I tried a cheap Android phone with a great battery and a flashy surprise
COMPANY called Nothing brought a breath of fresh air to the busy smartphone scene in 2021.
And now the British company is hoping to do it again for those on a budget with the new Nothing Phone 2a.
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Starting at £319 this is a very attractive price tag in today’s mobile world, but does it add up to a good quality device worth considering?
Read on for our full review.
Nothing Phone 2a: Look and feel
Nothing Phones stand out for their quite unique design, led by the quirky Glyph lighting system on the back.
For those who don’t know, the Glyth light strips flash in a variety of ways of your choosing, such as for notifications, as a volume indicator, or as a timer – think of it as a mini dance floor in the palm of your hand.
The Glyth lighting thankfully survived on the 2a, but has been scaled back quite a bit compared to its bigger brother, the Nothing Phone 2.
There are now just three light strips, compared to the 11 on the Nothing Phone 2 – and they’re concentrated on the top third of the handset, rather than the entire surface.
It’s certainly a consideration for anyone tired of breaking the bank on a smartphone
As someone who really likes the Glyth feature, it’s sad to see it reduced, but I can understand why there needs to be some wiggle room to keep the overall cost down, which is why I’m glad it’s in some way another form remains.
An important point to note about the back is that it’s plastic and not glass like previous Nothing Phones – which is another way the company has seemingly cut corners to reduce overall costs.
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They don’t look all that different, but the plastic is more sensitive to fingerprints and will scratch more easily.
As for the display, it’s a 6.78-inch screen that delivers sharp, bright and colorful results.
Nothing Phone 2a: Performance
Nothing has swapped the chipsets that power the device and switched to MediaTek’s Dimensity 7200 Pro.
General apps ran quite quickly, although switching between apps wasn’t as smooth as I’d like.
But games performed surprisingly smoothly considering the price.
The maximum amount of storage you can get is 256GB, which isn’t much if you like to take a lot of photos and videos – and there’s no microSD support either, leaving you reliant on the cloud or staying super tidy with what you keep on your handset.
In terms of functionality, there aren’t any AI tools making headlines like we’ve seen with other recent smartphone launches.
The Nothing Phone 2a runs Android 14 and Nothing has committed to three years of major Android updates and four years of security updates, which is less than most rivals.
Who has been offering free updates the longest?
The longer you receive updates, the longer you can continue to use your smartphone safely – and for free with the latest features.
Samsung
For the Galaxy S24 series, Samsung said it would offer at least seven generations of OS updates and seven years of security updates.
OnePlus
At the launch of the OnePlus 12, OnePlus committed to a minimum of four years of Android updates and five years of security updates.
Xiaomi
Xiaomi offers four years of discount on Android updates and five years of security updates.
Googling
For the Pixel 8, Google said devices would receive a minimum of seven years of support.
Nothing Phone 2a: Battery
The battery measures 5,000 mAh, which is the same size as the Galaxy S24 Ultra, but so are some mid-range devices.
Nothing claims that you can get up to two days of use and especially after a day of reasonable use (watching videos, surfing the internet and light gaming) my battery was about half empty.
The Nothing Phone 2a does not have a charging brick in the box, but it does have a USB-C cable.
Charging up to 45W is supported, meaning I can get a full charge from zero in about an hour.
One feature that has been removed is wireless charging.
Nothing Phone 2a: Camera
The Nothing Phone 2a has a dual 50-megapixel main camera and a 50-megapixel ultra-wide camera.
It took some pretty decent photos, although some parts lack sharp detail.
And since there’s only a 2x digital zoom, you don’t expect to get a great close-up photo of something that’s far away.
Taking photos in low light at night went well, although some elements felt too artificially brighter.
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Nothing Phone 2a: Judgment
The Nothing Phone 2a makes some worthy sacrifices to keep the overall cost down.
However, the unique Glyph lighting lacks the wow factor as the number of strips has been reduced.
The shorter deployment of updates compared to rivals is disappointing.
Apart from that, there’s a lot to like.
Decent performance, a great battery and a truly unique design, all for a very reasonable starting price of £319.
It’s certainly a consideration for anyone tired of breaking the bank on a smartphone.