Nothing Phone (2a) review

Dual rear camera setup

Update, 5 April 2024: We've re-taken all camera samples below after updating the phone to the latest Nothing OS 2.5.4.a.

The Nothing Phone (2a) has a similar camera setup to the Nothing Phone (2), but not identical. There are two 50MP snappers on the back of the 2a - a main and an ultrawide. However, the ultrawide on the 2a lacks autofocus and hence macro capturing capabilities, which is a thing on the regular Nothing Phone (2). There are some differences in sensors as well.

The Nothing Phone (2a) uses a Samsung ISOCELL GN9 (S5KGN9) for its main camera instead of the Sony IMX890 that the Nothing Phone (2) has. The ultrawide sensor seems to be shared between the two - a Samsung ISOCELL JN1 (S5KJN1).

On the front of the Nothing Phone (2a) is a 32MP selfie, which seems to be borrowed straight from the Nothing Phone (2) as well. It is based on the Sony IMX615 sensor.

• Wide (main): 50 MP Samsung ISOCELL GN9 (S5KGN9) f/1.9, 1/1.56", 1.0µm, PDAF, OIS; 2160p@30fps
• Ultra wide angle: 50 MP Samsung ISOCELL JN1 (S5KJN1), f/2.2, 1/2.76", 0.64µm; 2160p@30fps
• Front camera: 32 MP Sony IMX615, f/2.2, 1/2.74", 0.8µm; 1080p@30fps

The default Camera app is close to what you'd find across the latest Realme and OnePlus smartphones use. Swiping on the viewfinder or the scroller below switches between modes, while the additional ones can be found under the "More" sub-menu. Flash and timer are available on the opposite of the viewfinder side, but you can expand more settings like resolution (12MP/50MP), aspect, Ratio, Live Photo, and advanced settings.

Expert mode is available. It only works on the main camera, though. The shutter speed can go as low as 32 seconds. RAW capturing is available, too. Night Mode can work on videos, too, but it's only for the main camera and drops the resolution down to 1080p at 30fps.

You can use either the LED flash or the Glyph LEDs across a variety of occasions, such as video capturing, portraits, and photos.

Daylight photo quality

Main camera

The main camera on the Nothing Phone (2a) captures 12.5MP binned photos by default. The quality is solid but not perfect. There is a good amount of fine detail in the frame and quite a bit of sharpening. We wouldn't go as far as to call the photos overprocessed, but the processing is still heavy-handed.

Colors look good but are a bit more saturated than what we would call true-to-life.

Dynamic range is very good, and so is contrast.

Nothing Phone (2a): 12.5MP main camera samples

Nothing Phone (2a): 50MP main camera samples

Having so much resolution available is still beneficial in other ways like digital zooming. Even though the Nothing Phone (2a) lacks a dedicated telephoto camera, it still captures some pretty clean and detailed 2x zoomed photos. Quality is nearly identical to 1x shots.

Nothing Phone (2a): 12.5MP main camera 2x zoom samples

The main camera does pretty well with people and faces. Skin tones come out looking nice and natural. There is some skin texture coming through as well. You can capture portraits with the main camera at both 1x and 2x zoom. Both look pretty great.

Nothing Phone (2a): 12.5MP main camera portrait 1x and 2x samples

Subject detection and separation rarely trip up, and the background blur is quite convincing overall.

Ultrawide camera

The 50MP ultrawide camera captures 12.5MP stills as well due to pixel binning. These are decent overall but mostly unimpressive. The detail is okay, and so are colors.

There is some noise and softness, especially on uniform surfaces, but nothing too excessive.

Nothing Phone (2a): 12.5MP ultrawide camera samples

Just like the main camera, you can force the ultrawide to capture in its full 50MP resolution. Once again, we don't believe there is any real reason to do so, however, since there is no clear benefit to detail.

Nothing Phone (2a): 50MP ultrawide camera samples

Selfie camera

Selfies come out in full 32MP from the Nothing Phone (2a). Skin tones may look artifical at times but they look very good overall. You are unlikely to zoom in on selfies, but if you do, you will also see that they are overprocessed and not very sharp, to begin with. Dynamic range is quite good though.

Nothing Phone (2a): 32MP selfie camera samples

Low-light camera quality

The main camera on the Nothing Phone (2a) holds up well in lowlight conditions. There is plenty of detail in the frame and pretty low noise. Shadows are well-developed, and so are highlights. Light sources are reasonably well-contained but could be better.

Colors look quite natural and true to life.

Nothing Phone (2a): 12.5MP main cam night mode samples

The low light 2x photos are similar to 1x ones in overall quality.

Nothing Phone (2a): 12.5MP main cam night mode 2x zoom samples

The ultrawide camera captures decent lowlight photos but doesn't particularly excel in these conditions. Detail is good, but the frame also has plenty of noise. Dynamic range is surprisingly good, with well-developed shadows and highlights.

Nothing Phone (2a): 12.5MP ultrawide cam night mode samples

The selfie cam remains very competent in low light. Skin tones look great, and some skin texture is coming through. The detail is solid overall.

Nothing Phone (2a): 32MP selfie cam night mode samples

Video capture quality

The Nothing Phone (2a) can capture 4K@30fps video with both its main and ultrawide cameras. By default, it records in a standard AVC/h.264 video stream at around 50 Mbps with stereo 48 kHz AAC audio inside an MP4 container. You can opt for HEVC/h.265 instead to save on some space.

The 4K video from the main camera looks pretty great overall. Detail is good, though it could be better. There is practically no noise. Colors are a bit on the saturated side, but nothing too severe, just a bit of extra "pop". Dynamic range and contrast are good. At 2x zoom, videos look decidedly softer.

The ultrawide camera also does surprisingly well with video capture. Detail is great for an ultrawide. The colors are, again, a bit warmer than in the main camera, but still look good. The selfie camera is limited to 1080p resolution, which shows in fine detail and skin texture. Still, its videos are solid.

All of the cameras have some form of EIS enabled by default. It works pretty well, but unfortunately, it does introduce noticeable focus hunting on the main camera. There is an action mode for even more dynamic shots.

The main camera captures solid lowlight videos with plenty of detail, well-developed shadows, and highlights. Some surfaces are a bit grainy, but nothing too severe.

The ultrawide holds up surprisingly well in low light as well. Sure, it is grainier and noisier still with less detail, but it is perfectly usable with surprisingly well-done shadows.

Video sample playlist