Nothing Phone 2a Review: Something Else

sponsored by surf [Music] shark the last time I reviewed a true mid-range smartphone was nearly 2 years ago it was the Google pixel 6A so when london-based Design Tech clothing and phone company nothing announced a more affordable version of its latest flashy phone I decided to spend a few days with it between New York and San Francisco to see what $349 gets you in 2024 and spoiler alert quite a [Music] bit okay so I'm a little bummed out that nothing sent me the black version to review this time around since the milk white trim pops a lot more but look a little closer maybe turn it into the light and the depth of the phone's design becomes apparent through the trademark transparent back plate that made its sibling smartphones stand out so well it's kind of interesting nothing says this design was actually the first one that circulated internally shortly after the company launched in 2020 up top dual cameras are nested within the NFC coil and if you're visualizing a set of eyes when you see this that anthropomorphism is no accident the design is meant to evoke exactly that it's not my favorite look but it offers an uncommon symmetry not to mention stability when slapped down on a Surface further down a stylized series of flexible connectors takes inspiration from the classic New York sub subway map while a red accent tab of mid chips adds the only splash of color to the device the sides are done up in a finger-friendly friction coat whose premium feeling sadly serves to highlight how cheap the glossy back cover Feels by contrast it's plastic it's easily smudged and it loves to attract dust another reason to go for the white colorway but enough burying the lead or LEDs just like on all nothing phones the biggest design standout is the glyph system the total LED count has been cut way back here down from 11 to 3 but they serve the same functions as on the more expensive nothing phone 2 turn on flip to glyph and the phone will automatically mute itself when you put it face down on a tabletop when a notification comes in the lights will let you know now lots of people love to Lampoon this as sheer gimmickry but nothing has built in a surprising amount of utility to the glyphs when you shoot with the video camera the whole array can fire up to serve as a fil light and if you use the timer for the kind of shots I'm going to show you later the glyphs show you how much time you've got left before the click if you're waiting on a particularly important message you've got the option to set certain apps as essential so one of the light strips will stay on until you acknowledge the notification other features are less useful the glyphs can Flash along to music or any kind of audio you can still build your own ring tones and glyph patterns with nothing's composer app so you can identify particular Colors by a custom light and sound show and you can set a countdown of any duration with the glyph timer or set the glyphs to show time remaining in whatever meeting your calendar currently shows you're in are these productivity power tools no are they going to change the game for phones in general again no but if you subscribe to this channel you probably know my position on this utility isn't the end all be all gimmick isn't a dirty word and fun is a perfectly valid reason to buy a phone for that matter so is good design one of my favorite things about last year's nothing phone 2 was that the company finally brought its Hardware aesthetic to its software and 2A brings that same minimal modernism to the mid-range with nothing OS 2.5 I've been trying to figure out why I love this software designed so much and I think the answer lies in my years spent as a Windows phone user not since that ill faded OS have I been able to create a home screen as information dense and aesthetically pleasing you get a mix of glanceable data conventional apps and one tap toggles do I need a compass often enough to justify this much space on my home screen no not at all is a tiny black and white thumbnail the best way to view my recent photos no but they're fun and pretty and they're interspersed with some stuff that is useful like the OneTouch triggers for the voice recorder or the the glyph timer I mentioned a minute ago and nothing has continued to tweak the system and UI elements so that while it's as easy to use as any Android 14 device it doesn't feel like any other Android phone it feels like something special as I mentioned that something special costs $3.49 in the states so where does it feel like a mid-range phone well 5G band support in the US is incomplete and while I didn't have a problem with T-Mobile I was surprised to find that my Google 5 SIM wasn't recognized at all I haven't seen this issue widely reported but it might be something to watch for also you don't get wireless charging which makes me sad and despite being rated for 45 wat quick charging you got to be using a brick compatible with power delivery 3.0 to get those speeds I thought all my stuff would be cross-compatible by now but across a couple Chargers I've never managed to get the phone to charge at anything approaching rapid speeds fortunately the battery is very large at 5 th000 milliamp hours so even on a heavy day that included a lot of maps and filming and hotspotting enough of a packed schedule to make me use that glyph timer more than once I still got from 8:30 a.m. to dinner time with time to spare I'm sorry I'm supposed to be talking about the sacrifices well the truth is folks there just aren't that many even when we get to the cameras San Francisco samples including some Pebble picks after the jump by now I think most folks understand that a VPN is something that keeps your browsing safe and your privacy secure something that lets you watch your favorite shows and access your favorite websites even if you're traveling to countries that might block them but what a lot of people don't know is how simple using a VPN can be that's a big reason I've been using my sponsor surf shark for 5 years running surf shark gives you easy on tap Security on unlimited devices for one low price that means you can use it anywhere from your Android phone to your MacBook iPhone to Windows PC and clean web is included too so you get to see the web as it looked before Publishers stopped pushing back on advertisers secure your privacy with surf shark visit the link in the description and use coupon code Mr mobile for an extra 3 months free thanks to Surf shark for sponsoring this video one of the things I don't think I'd have done the last time I covered a mid-range smartphone was use it on a shoot to capture content as my main camera but that's exactly the service into which I pressed the nothing phone 2A in not so Sunny Sunnyvale California where I flew for an opportunity to test drive the pebble flow you might remember this smart RV from my CES video it's designed to Hitch itself to your vehicle deploy itself when you get where you're going and offer the Comforts of home while you're there disclosure Pebble took care of my travel and lodging to come see the flow and you can learn more about what I learned about it on my Instagram feed and the point is I used the 2A to shoot the majority of my entire day with Pebble along with the two days bracketing that briefing spent in San Francisco did I shoot side by side with other phones to establish the kind of context that matters when you're pixel peeping no because if you're prioritizing the camera then you're not likely to set your sights on a mid-range phone and you already know that I'm going to advise you to buy a pixel 7A anyway but more importantly I didn't pull out another phone because I rarely felt the need to from Sunny Sand Fran sidewalks to nighttime Neons the bustling Hills of the city by the bay and the less bustling Flatlands of the Valley from sampling world famous Irish coffees at the buav vista to capturing a clicks user in the wild sure he's my brother but what difference does that make the only times I found cause to complain about these cameras were when I tried to zoom in on something because there's no proper telephoto Hardware to speak of or when capturing video with a lot of motion because while you can shoot in 4k you can't shoot it any faster than 30 FPS and that combined with some janky starts to some of the clips I was in a hurry to capture those are familiar limitations on budget devices but boy howdy does this food footage make up for it woo [Music] as you know folks I Endeavor to avoid puff pieces and I have nothing to gain by sucking up to nothing if I sound impressed it's because I am for 349 you're getting a design forward smartphone with symmetrical bezels which are uncommon in this segment and a processor and RAM combo that keeps the software sprightly the only time I ever felt like I was waiting on the phone was after taking a few photos in a row there's a minor processing lag there otherwise what am I going to complain about the IP 54 dust and water resistance not being 67 3 years of Android platform updates instead of seven it's enough now the fact is the only thing that truly annoys me is that this phone won't be offered in the mass Market in the US meaning anyone shopping this pric tier at their carrier store won't see that there's an alternative to whatever drab Moto G or Samsung a those operators have stuck out on the Shelf but if you're watching this and you're on a budget and you value personality just as much as performance where phones are concerned well do consider the Google pixel and do check your local network bands to make sure you're not sacrificing too much coverage but other than that I can see nothing to stop me from recommending the nothing phone 2A this review was produced following a week with a phone 2A review sample provided by nothing but my standing policy is not to allow manufacturers any creative control editorial approval or even an early preview of my videos the loan sponsor of this review is surf Shar please subscribe to see more videos like this and stay tuned for some fun content Beyond smartphones over the next few weeks until next time from Michael Fischer Captain tones on threads thanks for watching and stay mobile my friends

Channel: MrMobile [Michael Fisher]

Views: 206,569

Keywords: nothing phone 2a review, nothing phone 2 review, nothing phone review 2024, nothing phone 2024, nothing phone cheap

Id: 7C1m7wg3nuE

Length: 11min 2sec (662 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 03 2024