A REBEL WITH A CAUSE

The Nothing Phone 2 is a powerful machine packaged in a flagship gift wrap. With this phone, the London-based tech company is doing what it promised -making tech fun again B

- Deep Majumdar

IT’S JUST AUGUST and the Nothing Phone 2 is already ‘the coolest phone’ of the year. The smartphone is a trendsetter with its popular ‘glyph interface’. Phone 1 had thinner LED glyphs, which are now thicker in the latest version.

The Nothing Phone 2 offers many standard top shelf features like a capable Snapdragon processor, a better than decent GPU for gaming enthusiasts, a bright OLED display with 1600 nits peak brightness and the see-through back panel with the LED lights. This time around the lights are not only thicker but have been made functional. The Nothing OS provides a very unique user experience by getting rid of colours and by offering a uniform colour code for apps and widgets. It’s still a work in progress as not all apps get Nothing OS icons.

Carl Pei, Nothing’s founder promised to ‘make tech fun again’ when he came up with the Nothing Phone 1 back in 2020. He has fulfilled his promise and the second version – Nothing Phone 2 – is even more fun, with all the key features having been upgraded. Phone 1 was IP53 rated, but Phone 2 is IP54 rated, but you cannot do underwater photography or videography with it. An IP54 rating only protects the device from splashes. Here it fails to meet industry standards in its price range. Smartphones like Google’s Pixel 7A are cheaper and offer an IP67 rated dust and water protection.

Phone I has a battery of 4,000 mAh, while Phone 2 has a battery that is 4,700 mAh. The display reminded me of my iPhone 13. It is a 6.7-inch LTPO OLED display that offers better battery life. The LTPO technology essentially allows for dynamic refresh rates. Hence, higher refresh rates of up to 120Hz for gaming and a refresh rate as low as 1Hz for reading notes.