Nothing Phone 2a Review: Definitely turns heads but does it live up to the hype?

tech.hindustantimes.com:

Nothing has been in the smartphone industry for a little over 3 years now and it has already launched two smartphones and a sub-brand that offers smartwatches, earbuds and neckbands. That's a lot, right? In its expansion, the company mostly focused on the upper mid-range segment with its two offerings - the Phone 1 and Phone 2. That was until now. The Nothing Phone 2a was unveiled by Carl Pei on March 5 in the mid-range segment and it takes on the likes of seasoned competitors like Redmi, Samsung, Realme, Motorola and Poco. But in its attempt to appeal to a wider audience, Nothing has sacrificed a handful of features that its more expensive sibling, the Phone 2, has, especially when it comes to the unique design. So, is the Nothing Phone 2a worth spending Rs. 23999 in a highly competitive segment? Let's find out.

The Nothing Phone 2a is definitely a looker! One of the standout changes this year is the placement of the camera module, which finds its home at the centre of the upper back panel. The Phone 2a has a decent weight to it and it is comfortable to hold. It has an iPhone-esque design with a flat display and sides. The bezels are uniform throughout which is nice to see, and it has the narrowest bezels of any Nothing Phone yet, even less than the flagship Phone 2. Maybe other brands in its price range could learn a thing or two from the design aesthetics of the Nothing Phone 2a. The display itself is a 6.7-inch AMOLED panel with a 120Hz refresh rate. The colour tones and viewing angles on the Phone 2a are great, and the content does not look washed out at all. It supports up to 1300 nits of peak brightness and I think this could have been better as the visibility under direct sunlight is just decent. The experience is fluid and scrolling through content is a pleasing experience.

Continuing the trend set by its predecessors, the Nothing Phone 2a features the Glyph Interface at the back which has become synonymous with the company. But this time around, Nothing has