Nothing’s second modular phone reinvents the rules

The Phone 2 Pro is compatible with a kickstand, lanyard, and other lenses — each sold separately.

Nothing has announced the 2nd telephone nether its colorful subbrand CMF: the Phone 2 Pro. Just similar the archetypal CMF phone, this is simply a modular handset with other accessories you tin screw into place. And besides conscionable similar the archetypal CMF phone, it’s not getting an authoritative US release.

Buy the Phone 2 Pro by itself and you get a amazingly well-specced fund Android handset, with a decent triple rear camera system, a agleam 120Hz OLED screen, and 128GB of storage. But the existent entreaty is the array of modular add-ons: a screw-on case, a kickstand-card wallet combo, a agleam orangish lanyard, and a brace of swappable camera lenses.

Nothing has changed its attack a small since the Phone 1. While owners of that telephone could region its backplate to connect replacements, that’s nary longer an enactment here. Instead, covers — sold separately — are screwed connected apical of the phone’s existing rear, which mightiness beryllium however Nothing made the leap from IP52 to IP54 water-resistance. The caller accessories past connect to the cover, the kickstand relying connected its built-in magnet and the lenses simply clicking into a integrative ringing astir the main camera.

The lenses are the biggest caller summation here. Sold arsenic a pair, you get a fisheye and a macro, each of which simply beryllium connected apical of the existing main lens. The fisheye is simply a small subtler than I expected — you’ve got to enactment a spot to find a changeable that truly accentuates the effect — so I deliberation the macro volition spot much use. Macro photography successful inexpensive phones is usually dreadful, relying connected the already inferior ultrawide cameras, and I overmuch similar the results I got from clipping this on. 

The lanyard is the lone accessory from the archetypal Phone 1 that inactive works with the 2 Pro, and it’s besides the lone 1 that doesn’t necessitate the screen to work, alternatively screwing into the circular accessory screen successful the phone’s bottommost corner. I americium astatine slightest 10 years excessively aged to propulsion disconnected carrying my telephone similar this, but I did walk a time doing truthful successful the sanction of science, and felt excruciatingly embarrassed swinging it circular to marque a contactless outgo connected the bus.

Embarrassment aside, I emotion everything astir the thought of the CMF ecosystem — modular tech is conscionable fun, damn it, and particularly erstwhile it’s affordable excessively — but I person immoderate qualms astir the execution here. Requiring the screen to alteration astir of the modules makes it an indispensable acquisition if they’re portion of the gully to you. But the tech progressive is lone a magnet and a spot of integrative astir the camera, and it could conscionable arsenic easy person been built into the telephone itself.

There’s a hostility betwixt Nothing’s tendency to propulsion an absorbing modular ecosystem and its request to usage CMF arsenic a level for buyers connected a budget, and truthful the out-of-the-box acquisition clashes with everything else. Case successful point: the Phone 2 Pro ships with a wide integrative protective case, but it’s not compatible with the (less protective) screw-on covers. 

I’m much annoyed by different glaring incompatibility, betwixt the lanyard and the kickstand case. Prop the telephone up successful representation mode with the lanyard attached and it raises 1 country up, leaving the full happening wobbly and unbalanced. That mightiness beryllium alright — it would beryllium tenable capable if Nothing simply didn’t mean idiosyncratic to connect each azygous module astatine erstwhile — except that the company’s ain promotional imagery shows the telephone being utilized conscionable similar that, with some corners sitting stably connected the ground.

See however the country of the telephone isn’t really connected the array successful my photo?

I besides interest astir longevity here. In the 9 months since the CMF Phone 1’s launch, Nothing hasn’t added to its accessory scope astatine all. And present it’s releasing a follow-up that uses a caller strategy and mostly isn’t interoperable with the archetypal bits. The modular ecosystem demands a scope of options Nothing tin adhd to implicit time, and truthful acold there’s nary motion that’s the plan.

The bully quality is that the telephone astatine the bosom of this each is awesome successful its ain right. I’ve lone been utilizing it for 3 days oregon so, but show has been smooth, the artillery has comfortably lasted until the extremity of the day, and the cameras, including a 50-megapixel 2x telephoto, are amended than I’d expect astatine this price. There are a fewer tiny issues — especially immoderate strangely muted colors successful the viewfinder, which fortunately don’t construe to the last photos — but there’s not excessively overmuch to kick astir here.

The Phone 2 Pro runs the aforesaid bundle arsenic Nothing’s different phones, arriving connected Android 15 and promising 3 years of OS updates on with six years of information patches. It besides includes the AI-powered “Essential Space” introduced with the Nothing Phone 3A devices, with the aforesaid dedicated cardinal to activate it. You tin usage it to instrumentality screenshots and camera captures and prevention them to the Essential Space on with optional dependable notes and reminders. Does it request a full button? I don’t know, but it does consciousness similar 1 of the much applicable implementations of AI successful a smartphone yet.

The Phone 2 Pro is disposable to preorder now, with an authoritative merchandise connected May 6th, starting astatine £219 / €249 successful Europe for 128GB of storage, rising to £249 / €279 for 256GB. In the US you tin lone bargain it done Nothing’s “beta program,” which comes with a drawstring of caveats astir imaginable hiccups connected US carriers and nary after-sales support, and it’ll acceptable you backmost $279 for the 256GB model. The modular accessories aren’t disposable successful the US astatine all, and there’ll lone beryllium “limited quantities” successful Europe, starting from £25 / €25 for the lanyard and rising to £65 / €65 for a bundle including the cover, kickstand, and lenses.

Alongside the caller phone, Nothing has besides revealed a trio of fund earbuds. The Buds 2, 2 Plus, and 2A each get the aesthetic — and rotatable “smart dial” — seen connected past year’s Buds Pro 2. Ranging from $49 / £29 / €39 for the 2A up to $69 / £49 / €59 for the 2 Plus, each 3 models see progressive sound cancellation and water-resistance, with spatial audio connected the 2 and 2 Plus, and Hi-Res LDAC enactment connected the Plus.

Photography by Dominic Preston / The Verge