Carl Pei’s current technology venture, Nothing — a London-based company — is making steady inroads into the smartphone market and the world of accessories that revolves around it. Its first smartphone, the Nothing Phone (1), has established itself as a device that ticks all the boxes in our review, and after just over six months, the device has aged quite well.
At MWC 2023, Pei announced that its first smartphone sequel would be powered by a Snapdragon 8 series processor. And these recent announcements give us the perfect opportunity to discuss the features and improvements we can expect from this successor. Let’s jump right in.
more comfortable design
First, let’s talk about design. This is not only a key element of Nothing Phone (1), but one of the most talked about points in all of our reviews. Most of this is due to the Glyph (an array of 900 LEDs that light up in different patterns) and the clear glass back. Put this into something similar to the most popular smartphone on the planet, the iPhone, and you have a recipe for eye-catching, or at least headline-generating, hardware.
But like the iPhone 14 Pro Max and the two models before it, the Nothing Phone (1) felt a little unwieldy when I reviewed it. So while it’s easier to handle than the larger iPhones, the shorter chassis and thinner thickness make the device feel even better.
We’d prefer it to have sleek curves similar to the OnePlus 11 we recently experienced in hands-on, but it’s important to maintain brand identity. I would like to see (2).
brighter display
The Nothing Phone (1) has one of the best mid-range smartphone displays, Period. The uniform bezels, Full HD resolution, punchy color calibration, and 120Hz refresh rate combine to set you up for success. But brightness is another aspect that, if enhanced, can greatly improve the user experience.
The Nothing Phone (1) is rated at 500 nits (when set to manual brightness mode) and peaks at 700 nits in auto mode. The panel is said to reach 1200 nits when playing HDR content.
Nothing Phone (2) expects OEMs to feature 800 nits of brightness. This improvement could put the phone on par with competitors such as the iPhone 13/14, Pixel 7 and Galaxy S23. This change negates the only real weakness observed while testing the Nothing Phone (1) display.
If Nothing chose to upgrade the Gorilla Glass variant for the glass layer, that would be a plus, but they wouldn’t lobby for it.
Versatile camera
Next is the camera. The Nothing Phone (1) has chosen to ship only the essentials. This meant that smartphones only had two lenses and no 2-megapixel macro or color sensors. The performance of the dual camera system (50 megapixel wide and 50 megapixel ultrawide) was more than acceptable, and software updates have further improved the results over time.
So if the phone falls into the premium route (away from mid-range status) by having a Snapdragon 8-series processor, we’d love to see a third telephoto lens that would give users even more perspective and versatility. , We hope that Nothing has access to an in-house software development team to produce consistent colors in images captured from all sensors.
The Nothing Phone’s (1) front-facing camera wasn’t particularly impressive, but it did take good pictures. Suppose you decide not to change the hardware. I hope the new processor and software combined will improve the image quality. Also, none enable the ability to record 4K footage, a feature that many smartphone brands seem to ignore.
Promising implementation of Qi2
We need to clarify the launch window for Nothing Phone (2), but we do know that Qi2 wireless charging will be coming to smartphones near the end of 2023. Standard support — I think it will be a positive addition to smartphones.
The company’s smartphones already support Qi wireless charging, which is a very handy feature. Adding a Qi2 magnetic array only enhances the experience.
Better software experience
Finally, we hope that the launch of Nothing Phone (2) will bring you an even better software experience. At launch, Nothing Phone (1) was completely bare and sometimes poorly optimized. Carl Pei hinted that not having an in-house development team led to this software experience.
But with the in-house team behind Nothing OS, the software experience presents a unique element and robustness. We hope this team can translate the success we’ve seen with Nothing OS 1.5 into a software package that uses Android 14 offered in the Nothing Phone (2) and offers even more features.
No phone (2) is a difficult act to follow
New processors will certainly get users excited, but I wonder what other changes the brand will implement to steer customers in that direction. and confirmed that it will appear in the US hopefully without any question marks regarding carrier support.
Following up on a device that has done so many things right can be difficult in a tough market. I can’t wait to do it.
