British brand Nothing is now taking orders for its Phone (2a) smartphone. The Android handset — only the third ever released by the UK start-up — arrives with a two-day battery life, guaranteed four years of software updates, and a trademark lightshow inside the rear case to replace traditional ringtones.
Orders for the Nothing Phone (2a) are now available, with prices starting from just £319.
Nothing sells its smartphones and audio products from its online store nothing.tech, as well as a handful of retailers like Amazon UK and Currys. However, the British start-up hasn't partnered with any mobile networks, so you won't be able to buy the Phone (2a) on a pay monthly contract from the likes of O2, Three, EE, or Vodafone anytime soon. But when you buy the handset outright, it'll work with any SIM deals from these carriers.
Nothing is a small outfit based in London and co-founded by entrepreneur Carl Pei, who co-founded fan-favourite Android brand OnePlus back in 2013. The start-up has produced two smartphone models — Nothing Phone (1) and Nothing Phone (2), which introduced the iconic lightshow, dubbed the Glyph Interface
Its third smartphone, the Phone (2a), arrives with the same screen size, stylised Android operating system, and trademark transparent case design as the pricier Nothing Phone (2), which cost £579 at launch in July last year — although is now regularly on sale for £499.
The main difference? Phone (2a) starts at the lowest price ever offered by Nothing. The company has made several cuts to keep the starting price below even the £399 price tag of the original Phone (1).
Despite the affordable price tag, Nothing has packed a number of impressive components into its Phone (2a)
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The UK-based designers behind Phone (2a) say they created the handset to shake up the mid-range smartphone market. With its latest model now on shelves, Nothing's line-up includes Phone (2), Phone (2a), and Phone (1) as well as two variations of its transparent 'buds, dubbed Ear (2) and Ear (Stick).
When it comes to Nothing Phone (2a), you'll find a generous 6.7-inch AMOLED screen ― the same size as the pricier Phone (2) — capable of producing 1.07 billion colours and peak brightnesses of 1,300-nits. The panel offers up to 120Hz high refresh rate, so system animations like scrolling will be buttery-smooth and responsive. Nothing will occasionally drop that refresh rate down to just 30Hz to conserve battery life.
Phone (2a) includes the thinnest bezels in Nothing’s smartphone line-up, measuring just 2.1mm around all four sides of the screen. This results in an impressive 91.65% screen-to-body ratio, so you won’t have to worry about Phone (2a) being too much of a palm-stretcher, despite its generous screen size.
On the back, you’ll find the lightshow that’s become synonymous with the Nothing brand. Known as the Glyph Interface, this relies on patterns of flashing LEDs — seen through the transparent rear case — to alert you about incoming text messages, phone calls, app notifications, and more. The LEDs can also be used to show a countdown, like the time until your Uber driver arrives.
Nothing believes the Glyph Interface offers a way to keep your phone face down on the table, so you’re more engaged with the people around you. With a quick glance, you’ll be able to work out who is calling you and whether an incoming notification is urgent and requires immediate attention.
The trademark Glyph Interface can flash to indicate who is calling or texting you. The unique patterns can also alert you about different app notifications
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Nothing has released an app, dubbed Glyph Composer, that lets you create your own unique patterns of flashes in the trademark pattern of LEDs on the back of the phone case. These can be assigned to specific apps or people in your contacts.
Unlike the pricier Phone (2), the new Phone (2a) swaps the Gorilla Glass from Corning in favour of plastic that wraps around the edges of the handset at a 90-degree angle — an industry first, the British company says. The dual-camera system is placed at the centre of the NFC coil, which enables contactless payments, to resemble a pair. Nothing says this gives the handset a friendly appearance.
But it’s not all about the looks. The new camera design makes the smartphone sturdier, with Nothing seeing a notable improvement on drop test results. The centred camera bump stabilises the handset when it's lying on a flat surface, helping when typing.
Battery life enjoys a boost with the £319 Phone (2a), which is fitted with the biggest cell ever shipped in a Nothing smartphone, tipping the scales at 5,000mAh. Nothing says that will comfortably deliver up to two days of use on a full charge, although we’ll need to test one to verify that.
Nothing says this impressive battery life claim is possible because it has managed to increase battery longevity by over 25% since its original Phone (1), which launched back in July 2022.
When it does come time to charge, Phone (2a) supports 45W Fast Charging, delivering 50% of power in 20 minutes. To keep costs down, Nothing has not included wireless charging — so you’ll need to spend more for the flagship Phone (2) to get Qi charging.
Phone (2a) has a pair of 50-megapixel sensors from Samsung to enable all of the usual photography tricks you’d expect at this price point, including Portrait Mode pictures with a bokeh-style blur behind the subject, ultra-wide shots to squeeze the biggest group shot or tallest skyscraper into the viewfinder, panoramas, and night mode to peer-through the gloom without relying on the flash.
NothingOS is a version of Android crafted by the design team behind the start-up's hardware with a focus on widgets — so you can't get the information you need with a glance
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Nothing has worked with the engineers at Google to develop Ultra XDR, which is designed to ensure an accurate display of highlights and shadows in every shot. It works by capturing eight frames at different exposure levels in RAW format, and then adjusting the brightness of each pixel up to five times to display the most true-to-life result, Nothing says.
Powering the Phone (2a) is a Dimensity 7200 Pro chipset exclusively co-engineered with MediaTek. This marks the first time Nothing has switched from US manufacturer Qualcomm for its processors.
This chipset, built using TSMC’s latest second-generation 4nm process, can be paired with either 8- or 12GB of RAM and 128- or 256GB of built-in storage. There’s no microSD slot on the Phone (2a), so if you run-out of storage on the phone, you’ll need to start paying for a cloud subscription.
The latest version of NothingOS, version 2.5, arrives with a slew of new widget designs for your homescreen as well as the ability to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to craft unique wallpapers
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Out of the box, Nothing Phone (2a) runs Android 14 ...although you might struggle to recognise it. The London-based designers at Nothing have developed their own Nothing OS that completely transforms the appearance of Google’s popular mobile operating system to better fit with the design language of the hardware — and enable a few unique tricks.
With Nothing OS 2.5, Nothing has expanded its library with even more Nothing-designed widgets, with swipeable views and animations for more levels of information and interactions on your home screen.
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Phone (2a) coincides with the launch of a new Recorder widget which allows users to create voice memos on-the-go. Plus, Nothing has introduced an AI-powered Wallpaper Studio, which enables unlimited personalised wallpaper options for your home and lock screen.
Nothing will guarantee three years of software updates and four years of security updates.
In under two years, Nothing has cemented its brand with a trademark transparent design language and the flashing LEDs in the so-called Glyph Interface
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Carl Pei, CEO and co-founder of Nothing, said: “This year is all about accelerating our progress, and Phone (2a) is our first big step forward.Phone (2a) is going to enable more people to experience the Nothing innovations that manyhave come to love, and we’re confident it will become our best-selling product ever.”
Phone (2a) is now available to buy in a choice of either Black, White, or Milk colour options. It costs £319 for the entry-level modelwith 8GB of RAM and 128GB of built-in storage. If you want more storage, Nothing sells an upgraded model with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage for £349.
