Nothing Phone (2a) Plus review

GSMArena Team, 07 August 2024.

Display

The display on the Nothing Phone (2a) Plus is identical to that on the Nothing Phone (2a), which, in turn, has a very similar display to the Nothing Phone (2). The size is 6.7 inches with a 20:9 aspect ratio. The resolution is 1080 x 2412 pixels. That works out to around 395 ppi, which looks perfectly sharp. You also get a 120Hz refresh rate, as well as 10-bit colors and accompanying HDR10+ support.

Nothing Phone (2a) Plus review

All of these specs are identical to the Nothing Phone (2a) and the Nothing Phone (2). However, it is worth noting that the Nothing Phone (2a) Plus and (2a) lack LTPO, which means that their refresh rate switching is a lot less dynamic than on the Nothing Phone (2).

Nothing claims the screen can achieve 1,100 nits of full-screen brightness and 1,300 nits peak. We ran our standardized testing and didn't manage to quite match these claims, but we still got a very respectable 1,097 nits out of our Nothing Phone (2a) Plus unit. That's perfectly usable outdoors. Also, it is a bit better than the Nothing Phone (2a) that we measured at around 981 nits. In manual mode, the Nothing Phone (2a) Plus managed to output around 736 nits, again, a bit better than the Nothing Phone (2a).

The minimum brightness at point white is just 3 nits.

Max display brightness test

White test pattern, 75% fill (nits)

  • Manual mode
  • Auto mode
Nothing Phone (2a) Plus Nothing Phone (2a) Plus
736
Realme GT 6T Realme GT 6T
735
6.78" LTPO AMOLED 1264 x 2780 px
Nothing CMF Phone 1 Nothing CMF Phone 1
720
6.67" Super AMOLED 1080 x 2400 px
Nothing Phone (2a) Nothing Phone (2a)
664
6.7" AMOLED 1080 x 2412 px
Poco F6 Poco F6
545
6.67" AMOLED 1220 x 2712 px
Redmi Note 13 Pro Redmi Note 13 Pro
530
6.67" AMOLED 1220 x 2712 px
Motorola Edge 50 Fusion Motorola Edge 50 Fusion
520
6.7" P-OLED 1080 x 2400 px
Poco X6 Pro Poco X6 Pro
517
6.67" AMOLED 1220 x 2712 px
Nothing Phone (2) Nothing Phone (2)
498
6.7" LTPO OLED 1080 x 2412 px
Realme 12 Pro+ Realme 12 Pro+
497
6.7" AMOLED 1080 x 2412 px
Redmi Note 13 Pro+ Redmi Note 13 Pro+
486
6.67" AMOLED 1220 x 2712 px
Nothing phone (1) Nothing phone (1)
466
6.55" AMOLED 1080 x 2400 px
Galaxy A54 Galaxy A54
457
6.4" Super AMOLED 1080 x 2340 px
Galaxy A55 Galaxy A55
446
6.6" Super AMOLED 1080 x 2340 px
Galaxy A35 Galaxy A35
441
6.6" Super AMOLED 1080 x 2340 px
Redmi Note 13 Pro Redmi Note 13 Pro
1331
6.67" AMOLED 1220 x 2712 px
Motorola Edge 50 Fusion Motorola Edge 50 Fusion
1322
6.7" P-OLED 1080 x 2400 px
Redmi Note 13 Pro+ Redmi Note 13 Pro+
1283
6.67" AMOLED 1220 x 2712 px
Nothing CMF Phone 1 Nothing CMF Phone 1
1259
6.67" Super AMOLED 1080 x 2400 px
Poco F6 Poco F6
1218
6.67" AMOLED 1220 x 2712 px
Poco X6 Pro Poco X6 Pro
1148
6.67" AMOLED 1220 x 2712 px
Nothing Phone (2a) Plus Nothing Phone (2a) Plus
1097
6.7" AMOLED 1080 x 2412 px
Realme GT 6T Realme GT 6T
1046
6.78" LTPO AMOLED 1264 x 2780 px
Galaxy A35 Galaxy A35
1024
6.6" Super AMOLED 1080 x 2340 px
Galaxy A55 Galaxy A55
1010
6.6" Super AMOLED 1080 x 2340 px
Nothing Phone (2) Nothing Phone (2)
998
6.7" LTPO OLED 1080 x 2412 px
Nothing Phone (2a) Nothing Phone (2a)
981
6.7" AMOLED 1080 x 2412 px
Galaxy A54 Galaxy A54
980
6.4" Super AMOLED 1080 x 2340 px
Realme 12 Pro+ Realme 12 Pro+
802
6.7" AMOLED 1080 x 2412 px
Nothing phone (1) Nothing phone (1)
663
6.55" AMOLED 1080 x 2400 px

Let's talk about the refresh rate for a bit. The Nothing Phone (2a) supports a total of three refresh rate modes as reported by the OS - 60hz, 90Hz and 120Hz. In terms of settings, there are three modes to choose from - Standard, which locks the refresh rate at 60Hz and High and Dynamic, both of which go up to 120Hz and have slightly different automatic switching behavior.

Nothing Phone (2a) Plus review

Both high and Dynamic modes increase the refresh rate to 120Hz when interacting with the screen. After a few seconds of inactivity, it automatically drops down to 60Hz. Both modes also recognize full-screen video playback in most apps and toggle a 60Hz refresh rate to save power. The one major difference between the two is that Dynamic mode tends to toggle 90Hz instead of 120Hz for many apps. That way, you still get a bit of extra smoothness in scrolling and animations but also save on more power.

As for high refresh rate gaming, we unfortunately didn't have much luck getting games to push past the 60fps mark regardless of which profile we used.

As we mentioned, the display on the Nothing Phone (2a) supports HDR10+. In terms of hardware decoding, the phone can handle HDR10, HDR10+ and HLG. Just no Dolby Vision. The phone also has the highest possible Widevine L1 DRM certification, allowing streaming apps like Netflix to offer up FullHD streams.

Battery life

The Nothing Phone (2a) Plus has a 5,000 mAh battery on board. In keeping with Nothing's track record, the Phone (2a) Plus delivers excellent battery life all around with an Active Use Score of 16:48 hours. In fact, Nothing has improved some of the battery scores compared to the Nothing Phone (2a), like calls and web browsing.

Our new Active Use Score is an estimate of how long the battery will last if you use the device with a mix of all four test activities. You can adjust the calculation based on your usage pattern using the sliders below. You can read about our current battery life testing procedure here. For a comprehensive list of all tested devices so far, head this way.

Charging speed

Charging is one of the areas in which Nothing decided to introduce a small upgrade on the Phone (2a) Plus. It is rated for 50W of charging, compared to the 45W of the Nothing Phone (2a). Charging seems to be done via Power Delivery 3.0 (no wireless charging is available). It also offers some Quick Charge support, but not at full speed. There is no charger in the retail box, but Nothing has never included one in its retail boxes, so this is no surprise.

Nothing Phone (2a) Plus review

We got ourselves a good brand-name 65W PD charger and a 5A Type-C to Type-C cable for testing. Using that setup, we managed to get from zero to 30% in fifteen minutes, which is not ideal, but then speeds picked up a bit, and we got to 60% in thirty minutes. A full charge took us just over an hour. These speeds are far from the best available in this price bracket but are quite solid overall. The actual charging speed upgrade over the regular Nothing Phone (2a) is minimal. We would have tested with an official Nothing charger, but it is pretty hard to acquire and seemingly often out of stock.

Charging speed

  • in 15 min
  • in 30 min
  • Time to full charge (from 0%)
OnePlus Nord CE4 OnePlus Nord CE4
69%
5500 mAh 100W SUPERVOOC
Redmi Note 13 Pro+ 5G Redmi Note 13 Pro+ 5G
67%
5000 mAh 120W Xiaomi HyperCharge
Realme GT 6T Realme GT 6T
66%
5500 mAh 120W SuperVOOC
Poco F6 Poco F6
56%
5000 mAh 90W Xiaomi HyperCharge
Redmi Note 13 Pro 5G Redmi Note 13 Pro 5G
49%
5100 mAh 67W
Realme 12 Pro+ Realme 12 Pro+
49%
5000 mAh 67W charging
Poco X6 Pro Poco X6 Pro
47%
5000 mAh 67W
Poco X6 Poco X6
47%
5100 mAh 67W
vivo V30 Pro vivo V30 Pro
39%
5000 mAh 80W FlashCharge
Motorola Edge 50 Fusion Motorola Edge 50 Fusion
33%
5000 mAh 68W TurboPower
Nothing Phone (2) Nothing Phone (2)
32%
4700 mAh 45W PPS
Nothing Phone (2a) Plus Nothing Phone (2a) Plus
30%
5000 mAh 50W
Pixel 8 Pixel 8
30%
4575 mAh 30W PD
Nothing Phone (2a) Nothing Phone (2a)
29%
5000 mAh 45W
Galaxy A55 Galaxy A55
29%
5000 mAh 25W PD
Redmi Note 13 5G Redmi Note 13 5G
29%
5000 mAh 33W Mi Fast Charging
Galaxy S23 FE Galaxy S23 FE
29%
4500 mAh 25W Samsung PD + PPS
Galaxy A35 Galaxy A35
26%
5000 mAh 25W Samsung PD + PPS
Nothing phone (1) Nothing phone (1)
25%
4500 mAh 33W PD
Pixel 8a Pixel 8a
18%
4492 mAh 18W PD
Redmi Note 13 Pro+ 5G Redmi Note 13 Pro+ 5G
100%
5000 mAh 120W Xiaomi HyperCharge
OnePlus Nord CE4 OnePlus Nord CE4
100%
5500 mAh 100W SUPERVOOC
Realme GT 6T Realme GT 6T
100%
5500 mAh 120W SuperVOOC
Poco F6 Poco F6
89%
5000 mAh 90W Xiaomi HyperCharge
Redmi Note 13 Pro 5G Redmi Note 13 Pro 5G
83%
5100 mAh 67W
Poco X6 Pro Poco X6 Pro
83%
5000 mAh 67W
Realme 12 Pro+ Realme 12 Pro+
81%
5000 mAh 67W charging
Poco X6 Poco X6
78%
5100 mAh 67W
vivo V30 Pro vivo V30 Pro
77%
5000 mAh 80W FlashCharge
Nothing Phone (2) Nothing Phone (2)
62%
4700 mAh 45W PPS
Nothing Phone (2a) Plus Nothing Phone (2a) Plus
60%
5000 mAh 50W
Motorola Edge 50 Fusion Motorola Edge 50 Fusion
60%
5000 mAh 68W TurboPower
Nothing Phone (2a) Nothing Phone (2a)
59%
5000 mAh 45W
Galaxy S23 FE Galaxy S23 FE
58%
4500 mAh 25W Samsung PD + PPS
Pixel 8 Pixel 8
56%
4575 mAh 30W PD
Galaxy A55 Galaxy A55
55%
5000 mAh 25W PD
Galaxy A35 Galaxy A35
52%
5000 mAh 25W Samsung PD + PPS
Redmi Note 13 5G Redmi Note 13 5G
50%
5000 mAh 33W Mi Fast Charging
Nothing phone (1) Nothing phone (1)
48%
4500 mAh 33W PD
Pixel 8a Pixel 8a
33%
4492 mAh 18W PD
Redmi Note 13 Pro+ 5G Redmi Note 13 Pro+ 5G
0:25h
5000 mAh 120W Xiaomi HyperCharge
Realme GT 6T Realme GT 6T
0:28h
5500 mAh 120W SuperVOOC
OnePlus Nord CE4 OnePlus Nord CE4
0:29h
5500 mAh 100W SUPERVOOC
Poco F6 Poco F6
0:37h
5000 mAh 90W Xiaomi HyperCharge
Redmi Note 13 Pro 5G Redmi Note 13 Pro 5G
0:42h
5100 mAh 67W
vivo V30 Pro vivo V30 Pro
0:42h
5000 mAh 80W FlashCharge
Poco X6 Pro Poco X6 Pro
0:43h
5000 mAh 67W
Realme 12 Pro+ Realme 12 Pro+
0:43h
5000 mAh 67W charging
Poco X6 Poco X6
0:48h
5100 mAh 67W
Nothing Phone (2a) Plus Nothing Phone (2a) Plus
1:01h
5000 mAh 50W
Nothing Phone (2a) Nothing Phone (2a)
1:03h
5000 mAh 45W
Galaxy A55 Galaxy A55
1:03h
5000 mAh 25W PD
Nothing Phone (2) Nothing Phone (2)
1:04h
4700 mAh 45W PPS
Motorola Edge 50 Fusion Motorola Edge 50 Fusion
1:04h
5000 mAh 68W TurboPower
Galaxy S23 FE Galaxy S23 FE
1:10h
4500 mAh 25W Samsung PD + PPS
Redmi Note 13 5G Redmi Note 13 5G
1:16h
5000 mAh 33W Mi Fast Charging
Pixel 8 Pixel 8
1:16h
4575 mAh 30W PD
Galaxy A35 Galaxy A35
1:26h
5000 mAh 25W Samsung PD + PPS
Nothing phone (1) Nothing phone (1)
1:31h
4500 mAh 33W PD
Pixel 8a Pixel 8a
2:09h
4492 mAh 18W PD

Speakers - loudness and quality

The Nothing Phone (2a) Plus essentially has the same stereo speaker setup as the Nothing Phone (2a). It is a hybrid setup with the amplified earpiece acting like the second channel. The other speaker is positioned on the bottom frame. This inherently brings about some imbalance in the sound output since the two speakers aren't facing symmetrically.

The sound quality of the Nothing Phone (2a) Plus is also very decent and almost identical to that of the Nothing Phone (2a). You get clear mids and nice undistorted highs. Not a lot of bass, though.

In terms of loudness, the phone managed a GOOD rating in our testing.

Use the Playback controls to listen to the phone sample recordings (best use headphones). We measure the average loudness of the speakers in LUFS. A lower absolute value means a louder sound. A look at the frequency response chart will tell you how far off the ideal "0db" flat line is the reproduction of the bass, treble, and mid frequencies. You can add more phones to compare how they differ. The scores and ratings are not comparable with our older loudspeaker test. Learn more about how we test here.

Connectivity

The Nothing Phone (2a) Plus is a 5G device with SA/NSA Sub-6 support on both Nano-SIM slots simultaneously. Unfortunately, there is no eSIM support. GPS (no L5), GALILEO, GLONASS, BDS and QZSS are supported for positioning.

Local connectivity is covered by dual-band Wi-Fi 6 ax and Bluetooth 5.3 with LE support. There is NFC on board as well. No FM radio or 3.5mm audio jack, though.

Nothing Phone (2a) Plus review

The USB Type-C port is backed up by a basic USB 2.0 data connection, with a maximum transfer rate of 480 Mbps. There is USB Host/OTG support but nothing else fancy, like video output over Alt mode.

In terms of sensors, you get a lsm6dso accelerometer and gyroscope combo, a stk3acx light and proximity sensor. It is a proper hardware proximity sensor, which is great to see. Finally, there is a memsic mmc5603 magnetometer and compass combo. No barometer on board.

This is identical to the Nothing Phone (2a), as expected.

Reader comments

  • Anonymous
  • 20 Nov 2024
  • XZ%

Camera. Picture quality very bad...

I like the phone but woohoo price is at least 100 EUR too high. Should be max 299,99

For what should be the most important factor, security updates and an OS which is miles better than HypesOS. Also let important but still somewhat, her Android versions. They do more than most think even if not visible up front.