Nothing CMF Phone 2 Pro review

The competition

At the time of writing, a base 128GB/8GB CMF Phone 2 Pro will set you back around $290/€250/GBP 220, which is on the lower end of midrange. To be perfectly honest, the hardware package on offer by the CMF Phone 2 Pro is pretty great value for the price and hard to match, particularly the telephoto camera on the back.

If a telephoto is high up on your priorities list, the first competitor we are going to point out is the Motorola Edge 50 Neo. It has a 10MP 3x telephoto in its arsenal. It is also a very well-made device with an IP68 and MIL-STD-810H rating. It has an excellent, albeit slightly smaller 6.4-inch display, stereo speakers, a comparable MediaTek Dimensity 7300 chipset, but sadly no expandable storage.

Over on team Xiaomi, you can find a great deal on a Poco X7 Pro. Sure, it lacks a telephoto camera, but it is an excellent overall phone with a particular focus on performance through its Dimensity 8400 Ultra chipset. It also offers stereo speakers and a huge battery with very fast 90W charging.

Of course, you could also save some cash and go for something like the Redmi Note 14 Pro+ 5G. It is certainly not as powerful as the Poco, but the core experience it delivers is very similar.

As for Samsung devices, unfortunately, the Galaxy A36 is pricier than the CMF Phone 2 Pro. So, we must either get last year's Galaxy A35 or drop to the Galaxy A26. The latter is a solid phone though, its highlights including the IP67 ingress protection rating, expandable storage (also a thing on the A35, but not the A36), and a whopping six major OS updates in its support schedule.

Motorola Edge 50 Neo • Xiaomi Poco X7 Pro • Samsung Galaxy A26

Our verdict

The CMF Phone 2 Pro offers a stand-out design, competitive hardware and feature package at its price point. The lively and bright 10-bit 120Hz display is worth praise, while the Dimensity 7300 Pro chipset is decently potent. Expandable storage, great battery life, and probably most impressive of all - a triple rear camera setup, including a dedicated telephoto camera. This combo is hard to find in the price bracket.

On the flip side, the camera performance of the CMF Phone 2 Pro is lacking in some key areas. The other shortcomings are the unimpressive single speaker, the practically non-existent ingress protection and the relatively slow charging.

Still, we genuinely enjoyed our time with the CMF Phone 2 Pro. There is no denying that it is simply different than most phones and not your run-of-the-mill affordable device. Beyond style points, however, the phone also seems to nail most of the basics for a good everyday experience. If you can live with the shortcomings we mentioned, then the CMF Phone 2 Pro deserves consideration.

Pros

• Unique, standout design with a focus on customizability, accessories and sustainability.
• Bright OLED with HDR and 120Hz refresh rate.
• Great battery life.
• Good chipset performance for the class.

Cons

• No charger in the box.
• Still pretty minimal IP54 ingress protection.
• High refresh rate gaming is mostly unsupported.
• Not particularly fast charging.
• Pretty unimpressive single loudspeaker.
• No camera OIS.