Nothing Phone 2 Review: Lighting Up The Competition

We tested Phone (2) on T-Mobile and Telus’ sub-6GHz 5G and 4G LTE networks in San Francisco, Seattle, and Vancouver (Canada), and didn’t have any issues with calls and data speeds. This phone also works fine on AT&T and Verizon (though it isn’t officially certified for Verizon’s 5G network), but lacks mmWave 5G. Considering how small the mmWave footprint is in the US, that’s really not a big deal.

On the audio front, Phone (2) features a great sounding pair of stereo speakers (earpiece plus bottom firing speaker). There’s no headphone jack here, but this handset supports both analog and digital audio devices over USB Type-C, so your wired listening experience is just a dongle away. And if you prefer going wireless, it offers aptX HD, LDAC, and LHDC codecs for high quality audio over Bluetooth.

Under the hood, Phone (2) features Qualcomm’s high-end 4nm Snapdragon8+ Gen 1 SoC, and delivers speedy performance to match. Obviously, it handled our usual array of communication, productivity, and entertainment apps without breaking a sweat. Three separate configurations are available, with 8GB RAM (LPDDR5) and 128GB of storage (UFS 3.1), 12/256GB (like our review unit), or 12/512GB – all without microSD support.

Subjective performance is one thing, but as you can see in our benchmarks below, Phone (2) is plenty quick, with test results generally matching other Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1-equipped handsets. Unfortunately, intense gaming and other sustained workloads don’t fare nearly as well. Phone (2) suffers from noticeable thermal throttling, dropping to 60.2% performance after 20 minutes in 3DMark’s Wild Life stress test.

GeekBench is a purely synthetic benchmark and can be heavily targeted for optimization. Regardless, the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor delivers a notable improvement in single and multi-threaded performance over previous generation Snapdragon 8 Gen 1-equipped Android flagships.

Recently, Geekbench was upgraded to version 6, which includes new ways of testing multicore configurations and uses higher-resolution assets. Since this benchmark is relatively new, we don't have as many data points, but as you can see, Phone (2) performed quite well in this test.

Futuremark's PCMark for Android is an excellent suite of tests if you want to benchmark a wide range of tasks on any handset -- things like image and video editing, as well as lighter-duty, everyday workloads such as email and web browsing. When you see the test running live, it's clear the scripted application tests are carefully selected and tuned to make use of the each mobile platform in a very controlled way...

Here, Phone (2) actually shows similar performance to some current Snapdragon 8 Gen 2-equipped devices, slotting just above the RedMagic 8 Pro.

AnTuTu’s latest benchmark returns a number of metrics ranked with somewhat nebulous scores, rather than frame rates or time to complete. Here we're running the latest version of AnTuTu across multiple Android devices. AnTuTu returns four top level performance results which are all included here: CPU, RAM, 3D, UX (or User Experience), along with a total score...

According to AnTuTu, Phone (2) offers similar performance to other Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 Android handsets, and slots just above the OnePlus 10T in terms of its overall score.

However, in AITuTu, which is specifically an image recognition and classification benchmark for AI and machine learning workloads, we see a different picture. Here there are big gains for Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 powered devices like Phone (2), putting it right alongside Samsung's Galaxy Z Flip4.

Next we're checking how Phone (2) compares in GFXBench, which has been one of the standard mobile graphics/gaming performance benchmarks for years. To ensure that display refresh (v-sync) and resolution aren't limiting factors, we're comparing off-screen test results here. GFXBench tests OpenGL ES graphics workloads and we're specifically testing OpenGL ES 2.0 and 3.0.

Based on other Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1-equipped devices we've reviewed, Phone (2) under-performed slightly in these tests, with results matching some other Snapdragon 8 Gen 1-based devices.

Futuremark's 3DMark Sling Shot is a newer benchmark module that's been added to the 3DMark mobile suite. Unlike previous gen 3DMark mobile tests, Sling Shot is a much more advanced OpenGL ES 3.1 and Metal API-based benchmark that employs more advanced rendering techniques, like volumetric lighting, particle illumination, multiple render targets, instanced rendering, uniform buffers and transform feedback.

3DMark Sling Shot Extreme Benchmark

Here we only see a slight improvement to the overall score over Snapdragon 8+ Gen-1-equipped flagships. Still, Phone (2) performed well in this test, slotting right below the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2-equipped OnePlus 11 5G.

Unfortunately, Phone (2) does exhibit significant throttling, managing a stability score of just 60.2% in the Wild Life Stress test.

Other specs are what you’d expect for a modern flagship these days. You’ll find sub-6GHz 5G on board, plus CAT 22 LTE, dual-band WiFi 6 (802.11ac), Bluetooth 5.3 (LE), NFC, and dual-band A-GPS/ GLONASS / BDS / GALILEO / QZSS / NavIC positioning – plus the standard collection of sensors. The optical in-display fingerprint sensor is fast and reliable, and so is face unlock. In addition, haptics feel excellent.

Battery life is outstanding. Phone (2) only packs a 4700mAh battery, but it easily lasts a full day of heavy use on a charge. It scored a whopping 17 hours and 19 minutes in our PCMark Work 3.0 battery life test. This handset supports 45W wired fast charging (USB PPS) and 15W Qi-compatible wireless charging, plus 5W reverse wireless charging. While there’s no charging brick supplied in the box, Nothing includes a nice, partially transparent USB Type-C cable.

Next up: the software, pricing, and the review verdict...