Chinese manufacturer Smartisan has launched a successor to its 6-month old Nut Pro smartphone. The Smartisan Nut Pro 2 is a complete overhaul in terms of specs and design when compared to its predecessor.
Smartisan Nut Pro 2 Design
Smartisan is one of the few Chinese manufacturers that pays serious attention to its design. Even though the specs put it in the mid-range category, the design is well above its class.
The Nut Pro 2 has a metal and glass design – glass on both sides. Smartisan doesn’t mention the protection though but there is a high chance it is Gorilla Glass.
The 18:9 display is the highlight of the front. Smartisan doesn’t go for very thin bezels but there is a significant reduction compared to its predecessors. The top bezel is bare save for the front facing camera in the middle. And while it may be easy to miss, there is actually a slit for the earpiece between the glass and the metal frame.
The Smartisan Nut Pro 2 has also taken a unique approach to the design of its dual rear cameras. Not only do they not share a single housing, but one sensor is significantly larger than the other and also appears to be slightly raised. The smaller sensor and the LED flash are flush with the body.
The buttons are also different from the norm. Round buttons instead of the bars we are used to seeing. The Nut Pro 2 finishes the design with the Smartisan logo in the middle and a thin line that goes round the frame. That line is red on the black variant but gold for the red and champagne color variants.
If we had to do a ranking based on looks alone, the Nut 2 Pro will likely be in the top three.
Smartisan Nut Pro 2 Specs
The Nut Pro 2 packs a 5.99″ in-cell 18:9 display with a 2160 x 1080 resolution. It is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 660 mobile platform. Where things get interesting is in the memory and storage configuration.
While most manufacturers usually announce a different RAM and ROM variant(s) for their phones months after the initial announcement, Smartisan has taken a different approach. The Nut Pro 2 will be available in 5 different variants:
- 4GB RAM + 32GB ROM
- 4GB RAM + 64GB ROM
- 6GB RAM + 64GB ROM
- 6GB RAM + 128GB ROM
- 6GB RAM + 256GB ROM
Apart from the difference in RAM and storage configuration, other features are the same.
The Smartisan Nut Pro 2 packs dual rear cameras as is common in most phones today. The primary sensor is a 12MP Sony IMX386 1.25um wide-angle sensor with a F/1.8 aperture and PDAF. It is paired with a 5MP Samsung S5K4E8 1.4um F/2.0 sensor for capturing depth of field using ArcSoft dual camera bokeh technology.
The front camera is a 16MP F/2.2 sensor with AI beauty modes. It also uses the ArcSoft bokeh technology for portrait selfies.
Beneath the metal and glass body of the Nut 2 Pro is a 3,500mAh battery. With support for Quick Charge 3.0, Smartisan says you should be able to recharge your phone up to 80% in just one hour.
You may be wondering if the Nut Pro 2 does have a fingerprint scanner. It is not below the screen like in the Nut Pro and since the manufacturer is known for keeping its logo on the back, you may think its embedded in the power button. But its obvious it can’t be embedded in the power button based on the design and the small size.
To our surprise, the fingerprint scanner is actually embedded underneath the Smartisan logo on the back. Right now, all I can think of is how Motorola hasn’t been able to pull this off with the Batwing logo on the rear of its phones.
The fingerprint scanner on the Nut Pro 2 boasts a 0.1s unlock speed, support for payment, and can store up to 10 different fingerprints. There is also a face unlock feature that can detect up to 1024 distinct facial features.
The phone has dual SIM support (nano only), a USB-C port, and NFC. Sadly it ditches the 3.5mm audio jack.
Smartisan says the phone will receive an update to Smartisan OS 4.1 starting from December 7. The update will bring a total of 131 new features and 63 optimizations. It will also update its Big Bang feature to version 2.2.
READ MORE: Smartisan Gets $150m Funding To keep It Alive
Smartisan Nut Pro 2 Price and Availability
The Smartisan Nut Pro 2 sells for ¥1799 (~$270) and ¥1999 (~$300) for the 4GB RAM + 32GB ROM and 4GB RAM + 64GB ROM variants respectively. The 6GB RAM + 64GB model is ¥2299 (~$345). ¥2699 (~$406) will get you the 128GB mode and ¥3299 (~$497) will get you the 256GB model.
Pre-orders have begun today on the official Smartisan website as well as JD.com.
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