The Nothing Phone 2A Plus is the latest iteration in the Nothing Phone series, offering an enhanced version of the popular Nothing Phone 2A. This review will delve into the improvements and whether the additional investment for the 2A Plus is worthwhile.
Design and Build Quality
The Nothing Phone 2A Plus retains the design of its predecessor, maintaining the same dimensions and aesthetic. The phone features a transparent back that showcases its internal components. While visually striking, this design choice does result in the back accumulating smudges and dust quite readily. The device sports a horizontal camera bump and a rounded frame similar to the 2A, and it continues to carry an IP54 rating, offering protection against dust and water splashes.
One notable feature is the return of the Glyph LEDs on the back, which serve various functions such as notification alerts, volume feedback, charging indicators, and even a countdown timer. Additionally, they can be used as a ring light for photography. The Glyph interface allows users to customize these LEDs through the composer app.
Display Quality
The Nothing Phone 2A Plus features the same 6.7-inch 1080p OLED display as the 2A, with a 120Hz refresh rate and Gorilla Glass 5 protection. The maximum brightness has been slightly improved, reaching over 730 nits with manual adjustment and up to 1100 nits in auto mode under direct sunlight. This is a marginal upgrade from the 1000 nits of the Nothing Phone 2A. The display remains sharp with a 395 PPI pixel density, supporting 10-bit color and HDR10+ video. Despite the 120Hz refresh rate providing smooth interactions, games are limited to a maximum of 60fps.
Speaker Quality
The 2A Plus features a stereo speaker setup similar to its predecessor. The speakers are loud with good audio quality, offering a balanced mix of bass, mids, and highs.
Performance and Storage
Under the hood, the Nothing Phone 2A Plus is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 7350 Pro 5G chipset, an upgrade from the Dimensity 7200 Pro found in the 2A. This new chipset promises a 10% improvement in CPU performance and up to 30% better graphics performance. Benchmark results reflect this improvement, with the 2A Plus delivering better performance without significant throttling under stress.
The base model now comes with 256GB of internal storage, double that of the 128GB offered by the 2A. However, the storage is non-expandable via microSD. The phone runs on Android 14 with Nothing OS 2.6, which closely resembles stock Android but includes custom aesthetics such as monochrome icons, pixelated fonts, and Nothing-specific widgets. The interface can be set to monochrome if desired. Nothing promises three years of software updates and four years of security patches.
Battery Life and Charging
The Nothing Phone 2A Plus houses a 5,000mAh battery, providing excellent battery life with an active use score of 16 hours and 48 minutes. This surpasses the performance of the Nothing Phone 2A. Charging has seen a slight upgrade from 45W to 50W. With the appropriate adapter, the phone can charge from 0 to 60% in half an hour and reach a full charge in just over an hour. Although faster than the 2A, the charging speed is still not considered particularly rapid.
Camera Performance
Rear Cameras: The rear camera setup remains unchanged from the Nothing Phone 2A, featuring a 50MP main camera and a 50MP ultra-wide camera. The main camera captures 12.5MP photos through pixel binning, offering detailed images with good color and contrast, though dynamic range can be improved. The camera performs well in low light, utilizing night mode to produce detailed and well-balanced images.
Selfie Camera: The selfie camera has been upgraded from 32MP to 50MP, with support for 4K video capture. Selfie quality is enhanced with better detail and improved color accuracy. While the improvement is noticeable, it is not drastic due to the same sensor size as the previous model.
Ultra-Wide Camera: The ultra-wide camera delivers decent detail and color accuracy, with some softness at the edges. Its performance in low light is surprisingly good, with well-developed shadows and highlights. Video capture is solid, with 4K clips offering notable detail.
Conclusion
The Nothing Phone 2A Plus is a well-rounded mid-range smartphone with incremental upgrades over the 2A. It boasts a refined design, improved battery life, and a slightly faster chipset. The selfie camera enhancement, brighter display, and faster charging are the main improvements, though they are not drastically different in everyday use. With the 2A Plus priced similarly to the 2A in India and only slightly more expensive in the UK, it represents a modest yet worthwhile upgrade for those seeking a more powerful mid-range device.
