Hello everyone!
I’ve been using this phone for about a month now, and I’m excited to share my experience with it.
First of all thank you so much to the Nothing team for giving me an opportunity to be a part of this community review program. Thank you so much Carl, Akis and Deepanshu for giving me this opportunity.
Design
Starting with the design! The CMF Phone 2 Pro is slimmer (7.8mm) and lighter (185g) than its predecessor. Additionally IP54 dust/splash resistance rating is a nice touch when compared to Phone 1’s IP52! It comes in cool colors like orange(dual texture), light green, black, and white(dual texture). The ‘screws’ are for accessories, but the back isn’t user-removable, unlike its predecessor.
So, I have the White variant, which features a dual-texture back, which has a matte finish, making it smudge-proof as well, but the back is made up of plastic. Additionally, this phone is quite comfortable to hold, which is something that I really like. It feels soft in my hands, and for a person like me with small hands, it is really great!
Display & Speakers
The display features a large 6.77-inch AMOLED screen with a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate and can reach up to 3000 nits for HDR. It produces vibrant colors, deep blacks, and smooth scrolling, making it ideal for media consumption.
However, the bezels are slightly thicker than expected for the price, which may be a dealbreaker for some. Additionally the Panda Glass protection adds an extra layer of security.
Additionally, it has an optical in-display fingerprint scanner. It is positioned a little too low, which is awkward for me, but I have had no issues with it. It is fast and reliable enough, but yeah, it doesn’t work with wet or dirty fingers.
As mentioned in the previous thread, The display is great for media consumption, but the single, bottom-firing mono speaker is a dealbreaker. The sound is poor, and at louder volumes, distortion ruins the media experience. For a better immersive experience, please consider using headphones or earphones. On the flip side, the haptics on this phone are really good! It is nice, sharp, precise, and tactile. Typing and other stuff on this phone is quite enjoyable. But since this is a phone by Nothing, the haptics could have been used in more places with better implementation throughout the whole UI.
Performance
In terms of performance, it houses a MediaTek Dimensity 7300 Pro 5G. It’s not a flagship chipset, but when paired with 8GB RAM, it handles daily tasks, social media, and light to moderate gaming smoothly.
In terms of storage options, there are 2 options: - 128GB + 8GB RAM - 256GB + 8GB RAM Additionally the storage is expandable via microSD up to 2TB. This a really nice feature.
Camera
Cameras wise, the situation is mixed. On paper, the specs look impressive: a 50MP main sensor, a 50MP 2x telephoto lens (which is rare at this price!), and an 8MP ultra wide lens. It can even shoot 4K video.
However, real-world performance is ‘mediocre’. It’s decent in good light, but it struggles with consistency, especially in low light. There’s also color shift between lenses. The absence of OIS is a definite miss. Overall, it’s usable, not amazing
Here we can see that the photos have decent HDR but the only there is some artificial noise and sharpening like most of the phones at this price range. I apologize for not being able to provide many good samples. I broke my leg and can’t go anywhere to take nice photos.
In terms of selfies, the photos have come out above average. There is a little bit of over-sharpening and a little loss of detail and skin smoothening at difficult lighting situations or in the low light.
Additionally, when it comes to the camera department, I really loved that Nothing brought the custom luts and presets feature from the Nothing Phone (3a) series to their budget segment. It is such a nice and fun feature to use. I have literally used these LUTS for most of my photos and videos.
Software
Software-wise, Nothing OS is one of my favorite Android skins! Nothing OS 3.2 (Android 15) is clean, bloat-free, and visually distinct. The company is providing 3 years of OS updates and 6 years of security patches. This is good for this segment.
The ‘Essential Space’ is something that I have started using on this phone, and it has improved, but it is a feature which is not useful for me as of now. I am quite wired into other apps and ecosystems which do the same thing, and shifting to it is quite challenging. Additionally, the ‘Essential Key’ is a button which I have been pressing a lot accidentally instead of the power button, and again it was very hard for me to get used to it. Though I may not find this feature useful, there are people who really like this feature and it has helped them a lot. So do consider that.
Battery Performance
Coming to the battery life, it is really solid! The 5000 mAh cell over-delivers. I was easily getting over 14 hrs of SOT. I was charging this phone once in every 2 or 2.5 days. Yes, I am a very light user and my main phone, which is a compact flagship with a 4000 mAh battery and is known for its poor battery, gives me easily about 1-1.5 days of battery life, which is about 6.5-7.5 hrs of SOT. So I will say that the CMF Phone 2 Pro has the best battery life when compared to all the phones that I have used.
Charging wise, it supports 33W of wired charging and has no wireless charging. But I am completely fine with it. As a person who charges the phone just after waking up or when I am busy, charging speed is not at all an issue for me. Anything above 15W for me is great. But when compared to the competition, it is a little slow. But charging speeds have been quite inconsistent on this phone; sometimes it takes just above an hour to charge fully, or sometimes it takes almost 1.5 to 2 hours. Additionally, the addition of the charger in the box at this price is amazing, especially when we look at the current trend of removing chargers.
So, to summarise everything:
PROS ⚪
Stunning 120Hz AMOLED Display
Clean & Smooth Nothing OS
Great Battery Life
Excellent Value for Price
Telephoto Lens (rare at this price)
MicroSD Expansion
CONS 🔴
Noticeable Bezels
Weak Mono Speaker (Poor Quality)
Mediocre Overall Camera Performance
No NFC in India
No OIS on main camera
Conclusion
In conclusion, despite the thick bezels, poor speakers, and average cameras, the CMF Phone 2 Pro is a decent recommendation for its price segment (18,999 INR /£219 / $279).
So, what are your thoughts? Would you consider it even with these cons? Let me know your thoughts!
