Meet Nothing Phone (2a) Plus - Minor but meaningful upgrades?
We share our thoughts on the Nothing Phone (2a) Plus that was released in the Philippines in the latter half of 2024.
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| Nothing Phone (2a) Plus |
Meet Nothing Phone (2a) Plus!
To recap, it comes with a 30-120Hz 6.7-inch flexible LTPO AMOLED screen, a 4nm MediaTek Dimensity 7350 Pro, 12GB LPDDRX RAM, 256GB of storage, and a 5,000mAh battery with 50W fast wired charging.
At the back are the 50MP main camera and a 50MP ultra-wide camera with an LED flash.
While in front is the 50MP f/2.2 selfie camera.
Its main difference from the previous Nothing Phone (2a) is the new SoC and Selfie camera.
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| Nothing Phone (2a) box |
Let's unbox it first.
It comes in a white box with a render of the phone's rear design. Around the box are nothing branding, key specs, features, and regulatory information.
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| Nothing Phone (2a) box inclusions |
Inside the box are the phone, Nothing SIM ejector tool, USB-C cable and documentation.
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| Nothing Phone (2a) Plus's unique design with Glyph interface |
At first glance, the phone looks similar to the Nothing Phone (2a) but has a more powerful processor. Not much has changed visually. If you like nothing's unique design, then you will love this but if you were never a fan, this won't change your mind.
Our review unit is the White colorway with parts being off-white, gray and metallic in color.
The rear curved polycarbonate panel has a glossy surface which makes it prone to fingerprint smudges and it is slippery when held. We recommend wearing a case. Unfortunately, cases are sold separately.
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| Nothing Phone (2a) Plus' screen |
As mentioned above, the 6.7-inch flexible LTPO AMOLED screen has a 2,412 x 1,080 resolution and a variable 30-120Hz refresh rate.
Around the panel are the signature symmetrical bezels found on more expensive smartphones. On the upper part of the panel is the punch hole that houses the selfie camera. Above it and hidden on the bezel is the super slim earpiece.
The panel produces bright, vibrant images with clear details and crisp text. It is just bright enough to be readable under direct sunlight. It is a 10-point multi-touch panel which makes it great for multitasking.
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| Top and bottom |
On top is a single microphone port. While on the bottom are the speaker grill, USB-C port, and SIM tray.
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| Left and right sides |
On the left side of the phone are the polycarbonate volume buttons while on the right is the polycarbonate power button. Both give a satisfying click feel when pressed.
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| Nothing Phone (2a) Plus' rear cameras |
At the back are the 50MP f/1.88 main camera with Samsung GN9 sensor and OIS and a 50MP f/2.2 ultra-wide angle camera with Samsung JN1 sensor and LED flash.
The stock camera app includes the following modes: Photo, Video, Slo-Mo, Portrait, Time-lapse, Pano and Expert.
The Expert mode can be used with both the main camera and the ultra-wide. It also has controls for White Balance, EV (+-4), ISO (100-6400), Shutter Speed (1/8,000 to 32 sec), Autofocus, and Metering.
Camera Samples
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| Rear camera daylight 1x |
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| Rear camera daylight 2x |
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In daylight, the images have minimal noise. The color, contrast and sharpness between the 1x, 2x and ultra-wide are consistently decent for its price range.
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| Rear camera close-up |
Upon close-up, the image has decent sharpness with vibrant color and decent bokeh fall-off or transition between in-focus and out-of-focus areas.
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| Rear cameras indoors 1x |
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| Rear cameras indoors 2x |
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| Rear cameras indoors ultra-wide |
Indoor images surprised us because of how minimal the noise was. It is so similar to daylight images where it has decent color, contrast, and sharpness. This is consistent across all rear cameras.
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| Rear cameras lowlight 1x |
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| Rear cameras lowlight 2x |
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| Rear cameras lowlight ultra-wide |
While in low light, the camera was able to produce impressive images with decent sharpness, contrast and color. Where it struggled is in the shadow areas such as the threes. Because of the noise build-up, the noise reduction softened the leaves to where we couldn't distinguish each leaf.
Overall, the rear cameras captured images with decent performance across most situations. There are just some nitpicks that we've noticed but are acceptable for this price range.
The Nothing Phone (2a) Plus comes with a 50MP f/2.0 selfie camera.
Selfie camera modes include Photo, Video, and Portrait.
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| Selfie daylight |
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| Selfie Portrait |
Like the rear cameras, the daylight selfie has decent sharpness, detail, and dynamic range. The skin tones aren't consistent and seemed to struggle with lips.
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| Indoor selfie |
Despite the increase in noise, Indoor selfies retain colour, contrast and sharpness albeit to a lesser extent than with daylight because of the effects of noise reduction. Like in daylight, it struggles with skin tones and lips.
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| Selfie low light |
Low-light selfies suffer from noise build-up where the sharpness, color and contrast are affected to be noticeable.
Overall, the selfie camera's performance is good in the majority of the situations. It struggles in skin tones and in low light.
Performance
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| AnTuTu and GeekBench results |
We ran some benchmarks like the Antutu where we scored 767,650. While on Geekbench we got 1,179 points on the single core and 2,659 on the multi-core tests.
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| 3DMark and CPDT results |
In 3DMark Wild Life Extreme the phone managed to score 4,785 overall with an average frame rate of 14.96. While si CPDT scored 484.05 MB/s in sequential write speeds it scored 902.43 MB/s in sequential read speeds.
In real-life use, the phone runs smoothly especially when there are animations. Navigating through the UI and opening apps is a breeze. Mid-range phones these days have no problem with non-intensive tasks.
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| PCMark Battery benchmark |
The Nothing Phone (2a) Plus has a decently large 5,000mAh battery that surprisingly lasted for 18 hours and 31 minutes. In our real-world use, we would start our day at 8AM and arrive home at 8PM with 28 to 30 percent battery left with 5+ hours of on-screen time. This was with a constant connection to WiFi or 5G/4G LTE.
The box includes a cable but without a charging brick. The phone supports up to 50W wired charging. It takes around an hour to charge from 0 to 100 percent with a third-party 45W charger.
The stereo speakers produce sound with a decently high maximum volume that could fill a standard-sized studio bedroom. However, at Max volume, there is some perceptible distortion. We recommend going down to 85 percent volume for the best quality. The speakers are also easily muffled when covered.
The fingerprint reader and Face Unlock are easy and quick to set up. Once set up, both our face and our fingerprint immediately unlock the phone. The camera struggles when the environment is dark or when we are wearing a mask. The screen brightens up to compensate for dark situations
For connectivity, VoLTE, WiFi, Bluetooth, and NFC work consistently and as expected.
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| NothingOS unique widgets and icons |
It is using Android 14-based NothingOS 2.5. It comes with refinements and improvements over NothingOS 2.0. These include quality-of-life changes that add to the overall experience. NothingOS continues to be one of the most unique in terms of visual design and identity which makes it different in a pool of Android devices.
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| NothingOS |
Nothing Phone (2a) Plus Specs
Display: 6.7-inch Gorilla Glass 5 protected flexible 10-bit LTPO AMOLED screen w/ 30-120Hz refresh rate, 240Hz touch sampling rate, 2160Hz PWM dimming, HDR10+, FHD+ 2412 x 1084 resolution at 394 ppi
CPU: 3.0GHz 4nm MediaTek Dimensity 7350 Pro octa-core processor
GPU: Mali-G610 MC4
RAM: 12GB LPDDRX RAM
ROM: 256GB
Back Camera: 50MP f/1.88 Samsung GN9 w/ OIS + 50MP f/2.2 Samsung JN1 ultra-wide-angle
Selfie Camera: 50MP f/2.2 Samsung JN1
Battery: 5,000mAh w/ 50W fast charging
OS: Android 14 w/ NothingOS 2.5
Connectivity: WiFi 6 2x2 MIMO, 5G SA/NSA, 4G LTE, Bluetooth 5.3, OTG, NFC, GPS (L1+L5), GLONASS, BeiDou, Galileo, QZSS, SBAS, dual SIM (nano)
Sensors: Accelerometer, light, orientation, proximity, gyroscope, sound, magnetic
Others: In-Display fingerprint sensor, IP54 dust and water splash resistance, stereo speakers, 3x HD microphones, Glyph Interface, USB-C, Colors: White, Black
Dimensions: 161.7 x 76.3 x 8.5 mm
Weight: 190 g
Price: PHP 24,990
Quick thoughts
The Nothing Phone (2a) Plus is an upgrade from the vanilla Nothing Phone (2a) with a more powerful 4nm MediaTek Dimensity 7350 Pro SoC and a 50MP selfie camera.
At its price point, there are competing phones equipped with more cameras and are advertised with AI-focused features.
The original Nothing Phone (2a) already had impressive cameras for the price, the Plus model adds to it with better ultra-wide camera and selfie performance.
Surprisingly, even though the Nothing Phone (2a) Plus has the same 5,000mAh battery as the vanilla Phone (2a), the Plus still lasted 31 minutes longer than the vanilla (2a).
At its PHP 24,990 price, it is still a great phone if you are willing to buy a 50W wall charger and a case separately.
Do you agree with us?
What do you guys think?
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