Nothing seems to have mastered the formula of creating a lot of hype behind its products, be it the flagship killer Phone (2) (our review here) or the Buds Pro (our review here) from its affordable CMF range. Even the new Phone (2a) steps into the cutthroat lower midrange segment with a lot of buzz around it. Priced at Rs 24,000, this smartphone has a bunch of exciting things going for it. Its back panel gets Nothing’s signature see-through treatment along with Glyph lighting, which is understandably dialled down on the affordable mid-ranger. There are some tradeoffs too, as the (2a) lacks a glass back panel and aluminium rails. However, the MediaTek Dimensity 7200 Pro under its hood is a smart choice for this price bracket. We’ve been using this smartphone for the last week, and like all Nothing products, it has left quite an impression on us. Here is our Nothing Phone (2a) review.

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Nothing Phone (2a) review: Design and Display

One of the things we like about Nothing is the thought it puts into the unboxing experience across all its products. The cardboard box containing the Phone (2a) is packaged in an exciting cover. Flipping open the lid of the box, you’ll find the smartphone, a USB Type-C cable with transparent casings for the connectors, a SIM ejector tool with a transparent grip, and a safety & warranty information pamphlet. There are no plastic coverings to be found.

As much as we like the well-thought-out unboxing experience of the Phone (2a), there is one gaping flaw we cannot overlook. There is no power adapter inside the box. In Nothing’s case, this is problematic for two reasons. Firstly, most of the buyers making a midrange smartphone purchase in 2024 most likely do not possess a power adapter that can support 45W charging. Secondly, the charging cable provided in the box is only compatible with adapters that have a Type-C port, a fairly new trend which isn’t the industry standard as of yet. For a lot of buyers, this means shelling out an extra Rs 2,500 for Nothing’s official 45W power adapter, taking the price of the entire package to Rs 26,500.

While the unboxing experience may be a bit of a mixed bag, the design of the Phone (2a) is anything but. This is easily one of the better-looking smartphones out there across all categories. Its transparent back panel lends it a unique personality, which is an attribute we highly rate, especially at a time when smartphones are hitting a ceiling in design language. We used the black variant of the Nothing Phone (2a) for this review, but if you want to truly appreciate the see-through aesthetic, we suggest going for the white variant.

The dual camera array of the Phone (2a) is placed horizontally at the centre of the panel, causing less wobble when the smartphone is placed on a flat surface. Surrounding this camera array is the NFC coil. The iconic Glyph lighting is fragmented into three LED strips and restricted to the top end of the back panel, bordering the giant coil. The bottom segment of the back panel showcases a maze-like pattern, which Nothing says is inspired by Massimo Vignelli’s New York subway map. To top it all off, in true Nothing fashion there is a visible splattering of tiny screws and a squarish red accent towards the side.

The frame and back panel of the Phone (2a) are made out of plastic, but they are by no means cheap. Our only complaint is that the back is a bit of a fingerprint magnet. Its flat form factor along with the flat edges of the frame provides a nice in-hand feel. The rounded corners ensure that the smartphone does not dig into your palms while you’re holding it.

Another unique but understated thing about the Nothing Phone (2a) is that the volume rocker and side button are housed on opposite sides of the frame instead of being bundled together on the right edge. While operating the phone with one hand we hit the screenshot trigger on multiple occasions, but it is something you learn to work your around very quickly. On the bottom edge of the frame, you will find the SIM tray, primary microphone, USB Type-C port, and speaker grille. Up top lies the secondary microphone. The smartphone’s earpiece doubles up as a secondary speaker outlet.

Moving on, the 6.7-inch AMOLED display on the (2a) has a maximum refresh rate of 120Hz and supports HDR10+. This display is surrounded by symmetrical bezels which give it quite the premium look. The touch response is fluid, leading to a very smooth browsing experience. 1,100 nits of HBM brightness is sufficient to make the display legible in bright outdoor conditions while a peak brightness of 1,300 nits produces gleaming visuals while watching HDR content.

We used the Nothing Phone (2a) as our primary media-watching device throughout the review period. The smartphone lacks HDR capabilities in the Netflix app even though it has Widevine L1 certification. Despite that, we were pleased with the viewing experience on the (2a). The images were rich in colour and contrast without looking too saturated. The audio output is well-rounded and does not distort considerably when pushed to its upper limit.

Similar to the Phone (2), the (2a) carries an IP54 rating. On exposure to light water splashes the smartphone remains unaffected. The display is guarded by Corning Gorilla Glass 5 and can easily absorb moderate knocks.

Nothing Phone (2a) review: Performance and Cameras

It would be out of character for Nothing to solely bank upon the design factor of any product. The Phone (2a) is powered by the impressive MediaTek Dimensity 7200 Pro chipset. There are three RAM and storage variants on offer: 8GB + 128GB, 8GB + 256GB, and 12GB + 256GB. We used the 8GB RAM + 256GB storage variant for this review. This variant is currently priced at Rs 26,000. The top-spec model fetches Rs 28,000.

The Dimensity 7200 SoC is pivotal in the phone’s performance and enables it to crush everyday tasks with ease. The smartphone does an impressive job of handling multiple tasks at once, even if that means watching live football in Hotstar’s floating window while answering texts in WhatsApp and going through the match thread on Reddit. During the week-long review period, we did not come across a single stutter or lag while using the Nothing Phone (2a).

The general app-browsing experience is very smooth and jitter-free as well. Even with multiple apps running actively in the background, the phone’s performance remains unaffected. The linear haptic motor provides good feedback while typing on the device. It is very hard to find chinks in Phone (2a)’s armour when it comes to routine usage. On the Geekbench 6 app, the Nothing Phone (2a) attained 1,121 points in the single-core test and 2,589 points in the multicore test. 

The gaming performance of the device is passable and not something that leaves a lasting impact. Even though the AMOLED display supports a maximum refresh rate of 120Hz, games like Call of Duty Mobile hit their frame rate ceiling at 60fps. The phone does a decent job of dissipating the internal heat, but you can feel the back panel warm up after 20 minutes of gaming. The gameplay is smooth and jitter-free for the most part, but you are bound to drop a few frames once the device heats up.

Nothing’s smartphones aren’t just eye-catching from the back. The flair that Nothing OS 2.5 brings to Android 14 is something we like a lot. For the most part, the interface follows the stock Android design language, but Nothing stamps its personality on the device with attractive widgets and the dot-matrix font. And no, you cannot opt out of the latter.

Nothing has a comprehensive collection of widgets for its stock apps. If you want to make the most out of the OS, we suggest spending some time customising the home screen. Even though you may not have a lot of use for some of the widgets, they bring a splash of personality to the device. The home screen folders can be arranged in different layouts and you can choose a dot matrix style cover for them. One thing we’d like Nothing to offer in a future update is the option to save home screen layouts in the customisation settings menu. Some stock templates for people who don’t want to spend time customising the home screen wouldn’t be too bad either.

The software also taps into the functional aspect of the Glyph lights on the back of the smartphone. The ‘Flip to Glyph’ feature automatically triggers the silent mode when you put the phone face down on a flat surface. The Glyphs light up anytime you receive a phone call or other notifications. The Glyph Timer uses the curved LED strip at the top of the back panel as a progress bar to provide a visual of the time remaining on the clock. You can also use this strip as a progress bar to display the ETA of your cab booking or food delivery order. As of now, it only works for Uber and Zomato.

There is a fun Composer tool that lets you design custom ringtones. If you don’t want to miss any updates from an app, you can customise the right Glyph to light up until you tend to the notification from that particular app. If you’re feeling whimsical, you can turn on music visualisation and make the Glyphs dance to the song you’re playing. But strangely enough, the Glyphs respond to all kinds of audio output when this feature is turned on. Lastly, there is no bloatware on the device, which earns it brownie points from us.

Moving on, the battery life offered by the Phone (2a) is one of its strongest suits. On a full charge, the 5,000 mAh battery pack on this smartphone coasted through an entire day with ease, even after heavy usage. We were able to get more than 8 hours of screen time on a single charge. Our daily tasks on the Nothing Phone (2a) during the review period consisted of emailing, instant messaging, video calling, social media browsing, streaming OTT content, and even a bit of gaming. If you’re more conservative with your usage, this can be a 2-day smartphone. Even though the (2a) supports 45W charging, it took us 1 hour and 40 minutes to fully charge the smartphone using an 80W charger.

The dual camera array at the back comprises two 50MP sensors for the wide and ultrawide lenses. The camera performance is good, but not segment-defining. In outdoor daylight, the main sensor captures detailed images with deep colours that truly ‘pop’. We were happy with the contrast and the dynamic range showcased in the images. While capturing plants and foliage we felt the picture could have been a little more sharpened.

The ultrawide camera also puts up a good performance, but the colour tone of the images is quite different from the main sensor. This is all the more noticeable when you capture images of the sky. The way the two sensors expose the sky is very different. Overall, we enjoyed the colour palette of the ultrawide images as well.

In limited lighting, both cameras perform very well. In auto mode, the camera app recognises the lighting condition and delays the shutter speed, letting in more light. The images were well-lit but a little grainy. The Night Mode does not boost the brightness a lot but reduces the grain. The ultrawide camera relies a lot more on the Night Mode and produces good results.

Portrait shots taken with the Nothing Phone (2a) are well focussed, detailed, and very vivid. The camera does a good job of separating the subject from the background. However, in the photo processing phase, the smartphone does not apply a lot of blur in the background. The front-facing 32MP camera takes decent selfies in outdoor daylight but tends to mess up the skin tone in indoor shots taken under artificial lighting.

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Verdict

The Nothing Phone (2a) strikes the right balance between aesthetics and performance while managing to cost less than Rs 25,000. The software experience provided by Nothing on this smartphone is just as special as its signature see-through design philosophy and Glyph lighting. The MediaTek Dimensity 7200 Pro puts up a rock-solid performance on this device and its impressive benchmark numbers into use when it comes to handling demanding tasks. The camera performance is fine as well, leaving little room for complaints and making it one of the easiest devices to suggest in this price bracket.

Nothing Phone (2a): Pros

• Splendid design
• Great software experience
• Consistent performer
• Long battery life

Nothing Phone (2a): Cons

• No power adapter inside the box
• Portrait shots and night mode images take a while to process