Firstly, it’s (even) bigger! Yes, the corners have been made less rounded, so, like the CMF Phone 1, they, well, stick out more! Added to which the device is overall bigger in each direction anyway - 163.5mm tall (over 161.7mm) and 77.5mm wide (over 76.3mm) - though it is a tad less fat at 8.4mm (over 8.6mm) and heavier too, by another 11g at 201g. Perhaps that’s the glass back instead of plastic. Which is the next point really - does anyone need a glass back? Looks classy I guess, but as mooted on PSC by Steve, it’s highly likely going to be covered up by a TPU anyway - and it not, how much more vulnerable if dropped, we muse. There is a slight improvement in dust protection - IP6 over IP5 - with water sticking at IP4 for ‘splashes’.
The 6.77” (over 6.7”) still 1080p AMOLED screen is, for those wishing to sizzle their retinas, capable of almost three times the brightness of the (2a) at 3000nits (over 1300nits)! They have used Panda Glass (over Gorilla Glass 5) for the screen, which I initially thought was an improvement - but on further research it seems not. “Gorilla Glass 5 is generally considered the superior option over Panda Glass, offering better overall durability and drop resistance, while Panda Glass is a more budget-friendly alternative with good scratch resistance, making it suitable for mid-range devices” reports Gemini. Which as we know is not always right!
You do, of course, get a fresh start on the 3 OS update schedule, so Android 15-18 (over 14-17), which makes it a little more future-proofed. The other change is the inclusion of a SnapDragon chipset (over Dimensity), it being the 7s Gen 3 (4nm) over 7200 Pro (4nm). This SnapDragon has been recently used quite widely by Xiaomi and RealMe. Those who know seem to say that this is a significant improvement in terms of benchmarks for CPU, GPU (resulting in a significant improvement for gaming, for example).
The inclusion of a 2x optical zoom is clearly an improvement for those who might use it over the (2a). This results from the second of the 50MP cameras on the back resulting in c.50mm (35mm equiv.) over 25mm. So turning an ‘ultra’ wide into a ‘standard’ lens (in old-camera-lag terms) though hardly anywhere near a ‘proper’ telephoto as claimed! It’s also slightly faster in terms of aperture, if anyone would notice (well, maybe for shallower depth of field as claimed below for Portrait Mode). They have also added a third lens, producing 15mm (35mm equiv.) wide-angle. The Selfie is the same unit by the looks of it, pretty much.
Bluetooth gets a bump to 5.4 (over 5.3) and wired charging a slight hike to 50W (over 45W), like anyone’s going to notice! Still no Qi Wireless charging. What a waste of a glass (plastic) back! It’s also a shame that they’ve dropped the Milk coloured one (as I thought that to be the nicest) but at least the nice blue one is there (alongside boring black and wanky white)!
The Essential Key is a notable addition on the right side of the device, a button under the power button. Some reports I’ve seen from early reviews seem to suggest that the keys on the new device are a little floppy - which, if true (and not from pre-production units), would be a shame as the (2a) keys are solid. Anyway, this is a (kind of AI) method taking a lead from the Pixel Screenshot app offering the user a quick snapshot way to press to save whatever’s on the screen, add notes and long-press to record voice notes to each for later reference. It will certainly be interesting to try this and see how it performs and how (if at all) useful it is in real-world use.
Nothing OS 3.1 (over 3.0) launches with the new hardware (though it will come to the older soon - well, apart from the Essential Key stuff presumably)! They’ve apparently added Essential Space (the place where the saved content goes) Widgets, allowing users to see the content (or rather some of it, presumably) on the lockscreen. In other changes, they’ve added some camera presets, made the Macro and Portrait Modes better (more bokeh) and added AI-powered face and scene classification to Nothing Gallery (like we need a Gallery app?)
So yes, this has been as you might have guessed by now(!) a run-through of the GSMArena page specs/comparison peppered with some further research/thoughts, but I said I’d have a look and report, having not done my homework properly before recording! So here it is! It would certainly be interesting to give the phone a whirl. It’s on pre-order at time of writing, 10th March 2025, with AmazonUK offering delivery on Thursday 13th. Tempting! (Image from Beebom)
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