You’re not alone if you have a gripe or two about the design of your smartphone. That’s why when Nothing announced the Phone 2(a) Community Edition Project, it got us all abuzz. As its name suggests, the design of the phone—including the hardware, wallpapers, and packaging—was all designed by members of the Nothing community.
Here’s why the Nothing Phone 2(a) Community Edition Project is worth your attention, and how it stacks up against other top phones in the market today.
What makes the Nothing Phone 2(a) Community Edition Project stand out is its eye-catching, glow-in-the-dark design. Using a phosphorescent, UV-sensitive green-tinted finish, the back of the phone emits a soft, ambient glow, similar to fireflies.
This unique feature isn’t just a playful aesthetic—it’s also practical. The glow makes it easy to find it in pitch darkness or to use it as a subtle beacon, letting people around you know where you are without needing to power on the screen.
Another aspect of the Nothing Phone 2(a) Community Edition Project is its crowdsourced design process. The company turned to their community for inspiration and saw over 1,000 entries from 47 countries sent in.
From April to July, the winners and design of the phone were slowly announced: Astrid Vanhuyse and Kenta Akasaki for the hardware design, Andrés Mateos for wallpapers, Ian Henry Simmonds for the packaging, and Sonya Palma for the marketing campaign. They also worked with Nothing’s London-based design and creative teams to refine their concepts and bring them into reality.
It’s safe to say that most of us have never used a phone aside from Android or Apple’s iOS, which might make Nothing OS look quite foreign. However, it’s still based on the Android foundation, just with a couple of tweaks to match Nothing’s minimalist design philosophy.
The inside of the Nothing Phone 2(a) Community Edition Project is also pretty beefy for a phone that’s fairly priced. It boasts a 6.7-inch AMOLED display with a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate so you can binge-watch all your favourite shows and play the most intense mobile games with ease.
The Nothing Phone 2(a) Community Edition Project also has a whopping 5000 mAh battery that lasts about two days on a full charge. Plus, it supports 50 W fast charging for when you need to rush out of the house but forget to charge your phone overnight.
Casual photographers would also appreciate the two 50-megapixel cameras at the back—one of which is ultra-wide—and a 50-megapixel front-facing camera for the most high-definition selfies ever.
With only 1,000 units of this glow-in-the-dark smartphone manufactured worldwide, and only 25 of those units made available in Singapore, it’ll be harder getting your hands on one than a ticket to Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour.
If you’re unfazed by these slim odds. Given that local sales are over, your best bet would be to grab this phone secondhand, or go for its predecessor, the Nothing Phone 2(a). Sure, you’ll miss out on the community-designed bells and whistles, but it’s still an excellent smartphone for the price.
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All images courtesy of Nothing.
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