I was scrolling through YouTube Shorts when I came across a video about the CMF Phone 1. I immediately fell in love with the idea of accessorizing your phone with tailor-made accessories.
However, since it was the first variant of the CMF Phone, and I usually prefer to avoid the first versions of any phone/technology, I skipped that one. Back in April 2025, Nothing came out with the CMF Phone 2 Pro. I knew it was going to be great, so I pre-ordered one without even watching reviews.
It’s been roughly two months since I got my hands on the Phone 2 Pro. It has been a fantastic smartphone for a modest price tag of around 200 bucks. What are the things I love and hate about it? Let me talk about that in detail.
Things I Love
There’s a lot to love about this phone, but these are the top aspects that I love about the Nothing CMF Phone 2 Pro:
The Accessories
If you haven’t had a look at the phone, you might not even know it.
There are a whole lot of accessories that can be used with this phone – a wallet that becomes a phone stand, camera lenses, a lanyard, and more.
Starting with the wallet, when you apply the back case that comes out of the box, the back of the CMF Phone 2 Pro turns magnetic. That magnetic back lets you apply a whole bunch of stuff that can be custom-made for this phone, but Nothing offers a wallet that is tailor-made for this phone. You can put your cards, some cash, and more stuff in it.
When that wallet is extended, it becomes a stand for your phone, so that you can consume your favorite content while you have your food or run on a treadmill.
Then we have the camera lenses that fit perfectly on the actual camera lens. Nothing offers two lenses in a pack – one is the ultrawide lens and the other is a fish-eye lens. Both work just fine and take great photos.
Lastly, it comes with a lanyard, which, in my opinion, won’t be used by many people.
All in all, the accessories are the unique feature of this phone. Apart from what Nothing offers, there can be more 3rd party accessories that can be used with this phone.
The Overall Experience
The other thing to be liked about this phone is the experience, and that comes down to one major reason: its software experience.
Nothing has developed one of the most refined operating systems in the Android world – Nothing OS.
The monochrome color scheme paired with a no-nonsense near-to-stock Android experience is what makes this phone unique. It is clean, it offers plenty of customizability, and the overall feel is just great.
Part of the experience goes to its camera experience as well. For a $200 phone, it is one of the best phones that takes great pictures and videos. I have been testing it during the night, in the harsh light, and the soft light, and I like it. Though it might struggle in harsh light when it comes to night photography and soft light photography, this phone is a champ. The photos look stunning, and they are Instagram-worthy just out of the camera.
It’s not all good though, I have constantly observed that the videos out of its main camera are a bit shaky. I was curious, so I quickly checked its camera specs, and as suspected, there wasn’t any OIS in the camera. That’s why they looked a bit shaky.
Apart from that, the overall experience of this phone at this affordable price point is great.
Things I Disapprove
It’s not all rainbow and sunshine, as there is one thing that I want to see improve on this phone:
The Performance
The MediaTek Dimensity 7300 Pro powers this phone, and that is a fine chipset when it comes to regular usage like casual browsing, scrolling through social media, and stuff like that. The thing where it struggles is power usage. I have put it to the test by playing multiplayer games like COD: Mobile, multitasking, and video editing on it.
To give it a fair front, I connected it to my high-speed Verizon internet. The result? The gaming experience was fine until it started to heat up, and then there was some lag in the game at medium settings. And I get that, this phone isn’t made to be used with this much intensity, and the price point perfectly justifies that. But I love this phone and I want to use it daily. If they can bump up the price, just a little, I would love to have this phone.
Bottom line: Nothing CMF Phone 2 Pro is (almost) a perfect phone that you can purchase for 200 bucks. So, do shortlist it as one of your options if you are on the lookout to upgrade your phone.
