Nothing Phone (2) open sales begin next week (this time including the North American market), so we looked at some alternatives.
Nothing Phone (2) open sales begin next week (this time including the North American market), so we looked at it and some alternatives. We found plenty of value-for-money mid-rangers and some cool entry-level phones too. Germany
The Nothing Phone (2) pre-orders are about to end as open sales begin on Monday. You can pick up the base 8/128GB unit for €650, check out our review for more details on the phone.
Instead of the sequel, you can grab the original Nothing Phone (1) in 8/256GB trim for under €400. You don’t get the faster new chipset (SD 778G instead of 8+ Gen 1) or the camera improvements, but the original is also a bit smaller and lighter (6.55” OLED vs. 6.7” LTPO OLED displays).
Nothing OS offers a pretty clean Android experience, save for some Nothing-exclusive widgets and the Glyph controls. But you can also get Google’s take on Android with the Pixel 7a, offered here in bundle with a 30W charger. Note that the display is much smaller at 6.1” and it is a 90Hz non-LTPO OLED. Also, the 13MP ultra wide is lower resolution than the 50MP unit on the Nothing, plus the battery endurance (76h) on the Pixel isn’t nearly as good.
How about a Poco F5 instead for €240 less, despite having double the storage. While the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2 isn’t technically a flagship chipset, it gets very close to the 8+ Gen 1. This phone has a 6.67” 12-bit OLED display (not LTPO) and a basic 64+8MP camera. The bigger 5,000mAh battery lasts longer (118h) and charges faster too (67W).
The Samsung Galaxy A54 has the best update schedule of the bunch – 4 OS updates and 5 years of security patches (vs. 3 years for the Nothing). The Exynos 1380 is a fine chip but decidedly not flagship and while the 6.4” 120Hz AMOLED is nothing special, the 50+12MP is pretty good (the main module, at least). The 5,000mAh battery offers a lot of endurance (119h), though it is slow to charge. Unlike the other phones mentioned so far, the A54 has a microSD slot and a higher IP67 rating.
The Nokia X30 will receive 3 OS updates (down to 2 now that it got Android 13). It is powered by the Snapdragon 695 for 5G connectivity and you get a 50+13MP camera with OIS on the main module. The 6.43” 90Hz AMOLED display is average, the 4,200mAh battery (94h endurance) with 33W charging is below average.
The Ulefone Armor 21 is one of those extra rugged phones – it is rated IP69K (i.e. resistance against hot water jets), can survive up to 1.5m/5ft under water (for 30 min), has been drop tested from 1.5m/5ft onto concrete and is MIL-STD-810H compliant. This is a chunky phone, 18.1mm thick and weighing 400g, but it is clearly a work phone. It has a 24MP night vision camera (with 2 IR LEDs) alongside the 64MP day camera, plus an accessory connector for an Ulefone endoscope or microscope.
Finally, the Galaxy A14 siblings. The 5G model is pricier, despite having half the storage (both have microSD slots). However, the 5G model also gets a more powerful chipset (Dimensity 700 vs. Helio G80) and a 90Hz LCD (both 6.6” FHD+). The 4G model counters with a 5MP ultra wide camera (vs. none). Both have 5,000mAh batteries with 15W charging. UK
The Nothing Phone (2) pre-orders are about to end as open sales begin on Monday. You can pick up the base 8/128GB unit for £580, check out our review for more details on the phone.
Instead of the sequel, you can grab the original Nothing Phone (1) in 8/128GB trim for just £320. You don’t get the faster new chipset (SD 778G instead of 8+ Gen 1) or the camera improvements, but the original is also a bit smaller and lighter (6.55” OLED vs. 6.7” LTPO OLED displays).
Nothing OS offers a pretty clean Android experience, save for some Nothing-exclusive widgets and the Glyph controls. But you can also get Google’s take on Android with the Pixel 7a, offered here in bundle with a 30W charger.
