I used to own a OnePlus 7T, which I had ordered the day that phone launched. I used that for a little over 2 years, then bought myself iPhone 13 Pro Max and handed over this phone to my mom.
This was when I bought the phone:
It worked okayish since then. Performance was a little reduced, battery life was starting to take a nosedive, and all the hardware buttons were either on life support, or were dead.
So I bought a Nothing Phone 2a for my mom. After looking at the reviews, I was pretty excited to get this as a replacement phone for mom, but as it turns out, I now have mixed feelings about this.
Let’s start with camera, the first disappointment:
Both photos have way too much brightness. Over sharpening also seems to be happening with this phone photos. Compare this to my iPhone:
Next big disappointment is the materials of the phone. While the sides are grippy enough, the back of the phone is unfortunately glass. The phone has already slipped out of my hands thrice already today.
Another disappointment is the brightness slider. It is barely visible, if at all. I have to expand the quick settings tiles, and then there will be a very thin line below the Network/Bluetooth big toggles which you may mistaken it for a divider between those 2 big tiles and the rest of the options. I’ll need to train my mom on that, but today I’m going back to Bangalore so I’m not sure how she’s gonna handle that for another 3 weeks.
Another worry is the mediatek processor. The last time I used a mediatek phone, I got burned out with its performance degradation within a few months of purchase (2015). I’m hoping I get proven wrong this time, but my previous experience tells me to be wary of this.
With that being said I’m happy with the rest of the phone. Brightness can go really high, at least 3x more than OnePlus and can be slightly more brighter than my iPhone.
Phone UI also feels very close to stock android, except for the network and Bluetooth quick setting toggle. Reminds me of the stock Android feels we used to get with OxygenOS that we used to enjoy with OnePlus 3, not like the current ColorOS bullsh*t we get.
I also liked these Lock Screen widgets, which I have customized to the Quick Settings important tiles. I wish there was a brightness QS tile here..
As a short summary, if you’ve liked the OxygenOS of the past, and are disappointed with today’s ColorOS bullsh*t on OnePlus phones, Nothing OS and it’s phones are for you… Go for it blindly, unless a few years down the line it also ends up becoming another OnePlus.
This was when I bought the phone:
It worked okayish since then. Performance was a little reduced, battery life was starting to take a nosedive, and all the hardware buttons were either on life support, or were dead.
So I bought a Nothing Phone 2a for my mom. After looking at the reviews, I was pretty excited to get this as a replacement phone for mom, but as it turns out, I now have mixed feelings about this.
Let’s start with camera, the first disappointment:
Both photos have way too much brightness. Over sharpening also seems to be happening with this phone photos. Compare this to my iPhone:
Next big disappointment is the materials of the phone. While the sides are grippy enough, the back of the phone is unfortunately glass. The phone has already slipped out of my hands thrice already today.
Another disappointment is the brightness slider. It is barely visible, if at all. I have to expand the quick settings tiles, and then there will be a very thin line below the Network/Bluetooth big toggles which you may mistaken it for a divider between those 2 big tiles and the rest of the options. I’ll need to train my mom on that, but today I’m going back to Bangalore so I’m not sure how she’s gonna handle that for another 3 weeks.
Another worry is the mediatek processor. The last time I used a mediatek phone, I got burned out with its performance degradation within a few months of purchase (2015). I’m hoping I get proven wrong this time, but my previous experience tells me to be wary of this.
With that being said I’m happy with the rest of the phone. Brightness can go really high, at least 3x more than OnePlus and can be slightly more brighter than my iPhone.
Phone UI also feels very close to stock android, except for the network and Bluetooth quick setting toggle. Reminds me of the stock Android feels we used to get with OxygenOS that we used to enjoy with OnePlus 3, not like the current ColorOS bullsh*t we get.
I also liked these Lock Screen widgets, which I have customized to the Quick Settings important tiles. I wish there was a brightness QS tile here..
As a short summary, if you’ve liked the OxygenOS of the past, and are disappointed with today’s ColorOS bullsh*t on OnePlus phones, Nothing OS and it’s phones are for you… Go for it blindly, unless a few years down the line it also ends up becoming another OnePlus.
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