Nothing CMF Phone 2 Pro Review: Value On The Brink Of Greatness

Nothing's CMF brand has been on a hot streak lately. Focused on mixing peppy looks with meaningful features, the label has delivered a few surprisingly good products in its short market spell. The latest from the brand is the CMF Phone 2 Pro, which jazzes up the looks compared to its predecessors and takes a modular route for snapping up accessories using a magnetic cover system.

It's not a substantial upgrade over its predecessor, but it adds a few welcome tweaks on top. The most notable one is an unprecedented 50-megapixel telephoto zoom camera, which is quite a bold choice for a phone that costs as little as $279. The ingress protection has also been enhanced, and we have a slightly faster processor this time around.

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The big draw, once again, is the unconventionally bold looks and a mix of perks that are hard to come across at this price point. I've been testing this unit (provided by Nothing for this review) for a couple of weeks and came out impressed with the overall package, but not without running into some familiar "budget" status constraints. If you're eyeing an affordable phone and ready to experiment, read on to find whether the CMF Phone 2 Pro delivers where it matters to you.

This phone looks unlike anything out there in the market. That will either be a huge win or a big no. I got the "Mint Green" finish, which has a sparkling crystal look to it. It doesn't glitter too much indoors, but when light falls on it, you can't ignore the bright reflections. It's rather garish, but a few people around me quite liked it, so there's that.

If I were to make a personal recommendation, I'd suggest the orange or white variants, which serve a beautiful two-tone look on that back. Also, these two are the variants where you get a seamless unibody build, while the green and black trims feature a flat frame that serves a metallic luster.

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As far as the build goes, this phone is surprisingly slim and assembled quite well. There's no element where you can discern the budget-friendly status of this phone. The material used is good-quality polycarbonate, while the silver elements around the camera lenses are actually aluminum. Overall, the construction quality is pretty impressive, and you don't want to put a protective cover on this one.

The build is IP54-rated for dust and water exposure. Nothing notes that the phone can survive immersion in 25 cm of water for 20 minutes, and the occasional water spray, as well. Unlike its predecessor, however, the back shell is not removable. To attach accessories, such as external lenses or a magnetic wallet stand, you'll need to attach a separate magnetic plate.

One of the biggest strengths of the CMF Phone 2 Pro, perhaps, is the display. This is a 6.77-inch AMOLED panel with a 120Hz refresh rate. The panel can automatically tone down the refresh values to 90Hz, 60Hz, and 30Hz stops, depending on the on-screen activity. UI interactions feel fluid, and in games that support fast-paced action, the high-refresh rate adds an extra dash of smoothness. 

The peak brightness figures stand at a cool 3,000 nits, though typically, it will reach up to 1,300 nits in the high brightness mode. As far as the visual quality goes, it's a pretty good HDR-ready panel. Even under daylight, the brightness is sufficient, and thanks to high saturation and deep contrast, the content looks vivid. 

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The viewing field is also pretty wide, and I didn't notice any color shift at steep observation angles. The color temperature is on the warmer side by default, but you can manually adjust the profile and temperature from within the Settings app.

The only noticeable issue is the glare, and it persists with and without the pre-applied plastic screen guard. Talking about the screen guard, it's not one of Corning's Gorilla Glass layers. However, in a pocket loaded with everything from coins and foil-wrapped gums, it survived well without any deep scuffs. The auto-brightness also felt a tad aggressive, so I kept it disabled mostly, partly thanks to the large battery keeping it on for a full day with ease.

Nothing has equipped the Phone 2 Pro with MediaTek's Dimensity 7300 Pro silicon, pairing it with 8GB of RAM and 128/2656GB of onboard storage. The combination is quite snappy and I haven't come across situations where the onboard resources felt like a bottleneck for regular smartphone duties. The only stutters I came across were while using the camera app, though it was sporadic.

But as you load up apps and the memory starts filling up, you will run across instances where system animations feel as if they are stuttering. On a couple of occasions, the phone got stuck midway through a file transfer. For the most part, however, it sailed through the day without any aggressive background activity culling. 

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There's a virtual "RAM Booster" system in place that works somewhat like memory swap on Apple devices, dipping into the ROM when the memory is running short. On Geekbench, the tally stood at 998/2910 for single and multi-core runs, putting the MediaTek silicon slightly behind the Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 SoC. Interestingly, the performance on graphics-intensive tests is commendable.

On the 3DMark Wildlife Extreme Stress Test, the phone delivered a fantastic 99.4% stability, though the graphics performance falls more in the same league as Qualcomm's Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 silicon. It handles heat pretty well. After PUBG sessions lasting an hour, the back panel and side rails only got slightly warm. It can push 120fps in a few shooters, but for the best experience, stick within 60fps and the medium graphics bracket.

On the CMF Phone2 Pro, you get a 50-megapixel main camera, a 50-megapixel telephoto camera (2x optical zoom), and an 8-megapixel zoom snapper. Selfie duties are deputed to a 16 megapixel snapper. On paper, the imaging hardware is pretty powerful. Real-life results are a bit of a mixed bag, but still quite decent for the asking price.

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The binned 12-megapixel shots produced by the main camera come out sharp and saturated. In well-lit conditions, you can also get pleasant portrait shots. As far as the zoom output goes, stick within the 4x zoom range to get a clean focus and a decent amount of details. 

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Close-up shots turn out lovely, if you have the patience for a tight focus lock. There's plenty of detail preserved in close-range shots. But it's not a win-all situation. Color disparity is quite evident across the lenses. The main sensor goes for a lower ISO, the zoom lens prefers a colder look, while the ultrawide lens struggles with oversaturated colors. 

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Noise control is another area where the CMF Phone 2 Pro needs a bit of a polish. In low-light situations, there's a lot of grainy texture, and struggles with subject separation are also noticeable. When the night mode is enabled, you can't make exposure adjustments, so that's another pitfall. 

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There's a persistent over-processing in pictures, which blows out sky highlights, and the colors lose their realistic shade. In its current state, the large sensors are disappointing, and I dearly hope Nothing solves it with some deep tuning.

Software is the strong suit of Nothing, and the CMF Phone 2 Pro is no different. Nothing OS, as the company likes to call it, feels more like a custom skin that goes as minimalist as it gets, while swapping straight lines with dots, wherever possible. I really like the prebuilt Nothing icon preset, which gives a monochrome makeover to all the app icons. With third-party icon packs, a few apps always remain unmodified and stand out as eyesore.

I love the always-on display mode, which is, again, pretty minimalist. My favorite element is the absence of bloatware, which is a rarity for budget phones. Of course, we live in the Lord's year of 2025, so some sprinkling of AI is inevitable.

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Nothing partnered with OpenAI on ChatGPT integration that lets users summon the AI chatbot via a touch gesture on its earbuds. Most notably, it has also been baked within the screenshot preview system, which lets users directly import it within the ChatGPT media upload box.

Then there's the Essential Space, which acts more like a memory box that saves a snapshot of your screen each time you press the dedicated Essential Key. It's a unified place where you can save voice notes, images, and jot down quick musings that you might want to revisit in the near future. It also does summarization and can turn text into actionable commands wherever deemed necessary. It's a neat implementation of AI done right without any subscription overload or useless tricks.

The CMF Phone 2 Pro comes fitted with a 5,000mAh battery, and it supports 33W wired charging. When times are challenging, it can even top up other devices in your pocket, such as earbuds, at a 5W output. The charger brick comes bundled in the retail package, so that's a welcome move. As far as mileage goes, the 5,000 mAh battery can last a full day of usage. You don't have to cut down on brightness levels or make concessions with the refresh rate.

Of course, it helps that the processor is not a fire-breather, and you're not exactly pushing it at demanding chores like playing Hoyoverse games or editing long mobile videos. But even on days where I engaged in an hour or two, of team death matches in a shooter game or "Diablo Immortal" missions, I could still reach home with some reserve power in the tank.

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I kept the adaptive battery feature enabled at all times, which limits the power draw by apps that aren't in active usage. This is separate from the battery saver mode, which restricts background activity, network modes, and limits the brightness, among other aggressive measures.

Following in the footsteps of Apple, Nothing also offers a battery health feature that lets users set the peak charging limit to 70, 80, or 90 percent values. This is done to elongate the battery's longevity. There's also a smart charging mode that slows down the pace of charging overnight with a similar objective.

The Nothing CMF Phone 2 Pro has a lot going in its favor. The looks are standout, and the in-hand feel defies its budget calling. You get a lovely 120Hz OLED screen, a battery that can last a full day, and a fairly performant silicon. The bloat-free software with a minimalist design language is another winner. It has its distinct charm, while the Essential Space has its functional AI allure.

There are only two major caveats. First, you need to enroll with Nothing's beta program in the U.S. and hope that it works with the carrier of your choice*. Second, despite a heavy-hitting camera hardware, Nothing fumbled with the final touch. It gets the job done under daylight, but the moment you go beyond the vanilla point-and-shoot experience, things start to fall apart.

*Editor's Note: Current tests suggest Verizon is not compatible while T-Mobile USA works, (and related networks also likely work,) but — as is always the case — make sure you verify before you buy!

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It's not a total disaster, but the unrealized potential is quite brazen. If you're looking for alternatives within the $300 bracket, the OnePlus Nord N30 5G is a competent choice. For a vanilla Android experience, the Moto G lineup has a few compelling choices. Elsewhere, the Samsung Galaxy A25 is an alternative if brand trust is your priority.

For the sum of its parts, the CMF Phone 2 Pro (available for approximately $279 direct from the CMF by Nothing store online) outweighs the alternatives listed above, and the only other device that can meaningfully go against it pound for pound is the OnePlus N30 5G. In either case, you're making a compromise. You just have to find the one you can live with.