the depth we'd expect on the best cameras on phones, like Google's Pixels and iPhones.

As for low-light situations, the Phone 2 does surprisingly well for a $600 phone. Details in the photo below are markedly sharp, and the building is remarkably well-lit. However, the clock has a thick, overexposed ring around its face. Other premium Android phones can better handle these brightly lit details in a dark setting, with a thinner, overexposed ring that reveals more details of the clock's face.

I'd be happier with the Phone 2 and its cameras than with a Galaxy S23, as Samsung tends to overly process photos taken with its phone to be too bright, which robs them of detail and depth. Colors on Samsung phone cameras can be oversaturated or washed, too.

For recording memories to video, the Phone 2 does an excellent job with balanced and rich colors without excessively oversaturating, but it can overexpose brighter details in the background. Conversely, darker details can suffer from being too dark under certain lighting conditions.

It can record up to 4K resolution at 60 frames per second (fps), but you can easily set it to 1080p resolution at the same fps to save on storage space, and you still get excellent detail. Apple's iPhone videos still look the smoothest for 30fps recording, but the Phone 2 is serviceable here.

Should you buy the Nothing Phone 2?

For the $600 starting price, it's hard to do better — the Nothing Phone 2 is a stunning deal for a high-end device with a large 6.7-inch display, and its singular design and customization options set it apart from any other Android device in the US. 

The Nothing Phone 2's older Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor will easily last four years, but it may show signs of slowing earlier than phones with newer processors. If you'd rather get a phone with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for peace of mind, the $700 OnePlus 11 is the next best option. An extra $100 gets you last year's top processor for maximum longevity, a third camera with 2x optical zoom, longer battery life, and a superior five years of security updates.

If $600 is the peak of your budget, you should have your answer. If you can spare another $100, the OnePlus 11 is the better option, as it includes some meaningful upgrades.