NOT surprised! 😐 Nothing Phone (4b) Review vs (4a)
The Phone (4b) is the most affordable phone from Nothing, yet it’s got the biggest battery of them all, 5200MaH, or 6000 if you’re based in India. That being said, many corners were cut.
For example, it doesn’t have a periscope camera like the Nothing (4a) so you only get up to 10x digital crop, the screen resolution and brightness is lower, and it supports 8-Bit color not 10- bit, it doesn’t have the (4a)’s haptic engine so the haptics are dull not tactile, and it has the Snapdragon 6 Gen 4 processor instead of the 7S Gen 4.
That seems like a lot to give up for a slightly cheaper price and a bit longer battery. That said, maybe cost is the main factor for you and you do want that unique Nothing experience from the Essentials button to the Glyph interface, or maybe you’re buying it for your kid as their first device - is it good enough in terms of its gaming performance, speakers and camera? We’re going to find out so buckle up!
Performance
For gaming, as long as you’re not into ray tracing, and you’re fine with standard mobile game graphics, you’ll be fine with the (4b). Although it doesn’t perform as well as the (4a), the difference in framerate is pretty small as you can see from these 3DMark measurements running the standard Wildlife tests.
What the (4b) does better, though, is the thermals. Even with the 20minute Wildlife Stress, it only felt a little warm whereas a lot more heat was building up on the (4a). So the (4b) is going to be a lot more comfortable to use for long gaming sessions.
Sound Quality
As for the speakers, it’s very mid-focused so there isn’t much bass at all, but I think it’s within expectations in terms of clarity and loudness. It’s actually more mid-focused and less boxy sounding than the (4a), which is a good thing. That being said, In my opinion, the (4a) sounds better, because it sounds fuller, more dynamic, and you do get a little bit more low frequency presentation than the (4b).
Both of them don’t have any stereo separation if you hold them in landscape mode, which is why they’re not the best sounding phone speakers, but as I said, they are within expectations, given the price.
👉🏻 Have a listen to the sound quality samples
Camera
As for its camera, it’s an okay camera, as in it takes decent enough pictures, but it's not for nitpickers. Even compared to the (4a), by default, the (4b)’s colors are a little flatter, highlights are a little more blown, and the blacks look less contrasty.
The zoom, of course, isn't that great. Or rather, there’s no actual zoom, just cropping into the wide angle shot which is of course, not comparable to an actual periscope zoom cam. We see a similar thing with shooting videos. The (4b) looks more blown out in the highlights, and there’s no actual zoom unlike the (4a).
So those are my thoughts about the Nothing Phone (4b). In my opinion, if you really have to go for a budget device, just get the (4a). It’s only a little more expensive, but you’re getting so much more.
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