Nothing Phone 2 hands-on: Pro-repair styling without the functionality

After spending its first 12 months being restricted to Europe, the upstart Android producer Nothing is coming to the US. Which means it is doable to purchase a Nothing Telephone 2 and apply it to a GSM service, so let’s take a fast take a look at one.

The value begins at $599, which lets it slot into the area that was once occupied by the now out of date base-model Pixel 7. At this worth, you are getting a tool that appears like a flagship on the floor with an enormous 6.7-inch, 120 Hz show and a last-generation Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. The dearth of water resistance is actually crippling, although. Even the $349 Pixel 6a has an IP67 score, so it is submergible, however this telephone can solely deal with mild rain. Nothing is the second main firm from OnePlus founder Carl Pei, and OnePlus had a really unusual relationship with water resistance, too. If the corporate would simply be regular and aggressive on this space, its units can be much more fascinating. Water resistance is a function individuals are used to now and undoubtedly one thing you’ll anticipate at this worth.

However there are some good options right here. I am an enormous fan of the flat entrance display, which bucks the pointless, year-long pattern of distorted screens which can be curved alongside each edges. Flat screens are hopefully going to be the pattern going ahead. The metallic bands across the sides are additionally good if a bit iPhone-reminiscent.

On so many telephones, the again is an enormous slab of nothing, and it looks like no thought in any respect is given to something aside from the digicam bump. So I can respect the choice to attempt to do one thing with this large block of area. What you get on the again here’s a bunch of widgets and lights lined with a panel of Gorilla Glass. Simply when it comes to day-to-day utilization, the again shouldn’t be good. It does not appear to have any type of oleophobic coating, so it’s only a large greasy fingerprint magnet. The precise show glass, with a coating, is far nicer, however you are still touching the again rather a lot.

The factor that basically irks me about each Nothing telephones is that the design and performance do not actually match. The perfect descriptor I can provide you with for the clear again is “restore cultural appropriation.” The telephone clearly desires to go for a mechanical, techy look with all kinds of ins and outs on the again, together with seen wires and screw holes, however Nothing cannot again up any of these mechanical design cues with actual performance. You may see the screws, however you’ll be able to’t really contact them as a result of they’re embedded behind the glued-down glass panel.

It is one factor for those who go for the opaque slab of glass or aluminum look of an iPhone, the place the picture is that each telephone is a extremely locked-down equipment, and the within is stuffed with magic. To look mechanical however not be mechanical is deeply uncool. It makes the Nothing Telephone a poser—a phony, a telephone for individuals who imagine the hacking scenes on CBS reveals. Do not speak the speak if you cannot stroll the stroll.