Hi Guys I’m Arjun Koroth, a tech enthusiast who is excited about interesting new products in tech domain 🙂
Well, I have been testing CMF Phone 2 Pro for over a month courtesy of Nothing India, and here’s my full review regarding this budget offering from Nothing.
If you think I missed covering something or have any other doubts regarding the phone - please ask in comments!
Onward, forward, let’s start.
Unboxing, Build and In-hand feel:
I’ll be skipping the unboxing experience, build and in-hand feel since it’s already been told in the first impressions, read it here ⤵️
https://x.com/KorothArjun/status/1916883795653038495?t=6ZCR3Bk8uICn08jpLs0_tQ&s=19
Pricing
Now that the phone is out for open sale let’s talk about pricing.
128GB - ₹18999
256GB - ₹20999
You get ₹1000 discount on every bank Credit and Debit cards.
Personally, I would say the pricing for 256GB is a bit higher than expected but 128GB is perfect.
Now moving onto the important things-
Display:
The 6.77″ FHD+ 120Hz Panda glass protected display has a max auto brightness of 1300 nits (good enough in direct sunlight) and cranking it up manually can get upto 800nits.
While it’s not LTPO, Nothing claims it can alternate between 30(only on AOD),60,90 and 120Hz.
They have improved on touch sampling rate (1000Hz vs 240Hz), and happy that PWM frequency is now 2160Hz instead of 960Hz. So no migraine triggers hopefully.
Oh, and btw it is a 10bit panel and can reach a peak brightness of 3000nits while watching HDR content 🙂
No black crush issues like Phone 2a either.
I can say media consumption on CMF Phone 2 Pro is definitely a good experience, no stutters while watching 4K60 HDR videos on YT.
Specs and performance:
CMF Phone 2 Pro comes with Dimensity 7300 Pro coupled with 8GB LPDDR4X RAM and 128/256GB UFS 2.2 storage.
It does have RAM booster feature upto 8GB, but this is one of the first things I turn off on a new phone.
Attaching the Geekbench scores and CPDT storage benchmarks for reference.
In CPU throttling test comparing D7300 Pro to D7200, after 5mins of stress test the 7300 Pro throttled its power to 75% while 7200 limited itself to 70%.
Not a big improvement but good to know they worked on the stability.
About thermals, I ran a 1hr 4K video recording test to see the stability and whether it has any frame drops. Device got slightly warm but no frame drops, no stutters or camera app crashes, it continued recording.
Software experience:
Navigating through NothingOS 3.2 feels smoother and scrolling is very responsive because of the upgraded touch sampling rate I mentioned above.
Keeping the UI elements minimal, without window level blurs etc, makes it run smooth even with their hardware choices.
CMF Phone 2 Pro will be provided with 3 years of Android updates and 6 years of security patches.
Another thing that makes CMF Phone 2 Pro different from other budget phones is the bloatware situation.
Smartphones in under ₹20k range usually have bloatware (hot apps, hot games, betting apps etc) to undercut the pricing of the phone. Most of these apps are privacy nightmares, displaying toast ads and popups.
Here we get NONE of those. Out of 27 apps pre-installed, 18 of them are GApps and the rest are essential first-party apps.
Now certain OS bugs are there, like some background apps reload after we open camera app - most of the time it’s Spotify or other media playback apps.
Another thing is native battery stats is STILL broken in Nothing OS (and I’ve seen this issue even on my Phone 2a and 3a Pro review unit).
Camera app lags at times when switching between photo/portrait/video modes (not always).
Essential Space along with Essential Key also makes it’s way to CMF series. I have a separate review of Essential Space from the 3a Pro, you can read it here.
https://x.com/KorothArjun/status/1903825842159112193?t=UqGxT7qadkCXud034dVLEA&s=19
They have added a few new features like editing reminders. As always I use it like a journal to keep track of random stuff that I might forget.
Battery:
CMF Phone 2 Pro battery life is really good, with my unit constantly getting around 7-8hrs SOT and 2 days of charge (without any gaming).
I would say despite having the same 5000mAh battery they have optimized it well.
Dimensity 7300 being a budget chip without being too power hungry also helps in this.
Charging with included (India only) 33W CMF Charger takes it from 1-100% in 90-95mins, slightly more than advertised 70mins.
Although others have reported more than 120mins for full charge. This could be device specific, or location specific due to the ambient temps.
Network reception/Call quality:
Call Quality is good, as I faced no voice dropouts during calls. Earpiece quality is also decent I would say. No complaints either for the dual mic quality.
However there is a tendency for Phone 2 Pro to switch back to 4G for a few seconds and back to 5G again.
Not sure why this happens but it happens randomly.
Speakers, audio and haptics:
CMF Phone 2 Pro comes with a single speaker at the bottom, just like Phone 1.
They have a 150% volume mode to boost the output of the speaker as well, but-
The speaker on CMF Phone 2 Pro is not upto the mark. While it has a volume boost as I mentioned, it deserved a better hardware.
Audio quality drops and sometimes crackle after 50-60% volume itself and the sound feels too flat.
Regarding external audio, it supports AAC, LDAC and LHDC for Bluetooth earphones.
There is no 3.5mm audio jack, but USB-C IEMs (with built-in DAC) work with the CMF Phone 2 Pro, as tested with my Salnotes Zero.
Haptics with the X-axis linear vibrator is good for a phone of this price range, with only issue being implementation.
Control center toggles and volume +/- must need haptic feedback for a good experience. Right now only things like device unlock and typing has haptics in the UI.
Cameras:
CMF Phone 2 Pro features a triple camera setup with 50MP f/1.88 GN9 1/1.57″ sensor for the main 1x, a 50MP f/1.85 OV50D ½.88″ sensor for 2x telephoto and 8MP f/2.2 GC08A8 ¼″ sensor for ultrawide.
Both 1x and 2x cameras have autofocus, while ultrawide is of fixed focus.
A big feature that I miss here is the lack of OIS in any of these cameras. With a shaky hand like mine, I would have preferred to have OIS on.
Front camera features a 16MP f/2.0 GC16B3 ⅓″ sensor.
Phone 2 Pro now supports Google’s UltraXDR standard using the TrueLens Engine.
There is auto tone, motion photo and 12/50MP modes available for main and 2x tele cameras.
The presets feature first seen on Phone 3a series, is now available on CMF as well. (A bit of self-promotion, I’ve created a few presets like LeicaBlad Vibrant, Hasselblad Moar Yellow, Kurosawa Tribute, Amelie and Night City 2077)
Attaching some more camera samples here:
The photos are mostly good, but the algorithm at times struggles with highlight control.
Algorithm also tries to overprocess and flatten out photos in some situations.
Portraits from both selfie and rear cameras apply excessive skin whitening.
Camera samples that show these issues:
Video recording from CMF Phone have some caveats. 2x telephoto does not support 1080p 60fps recording due to hardware limitations.
Another weird constraint is you can’t switch back to 1x if you start 4K recording on 2x telephoto, but the other way is possible.
Also there is no smooth zoom transition when switching lenses in 4K video mode. Check some video samples here:
https://x.com/korotharjun/status/1922684107806405110?s=46
Another notable thing is it supports upto 2TB microSD card in the hybrid nanosim/microSD slot.
I used my 512GB card to test out file copying speeds.
Transferring a 1GB 1080p 10bit video file from my Samsung Evo Plus V30 A2 card to internal storage took 2mins 47sec⚠️
(Google Files app sucks, Nothing should bring their own File Manager)
So wrapping up, here are some of the Pros and Cons of CMF Phone 2 Pro I felt after my 4 weeks of usage.
Cons:
❌ Lack of OIS
❌ Speaker quality is not upto the mark
❌ 256GB Pricing on higher side
❌ RAM Management issues still present
❌ Highlight Control issues in camera
Pros:
✅ Clean, Bloat-free UI for the price
✅ Insanely Good Battery Life (7-8hrs SOT)
✅ Display Quality is excellent
✅ microSD Card support
✅ Usable Triple Camera Setup
✅ Good in-hand feel
✅ Stable thermals with D7300 Pro chipset
I would say phones in the budget and budget-midrange category surprise me with their value for money.
CMF Phone 2 Pro can be a solid purchase for anyone looking for an under ₹20k phone - with a clean UI, minimal looks, a good triple camera setup and a battery life that takes away the charging anxiety.
Finally, this device was provided to me as part of Nothing’s Community Review Program, but they have no inputs or suggestions regarding the final reviews.
All opinions shared here are independently expressed.
Huge thanks to Nothing for providing this opportunity and letting me share my opinions unfiltered.
