Nothing Phone (2a) Plus review

The competition

The Nothing Phone (2a) Plus is expectedly a bit pricier than the regular Nothing Phone (2a). Its MSRP is set at £399/$399 for a 12GB/256GB unit. Indian retail pricing is INR 28,000 for the 8GB/256GB and INR 30,000 for the 12GB/256GB one. In comparison, a Nothing Phone (2a) currently costs around £350/$375/€330/INR 28,000 for the 12GB/256GB version.

There is not a big difference in pricing. You get better performance out of the new chipset, but that's not very noticeable. The uptick in charging is even less noticeable. The new selfie camera upgrade is mainly about the addition of 4K camera recording. We do appreciate the little bit of extra battery life. So essentially, you could say that you get 10% more than the Nothing Phone (2a) for a 10% higher price. That's not a bad deal.

Realme currently has very competitive pricing on the 8GB/256GB Realme GT 6T. Some of its highlights include IP65 ingress protection, good stereo speakers, a very crisp and bright LTPO AMOLED display and a Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 chipset.

Nothing Phone (2a) • Realme GT 6T • Samsung Galaxy A55 • Xiaomi Poco X6 Pro

The Samsung Galaxy A55 is a pretty viable option. You can get one for well under €400 if you are ok with an 8GB/128GB base version. You get IP67 ingress protection with the A55, excellent stereo speakers, expandable storage and a potent camera setup. The A55 also gets four major OS upgrades and five years of security patches, which is better than most.

Xiaomi has more than a couple of great offers for under €400 right now. For instance, the Redmi Note 13 Pro+ is an incredibly well-rounded device. It has IP68 ingress protection, an excellent 6.67-inch Dolby Vision, 120Hz AMOLED display, a potent MediaTek Dimensity 7200 Ultra chipset, great stereo speakers, very fast 120W charging and an impressive 200MP main camera.

Suppose you have slightly different priorities and would rather invest in performance more than anything else. In that case, the Xiaomi Poco X6 Pro with its MediaTek Dimensity 8300 Ultra chipset might be the way to go. You will have to live with IP54 ingress protection and a lesser 64MP main camera.

Our verdict

Like the Nothing Phone (2a), the Plus model is a solid overall package. All of the unique Nothing design and aesthetics are there. Compared to the Nothing Phone (2a), the uptick in performance isn't particularly huge and is not realistically noticeable in practice. The display, while not industry-leading, is slightly brighter. The upgraded 50MP selfie is appreciated but it's only a slight improvement.

We have to be honest here: we would be very confused if Nothing keeps selling the Nothing Phone (2a) and (2a) Plus side by side. It doesn't make sense to keep two competing devices priced so closely and with such a small feature disparity.

If you are trying to decide between the Nothing Phone (2a) and Phone (2a) Plus, we'd readily go for the Plus model as the small price difference is accounted for with small improvements that span across the board.

Either phone represents a very well-rounded package and you will be happy with either one. And sure, you can probably get better value for money in this price bracket, but nothing quite as unique as the Nothing Phone (2a) Plus.

Pros

• Unique, eye-catching design with a surprising amount of added functionality from the Glyph Interface.
• Decently bright OLED with 120Hz refresh rate, 10-bit colors and HDR support.
• Chart-topping battery life and solid charging speed.
• Unique and cohesive software design and aesthetic with plenty of custom bits yet pretty much zero bloat.
• Great performance with zero thermal throttling.
• Solid all-around camera performance. Good video stabilization and dedicated night mode for video.

Cons

• No charger in the box.
• Incredibly hard to clean back surface that gathers both grime and dust like crazy.
• High refresh rate gaming is not properly supported.
• There is no eSIM support.