If you’re liked Nothing phones in the past and have been looking out for a value-for-money option, then the Nothing Phone (4b) should interest you as it first (b) line of wallet-friendly phones.
It’s good news for those who have been saddened that there is no release of the company’s traditional budget CMF phones this year.
So, the Nothing Phone (4b) fills that void in a way. It is a S$499 device with great value, packing a Full HD 6.77-inch OLED display, a Qualcomm mid-range processor in the Snapdragon 6 Gen 4, and a 50-megapixel main camera paired with a 8-megapixel ultrawide camera.
Interestingly, the design feels less ambitious than before, even if Nothing’s flavour remains. The Phone (4b) has the same straight sides with tapered screen edges for a comfortable grip as recent Nothing devices. You’ll also find similar broad rounded corners on the display as other Nothing phones out in the past year.
Flip it on the back, and the “techie-innards” design has a metal strip running along the top and right sides of the camera island. The size and shape of the island bear uncanny resemblance to an iPhone 17.
Nothing’s trademark Glyph light design that sets apart its phones is a relatively simple affair now. A five-LED strip, much like the Nothing Phone (4a), supports customisable call alert patterns by contacts, among others.
There is certainly room for Nothing to re-embrace its eccentric, enthusiast-led visual roots from OnePlus and earlier Nothing phones.
Still, this takes nothing away from how comfortable the phone is to hold. Maybe the curves are the same because Nothing feels it has perfected it? The Phone (4b) also has a bluish-grey smooth matte finish that makes it easy to wipe off fingerprints.
Nothing advertises an Essential Voice feature that is readily accessible from the bottom left of the keyboard. Press it, speak, and the software transcribes what you say into the text box. It is also able to handle translations.
Overall, the transcriptions and translations are Google-accurate, but the 5- to 7-second processing time between sentences bothers me a little.
Essential Space remains part of the company’s AI offering. This is a function for folks who commit to the Nothing ecosystem, and use its combination of images and voice notes stored in the app’s proprietary vault to review and plan their days.
Snap an image of a supermarket, leave a voice note to drop by tomorrow to buy milk and blueberries, and the built-in planner will brief you about it tomorrow. Useful, yes, but again, all the images and notes would be lost the moment you give up a Nothing device.
What about hardiness? Water and dust resistance takes a step up to IP64. Still, while the “6” is impressive for being dust-tight, “4” means good for splashes in any direction – not a soak, so be careful at the poolside.
What many Nothing fans like is the software, which is one reason NothingOS has become an institution in itself. A light greyscale skin that is elegant and bug free, it lets you move around menus effortlessly.
I have shared my observations on muffled sound in recent Nothing devices, and I am unfortunately kept waiting for improvements in this new phone. On the plus side, it does have a loud set of speakers, and turning on mono audio helps reduce the hollow sound quality.
With a 5,200maH battery paired with a battery-sipping midrange processor, the phone provides excellent battery life. My PCMark Work 3.0 Battery Life test with screen brightness at 200 nits came in at 17 hours 20 minutes. Note, however, that there is no wireless charging.
The cameras are what you can come to expect at devices of this price range. In other words, a pretty admirable main camera, and a serviceable ultrawide camera that will not do so well in low light.
Main camera: 50 MP, f/1.8, 1/2.76-inch sensor, PDAF, OIS
Ultrawide camera: 8 MP, f/2.2, 15mm, 120-degree field of view, 1/4.0-inch sensor
At the entrance to HortPark in Singapore, the ultrawide camera makes the corners of the shot kind of dark and a little blurry, though the main shooter is perfectly fine.
The same qualities apply to the pavilion shot here, where the ultrawide camera has the middle of the shot in good focus, while the sides feel blurry.
In more vibrant shots like ones at a landscaped air well of the visitor centre, the flaws do seem less obvious and the images are nice and bright.
I also gave the action mode a try, which is supposed to increase shutter speed for a sharper shot on moving objects. I frankly cannot tell if the sharper shot is because the tortoises were not moving, or because of action mode.
At night, the main camera captures decent colour and detail, but you can pick up some graininess when zooming in. The 2x shot of the office tower below makes this clear.
The ultrawide shots are already fuzzy without zooming in despite a steady hand. Just have a look at the shots of the Education Resource Centre and Town Plaza in the National University of Singapore’s campus.
To conclude, the Nothing Phone (4b) is yet another decent value-oriented offering from the phone maker. Battery life is the true standout, lasting over 17 hours in our tests.
Nothing’s performance, build quality and software have become something that can be relied upon. The camera and Glyph implementation have become somewhat ordinary, however.
Should you buy the Nothing Phone (4b)? Yes, it is easy to recommend to the average user without breaking the bank, if he or she is not fussed about perfect imaging.
