Nothing just released its latest CMF Phone 2 Pro, and it is truly a phone that I can call the best bang for the buck. Why? Let me tell you why.
Nothing is a new smartphone launched in 2020, but their first product, Nothing Phone 1, came out in 2022. Since then, they have launched two more smartphones. Though they were good, you can’t call them true budget smartphones. So, they released their budget category of smart devices by the name of CMF. One was the CMF Watch, and the other was the CMF Phone.
In this article, I share why CMF Phone 2 Pro is arguably the best smartphone for under 250 bucks. I love its display, software experience, and especially the design. So much so that at this price, I am planning to get this smartphone for my mom, who prefers her devices in Spanish (which CMF Phone 2 Pro supports), along with reliable home internet and access to bilingual customer support from Optimum Spanish number.
Moving on, let’s explore the features that CMF Phone 2 Pro has to offer:
Performance is Okay-ish for the Price
If you need a phone for pure performance or maybe gaming, this is not the phone to get.
I have been using this phone for a week now, and so far, the performance has been fine. Please note that I am coming from my other daily-driven Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, so I can feel the significant drop in performance.
Anyway, I tested its performance to its peak by playing games and putting it into multitasking. Upon my testing, I found that the phone doesn’t lag for the first 20 minutes to half an hour of gaming. When it starts to get warm, I can feel the frame rates drop in Call of Duty: Mobile. Apart from that, the phone performs just like a high-mid-range phone. Multitasking isn’t a problem, editing pictures isn’t a problem, and browsing through social media is certainly not a problem.
The bottom line is that if you need a phone to run day-to-day tasks like browsing and some casual gaming, then it is a fine choice. If you play games on your phone and expect performance from this phone, then don’t.
Cameras Are Good (When the Scene Is Properly Lit)
Let us first start with the specifications of the cameras, and then I will head into the real-life performance of the cameras.
It has a 50MP main shooter, a 50MP 2x telephoto lens, and last but not least, an 8MP ultrawide lens. How do these three lenses perform in real life?
They are nice and mostly shoot Instagram-worthy photos. I was in the park the other day, and I loved the way it managed the high dynamic range of the scene. The photos were vibrant, clear, and had enough details thanks to the 50MP main camera. As for the ultrawide lens, the photos were kinda okay. They didn’t have enough details, and the corners looked distorted.
The low-light photography was impressive, though. Thanks to its bigger camera lens than the CMF Phone 1, the Phone 2 Pro can let in more light to deliver acceptable-quality photos at night.
The portrait shots, on the other hand, need a lot of stability pre-capturing to get a nice shot because none of the camera lenses have optical image stabilization (OIS). And for the videography, the videos are nice, though they are limited to just 4K at 30fps. The dynamic range is fine in the videos, and I like the look and feel of the videos from the Nothing CMF Phone 2 Pro.
All in all, if you like to have a good camera system on your phone, this one is a sound choice.
Design and Software Experience are Good and Unique
This is the most loved thing about the Nothing CMF Phone 2 Pro by its users, including me.
Let us start with the Nothing OS: it is one of the cleanest Android skins I have ever used. I can see glimpses of old Oxygen OS from the time Carl Pei was the CEO of OnePlus. The widgets look clean and, most importantly, it doesn’t come loaded with bloatware. In this price range, most of the phones come with tons of bloatware ruining the software experience, so it is a plus one for Nothing.
You might not like the monochrome color calibration, but it is something you can always change under the settings. Overall, I can easily give nine out of ten to the software experience.
As for the design, I think it is the unique selling proposition of all the Nothing Phones. CMF Phone 2 Pro is especially great at this – it can attach accessories to its back like a CMF wallet, phone holders, and more. From the front, it looks like at least a $500 phone with a huge AMOLED display that clocks at 120Hz. It is smooth and gets plenty bright for clear outdoor visibility.
Last but not least, it is more durable than a glass-sandwich phone. It has a plastic back that doesn’t get shattered but can catch scratches rather easily.
So, that is all, folks. If I have a budget of $250, I will likely pick up this phone instead of the Samsung, OnePlus, and other affordable category phones.
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