UK-based phone brand Nothing impressed us with the $599 Nothing Phone 2 — an affordable handset with a flashy style. The company even made a cheaper Nothing Phone 2A, bringing its style to a lower $349 price. But the company has switched gears, launching a new affordable phone, smartwatch and set of earbuds under its sub-brand called CMF. I’ve been using all three over the past few days and they’re certainly unusual.
The phone has quirky features like a screw-in mounting point for accessories, along with interchangeable cases that need to be unscrewed from the back. The watch can have its bezel swapped out while the earbuds have a control wheel built into the charging case.
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The CMF by Nothing Phone 1 is available in the UK for £209, the CMF Buds Pro 2 cost £59 and the CMF Watch Pro 2 will set you back a meager £69. They won’t be on sale in the US, but its prices convert roughly to $270 for the phone, $75 for the buds and $90 for the watch.
They’re generally fine products, considering the price, but it’s the branding I find difficult to understand. Nothing itself already boasted that it aimed to offer slightly quirky products (like its light-up phones or transparent headphones) at affordable prices. And this CMF sub-brand appears to do much the same. So why does it need to be under a different brand name?
Companies like Huawei have done similar in the past. Honor used to be a sub-brand of Huawei, offering more affordable products while Huawei focused on the cutting-edge, high-end side of things. That made sense, as each brand had a distinct role. But CMF and Nothing already appear to be in direct competition with each other and I find it baffling that this is the route the company has taken.
The phone has removable screws for swapping out the back cover and a screw-in accessory point.
Still, it’s highly likely that you don’t much care about any of that and just want some fun products, so here’s what you need to know about the phone, the watch and the headphones.
The CMF by Nothing Phone 1
The phone certainly stands out with its design. You’ll see four exposed screwheads on the back which can be removed in order to change the covers. Immediately I ran into some issues here as I snapped one of the covers when trying to remove it. I also found the tiny flat-head screwdriver that’s supplied with each case is slightly too big to actually fit into the slots on the screws so it’s quite awkward to remove them.
That said, I do like being able to change the back cover when you want a different color. The biggest addition is in the bottom corner on the back however, where you’ll find a round dial-looking thing. This can actually unscrew, leaving a screw-port available for you to then screw in various attachments.
The lanyard attaching point is genuinely useful.
Right now these include a lanyard, a card wallet and a kickstand. The lanyard is actually a great idea, giving a physical anchor point to your phone if you want to wear it around your neck. The others feel a bit redundant, especially as you have to physically unscrew one in order to attach the other each time you want to use it. It definitely feels a bit of a gimmick, but it’s one that, to be fair, does have some practical purpose.
Elsewhere on the phone you’ll find a 6.67-inch display which seems reasonably bright and bold. There’s a single 50-megapixel rear camera which takes decent enough shots in good outdoor conditions. The 5,000mAh battery didn’t put in a great score on our drain tests, but it should get you through most of a day with careful use. It also offers 33W fast charging to give it a quick top up when needed.
Outdoor camera test.
Outdoor camera test.
Camera test in a shopping mall. So, indoor I guess?
It’s powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 7300 5G processor which also didn’t exactly impress on benchmarks, but it offered a smooth enough experience, while providing enough grunt for some casual gaming in PUBG and Genshin Impact.
The biggest downside in the phone though is its software support. Nothing has only committed to providing two years of software updates and a total of three years of security updates, meaning this phone’s usable lifespan will only take it to 2027. That’s disappointing, given that many companies are offering five or more years total support, such as Samsung’s Galaxy A phones that are in this price range. But it does offer an additional software support year over Motorola’s comparably priced Moto G line, which only gets one software update alongside three years of security updates.
The screws feel unnecessary — plenty of phones have had removable covers that just snap into place.
And sure, the phone is cheap, but offering such a short lifespan on the phone when the hardware will likely still be fine isn’t just a blow to your wallet, it’s a blow to the environment. It means more phones will need to be produced and shipped to replace devices with a short software lifespan, while potentially sending more phones to a landfill if they aren’t recycled.
CMF Buds Pro 2
Like the Phone, the CMF Buds Pro 2’s biggest trick is in the design. The case features a function wheel that can be used to pause, skip or adjust volume while you’re listening to music. It’s the first time I’ve seen physical controls built into a case like this and I can see it being handy sometimes.
In particular, if you listen to music a lot at your desk while working with your phone in your pocket, having the case on the desk gives an easy way to control your music without having to dig your phone out. The downside is that every time you slide the case into your pocket or bag while still listening to music, you can expect to wildly adjust the volume by accidentally sliding the wheel over a surface. Maybe you’ll love the feature but I found it far more annoying than helpful in my time.
A control wheel on the case: Useful or annoying? You decide!
Unfortunately the headphones don’t earn favor with their sound quality, which has overly boomy bass, even in its lower setting. There’s a “bass boost” mode in the Nothing app which makes the flabby bass somewhat unbearable.
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CMF Watch Pro 2
The company launched its first watch, the CMF Watch Pro, back in January, so you might think it’s a bit soon for the company to already be launching the second generation. And you’d be right. The Watch Pro 2 comes with a circular rather than square design and features interchangeable bezels.
I quite like the minimalist look of the watch.
I don’t dislike the watch. The faux leather strap feels cheap and nasty, but the body of the watch is lightweight and comfortable to wear out walking. It tracks your heart rate, sleep cycles, menstrual cycle, blood oxygen levels and offers fitness monitoring across a wide variety of sports.
It also has a promised battery life of up to 11 days of mixed use (I haven’t been able to fully test this yet), GPS tracking and is IP68 rated for water resistance. It’s really not bad considering the watch only costs £69.
Should you buy them?
The Watch seems a decent buy, packing a ton of features into a very affordable package. I just hope Nothing doesn’t replace it again in a few months time.
The watch will track your heart rate, among other things.
The earbuds are a bit of a letdown in their sound quality and while the scroll wheel in the case might be a useful addition for some of you, it may also just be annoying or at the very least entirely redundant.
The phone meanwhile is a mixed bag, with an interesting design and certainly a low price. Yet it’s let down by poor software support, flimsy cases and disappointing battery life.
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