First look at unique Android phone with a | Tech News

Another week, one other inexpensive Android phone to make you rethink how a lot you actually need to spend in your subsequent smartphone – and this one is a actual head turner.

UK tech company Nothing has simply introduced the CMF Phone 2 Pro, the most recent machine from the firm’s CMF sub-brand. CMF stands for ‘colour, material, finish’, and that’s actually evident from the boldly designed Android phone that prices from £219. 

That comfortably undercuts the £799 iPhone 16, £799 Samsung Galaxy S25, £499 Google Pixel 9a and even Nothing’s own £329 Nothing Phone 3a that launched earlier within the yr.

£219 will get you the phone with 128GB storage, although you may pay £30 more in the event you’d desire 256GB.

To attain these cut price costs, Nothing has needed to cut a few corners, however judging by the spec sheet the CMF Phone 2 Pro shouldn’t really feel like a low cost toy. Confusingly, there’s no common Phone 2, so the Phone 2 Pro is the one and solely successor to final yr’s CMF Phone 1.

The Phone 2 Pro catches the attention in black, white, mild inexperienced and orange colourways, with totally different finishes relying which you decide. The black and lightweight inexperienced have a “glass-like back” (learn: plastic), the white has a sandstone end whereas the intense orange model optics for a split-textured back with a metallic look.

“When designing, we’ve taken care to lend the different iterations a more sophisticated quality, in a considered step up from CMF Phone 1”, Nothing stated in a press release.

You’ll both love or hate the look. But in contrast to the Phone 1, the Phone 2 Pro does not offer detachable backplates, so you may’t swap them out for one more color. If you buy one of the equipment comparable to a card wallet and even a fish eye lens package, you’ll get a tiny screwdriver to help you connect them, however you may additionally need the white common cowl case, which is able to disguise the color of your phone.

Around the entrance, the phone has a 6.77-Inch FHD+ 120Hz OLED screen that Nothing says has a 50 % larger peak brightness in comparison with CMF Phone 1, a good improve. Also, mercifully, the new machine has NFC, the tech that lets you add bank playing cards for contactless funds utilizing Google Pay. The Phone 1 didn’t have NFC, one thing all smartphones ought to have at the present time.

You’ll additionally get IP54 mud and water resistance (not dunkable), a giant 5,000mAh battery with 33W fast charging although no charger within the box within the UK, an under-display fingerprint sensor, and the MediaTek Dimensity 7300 Pro 5G chipset powering issues. It’s a decidedly mid-range processor, however ought to deal with most duties except for working essentially the most demanding 3D cell video games.

Cameras are coated with triple rear lenses fronted by a 50MP important sensor and a 50MP telephoto with 2x optical zoom. The 8MP ultra-wide will doubtless herald much less spectacular outcomes, whereas there’s a 16MP lens for selfies and video calls. I’ll should get fingers on with the phone to see if the fancy-named TrueLens Engine 3.0 software program with its “advanced Ultra XDR algorithms with intelligent processing” help to supply good photographs.

The phone additionally has Nothing’s Essential Space app, which is analogous to the Pixel Screenshots app discovered on Google Pixel telephones. Complete with a devoted Essential button on the proper edge, similar to the Nothing Phone 3a and 3a Pro, urgent it lets Phone 2 Pro screenshot, with you in a position so as to add a word, all collected within the app.

Pressing and holding permits you to file an audio word, and Nothing’s AI is readily available to attempt to categorise your screenshots, in addition to summarise their contents.

At 7.8mm thick and simply 185g, the Phone 2 Pro is at least slim and lightweight though its large screen ensures it’ll be a bit of a pocket buster. You’ll get full 5G compatibility with UK networks, plus Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.3 – price noting if you’d like the latest Wi-Fi 7 requirements on all of your subsequent tech purchases.

Despite the low price, Nothing is offering three years of Android updates and 6 years of security patches, which means this funds blower will nonetheless be secure to make use of with all apps till at least 2031. It launches with Nothing OS 3.0, which relies on Android 15, the most recent model.

In all, the phone seems to be like wonderful worth for money, undercutting Nothing’s own already low cost Phone 3a by an spectacular £110. If you wish to spend as little as attainable for a fashionable and succesful Android phone in 2025, the CMF Phone 2 Pro seems to be prefer it must be high in your wishlist. It’s on sale now from Nothing’s UK web site.