In a brief span of time, Nothing has come a good distance, and it now really stands for one thing. The corporate makes good mid-range and higher mid-range smartphones that may be complete worth for cash. With the Nothing Phone 2a, issues are new and completely different. When you get the same expertise with a singular design, every thing has been toned down somewhat. The upside is that the worth is now within the budget-premium section.
I’ve been testing (principally the Glyph interface; simply kidding, I attempted every thing) the Nothing Cellphone 2a over a span of per week. Ought to it’s your subsequent purchase? Let’s discover out.
Nothing Cellphone 2a value in India
As regular, I am going to begin with the worth, which is an important facet of the Nothing Cellphone 2a. The handset is priced at Rs. 23,999 for the bottom variant with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage. Need extra storage? You will must spend Rs. 25,999 for the 8GB RAM and 256GB variant or Rs. 27,999 for the 12GB RAM and 256GB storage.
The handset is offered in two color choices – White and Black. Each variants have a clear again panel created from plastic, which is each slippery and susceptible to fingerprints.
Within the field, which is created from recycled supplies, you get the telephone, some paperwork, a USB Kind-C to Kind-C charging cable, and a SIM ejector software, which is analogous to what you get with the Cellphone 1 and Cellphone 2. The charging cable additionally has some clear components, making it one of many coolest in-box cables I’ve seen up to now. Nothing additionally pre-applies a display protector on the Cellphone 2a.
Nothing Cellphone 2a Evaluate: Design
I am going to maintain this part brief. The Nothing Cellphone 2a appears good, and there aren’t any two methods. Nothing has tweaked the rear design for the Cellphone 2a and eliminated a number of LEDs to maintain issues minimal. In comparison with the earlier Nothing Cellphone 1 and Cellphone 2, this telephone has solely three LED strips on the again, and I believe that is a lot.
The rear digicam placement can also be completely different in comparison with the earlier Nothing telephones. The twin digicam setup is now positioned on the centre of the telephone contained in the NFC coil. The clear panel additionally reveals some flex cables above the battery. The Nothing Cellphone 2a has 90-degree sides, rounded edges, and a flat body, all of which make the telephone snug to carry. The ability button is on the proper aspect, whereas the amount is on the left, and each are simply accessible even when utilizing the telephone in a single hand. The buttons might’ve been somewhat extra clicky, although. The underside homes the USB Kind-C port, a speaker, a microphone, and the SIM card tray, whereas the highest solely has the second microphone.
Nothing claims that it has used 100% recycled aluminium for the mid-frame. The telephone additionally options loads of recycled tin, copper foil, metal, and plastic components. It feels well-built and has an excellent weight to it. Nevertheless’ the rear clear panel is plastic, and is certain to be susceptible to scratches. We’ll need to see the way it fares within the long-term if used and not using a case. 
Transferring over to the entrance, Nothing has managed to maintain the bezels symmetrical, which supplies the telephone a premium look. Extra manufacturers ought to do that. The bezels are skinny, just like what you’d see on an iPhone. A gap punch cutout on the prime centre homes the entrance digicam and an in-display fingerprint scanner. The Nothing Cellphone 2a carries an IP54 ranking for mud and water resistance. Truthfully, I believe they might’ve finished higher, as a few telephones in the identical value bracket ship the next ranking.
Nothing Cellphone 2a Evaluate: Specs and software program
In terms of specs, the Nothing Cellphone 2a is a mid-range handset. It’s outfitted with a customized MediaTek Dimensity 7200 Professional SoC that is constructed utilizing TSMC’s 2nd era 4nm course of expertise. Nothing claims that the customized chip improves effectivity by 10 p.c, and we predict it does. The chipset is paired with as much as 12GB RAM, which might be expanded to as much as 20GB utilizing the RAM Booster characteristic. The telephone additionally options as much as 256GB of storage.
The Nothing Cellphone 2a helps 5G dual-mode, dual-band Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.3, NFC, and the standard GPS requirements for connectivity. You get a dual-SIM slot on the telephone, and weirdly, it requested us to insert an Indian SIM after we have been establishing the telephone for the primary time. The telephone will get an in-display fingerprint scanner that works as anticipated. Nothing has packed a 5,000mAh battery, which is the most important battery ever used on a Nothing Cellphone. It additionally helps 45W quick charging, however there isn’t any included charger within the field.
Let’s get to the software program aspect of issues now. The Nothing Cellphone 2a runs Nothing OS 2.5 primarily based on Android 14. We obtained two software program updates throughout our evaluation to enhance the telephone and digicam efficiency. As for software program help, Nothing guarantees three years of OS updates and 4 years of safety patches.
By way of options, the Nothing OS is just like what we have seen on the Nothing Cellphone 2. There is a Sensible Clear characteristic that may clear unused system recordsdata, you get NTFS optimisations, a RAM booster that helps as much as 8GB digital RAM enlargement, and a HyperEngine 5.0 that is aimed to enhance gaming efficiency. You additionally get Nothing-designed widgets, an AI wallpaper generator, and, better of all, no bloatware. The Nothing icon pack can also be an effective way to scale back telephone utilization, because it makes use of monochrome components that make you not wish to use apps.
Lastly, the social gathering trick of the Nothing Cellphone is the Glyph interface. With the Cellphone 2a, Nothing revamped the Glyph interface as soon as once more, however this time, it lowered the variety of LED strips. It is nonetheless white, however there’s solely three of them now. Nevertheless, you possibly can nonetheless do most of what the Glyph interface was designed for.
The Cellphone 2a helps 15 Glyph capabilities. You need to use it for a timer, Flip to Glyph for notifications, a digicam shutter countdown, a progress bar for Zomato, Uber, and Google Calendar, a quantity indicator, and music visualisation. I loved utilizing the music visualisation characteristic when taking part in music on the telephone. Sadly, it would not work on audio taking part in exterior of the telephone.
Nothing Cellphone 2a Evaluate: Efficiency
The Nothing Cellphone 2a, for the primary time in Nothing historical past, comes with a MediaTek processor. It will get a mid-range customized Dimensity 7200 Professional SoC that’s a lot good for day by day use and gaming and may supply wonderful battery life. The benchmark outcomes aren’t going to prime any lists, however we did run the standard benchmarks simply to seek out out. On AnTuTu, the Cellphone 2a scored 6,88,079 factors, which is nothing shocking. Outcomes have been related after we ran Geekbench 6 on the telephone, solely to get a single-core CPU rating of 1,100 and a multi-core rating of two,448. As for GPU efficiency, the handset scored 3,231 on Geekbench.
It is a succesful chipset for day by day utilization, and I by no means confronted any main lag or stutter when utilizing the telephone all through the evaluation interval. The telephone is easy total, and that is additionally because of the show.
Nothing has outfitted the Cellphone 2a with a 6.7-inch versatile AMOLED panel that provides full-HD+ decision, 30-120Hz refresh price, 10-bit color, 240Hz contact sampling price, and as much as 1,300 nits of peak brightness. The show is straightforward to learn open air, even underneath direct daylight, and will get loads of vivid indoors. It gives two color modes, particularly ‘Alive’ and ‘Customary’, with the previous choice producing punchier colors. The viewing angles on the panel are good, and there isn’t any washing impact.
For audio, Nothing has included stereo audio system on the Cellphone 2a. The audio system get loud sufficient however pack a punch. There’s good stereo separation and no cracking, even at full quantity. As for the microphone high quality, every thing can also be good in that division.
By way of gaming, the Cellphone 2a carried out nicely and gave me excellent body charges on video games corresponding to Asphalt 9 and BGMI. It will not play the latter at full blast, however you possibly can positively play all types of video games on the telephone. Nothing has used a 3,200 mm2 vapour chamber within the telephone to maintain the telephone cool when gaming or utilizing the digicam. I didn’t discover extreme heating throughout a 30-minute session of BGMI, nor whereas I used to be utilizing the digicam open air in 32-degree Celsius warmth.
Coming to the battery efficiency, I used to be constantly getting virtually two days of battery life with minimal to reasonable utilization. With heavy utilization, I might nonetheless get greater than a day’s battery life from the Nothing Cellphone 2a. Since Nothing did not present a charger within the field, I used to be compelled to make use of a 30W charger, which topped the telephone from 0 to 100% in about 1 hour 35 minutes. Nothing claims that the telephone might be charged from 0 to 100% in 59 minutes utilizing a 45W charging adapter.
Nothing Cellphone 2a Evaluate: Cameras
The Nothing Cellphone 2a has a twin digicam setup, just like the opposite two Nothing handsets. Nevertheless, the digicam placement is completely different this time round. It has a 50-megapixel major rear digicam with OIS and an f/1.88 aperture, and one other 50-megapixel ultra-wide sensor with a 114-degree discipline of view. For selfies, there is a 32-megapixel entrance digicam that is additionally used on the Nothing Cellphone 2.
Nothing’s digicam app is easy and straightforward to make use of. You get all of the modes entrance and centre with the settings accessible utilizing a easy swipe down on the viewfinder. There’s Slo-mo, Time-lapse, Pano, Portrait, Night time mode, Movement seize, and an Skilled mode. There’s additionally a Google Lens button accessible subsequent to the Shutter button.
The first digicam carried out nicely in daylight, nevertheless it had points by way of HDR. In tremendous vivid circumstances, the 50-megapixel sensor took in an excessive amount of gentle to overexpose the intense components of a picture. This was not the case with the ultra-wide digicam, which uncovered the scene higher. In low-light circumstances, the first digicam continued to carry out nicely. The main points, publicity, and colors have been all good.
Coming to the ultra-wide digicam, once more, the sensor carried out nicely in daylight and low-light circumstances. Let the samples do the speaking.
Prime – Ultrawide, Important, 2x in-sensor zoom; Backside – Lowlight Ultrawide, Important, 2x
There is not any telephoto digicam on the telephone, however you get a 2x zoom choice, which takes respectable pictures. The Portrait mode additionally permits for 1x and 2x crop and gives good edge detection more often than not. As for selfies, the pictures taken from the digicam present good element in daylight, with a number of the particulars getting misplaced in low-light circumstances. Video efficiency is sweet, with loads of particulars, good colors, and dynamic vary in daylight circumstances. Stabilisation can also be fairly good. In low gentle, the digicam efficiency is respectable at finest, with artefacts making an look. The first digicam helps you to shoot in both 4K 30 fps or 1080p 60 fps. Gradual-motion movies max out at 1080p 120fps.
Nothing Cellphone 2a Evaluate: Verdict
The Nothing Cellphone 2a, an reasonably priced providing from the corporate, has to tackle loads of different equally priced telephones within the section. You will have the Poco X6 Professional, the Redmi Word 13 Professional, the Realme 12 Professional, and a bunch of others that provide related or higher efficiency. Nevertheless, the place the Nothing Cellphone 2a actually stands out is within the design and software program division. You get clear software program with three years of promised Android OS upgrades and a singular design. The telephone additionally has an excellent display and construct high quality.
For Rs. 23,999, I might suggest the Nothing Cellphone 2a to those that desire a distinctive gadget with clear software program, good cameras, and wonderful battery life. These on the lookout for pure efficiency ought to look elsewhere. Nothing has priced the Cellphone 2a very well, and I reckon it should promote like hotcakes. It is one thing new, and we prefer it!
