I adore Nothing. It’s the first brand that redefined what it means to go bold with hardware design, UX aesthetics, and marketing in the past few years. The bright streak has continued well into 2024. The London-based upstart just pulled another surprise and beat big dogs like Samsung at rolling out the Android 15 update.
This company knows how to make a splash in meaningful ways. The Nothing Phone 2a, in particular, is my favorite. Digital Trends’ review fittingly labeled it as “a brilliant buy.” The recent glow-in-the-dark community edition trim was a true head-turner.
It’s also surprising that despite going with a transparent design and fitting glyph lights, the company didn’t skip on meaningful features like wireless charging. But there’s an engineering cost to be paid. For Nothing phones, that cost is weak ingress protection.
Undone by the standout perk
While researching the buyer sentiments and feedback on the official community forum and Reddit, I came across a few accounts that left me utterly surprised.
“Nothing phone fill with water at back side,” said one of the posts on Reddit. “Water went inside the phone 1,” said another account on the official Nothing Community forum. A quick search through the product pages unearthed the real issue.
Nothing’s phones are not resilient and lag far behind the competitive standards.
The current crop of Nothing smartphones is limited to IP54-tier dust and water resistance. It is “somewhat” acceptable for a device like the Nothing Phone 2a, which costs about $350, but not any higher.
Take, for example, the Nothing Phone 2. It costs 450 pounds in the U.K., which roughly translates to around $550 based on the current conversion rates. That’s a high price to pay for a phone that is stuck at the IP54 baseline.
Now, let’s break down the mystery of those “IPXX” numbers for you, which signify how well a phone can handle dust and water. Here’s the official chart from the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).
It’s evident that the Nothing smartphones stand at Level 4, which means they can only withstand “splashing water” but can’t handle water jets or immersion. That’s pretty bad as per modern standards.
Nothing’s YouTube channel has a video where the Nothing Phone 2 can be seen testing against a jet of spraying water at a rate of 0.84 liters per minute. That’s pretty reassuring to see and instills some faith in the phone’s liquid resilience, but the reality is not quite aligned with it.
I am not sure if the phone can survive liquid exposure that is not as angular as the lab tests show, especially when water is not focused only at the center of the rear panel but can come in haphazardly from different directions.
In a short spell, I found multiple reports of Nothing Phone owners complaining about water droplets or fog-like formations inside the transparent chassis. Though it may not necessarily damage the main board, liquid accumulation around the lenses can visibly degrade the camera output.
Many have faced a worse fate, where the phone simply stopped working for them following water exposure. For a few, repairs were not an option because the brand had no direct presence in their country, so repair services were out of the question.
On top of it, Nothing’s after-sales services, even in core markets like India, have left a sour taste in the mouths of a few owners.
Ideally, if you are spending north of $350 on a phone, you deserve better.
It’s good that the rear glass shell doesn’t break easily. Kudos for that, Nothing! Unfortunately, water ingress is no less damaging in the short or long term. Yet, let’s assume that you are particularly careful with your phone, know its limits well, and keep it away from water with a healthy amount of responsible vigilance.
Hello dust, my old foe
What about dust? Dust entry seems to be the top complaint for Nothing smartphone adopters right from the brand’s first outing. Once again, the weak ingress protection is to blame here.
Notice the distinction between “dust-protected” at Level 5 and dust-tight at Level 6 in the chart below:
I excused the $350 Nothing Phone 2a for its “budget” identity, but even that phone doesn’t set a particularly high standard. The all-metal OnePlus Nord 4 offers much better IP67 protection at a lower price than Nothing’s priciest phones.
The competition gets tougher against other value-centric phones from Chinese brands, so I won’t dig into that defeatist grave. The fancy glyph light strips further complicate the situation, as they make a pretty in-the-face show of the dust particles accumulating around the edges and the camera module.
Once again, let’s cut Nothing some slack. A few dust particles never hurt a phone’s day-to-day functionality, even though they can be an eyesore. However, there are complaints out there where users have received a USB failure warning due to particle accumulation in the USB port.
If I’ve learned anything after using dozens of phones across all price brackets, it’s to never trust a sharp object and go to town with some adventurous DIY smartphone repair journey. I’ve damaged at least four ports trying to clean up the gunk in the USB inlet.
Then, there are complaints about the QC measures. I’ve also come across testimonies where buyers highlighted a visible gap in the chassis, especially between the glass panel and the surrounding frame.
I haven’t been able to figure out the weakest point where dust and water make their way inside the phone’s shell. Honestly, I am not concerned with it, either. That’s for Nothing to figure out.
What I am concerned about is the assurance of longevity and durability smartphone buyers are getting for the dollars they fork from their wallets. I would rather miss out on a few cores, an extra camera lens, or even a battery that doesn’t charge at lightning-fast speed.
Flash over substance?
I — and almost every smartphone buyer — would rather invest in a phone that can withstand the test of time. Look no further than OnePlus — the place where Nothing CEO Carl Pei originally made a name for himself — and the bad press it got for the infamous green line issue.
The situation got so bad that OnePlus has had to launch a program where it offers a lifetime screen warranty for units plagued by green lines. Such is the situation that the green line history is the first concern people flag whenever they reach out to me for a smartphone suggestion.
Having to drop your daily driver phone at a service center, move all the data to another phone (not many have that privilege), set it up all from the start, and spend hard-earned cash to get the phone back in running shape is never a desirable choice.
I love the depth of research and thoughtful elements Nothing pours into its smartphone design process. However, it should maybe pay attention to the ingress protection, rather than shifting around gimmicky LED lights inside a transparent rear shell.
It’s not a question of aesthetics. It’s an existential crisis if the phones can’t handle water exposure in the Lord’s year of 2025. It’s a terrible precedent and a poor choice. The industry has moved on to the IP6x level of resilience even in the budget segment, so maybe look at them instead of being occupied with social media jibes.
When your phones focus so much on standout aesthetics, visible dust particles, and signs of a failed struggle again, liquid exposure simply defeats the whole purpose. Let’s inch toward a better future, one where Nothing phones continue to set high-performance standards but don’t come with a pricey caveat.