Nothing Phone (2a) 12+256GB - Unlocked mobile phone with Nothing OS 2.5 - Black

I've had this a couple of months now and it's still working great. I've moved from Pixel phones and there are only 2 things I've noticed this doesn't have compared to the Pixel - a wide angle selfie lens, and built-in shazam on the home screen! Hopefully the battery will last more than 18 months (unlike the Pixels).

I was looking for a mid-range phone to run the variety of apps I have loaded, and the Nothing brand had been popping up a lot on my feeds. I didn't feel the need to go up to the Nothing 2 as it was out of my price range for what I needed.Until now I've been settling around the £150-£200 mark on phones and having an okay time - they did what I needed. My Huawei ran for ages but had to drop that one due to limitations introduced. Blackview was where I went next until the phone bricked after about 2 years.So I took a punt on the Nothing 2a. I liked the idea of the simplicity and the price point was not far out of my range to hold me back.I have to say I was impressed from the first. The box was tiny compared to most with a funky embossed design on the inner carton. Paper packaging with the phone, charging cable and the usual small phone guides.Setting up was simple and I easily transferred the data from my old phone, and I was away.Nothing came with almost Nothing - the usual Android/Google basics, and some extras to run the phone and that's it - no bloatware.The interface is clean and responsive, and, having downloaded the Nothing icon pack, I also had a clean monochrome display - something I wasn't sure I'd get on with, but there's no distractions.The options to customise the home screen were the best I've experienced so far - essentially the whole home page is your playground. This is the first time I've been able to organise ALL my regular apps on one page, and I've also had room to add 3 widgets for showing key information, and altered the settings so I have 5 columns, with my most used groups set larger to easily access commonly used apps like MFA.The dot matrix style text is also clear and pleasing to read, and you can switch off the folder names to gain even more screen space.You do have the option of also reverting to the Android style interface if that's more your style, so you are not tied to the Nothing view, but I have no intention of switching!I'm also liking the Always on display option - I can mow have my basic info at a glance without unlocking the phone - time, date, next alarm, and icons to show app notifications, as well as battery level, and flipping the phone over to show the Glyphs, it flashes and minimises the battery drain.The ringtones and notification tones are in the same basic style - not overly keen on most of them, but you can add the composer app and then create your own complete with LED combos, or add in items from your music library, so you are not short of options.The camera is okay for my needs - The front camera does seem to lack some focus close up (trying to capture some text from the back of a device while using the screen to see where I was aiming) but I got round this using the rear camera, capturing a video, then using the in-built tools to grab a screenshot from the video, so problem solved.Battery for me generally lasts 2 days with the always on setup, and around 3-4 hours screen time according to the stats the phone gathers.There's plenty more for me to explore stillOverall, even though I've only had it a short time, I am extremely pleased with the phone and I've already added the Nothing CMF ear buds (which for me is unusual as I dislike in-ear buds normally, but I was sold on the option of not using noise cancellation - I'll probably post a review once I have used them in earnest!)

Love the colour, the phone doesn’t charge much quicker than my iPhone, it feels great in the hand, and performance is no problem!

I originally wrote a very grumpy 2 star review for this phone. But after a little more time to get used to it i have to take back almost everything negative i previously wrote, and confess that i am now even considering buying a 2nd one of these (just as a back up you understand)..The negative things that i stand by are that i would still like to get a proper charger with my phone. But i do understand all of the arguments for not including one. Plus, i'm sure we all have a spare charger somewhere..Next, be aware that with no cover on, the materials that this phone is made from feel very cheap in your hand. But again, this is (i think) for environmental reasons, so i'll just put a case on it and not think about that again..Those grumbles out of the way, i now love this phone. I've come from a few years of i-Phones and Google Pixels, wishing that there was a cheaper way to get a good phone that's smooth and responsive, but without all of the ludicrous bells and whistles that i will either never use, or even go out of my way to deactivate (A.I., tracking and snooping stuff, etc). And so long as you go through the setup process carefully, this could well be that phone..I'm still not sure how useful the glyphs will be though..

My First nothing phone, super charging, no distractions from blotwares , clean os Fast RAM, waiting for Nothing 3a

Eceived this phone this evening, the ringtones in fact all sounds are ridiculous, they're pathetic, who could be happy having their phone go off with these stupid sounds!, the lights too are naff, and what really peeves me, is the fact you can't message anyone without having a spying Google account, probably the same for phone calls, i dont know, i was so incensed i put it back in its box and in the drawer, i hate this phone!. I hate Google i never use it. I'll be selling this on asap!