Nothing Phone (2a) revealed: 5 things to know about Nothing's new phone

So far the company, lead by CEO Carl Pei, has moved into two markets: earphones and phones. When it comes to the phone side of things the Nothing (1) and Nothing (2) are flagships that have been, importantly, priced to compete with the mid-range.

This means that there is an opening in the market for a mid-range phone that's priced on the budget side: enter the Nothing Phone (2a).

It's a handset that takes what it needs from Nothing’s Phone (2), streamlines things by focusing on the core user needs - all while looking good design wise and being friendly on the pocket. You can get the handset from £319 in Black, White and Milk.

I've been playing with the Nothing Phone (2a) for a little while now: here are 5 things you need to know...

1. Design is decent, different

From the outset it's clear that the Nothing Phone (2a) is a different-looking phone from the flagship 2. While it keeps a lot of its predecessor's looks, it's re-jigged things on the back.

Where the camera bump used to be vertical, on the device it is now horizontal and central at the top.

It's a dual 50MP snapper on the back of the device and Nothing has dubbed it 'the eyes' given it looks like a pair of Android eyes staring back at you. It's meant to help balance the phone when it's on a hard surface, too.

The back of the phone still has the glyph interface in tact (albeit streamlined) and the third party offerings that use these lights are still compatible with the Nothing Phone (2a).

There's a volume rocker on the left-side of the device and volume on the right - this comes with a fingerprint sensor.

There's no 3.5mm jack but there is a USB-C slot on the bottom for charging and the like.

2. The screen is smarter than I was expecting

Now this is surprising but the Phone (2a)'s screen offers some benefits that rise it about the Phone (2)'s screen.

It's 6.7-inch AMOLED panel goes right to the edge here, thanks to the phone's new chassis design and it's bright too, at 1,300 nits (which is a slight downgrade) but it retains the 120Hz refresh rate which is good for gaming and movie watching.

3. Battery is bigger but wireless charging is missing

There's a chunky 5,000 mAh battery on the Nothing Phone (2a) - this is 300 mAh bigger than the 4700 mAh in the Phone (2). This is surprising has Nothing has managed to add this battery to a phone that is its lightest ever at 190g.

Unfortunately, one of the things streamlined from the (2a) is the option of wireless charging. 45W fast charging is still on board, though, which is a bonus for those who need battery in a hurry.

4. Performance is punchy

While the first two Nothing phones had Snapdragon inside, Nothing has sided with MediaTek for this one - the Dimensity 7200 Pro chipset inside is unique to the Phone (2a) and this works with either 8GB/12GB RAM and 128GB/256GB storage space.

I didn't notice any markdown in use, with the Phone (2a) more than capable of handling switching from gaming to socials, movies to spreadsheets.

It was also great to see that Android 14 was supported straight out of the box and this works very well with Nothing's stripped back monochrome UI, thanks to the Nothing OS 2.5 launcher. I do wish that Netlfix and others would get its act together and offer monochrome style icons, though.

5. So, what's missing then?

Given the fantastic price of the Nothing Phone (2a) there are a number of things that have been taken out of the phone, or replaced. These include the glass back, that's been substituted for a plastic one - albeit a well made, solid feeling plastic.

There has been a simplification of the glyph interface, with it now using three lights (I still love this feature, even with fewer lights).

The camera has changed position but the basic specs are the same.

Wireless charging, as mentioned, is no more but that's really it. And given that there's a few hundred pounds difference in price, I think Nothing has done a commendable job to offer up a budget-friendly phone that doesn't just compete with its rivals, it competes with its own flagship, too!

You can pre-order the Nothing Phone (2a) now