Nothing has announced another phone under its colorful subbrand CMF: Phone 2 Pro. Like the first CMF phone, it is a modular handset that has additional accessories that you can screw in place. And like the first CMF phone, it is not being an official American release.
Buy the Phone 2 Pro from yourself and you get a surprisingly well -specified budget Android handset, with a decent triple rear camera system, a bright 120Hz OLED screen and 128GB storage. But the real appeal is the array of the modular ad-on: a screw-on case, a kickstand-card wallet combo, a bright orange cord, and a pair of swapable camera lenses.
Nothing has changed since the phone 1. While the owners of that phone can remove your backplate to attach the replacement, it is no longer an option here. Instead, the cover is sold from separate phone to the top of the existing rear of the phone, which may be from the IP52 to the IP54 in the water-resistance. New accessories then connect to the cover, clicking in a plastic ring around the main camera, relying on its underlying magnets and lenses.
Lenses are the biggest new joints here. Sold as a pair, you get a fish and a macro, each of which simply sits on top of the existing main lens. Fishi is a little subtolar than my expectation – you have to do a little work to find a shot that actually enhances the effect – so I think Macro will see more use. Macro photography in cheap phones is usually terrible, already dependent on inferior ultravide cameras, and I like the results that I met by clipping on it.
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The dori original phone is the only accessory from 1 that still works with 2 Pro, and it is only one that does not require cover to work, instead screw in circular accessory cover in the lower corner of the phone. I am at least 10 years old to take my phone in this way, but I spent a day in doing so in the name of science, and felt ashamed in a day to be embarrassed to go round to pay contactless payments in the bus.
On the one hand, embarrassment, I like everything about the idea of ​​CMF ecosystem – modular technology is just fun, curse, and especially when it is also inexpensive – but I have some qualifications about execution here. If they are part of the draw for you, most modules require covers to enable. But the technique involved is only a magnet and slightly plastic around the camera, and it can be easily made easily in the phone itself.
An interesting modular ecosystem is a tension between nothing to push to push and need to use CMF as a platform for buyers on a budget, and therefore the out-of-the-box experience struggles with everything. Case in point: Phone 2 Pro ship with a clear plastic protective case, but it is not compatible with (low protective) screw-on cover.
I am more angry with another horrific inconvenience between Dori and Kickstand Case. Apply up by attaching the phone to portrait mode and it raises a corner, making the whole thing wobbly and unbalanced. This can be fine – it would be quite appropriate if nothing just intends to attach each module at once – except that the company’s own promotional imagination phone is being used in that way, sitting on the ground with both corners.
I am also worried about longevity here. Since the launch of CMF Phone 1, in nine months, there is nothing, it has not been added at all to its secondary range. And now it is releasing a follow -up that uses a new system and is not the difference with most original bits. The modular ecosystem demands a series of some options that cannot add anything over time, and there is no indication so far.
The good news is that the phone in all of this is impressive in itself. I have been using it for only three days, but the performance is smooth, the battery has gone comfortably by the end of the day, and the camera, which includes 50-megapixel 2x telephoto, is better than expected at this price. There are some small issues – especially in visible, some strangely muted colors, which do not fortunately translate into the final photos – but here is not much to complain about.
The Phone 2 Pro runs the same software as other phones of nothing, reaches Android 15 and promises a three -year OS update with a six -year security patch. It also includes the AI-Poward “Essential Space”, which is introduced with any phone 3A devices, the same dedicated key to activate it. You can use it to take screenshots and camera captures and save them to the required location with alternative voice notes and reminders. Does it require a full button? I do not know, but it feels like one of the more practical implementation of AI in a smartphone yet.
The phone 2 Pro with an official release on 6 May, now starting from £ 219 / € 249 in Europe for 128GB storage, growing up to £ 249 / € 279 for 256GB. In the US, you can buy it through the “beta program” of nothing just nothing, which comes with a string of cavets about the potential hiccups on the American carrier and not about the post -sales support, and it will set you back $ 279 for the 256GB model. Modular accessories are not available in the US, and Europe will only have a “limited volume”, which will start from £ 25 / € 25 for the cord and will grow by a bundle to a bundle, including the cover, kickstand and lens to £ 65 / € 65.
Along with the new phone, there is nothing, it has also revealed the trio of budget earbuds. Customs 2, 2 Plus, and 2A have been seen on all aesthetics-and rotten “smart dial”-on the previous year buds Pro2. Plus.
Photography by Dominic Preston / The Verge
