Nothing Phone (4b) review: A decent but generic offering
The Nothing Phone (4b) is good value despite being a bit too generic.
The Nothing Phone (4b) in Black is a bit too safe for my liking. | Image by PhoneArena
Back in July, Nothing expanded its mid-range presence with the large-screen Nothing Phone (4b), a very affordable device that sounds appealing on paper. We're talking about a large 6.8-inch AMOLED screen, a decent Snapdragon 6 Gen 4 chip, IP64 resistance, a 50 MP main camera and a 5,2000 mAh battery, all of that starting at €329. A fair price for a fair phone.
And after using the phone for a couple of days, I'm convinced it's one of the fresher options on the affordable market right now. Sure, it has several shortcomings and many corners have been cut, but given the price tag attached to it, I feel the Nothing Phone (4b) should be shortlisted by anyone on a tighter budget.
The Nothing Phone (4b) isn't available in the US, as the company's focusing on the European and Indian markets. You can probably try importing one, but the device lacks many essential cell bands, so you will definitely have a bad time, it's not worth it.
This review is based on a week of daily-driving the Nothing Phone (4b) and putting it through the expansive scope of PhoneArena's internal tests. The device was provided by Nothing as a review unit, but the manufacturer had no involvement in the review process, my editorial decisions, or the final verdict.
All the images in this review are original photography captured by the PhoneArena team in our studio. The phone has gone through the dedicated testing procedures, including our proprietary camera and battery tests that take a full business day.
Table of Contents:
Nothing Phone (4b) Design and Display
Plastic, but nice design language
Image by PhoneArena
The Nothing Phone (4b) relies on a pretty straightforward and somewhat boring design language that lacks the early pizzazz of older Nothing smartphones and plays all too safe to my liking.
It doesn't have the conversation-starting, see-through backplate of the Nothing Phone (4a) or even the interesting camera island of the Nothing Phone (4b) Pro. There's just an iPhone 17 Pro Max-esque glass camera plateau that features some Torx screws and an out-of-place aluminum profile. To top things off, the enlarged bottom bezel at the front is a dead giveaway about the phone's market positioning and is the only eyesore.
The frame and the backplate are one seamless plastic element, which uses soft, matte plastic. It feels great to the touch but has one major shortcoming. The Nothing Phone (4b) phone's a terrible fingerprint and smudge magnet. Just ten minutes of usage leads to a smudgy mess at the rear as if I've smothered it with olive oil, which isn't great to see.
The Glyph notification light in the back of the Nothing Phone (4b) is a tad more rudimentary than what was available on previous Nothing phones. The Glyph consists of four LED lights that can show you the current volume level, display custom ringtone lightshows for different contacts that call you, and integrate with some third-party apps, like Uber or Zomato.
Other than that, it's a large device that perfectly embodies the sign of the times: flat design, a punch-hole display, and okay weight distribution. It's a big phone, nearly as large as a Galaxy S26 Ultra, but it's not at all uncomfortable to hold and use. A non-customizable button on the left side can be used to quickly add on-screen content to your Essential Space.
The phone is IP64-rated, so while it survives freshwater dunks to some extent, don't treat it as a completely watertight phone.
We had the Black and White versions on us. | Image by PhoneArena
The phone is available in Black, Blue, and White colors. Honestly, the White one is definitely the most eye-catching, but I went for the Black one for the extra stealthiness.
There's a case in the box, but it's not necessarily one you'd want to use. | Image by PhoneArena
Inside the box, you'd find the Nothing Phone (4b) itself, the manual, a USB-C cable, a comically large SIM ejector, and a soft TPU case that's better than nothing but is a pretty low-quality one. Mine was all crooked and deformed, so it didn't fit the phone well at all.
Up front, we get a massive 6.8-inch AMOLED display with a 120 Hz refresh rate and protected by Dragontrail glass. It's a fairly standard screen that doesn't really set itself apart with anything in particular, but for what it's worth, it's a decent one.
Display Measurements:
In our in-house display tests, the screen achieves a peak brightness of 1,119 nits, which is decent for the price niche but isn't very impressive when compared to other much brighter screens. In bright environmental conditions, the display is legible, but don't expect wonders out of it. The minimum brightness of 2.2 nits isn't particularly impressive, either.
The phone has an optical fingerprint scanner, which works well. It's accurate and fairly fast, but it's positioned a bit too low on the screen; I have to stretch my thumb unnaturally in order to reach it.
Nothing Phone (4b) Camera
A reliable camera on board
Don't expect wonders. | Image by PhoneArena
The Nothing Phone (4b) comes with a basic dual-camera setup at the back, consisting of a 50 MP main and 8 MP ultrawide cameras with fairly small sensors. Not a setup that impresses on paper, immediately setting the expectations to low.
But you know what? While the camera isn't exemplary in terms of dynamic range, detail, or color science, this camera setup is at least consistent and dependable. You won't get Instagram-worthy photos every time, but at least you'll know what you can expect from the camera.
There are some decent software features. You can capture Motion Photos (like Apple's Live Photos), add custom watermarks, and more. Surprisingly, the Nothing Phone (4b) also supports custom LUTs and allows you to import custom filters or even create ones yourself easily and share them with the community.
Nothing Phone (4b) camera samples
And judging from the few samples above, you can clearly judge the Nothing Phone (4b) to be a reliable albeit unimpressive camera. For what it's worth, the camera delivers sharp images with a fairly good dynamic range. The colors are mostly realistic and not overly punchy. There's a lot of oversharpening going on, which seems to be a recurring theme with most devices in the same price range. Artifacts and noise are present, but only when you pixel-peep and shoot in less than ideal lighting.
Nothing Phone (4b) Performance & Benchmarks
Humble origins
Great for gaming and emulation. | Image by PhoneArena
The Snapdragon 6 Gen 4 is the chipset of choice on the Nothing Phone (4b). It's a very decent mid-range Qualcomm chip built on a 4 nm manufacturing node with some decent gaming and emulation capabilities. For everyday stuff, the phone is fast enough and is mostly on the same grade as an Android flagship phone from roughly half a decade ago.
How does it perform in synthetic benchmarks?
In the Geekbench 6 tests we ran, the Nothing Phone (4b) beats two of its bigger rivals, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 15 5G and the Motorola Moto G Power (2026), leading both in the single- and multi-core tests.
GPU Performance
What about gaming? Largely depends on the game.
Playing Call of Duty: Mobile was a compromise despite the large screen that allowed me to utilize my full four-finger claw layout. The game ran fairly well at the "Low" graphics preset at over 100 fps, though the phone got noticeably warm during regular multiplayer but altogether hot in a ranked battle royale match. Throttling is to be expected after a few minutes of gaming anyway.
You should also know that by default games are restricted to not go over 60 fps; to circumvent that, you have to disable the 60 fps frame limiter in developer options if you desire smoother gameplay. Not a dedicated gaming phone, but you can definitely get by playing games on it.
Yet, in the 3DMark Wild Life Extreme stress test, the Nothing Phone (4b) beats its rivals and achieves higher scores. That's very indicative of the gaming performance you will get, and it's not bad at all!
Storage speed
The Nothing Phone (4b) comes with either 128 GB or 256 GB built-in storage (there is no microSD card support here). Both storage models use UFS 2.2-type storage. There's 8 GB of LPDDR4X RAM, which is lowly but enough for basic stuff.
Nothing Phone (4b) Software
Nothing OS is minimalist and easy to like. | Images by Screenshots by PhoneArena
The phone arrives with Nothing OS 4.1 based on Android 16. The interface is fairly close to stock Android but with Nothing's own aesthetic painted all over, with the monochrome icons and dot matrix lines. It's an acquired taste for sure, and I for one completely adore the black and white aesthetic, no matter how cliché it is.
I particularly like the unique widgets of Nothing OS, they are a cut above the average default widget you might get on an Android phone.
Functionality-wise, there are a bunch of basic AI features on board. There's Essential Space, which lets you save screenshots and voice memos. There's also Essential Voice, an AI-powered feature that lets you quickly transform speech into text. You also get a wallpaper studio that uses––you guessed it––AI to create wallpapers for you. Gemini is on board, of course.
The phone will receive three major Android updates but will get security patches for six years (until 2032).
Nothing Phone (4b) Battery
Surprisingly good!
In Europe and the UK, the Nothing Phone (4b) arrives with a 5,200 mAh battery, while the model for India has a larger 6,000 mAh cell. No version uses a silicon-carbon battery, it's lithium-ion all the way. I know this hints at unimpressive battery life, but that couldn't be farther from the truth.
In the battery tests that we ran, the Nothing Phone (4b) performs admirably, and it's easily a two-day phone with sparser usage.
The Nothing Phone (4b) performs well in the PhoneArena web browsing test, which aims to simulate a regular browsing workflow. The phone lasts for 18 hours and 55 minutes, which is above the average we've tested. In our video playback test, the phone scores 11 hours and 43 minutes, which is also above the average, and the same is true for our 3D gaming test, where the device beats the average by 15 minutes.
Overall, the device gets a battery life estimate of eight hours, which is half an hour more than the average, and that's a very decent result.
PhoneArena Battery Test Results:
Up to 33 W wired charging is supported, but you will have to source the wall adapter yourself. The phone charges from 0 to 100% in an hour and a half; a 30-minute charge gets you roughly 39% of charge.
USB-C in the right spot. | Image by PhoneArena
Definitely not the fastest device to charge. There's no wireless on board.
Nothing Phone (4b) Audio Quality and Haptics
I can't beat around the bush, the haptics of the Nothing Phone (4b) are terrible. Muddy, laggy, and low-pitched, I disabled these system-wide within three minutes of me getting the phone.
The dual speakers on board are pretty loud, with some distortion at higher volume levels. The bass is decent for what it's worth. The soundstage isn't too wide and big, but listening to music is fairly enjoyable mostly due to the powerful low-frequency response, making this phone ideal for bassheads that hate earbuds.
Nothing Phone (4b) Specs
Here are the complete specs of the Nothing Phone (4b).
|
|
| Nothing Phone (4b) | Samsung Galaxy A37 5G |
| Dimensions | |
|---|---|
| 164.4 x 78.2 x 8.6 mm | 162.9 x 78.2 x 7.4 (~10.1 mm with camera bump) |
| Weight | |
| 210.0 g | 196.0 g |
| Size | |
|---|---|
| 6.8-inch | 6.7-inch |
| Type | |
| AMOLED, 120Hz | Super AMOLED, 120Hz |
| System chip | |
|---|---|
| Snapdragon 6 Gen 4 SM6650 (4 nm) | Exynos 1480 (4 nm) |
| Memory | |
| 8GB (LPDDR4X)/128GB (UFS 2.2) 8GB/256GB | 6GB (LPDDR5)/128GB (UFS 3.1) 8GB/256GB |
| Type | |
|---|---|
| 5200 mAh | 5000 mAh |
| Charge speed | |
| Wired: 33.0W | Wired: 45.0W |
| Main camera | |
|---|---|
| 50 MP (OIS, PDAF) Aperture size: F1.8 Sensor size: 1/2.76" |
50 MP (OIS, PDAF) Aperture size: F1.8 Sensor size: 1/1.56" |
| Second camera | |
| 8 MP (Ultra-wide) Aperture size: F2.2 Focal Length: 15 mm Sensor size: 1/4" Pixel size: 1.12 μm | 8 MP (Ultra-wide) Aperture size: F2.2 Sensor size: 1/4" Pixel size: 1.12 μm |
| Third camera | |
| 5 MP (Macro) Aperture size: F2.4 |
|
| Front | |
| 16 MP | 12 MP |
See the full
Nothing Phone (4b) vs Samsung Galaxy A37 5G specs comparison
or compare them to other phones using our
Phone Comparison tool
Should you buy it?
You can do better at the same price point. | Image by PhoneArena
I will be completely honest: I like the general idea behind the Nothing Phone (4b), even though the execution is far from perfect. Sure, many corners have been cut, but overall, this phone is decent value, especially if you can stomach the mostly generic design and the not-so-impressive camera.
My biggest gripe with the device? It lacks that signature Nothing pizzazz and drama that made previous Nothing phones so interesting.
In Europe, in particular, there are some strong rivals like the Motorola Moto G Power (2026), the Xiaomi Redmi Note 15 5G, the Galaxy A37, and even Nothing's own Phone (4a). It's a pretty crowded space, and the Nothing Phone (4b) will have a tough time fitting in. Yet, I believe it can carve a niche for itself.
Should you get it? Consider it, definitely, but definitely check what its rivals offer in the same price tag.
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