My Experience with the Nothing Phone (2a) Plus

I got the Nothing Phone (2a) Plus roughly one month ago (at the time of writing this post), and it has been a pleasant surprise. It exceeded my expectations, especially given the price I paid for it. Of course, no device is perfect — there are a few quirks — but in my experience, these are relatively minor.

Table of Contents

Specs at a Glance

This is not an exhaustive list because you can look it up elsewhere. The focus of this post is on MY experience, so let’s get into it.

MY Review

My first impressions of the phone were not good because I thought of the glyph lighting mostly as a useless gimmick, and the back design didn’t appeal to me much. I don’t know what it was, but I found it more pleasant to look at in person once it arrived. The in-hand feel is amazing compared to my previous shitty phone — this is a premium-built phone for sure. And I’ve found a couple of use cases for the glyphs (I’m a fan of the flip-to-mute feature and glyph timers), but for the most part, it’s still a gimmick. :)

This is my daily driver phone for a month now, and in terms of real-world usage:

Performance

Snappy UI, multitasking is super smooth, and there’s no lag—at least none I’ve noticed so far — even while I had ZZZ running on the highest settings. I don’t game on my phone and mostly installed it to stress test the device. My phone is my tool for getting important things done.

Battery Life

This is a bit subjective and will likely depend on your settings, installed apps, and usage patterns, but for me, it lasts 1.5 days easily, with a charge cycle of 30-90%.

Software

Nothing OS is clean, minimalist, and has no bloat — yes, no bloatware, not even the “sign-in with your account” BS that all Chinese brands and even Samsung include in their settings apps. In terms of cleanliness, I’ve found it better than Pixel OS. However, I don’t like the quick setting tiles much (and I learned this is similar to what Pixel devices have, lol).
This has been improved in the upcoming Nothing OS 3.0 update in December (very excited!).

Another great thing is that Nothing has added many quality-of-life features that minimize distractions and help you get stuff done, like flip-to-mute glyph, glyph timers, lock screen widgets, quick tiles to widgets 🤯, configuring glyphs to specific contact notifications or apps, etc.

Customizability & Modding

This was one of the reasons that tipped me into buying it. Nothing does not restrict or artificially hinder its OS like some other manufacturers do, and there’s a huge community. The modding possibilities to get the most out of your Nothing Phone are practically limitless.

Touch Sensor

The 2a Plus has an in-display sensor, which I do not like at all. It’s usable for sure, but a capacitive sensor (side-mounted or back-mounted) is way faster and more responsive. The in-display touch sensor is just too slow.

Photos/Video Performance

I like the results, though often images appear too processed, especially if there’s a highly luminous object in the frame. And the night photos make it look like it’s dawn :/. Nothing’s team is aware of the issue, and I’ve read that they’ve improved on this in the upcoming Nothing OS 3.0 update.

Missing SD Card, Audio Jack

Just why the heck does every company want to exclude these? Why is it always a tradeoff between good phones and SD card/audio jack?

Let’s Wrap This Up With a Quick Fire

• Design: It’s a head-turner, and I’ve received several compliments, especially with the glyph lights.
• Performance: Best for the price — and if you can get it on discount like I did, even better.
• OS: Minimalist, no bloatware — better than Pixel OS, in my opinion.
• Software Updates: 3 major Android updates, 4 years of security patches.
• Should I buy it?: That depends on your preferences and requirements.
• Do you recommend it?: Yes.