Nothing Phone 2 vs Pixel 7: Same price, different approach

Nothing not too long ago launched its Phone 2, bringing its gadget to the United States for the very first time. It additionally occurs to be the identical value as Google’s Pixel 7.  But which cellphone is the higher choose? We take a better look on this Nothing Phone 2 vs Google Pixel 7 comparability.

In some methods, the Nothing Phone 2 and Pixel 7 have loads in frequent. Same retail value? Check. Both give attention to giving customers a less expensive different to dearer flagships? Check. Relatively clear and pure takes on Android? Yup!

Despite all these similarities, the Pixel household additionally leans towards simplicity over energy and targets mainstream customers by providing an easy-to-use cellphone that may take nice pictures for customers of all ability ranges. This is in sharp distinction to Nothing, which has top-notch specs and provides shiny extras like a Glyph lighting system. It’s fairly clear Nothing’s focus is the facility consumer sort that likes to face out from the group.

Probably the world the place the 2 telephones most differ is the engine used to energy them. 

The Nothing Phone 2 is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1. This isn’t fairly as highly effective because the newer Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 household can be, nevertheless it’s a high-performance chip that also has tons of punch and is greater than able to dealing with all of immediately’s newest apps and video games. It’s additionally notably extra highly effective than the Pixel 7’s Tensor G2 SoC.

The Tensor G2 SoC isn’t a foul chip both however focuses extra on AI and images optimizations than on uncooked efficiency. It can nonetheless deal with even probably the most cutting-edge video games and apps, however simply remember it’s not the most effective for lengthy play periods. It tends to have some overheating points when labored too onerous, which is one thing you don’t have to fret about with the Nothing Phone 2. The cellphone usually gained’t cease working or something; it simply turns into sizzling to the contact, which might get annoying quick.

Of course, the Nothing Phone 2 isn’t excellent. During our evaluate, we discovered the cellphone was a lot quick and fluid, however there may be one potential concern round GPU throttling. Our 3DMark Wild Life stress take a look at discovered a 36% drop in GPU scores after 5 runs, which is worse than you’d see from different telephones with this chip. It’s unclear if this is able to ever be an actual downside within the day-to-day, nevertheless it’s not less than one thing price being conscious of. It’s additionally potential later firmware updates will deal with this.

The Nothing Phone 2 doesn’t simply have a sooner processor; it additionally has extra RAM and storage choices. The Pixel 7 comes with 8GB of RAM and 128GB or 256GB storage choices. The Nothing Phone 2 provides 8GB and 12GB of RAM variants and storage sizes of 128, 256, or 512GB. It additionally provides two SIM card slots, one thing you don’t discover on many telephones immediately. While you need to use the Pixel 7 with two SIMs, it solely has a single bodily slot. The second line has to make use of an eSIM card.

One small benefit on Google’s facet is the assist for mmWave in sure variants. The Nothing Phone 2 fully lacks assist for mmWave, although it’ll work with Verizon’s Sub-6Ghz community within the States.

Stepping away from the insides, let’s check out the shows used. The Nothing Phone 2 has a a lot greater show at 6.7 inches versus 6.1 inches. There’s extra to a superb show than simply the dimensions. On paper, the Nothing Phone 2’s show continues to impress with options like a 120Hz variable refresh price, 240Hz contact sampling, and 1,600 nits peak pixel brightness.

The Pixel 7 has only a 90Hz refresh price and nowhere close to the vary of brightness, however we’ve to say the colours had been truly extra vivid and vibrant on the Pixel 7. The Nothing Phone 2 actually appears to be like higher in conditions that decision for a variable refresh, however the panel on the Pixel 7 makes it tougher to match the 2 than the specs would possibly counsel alone. In some ways, the Nothing Phone 2 has the higher show; simply remember you’ll have an equally nice time even if you happen to go for the Pixel 7’s barely much less spectacular show.

One of the most important options of the Nothing Phone 2 doesn’t have a counterpart on the Pixel 7, the Glyph. The Glyph is a set of 11 LED strips and 33 LED zones that’s discovered on the again of the Phone 2. It works a bit just like the old-school LED lights discovered on Android gadgets within the years previous, lighting up sure patterns to supply notifications. That mentioned, this implementation goes loads additional than that.

We have a Glyph information that goes deeper into its options, however among the issues you are able to do embrace constructing your personal customized Glyph patterns in your contacts, creating alerts for important notifications, and creating timers. Nothing even partnered with Uber to make it so the cellphone will use Glyphs to let you already know when a trip is nearly there and so forth.

We’ll be sincere, Glyph is a little bit of a gimmick, nevertheless it’s a cool one and definitely one of many methods the Nothing Phone 2 stands out from the group.

As a lot as we just like the Nothing Phone 2’s design, we have to deal with its stranger design choices round sturdiness.

Instead of giving us IP67 or IP68, the Nothing Phone 2 is barely rated IP54. This means it has modest mud safety however can solely deal with splashes of water. It’s a good cry from the IP68 ranking on the Pixel 7. The Nothing Phone 2 additionally options older Gorilla Glass 5, as a substitute of the extra sturdy Gorilla Glass Victus used on the Pixel 7. Even the Victus is technically not the newest from Gorilla Glass, nevertheless it’s nonetheless very proof against scratches and breaks.

If you care about sturdiness, the Google Pixel 7 has the benefit right here.

Now let’s speak software program earlier than we transfer on to digicam, battery, and charging. The Google Pixel interface is thought for being clear and near-stock-like. At the identical time, Google provides significant extras like Material You customizable themes, AI options like Call Screening and Google Duplex.

Nothing adopted an analogous technique with its Nothing OS, deputing a really spartan UI with its first Nothing Phone. The UI has developed since then. The Phone 2’s Nothing OS 2.0 takes issues to new heights. The OS provides an excellent customized climate app, a brand new one-handed mode, widgets on the lock display, and loads of different small touches. It nonetheless has a clear stock-like interface, there are simply lastly extra additions which might be truly price utilizing.

There are additionally loads of customizations that revolve across the Glyph options, as we highlighted above. The upcoming linked article helps you to be taught much more about all the good Nothing OS 2.0 options.

Google isn’t the king of Android updates, as that crown oddly belongs to Samsung. Nonetheless, Google provides customers three years of OS updates and 5 years of safety, making it the second greatest within the Android biz. Nothing doesn’t have the identical established popularity but, nevertheless it has finished an excellent job pumping new enhancements to its Phone 1. It guarantees three years of OS upgrades and 4 years of Android safety updates. Not fairly pretty much as good, however darn shut.

The Phone 2 measures 162.1 x 76.4 and has a thickness of 8.6mm. It’s not an enormous cellphone, however it’s notably bigger than the Pixel 7, which is available in at 155.7 x 73.2. Interestingly, the Pixel 7 is a hair thicker at 8.7mm. Both telephones have fairly skinny bezels, and a centered digicam minimize out, although the Nothing Phone 2 has extra rounded corners.

On the again, you’ll be able to see Nothing and Google have their very own very distinct design languages. The Pixel 7 incorporates a protruding digicam visor product of steel and an all-glass again. It’s a glance that instantly makes it clear you’re coping with a Pixel.

The Nothing Phone 2 takes inspiration from the iPhone household with its physique form, flat sides, and antenna format. It makes this look its personal by giving it a clear again that allows you to see the cooling pipes and the distinctive Glyph lighting system. It covers up main elements with panels, nevertheless it’s nonetheless a shocking semi-naked look that you simply gained’t discover on another cellphone model.

The Phone 2 and Pixel 7 are nearly the very same weight, at 201g and 197g, respectively. Sure, the Pixel 7 is barely much less, however you gained’t have the ability to really feel the distinction. Both telephones really feel nice, however the Phone 2 is a bit simpler to carry, thanks primarily to the chamfer between the steel body and the again glass. However, this level is negated if you happen to put a Nothing Phone 2 case in your gadget.

Lastly, let’s speak about colour selections. The Phone 2 is available in White and Dark Gray, whereas the Pixel 7 has the choice of
Obsidian, Lemongrass,  and Snow.

Nothing Phone 2 vs Google Pixel 7: Camera

The Pixel 7 has among the finest digicam experiences within the smartphone world. At the middle of the expertise is a big 50MP 1/1.31-inch sensor and a 12MP, 144-degree secondary digicam. Expect nothing in need of wonderful colour accuracy in addition to distinctive low-light efficiency. Portrait detection can also be top-notching.

Still, nothing is ideal, because the saturation is commonly a bit heavy, and zooming previous 4X isn’t really helpful as the standard begins to crumble. Overall, the {hardware} is nice, nevertheless it’s the software program and SoC that makes Google’s digicam expertise so particular.

The Tensor G2 additionally permits for terribly superior picture processing that lets Google pull off AI trickery that different telephones can’t deal with. This allows options like Magic Eraser, Face Unblur, Long Exposure, and extra. Ultimately the software program and AI are designed to make sure that nearly anybody can take a superb photograph.

So how does the Nothing Phone 2 evaluate? The Phone 2 additionally has a 50MP foremost digicam, although it’s a  1/1.56-inch sensor this time, which is a bit smaller than the Pixel 7. Overall it’s a superb digicam. Dynamic vary is strong, and it handles a number of mild sources effectively. Noise has been lowered in shadows, and the white steadiness has been improved. Most of the images taken had been fairly good, although I’ve to say the ultrawide digicam is a multitude. Textures are muddy, and also you’ll usually discover halo results round objects. The macro mode helps make up for this a bit, because it makes use of the high-megapixel ultrawide digicam and autofocus to take usable excessive close-ups.

As for the selfie cameras? Both telephones additionally provide respectable sufficient selfies, although we have to point out the shortage of 4K video in a selfie digicam on the Nothing Phone 2. It’s a wierd omission in a cellphone that has a ton of enchantment for bloggers.

Overall the Pixel 7 is among the greatest cameras you should purchase, however that doesn’t make Nothing Phone 2 a poor performer. It takes respectable photographs its simply not fairly in the identical league because the Pixel, iPhone, or Galaxy S collection simply but.

The Pixel 7 isn’t identified for ground-breaking battery life, however it will probably make it by a full day’s use with round 15% life left to spare on its 4,355mAh battery. That’s with gaming, video watching, and different higher-performance actions. If you keep on with the fundamentals, you’ll seemingly see even higher battery life than that.

The Pixel does an honest job, however the Nothing Phone 2 is difficult to compete in opposition to with its 4,700mAh battery and extra power-efficient parts. We present in our testing that we might simply make it by a day and a half earlier than dropping under 10%. That’s with common utilization habits like video streaming, music listening, images, mild gaming, social media, and light-weight testing. If you might be pretty informal along with your use, it might simply make it to 2 days. On the flip facet, even energy customers ought to nonetheless discover that they’ll simply make it by a full day and into the start hours of the subsequent one.

The Nothing Phone 2 doesn’t simply have higher battery life; it additionally has superior charging choices. The Pixel 7 has simply 20W charging versus the 45W PD PPS customary on the Phone 2. My Pixel 7 often takes me round one hour and 40 minutes to refill from empty, which appears like eternally in comparison with the Nothing Phone 2. Despite an even bigger battery, the Nothing Phone 2 solely takes round one hour to cost.

One small benefit of the Pixel 7 is its wi-fi charging capabilities. We don’t have any testing knowledge on the Nothing Phone 2’s wi-fi charging speeds but, however at 15W, you’ll be able to anticipate it to take a bit longer than the Pixel 7’s 20W wi-fi charging speeds. Both telephones even have reverse charging, although the Phone 2 is barely slower at 5W vs 7.5W.

The Google Pixel 7 provides you 128GB for $599 or 256GB storage for $699, each fashions have the identical 8GB of RAM. The Nothing Phone 2 costs its 128GB and 256GB fashions the identical as Google however the latter mannequin additionally upgrades the RAM to 12GB.

Want much more house? There’s a Nothing Phone 2 variant or $799 that features 12GB of RAM and 512GB cupboard space.

Just remember the Pixel 7 is far simpler to get ahold of. Not solely will you discover it at most main retailers, however US carriers additionally provide the cellphone. The Nothing Phone 2 can also be offered within the US however immediately by the Nothing web site.

The Nothing Phone 2 and Google Pixel 7 are priced equally, providing flagship-level experiences that can enchantment to those that like clear, minimalist takes on Android. That mentioned, they focus their {hardware} and software program on very different issues.

The Nothing Phone 2 has a greater CPU, a touch higher show, higher charging, and higher battery life. It additionally has weaker glass safety and a puzzling IP ranking. The Glyph makes it stand out a bit extra, nevertheless it’s nonetheless unclear if the Glyph will morph into vital or stay nothing greater than a cool gimmick. Still, if you happen to’re the facility consumer searching for one thing different, it’s a reasonably awesome-looking cellphone.

The Google Pixel 7, alternatively, is greatest suited to these wanting a cellphone that handles issues effectively and with out a lot thought. In some ways, the Pixel 7 is the iPhone of the Android world. It simply works. You can customise it and make it extra complicated if you happen to’re an influence consumer, however the out-of-the-box expertise takes nice pictures and is able to practically something you throw at it. There may not be overcomplicated extras, however what Google provides you makes an enduring impression.

You can’t go improper with both gadget, it in the end comes right down to in order for you energy and lights or a less complicated cellphone that makes magic for even probably the most novice photographer.