Nothing Phone (2) review: Not just another flashy phone

Note: This review was first published on 19 September 2023.

Same same, but different

It was a little underwhelming when the Nothing Phone (1) was released. Not only was it running on a mid-range chipset, but its Glyph lighting system on the back was rather gimmicky with limited practicality. Thankfully, the Nothing Phone (2) is much improved on all fronts. 

Not only is it still a good-looking phone with that unique Glyph Interface LED lights on the rear, but the phone is now using a more powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 flagship-tier chip, a new LTPO AMOLED display that can get up to 1,600 nits peak brightness, a larger 4,700mAh battery with faster 45W wired charging and more. 

The TL;DR verdict:

Nothing listened to its fanbase. The important changes made Phone (2) more powerful and useful while keeping the price under S$1,000.

However, all those improvements come at a cost. It has a higher starting price of S$999 compared to the Nothing Phone (1)’s S$749. The Nothing Phone (2)'s new price tag pits it against the Samsung Galaxy S23 (S$1,038) and the Oppo Reno10 Pro+ 5G (S$1,149), which both scored well in our reviews.

Would the Nothing Phone (2) be worth its price? Can it hold up against comparable phones from big brands? Is the Glyph Interface lighting system better now? Let’s find out.

Still the same design, but more comfortable

At first glance, Nothing Phone (2) looks very similar to its predecessor. It's a different story in hand. You’ll notice that you can wield it more comfortably, thanks to the new curved edges of the glass back.

This phone is quite possibly one of the most ergonomically friendly phones I’ve had the pleasure of using this year. Coming from an iPhone, it’s definitely a very nice change. 

With Gorilla Glass 5 on the front and back sandwiching an aluminium frame, the phone stays light at 201g. The rear glass is prone to fingerprint smudging (black colourway), but a quick wipe occasionally helps keep it clean. 

The display was also upgraded, with a slightly larger 6.7-inch 1080 x 2412 LTPO AMOLED panel with HDR10+ supporting a 120Hz dynamic refresh rate that can drop to 1Hz when idle. What's great is the new peak brightness of 1,600 nits and automatic brightness of 1,000 nits outdoors.

Nothing also packed an under-display fingerprint reader, but it feels misaligned on the screen. It's placed quite low, so you might have to stretch your thumb to reach it when holding the phone normally. The fingerprint scanner is quick and accurate, so there are no problems there. 

The buttons follow a conventional iPhone layout. On your right is the power button, with volume buttons to the left rim. The bottom rung holds its USB-C charging port. There’s also IP54 dust and water resistance, so don't worry if the phone gets splashed with water. 

Now, we can talk about the most visually striking aspect of the Nothing Phone (2), and that’s the Glyph Interface. Several features use the patterned LEDs. We’ll go through them in no particular order.

More than just flashy lights

The first is notifications. This feature was present on the Nothing Phone (1), but it’s improved here by adding Essential Notifications. Apps can now be designated as “essential”, getting priority over others. When a selected app gets a notification, the LED strip on the top right of the phone’s back lights up. It stays lit until the notification is read, or dismissed.

This is really handy if configured well. For instance, it lets you ignore notifications from social media while you’re in the middle of churning out work. You are still visually alerted to important messages from your family or other important notifications come in. 

To set this up, you must head to the Settings app, look for the Glyph Interface section, and then go to Notifications to designate apps as essential. 

While I haven’t found a way to mark individual contacts as essential for notifications, I can still set custom ringtones for them through the Ringtones section in Glyph Interface. There are a total of 20 custom ringtones provided by Nothing. Also, you can create your own Glyph pattern for a truly unique and recognisable notification.

Custom LED patterns were made possible thanks to the Glyph Composer. It's a standalone app pre-installed on the phone. It allows you to create Glyph patterns via five buttons that correspond to its lighting zones: the "C" around its cameras, the diagonal strip on the top right, the "G" around the wireless charging coil, and the exclamation mark at the bottom is split into two zones. 

I’m sure other users can create exciting light arrangements that look pleasing. I’m more practical, so I designated each zone to an important contact, limiting to just five contacts so that I'd always know who was looking for me. 

If you need more light in a pinch, I’ve found the Glyph Torch function to be excellent in providing a softer cone of pure white light in contrast to the yellow, warm light from the normal flash.

Additionally, you can use Glyph Interface as a fill light when you're filming videos on the phone. Tap the flash setting until the Glyph Interface turns on. There’s also a hidden red recording light on the rear that triggers when recording videos, although this can be turned off in the settings. 

These lights can also be a volume indicator. As seen in the GIF above, you get a visual cue of your volume level when adjusting it via the LED lights at the back. Do note that this doesn’t work if the phone is locked and face down on a surface.

This same part of the Glyph Interface is used for the Glyph Timer, which shows a visual countdown. The LED strip is fully lit at the start, with the LEDs fading off in sections as time ticks away.

To get easy access to Glyph Timer, ensure its tile is pinned to Quick Settings. Long tap and hold the tile to set the duration. Once you’re happy, tap on the tile, and the timer will after you flip the phone face-down.

The strip will start blinking once time’s up and can only be turned off by unlocking your phone and tapping “Finish” on the Glyph Timer notification.

Nothing probably believes that toggling a mute switch is passé. Nothing Phone (2) lets you flip your phone over to immediately silence it and use the LEDs to indicate whether you’ve got notifications.

Flip to Glyph is Nothing’s flashier version of Google's "Flip to Shhh" feature for Pixel phones. Flipping a Pixel sets it in Do Not Disturb mode. For the Nothing Phone (2) and its Glyph Interface, you get a cool light animation flashing from bottom to top to indicate that Do Not Disturb is on.

Thanks to the LEDs flashing on the rear, you can still see notifications coming in. While that might still be distracting if you’re in a meeting, it’s certainly better than missing out on an important call. 

Another excellent quality-of-life Glyph feature is the ability to check on your phone’s charging progress by looking at the exclamation mark's LED. Once you plug in, the strip fills up to indicate the current battery level. Whenever you shake the phone, the strip lights up again.

This means you can estimate your charging progress by simply shaking, instead of having to trigger the display for an exact charging percentage.

There’s also the Glyph Progress feature. Unfortunately, it only works with the Uber app right now. It shows a progress bar for apps, similar to Apple’s Live Activities integration. On the Nothing Phone (2), the lights indicate how far away your Uber driver is as he drives towards the pickup destination. It’s definitely a cool and useful add-on, if only more apps can support it.

We've talked a lot about using Glyph Interface in practical ways, but the lights are barely one part of the whole phone. On the next page, we look at Nothing's operating system, and how it helps to tie everything together.

Nothing to scoff at

The Nothing Phone (2) runs on Nothing OS 2.0, which is the company’s user interface based on Android 13. I have to say, I really like it. It’s clean, it’s aesthetically cohesive, and Nothing promised three years of software updates and four years of security patches, keeping it in line with the product support seen in big-brand Android handsets.

The dot-matrix theme is present throughout the phone’s OS, and the default theme has most apps in a black-and-white colour scheme. However, it doesn't apply to third-party apps. You can download the Nothing Icon Pack from the Google Play Store to force third-party apps to conform with the theme.

If you prefer colours, you still have the choice to display all your apps in colour. Just know that it works against Nothing’s minimalist UI.

The Main Screen also supports Widgets, with features like Torchlight and Auto-Rotate, on top of informative widgets like Weather and Time. More than that, widgets can also be added to the lock screen for easy access.

There’s also very little bloatware. There are a few pre-installed, but not without reason. For instance, the Nothing X app is required for the brand's earbuds. There's also Glyph Composer, which is needed for custom glyph lighting.

Overall, I didn’t encounter any bugs and the whole Nothing Phone (2) usage experience was smooth and intuitive; it was enjoyable to use.

I also got a new software update (Nothing OS 2.0.2.a) the day before I had to return the phone. It's unfortunate that I didn’t get to try out the camera improvements, but I did notice that the typing haptic feedback, which was too strong previously, had been changed.

That’s a good sign that Nothing is listening to customer feedback and working to rectify problems, so I hope this continues for the phone's users.

Imaging Performance

I was really impressed by the imaging performance of the Nothing Phone (2) when it came to photography.

The Phone (2) comes with dual 50MP cameras on the rear, featuring a wide-angle main camera (f/1.88 aperture, 1.0µm pixel size) and an ultrawide camera (f/2.2, 0.64µm, 114˚ field-of-view) that doubles up with macro functionality. The sensors in these are the Sony IMX890 and the Samsung JN1 for the wide-angle and ultrawide, respectively. 

The images out of the main camera are pixel-binned to 12.5MP. Photos are generally kept between a reasonable 2MB and 5MB per file. The images were sharp, vibrant, with good dynamic range, while it keeps colours mostly accurate; it had the occasion mild oversaturation. The colour temperature was also very well-handled and surprisingly more true-to-life when compared to some shots I took with my iPhone 14 Pro Max. 

The 2x Super-res Zoom doesn’t appear to be just a digital crop, with a touch more detail compared to the standard 1x, which suggests that the phone might be using the centre portion of its 50MP sensor in obtaining this zoomed-in image. 

Ultrawide photos on the Phone (2) are pretty decent, with a fair amount of detail retained and fisheye distortion corrected. You do start to see noise and smudging when shooting in low-light conditions, which is something for Nothing to improved upon. 

The 50MP shooting is mostly of passable quality. The added detail and clarity when looking at it close up isn’t really worth the increase in file size. 

The low-light performance of the main camera was stunning in well-lit scenarios. Just look at this image and compare it to the shot I took with the iPhone 14 Pro Max. The Nothing Phone (2) has done an excellent job of brightening up the scene while cleaning up any noise and blurriness. In comparison to the darker photo from the iPhone, the latter is a little softer and also shows some blurriness when zooming in. 

However, it can be hit-and-miss with Nothing's tuning for photography. In this image, you’ll immediately notice that the phone struggled with the Gyu-Kaku sign, resulting in some eldritch-esque artefacts on the top of the sign and in the building next to it. The iPhone image, in comparison, is perfectly normal, if dark. But that’s an easy fix by bumping the exposure a little in post-processing, while the Nothing Phone (2) final product is unsalvageable without professional tools.

Benchmark Performance

The Nothing Phone (2) comes equipped with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, which is last year’s flagship chip. Although it might be a year behind, it still provides plenty of power, alongside 5G compatibility. 

Despite its age, the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 is still one of the most powerful mobile processors available; we’ll discuss it later when we show the synthetic benchmarks. There are two Phone (2) variants available in Singapore, 12GB+256GB and 12GB+512GB, so that amount of RAM is definitely on the higher side.

With all that in mind, the Nothing Phone (2) performance is set to be markedly above its predecessor, while looking to keep pace with other flagship phones at this price level.

JetStream 2.0

JetStream 2 is a combination of a variety of JavaScript and Web Assembly benchmarks, including benchmarks that came before like SunSpider and Octane. It primarily tests for a system’s and browser’s ability in delivering a good web experience. It runs a total of 64 subtests, each weighted equally, with multiple iterations, and takes the geometric mean to compute the overall score. The higher the score, the better.

Geekbench 5

Geekbench CPU is a cross-platform processor benchmark that tests both single-core and multi-core performance with workloads that simulate real-world usage. Geekbench 5 scores are calibrated against a baseline score of 1000, which is the score of an Intel Core i3-8100. The higher the score, the better.

Geekbench 6

Our Geekbench 5 benchmarking will soon be replaced with Geekbench 6, the updated version that tests single-core and multi-core CPU performance. Geekbench 6 scores are calibrated against a baseline score of 2500, which is the score of an Intel Core i7-12700. We’ll continue to populate this new benchmark with more scores from our review units before fully transitioning over. 

3DMark Wild Life (Unlimited)

3DMark Wild Life is a cross-platform benchmark for Windows, Android and Apple iOS for measuring GPU performance. Its graphics test consists of multiple scenes with variations in the amount of geometry, lights and post-processing effects, mirroring mobile games that are based on short bursts of intense activity. Wild Life uses the Vulkan graphics API on Windows PCs and Android devices. On iOS devices, it uses Metal.

In Unlimited mode, the benchmark runs offscreen using a fixed time step between frames. Unlimited mode renders exactly the same frames in every run on every device, regardless of resolution scaling. The higher the score, the better.

PCMark for Android - Work 3.0 and Storage 2.0

PCMark for Android is a benchmark for testing the performance of Android phones and tablets. The Work 3.0 test checks how the device handles common productivity tasks such as browsing the web, editing videos, working with documents and data, and editing photos. Storage 2.0 checks write-in and read-out performance for internal storage, external storage (if applicable), and SQLite database management. Together, the benchmarks can clue us in on how capable a phone is at handling everyday use. Work 3.0 scores are above, while Storage 2.0 scores are immediately below for each device - the higher the score, the better.

Since this is a newly introduced benchmark in our reviews, we’re building up our database of PCMark scores for Android phones.

Benchmark Performance remarks

With the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, the Nothing Phone (2) is capable. The overall synthetic benchmark figures mostly beat out other budget flagships around the S$1,000 price range. The JetStream 2.0 score is certainly one that’s a bit eye-opening, as it’s rare to see one performing so well in that test.  

The phone does heat up slightly (from around 40°C while gaming to 42°C while benchmarking) under prolonged use, which is a touch warmer than most other phones, but it’s not uncomfortable to use.

We believe that the 12GB of RAM helped keep apps running in the background while not impacting the phone's performance much. Opening and closing apps was smooth and fluid, with no stutters or lags during our testing.

Battery Life

Our new battery benchmark uses PCMark for Android’s Work 3.0 Battery Life test to determine a modern Android-based smartphone's battery uptime in minutes. This controlled benchmark simulates real-world usage with a combination of both web and social media browsing, video and photo editing, parsing data with various file formats, writing (on documents), and more. 

To enhance consistency in battery results, we start the test at: 

• 100% of the phone’s battery capacity until 20% left
• A fixed display brightness is calibrated at 200cd/m2 (200-lux) with the help of a luminance meter 
• Max resolution
• Refresh rates unlocked
• 0% audio, or completely silenced where possible
• Full bars of Wi-Fi connectivity, Bluetooth, and notifications enabled
• Only one other battery recording app opened in the background
• Scored in uptime minutes; the higher, the better

Are the battery life results a mistake? It’s not. We ran the test multiple times across several days and took the average of those results, and were surprised.

944 minutes (about 15 and a half hours) on the test is something that we’ve never seen since we started this benchmark, and it really is mind-boggling, but we’ll attribute most of it to the efficiency of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chip. 

In real-world usage, the Nothing Phone (2)’s 4,700mAh battery was more than enough for a full day (~10 hours) of moderate usage texting, gaming and watching videos, with around 35% left at the end of that period.

The phone could last two days with around 20% left when idling with Wi-Fi turned on and notifications. The phone drained roughly 8% in an hour of taking photos and videos, and used up around 16% for an hour of 60Hz gaming. 

Wired charging was fast at 45W, with the phone taking about 27 minutes to charge from 0% to 50%, and a total of 1 hour 5 minutes from nothing to 100%. We used a third-party 65W wall charger and the included charging cable with a cool transparent case on both USB-C plugs.

There’s also 15W wireless charging, and the Nothing Phone (2) supports reverse wireless charge, which comes in handy when charging small accessories like earbuds while out and about.

The new benchmark will succeed our outgoing Battery Life benchmarking, which has the following parameters:

• Looping a 720p video with screen brightness and volume at 100%
• Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity turned on
• Constant data streaming through email

Evidently, the old benchmark helps to confirm that its battery expenditure is not one to be trifled with.

Not just your Ah Beng pasar malam LED techno phone

Nothing has done a great job in listening to the key grievances of its Phone (1) users, and figured out ways to improve.

The Nothing Phone (2) is an excellent phone for the S$999 price tag, offering a flagship chipset that’s still incredibly powerful today, a generous 12GB of RAM, with all of its bells and whistles going beyond appearances. You get a much more functional Glyph Interface system, a cohesive and fluid UI experience and more. 

While the Glyph Interface system could still benefit from future tweaks with more functionality added, it’s still a big step forward from the Nothing Phone (1)'s gimmicky version. We would love to see even more customisation, granularity, and flexibility in assigning specific lighting patterns to apps, contacts, or even statuses for future models. 

Against similarly-priced rivals like the Poco F5 Pro in the market, the Nothing Phone (2) already stands out with equivalent or better performance and polish. However, the real star of the phone is the battery life.

Despite a seemingly small 4,700mAh battery, the Nothing Phone (2) is efficient. One never has to worry about running out of battery during a normal day out. Even if the phone runs low, the 45W quick charge will rapidly bring it up to a more comfortable level.

You top all that off with an IP54 rating, and the Nothing Phone (2) is hard to fault. If we had to nitpick, it’d be nice to see a higher IP dust and water resistance, faster charging speeds, and perhaps the addition of Dolby Vision support and/or a higher resolution screen for the next model. The in-display sensor placement for fingerprints could also be better.

Another thing that might put potential buyers off is the fact that the Nothing Phone (2) is only slated to get three years of Android OS updates and four years of security patches, which is plenty but not exactly on par with what other brands like Samsung offer (the Koreans have four generations and five years, respectively).

You'd either love or hate Glyph Interface; people I’ve spoken to have extreme opinions, ranging from very cool to bothersome. The good news is Glyph Interface can be turned off entirely. We think it's not ideal to get the Nothing Phone (2) without using its iconic LED lights given its practical improvements. But, we'd understand if some users just want the cool "transparent" look of the phone's rear.

If you're looking for a snappy, high-performing 2023 Android phone that has 120Hz refresh rate, very decent camera performance and excellent battery life under a thousand bucks, it’s hard to recommend something that's beyond the Nothing Phone (2) for the time being. It’s really that good. 

The Nothing Phone (2) retails at S$999 for the 12GB+256GB model and at S$1,099 for the 12GB+512GB model. The phone can be purchased directly at Nothing’s Singapore website through Shopee, Lazada and other retailers like Challenger.