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SimplyAmplifying

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What the experts found, in one honest verdict

Nothing Phone (4b) review roundup: what the experts found

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by

Phone Desk (AI)

in

SimplyAmplifying score: 7.8/10 · Confidence: High · Based on 5 in-depth review(s) from 4 outlets, and 24 article(s) read in full

First published 6 October 2026 · Last updated 6 October 2026 · Updated 1 time as new reviews came in

Reviewers’ own scores: Trusted Reviews 4/5 · T3 4/5 · Beebom 8/10

The verdict

Reviewers broadly like the Nothing Phone (4b). Trusted Reviews and T3 gave it 4/5 and Beebom gave it 8/10. The praise centres on endurance, clean software and a distinctive look. The main complaints are an average camera, modest 33W charging, weaker gaming and a screen that trails rivals outdoors. Evidence is solid overall, but thinner on value, where outlets disagree.

Best for: Buyers who want long battery life, clean software and a distinctive design for everyday use.
Skip it if: You game heavily, want a strong camera with zoom, or want fast charging.

Scores by category

CategoryScoreConfidenceOutlets
Camera7.3/10High11
Battery life9.1/10High11
Performance7.0/10Medium10
Display7.1/10Medium11
Software8.7/10High8
Charging5.8/10High8
Design & build8.2/10Medium11
Value6.0/10Low6

What reviewers liked

  • Strong battery life in the tests that measured it
  • Clean, light Nothing OS 4.1 with three OS and six security update years
  • Distinctive transparent design with Glyph lighting and IP64 protection
  • Smooth everyday performance and a 120Hz AMOLED screen
  • Natural-looking main camera photos in daylight

What they didn’t

  • Heavy games stutter in several reviews
  • Ultrawide is soft, there is no telephoto and digital zoom is poor
  • 33W charging is slow, with no wireless charging
  • Outdoor brightness trails rivals in most reviews

In detail

Camera: 7.3/10

NotebookCheck, Trusted Reviews and Beebom found the 50MP main camera gives pleasant, natural daylight shots, though NotebookCheck saw blown-out bright areas. The ultrawide is soft, and Trusted Reviews called its detail fuzzy. There is no telephoto, so zoom is digital only. Trusted Reviews saw severe detail loss beyond 2-3x. NotebookCheck and T3 said the small sensor limits low-light results. Digit was the most positive, praising portraits and low light, and Beebom said night shots work reasonably. NotebookCheck and Trusted Reviews liked the selfies. Android Authority judged from specs alone. Most outlets rate the camera as average for the price.

Battery life: 9.1/10

Outlets that tested battery life were impressed. T3 measured 16 hours of background streaming and said it covers a full waking day with 25% left at bedtime. Beebom also got a full day with 25% left, averaging about 7 hours of screen-on time. Digit reached the end of two days of moderate use with 20% remaining. NotebookCheck and Trusted Reviews praised the endurance too, without giving figures. Capacity appears to vary by region: NotebookCheck and Trusted Reviews cite 5,200 mAh, while Beebom and Digit cite 6,000 mAh. Check which version is sold where you live. Several outlets only listed capacity.

Performance: 7.0/10

Outlets agree that everyday use is smooth and that benchmarks are mid-range. Beebom recorded an AnTuTu score of 1,031,121, and Trusted Reviews measured Geekbench 6 results of 1090 single-core and 3177 multi-core. Trusted Reviews found navigation, streaming and social media snappy. Digit said apps launch quickly and multitasking is smooth. Gaming splits opinion. T3 saw no throttling on the 8GB model. Beebom reported frequent frame drops in BGMI and Call of Duty, and Genshin could not hold 60 FPS. Trusted Reviews found heavy 3D games stutter. Android Central judged it poorly suited to gaming. 9to5Google only tried it hands-on.

Display: 7.1/10

The reviews agree on a 6.77-inch, 1080p, 120Hz AMOLED with vivid colour and clean blacks. Brightness is the sticking point. NotebookCheck measured a peak of 1,160 cd/m², well under the advertised 2,000 nits. Trusted Reviews, T3 and Beebom also saw it trailing rivals outdoors, and T3 called the panel glossy and reflective. Beebom found it dimmer than the Phone (4a). Digit and FoneArena disagreed, finding it easy to read in strong sunlight. NotebookCheck praised the very fast response time, while Trusted Reviews noted there is no LTPO, so the refresh rate mostly stays at 120Hz.

Software: 8.7/10

Every outlet notes Android 16 with Nothing OS 4.1, three OS updates and six years of security patches. Only a few judged the experience. Beebom found it lightweight and smooth with minimal bloat, though it flagged preinstalled Instagram, Facebook and Amazon Prime Music. T3 called it a clean, near-stock interface with customisation options, and said three years of updates is decent but not class-leading. 9to5Google saw no lockscreen ads on its review unit. Most other outlets simply listed the features, so the evidence here is mostly positive but rests on a few voices.

Charging: 5.8/10

Outlets agree that 33W wired charging is modest and that there is no wireless charging. Beebom measured about an hour for a full charge and noted the Phone (4a) charges faster at 50W. FoneArena reported 50% in 27 minutes and a full charge in 80 minutes. Android Central called it slow for this tier, though it found 0-50% in under 30 minutes respectable. Android Authority called 80 minutes slow by 2026 standards. Digit said it is not competitive with several faster rivals, and T3 called the charging package below par. Nobody treats it as a deal-breaker, but nobody praises it.

Design & build: 8.2/10

Most outlets like the transparent, Glyph-lit design and the polycarbonate body with IP64 protection. Trusted Reviews found no creaking or twisting versus other budget phones and liked the Glyph Bar. Digit and FoneArena noted it is more bend-resistant than before. T3, 9to5Google and NotebookCheck found it sturdy and premium-feeling despite the plastic. Beebom disagreed, calling it thick, wide, heavy at 210g and not premium. Android Central and Digit noted thick bezels. NotebookCheck stressed that IP64 means splash protection only, and noted 128 GB storage in Germany with no microSD slot.

Value: 6.0/10

Evidence on value is thinner, and outlets disagree. 9to5Google said the price is only £50 or €80 below the Phone (4a), which offers more, and saw virtually no reason to buy the 4b in Europe. NotebookCheck found the Phone (4a) with the same storage cheaper than the 4b at some retailers. Android Police found £299 tempting against the 4a’s £349 launch price. Beebom recommended it for affordable mid-range buyers at the discounted price it quoted, despite the missing features. Compare local prices against the Phone (4a) before buying.

Sources

How we put this together

We read the reviews and articles listed above and weigh each by how much it should count: in-depth, hands-on testing with measurements counts most; launch news and press-release rewrites count least; sponsored content is penalised. Category scores are our trust-weighted summary of what those sources found, set to the same 10-point scale reviewers use; the reviewers’ own scores, where published, are listed above. This page was compiled with AI assistance and checked against the source notes. All findings belong to the outlets credited above; follow the links to read their full reviews. How we score.

Header image: AI illustration by SimplyAmplifying, drawn with reference photos of the product as a guide (not a copy of any one photo); scores drawn from this page’s data.

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