CMF Phone 2 Pro Review: Amazing Sub $250 Camera?

Can a €250 smartphone have good cameras? To find out, I replaced my iPhone 16 Pro with the Nothing CMF Phone 2 Pro. I took it on a helicopter flight, shot photos on a boat tour, and of course used it in everyday life.

I had a lot of fun taking photos with all four cameras, especially since it also supports RAW format, which is really rare for such affordable devices. But I also noticed some weaknesses, and for some people it will be worth spending more money on a smartphone. When that is the case, you’ll learn in this review.

Design

At first glance, the CMF Phone 2 Pro’s design stands out. The back uses several stainless-steel screws that are not just decorative but functional. You can remove them and buy a back cover that has MagSafe-compatible magnets for accessories, and you can even attach a fisheye and macro lens. That’s pretty cool, but wireless charging isn’t supported. Unfortunately, I don’t have that extra back cover.

The case of my orange model is partly plastic, and honestly, my first impression was that it feels cheap. Considering the price, though, that’s okay. At only 7.8 mm thick and 185 g, the device feels comfortable in the hand.

The IP54 certification provides splash and dust protection, which is great. On the frame you’ll find the power button, a button for the “Essential Space” (more on that soon), and the volume rocker. On the bottom, there’s a USB-C port (unfortunately only USB 2.0), a SIM slot with dual-SIM support, and room for a microSD card up to 2 TB.

There’s a fingerprint sensor under the display at the bottom, and it works very precisely and quickly.

Camera

For its price, the CMF Phone 2 Pro offers pretty good cameras. The main camera has 50 MP and a 24 mm focal length. There’s also a 50 MP telephoto lens at 50 mm focal length that provides 2× optical zoom. The setup is completed by an 8 MP ultra-wide-angle camera at 15 mm, and for selfies there’s a 16 MP front camera at 22 mm.

I took a lot of photos in different lighting conditions, and I really enjoyed that. I also like the 50 mm telephoto lens because 50 mm is a great focal length—but of course it’s not a very strong zoom.

As you can see here with the sunset at Berlin Cathedral, colors can look really nice. I especially love that you can shoot in RAW format and edit the photos later. That’s very rare in budget devices. It’s a pity, though, that you can only shoot RAW at 12 MP, not the full 50.

I flew with the phone in a helicopter, and I think the photos turned out quite well. Compared directly to the iPhone 16 Pro, however, I noticed that its dynamic range is much larger than the CMF’s. Of course, the iPhone is much, much more expensive and has to deliver better photos. Still, I have to mention it. I think the cameras are great, but they can’t match a flagship.

A fairer comparison, of course, is with other budget smartphones. And compared to the Samsung Galaxy A36, which is even a bit more expensive, the Phone 2 Pro’s main camera is noticeably sharper—at least with the standard settings and 12 megapixels. In 50-megapixel mode, the Samsung is sharper, and the wide-angle cameras are very similar.

I also took it on a boat ride, and again I enjoyed taking photos. Especially in good light, the results are really good for this price range. The selfie camera also takes very good photos in good light.

The ultra-wide-angle camera shows significant weaknesses in low light. It also has much lower resolution, which is a shame. In low light, the main camera also produces noise, of course, but not as much as the ultra-wide.

You can record video in 4K with the main and telephoto cameras, and the main camera delivers pretty good video in good light. The ultra-wide maxes out at 1080p, and the quality is noticeably worse. The front camera also only records in Full HD, so the resolution isn’t very high. Aside from that, the quality is good and the colors look nice.

By the way, we are on Instagram now where we’ll share some reels and behind the scenes stuff in our stories. So, if you’re also on Instagram, check us out – we’re called “MyNextTablet”, of course.

Read: Motorola Edge 50 Neo Review: Budget Camera vs iPhone 16 Pro

Display

The CMF Phone 2 Pro has a 6.77-inch AMOLED display with 1080 × 2392 pixels. The refresh rate is 120 Hz, and the maximum brightness reaches 3000 nits—really a lot. The average everyday brightness is about 800 nits, according to the manufacturer.

In practice, the display convinces in every respect: it’s sharp enough, offers vivid colors and deep blacks thanks to AMOLED. Even in direct sunlight, you can read the content well—an area where many budget smartphones struggle. Compared to the Galaxy A36, for example, the CMF’s display looks much brighter and more contrast-rich.

Speakers

Now to the one speaker. Here you see one of the biggest weaknesses of the CMF Phone 2 Pro. It only has a mono speaker; the earpiece doesn’t serve for stereo. While the volume is enough to stay understandable in louder environments, the sound quality leaves much to be desired.

Compared directly with the Galaxy A36, the CMF Phone lacks bass, soundstage, and warmth. The sound is flat and sometimes tinny. For occasional voice messages or calls, that’s not a big problem, but if you regularly listen to music or watch videos without headphones, you’ll be disappointed. That’s really a shame.

Hardware and Performance

Inside the CMF Phone 2 Pro, you find a MediaTek Dimensity 7300 Pro processor, paired with 8 GB of RAM and either 128 GB or 256 GB of internal storage. As mentioned, you can expand storage with a microSD card—up to 2 TB.

In our benchmarks, the CMF Phone 2 Pro performed like a typical mid-range smartphone. In Geekbench 6, it scored slightly higher than the Galaxy A36 but just behind the Motorola Edge 50 Neo. Devices with the Snapdragon 8 Elite—like the Xiaomi 15 or Galaxy S25 Ultra—of course play in a completely different league.

In the 3DMark Wildlife benchmark, the CMF Phone 2 Pro is on par with the Galaxy A36. For most everyday uses, the performance is more than enough. Only in very demanding games will you notice that it’s not a high-end device.

Gaming

We tested the CMF Phone 2 Pro extensively with Fortnite and Call of Duty Warzone Mobile. In Fortnite on the “Epic” preset with 100% 3D resolution, we only got about 5 FPS on average—the game was unplayable.

With low graphics settings, I once played Fortnite smoothly at around 60 FPS. But I couldn’t reproduce that again—maybe it’s due to an update. In any case, currently it won’t run above 10–15 FPS on any settings, which is obviously terrible.

Call of Duty Warzone Mobile ran well. With low graphics settings, the performance stayed smooth throughout. You could even set some options to “High” without notable frame drops. Only rarely did it stutter. But with really high graphics settings, you can’t play because those options aren’t available. It’s obviously not a high-end gaming phone.

Software

The phone ships with Android 15 and the proprietary Nothing OS 3.2. The features are pretty much the same as on the last current Nothing devices.

An interesting feature is the Essential Space, which has its own button under the power button. If you press it, it takes a screenshot and lets you add a note or voice note, and you can view them together later. AI then helps you organize everything.

I find that pretty handy because I often take screenshots to remember something. For example, I took a screenshot of an Android 16 article because I want to look at the design more closely later. And the Essential Space reminds me of it.

Do we really need an extra button for that—well, maybe not, but it’s something different.

According to the manufacturer, the CMF Phone 2 Pro will get Android updates for three years and security updates for six years. That’s very good for a device at this price point.

Battery Life

The CMF Phone 2 Pro has a 5000 mAh battery, so a fairly large one. In our battery test, it lasted 21 hours. For this test, we loop an HD YouTube video at maximum brightness in endless mode.

That’s just a test for fair comparisons. In everyday use, the battery lasts a long time, and I usually got two days. I mainly used Gmail and Chrome and took photos. If you play many games or record long videos, you’ll get one day.

Conclusion

I really enjoyed testing the CMF Phone 2 Pro, and I think it’s a great smartphone for €250. I especially like that it has a telephoto camera and lets you shoot in RAW format. Both are often missing on budget devices. And if cameras are important to you and you want to save a lot of money compared to a flagship, the Phone 2 Pro is definitely a good choice. The bright display is great, too.

However, the speakers are clearly a weak point, and if you like to watch videos without headphones, it’s no fun. For that, there’s much better options like the Samsung A36. And if you want to play demanding games, it’s worth spending a bit more money.

In the near future, we’ll publish two more budget smartphone reviews. So my advice is: Don’t buy a new phone yet—subscribe to our YouTube channel and wait for the other two reviews on this blog.

Read: Xiaomi 15 Review: 3 Weeks Against iPhone 16 Pro & S25 Ultra