NOTHING’S SPECIAL
Upstart tech company’s 2A phone could turn out to be really something in a crowded market
It’s now an incredible 17 years y since Steve Jobs, then Apple CEO, revealed the future of smart phones to the world.
The launch of the iPhone heralded a new way for people to interact with their devices – the touchscreen was revolutionary. Now all smart phones are made that way.
It’s harder these days to get excited about new mobile phone releases. They’re all the same, aren’t they? Glass screen, touch interface, apps, camera on the back.
But there is one company that is bringing a bit of fun and excitement back into the space. I am, of course, talking about Nothing, which this week revealed the latest addition to its smart phone lineup, the Phone (2A).
This is the third phone that Nothing has made, following on from Phone (1), and last year’s Phone (2), which is a better, and pricier, device than their first effort.
The aim with (2A) is to bring everything that (1) could do into an affordable streamlined package.
I’ve been testing the (2A) for a couple of weeks now, and it’s hard not to feel a little sense of that same excitement I felt when Steve Jobs pulled the iPhone out of his pocket all those years ago.
It’s an Android device but skinned with a specially created Nothing design that features dotmatrix black and white app icons and custom widgets that feel like they’ve come from the future.
Technically, the phone isn’t a massive marvel – the processor is a MediaTek Dimensity 7200 Pro, and is clearly not going to threaten the top-end phones from Samsung and Apple.
But it’s more than powerful enough for what most people want to do on a smart phone – checking social media, reading email, text messages, and perhaps a little internet browsing.
I also tried a couple of fairly graphically intense games, it passed that test with flying colours. Even a racing game like EA’s Real Racing ran at a decent clip.
On the specs side, the phone has a 6.7-inch screen which is bright enough, two cameras on the back – a wide main camera and an ultrawide second unit, both at 50MP.
Image quality is good – you wouldn’t expect it to be up there with the best, but it is certainly comparable to phones that cost a lot more than this one does.
The camera housing does have a bump to it, but Nothing has centred these on the device, which feels a bit more of a natural position, and it also means that when the phone is laid flat on a table it doesn’t wobble when you try to type on it. It’s the small things that count.
One of the unique features of Nothing phones is the Glyph Interface – a series of lights on the back of the device that can flash in a certain way to indicate the identity of an incoming caller, or a graphical representation of a time countdown. Here, it is much simplified, but still has the same kind of functionality, which I find works really well.
So, let’s get to the important bit. How much?
You can get your hands on the (2A) from £319. Could be the bargain of the century. Especially when it has a cool rating that most other Android phones can’t come close to attaining.
Find more information on how to buy at nothing.tech