CMF Phone 2 Pro Review: The Good and The Bad The Real Deal

Last updated on October 31st, 2025 at 07:27 am

Let me put it this way: I lived with the CMF Phone 2 Pro for three weeks, and it’s just not correct. However, for ₹20,000, anything could be possible. Some parts are remarkably good value for money

other parts clearly miss the mark but let’s discuss only what really matters now.

What Actually Works

The display of the screen really knocked me over. You’re talking about one huge 6.77-inch AMOLED panel, with 120Hz refresh rate and 3,000 nits peak brightness. I used it outdoors on afternoon walks and never had visibility drop off once. This is what you want in a phone display. Scrolling through Instagram felt deliciously smooth watching YouTube late at night no longer strained my eyes.

Battery life. OK. I was able to get through whole days with moderate use I did some gaming, a lot of scrolling, and video calls. The 5,000mAh battery yielded approximately 89 hours of mixed-use screen-on time. That’s pretty good. But here’s the bizzare bit: when you were making long phone calls and using 5G continuously, almost all the power would get sucked out. For instance, a 45-minute conversation took down my power 12%. Not quite what I had expected from a battery of this type.

The camera set-up looks very high-end 50MP main, 50MP tele, and 8MP ultra-wide. Now the telephoto lens, this is a first in the budget sector, was in all honesty good fun to use. Close shots came out sharp and the 2x optical zoom was up to most situations. But at 10x auto focus goes haywire. Portrait mode became a lottery at higher zoom levels. And let me tell you compared with the main lens, the ultra-wide camera felt a bit like an afterthought: washed colors.

Compared with OS 3.2 Nothing is like a clean slate. Rather, the addition of bloatware, spammy notifications and all the rest is optional. Out of the box it is just Google’s essential apps and a few Nothing utilities.

I’m used to the larger widgets and changing themes. The monochrome UI mode is cool, and I like different Always-On Display pictures for myself. It’s all personalized. Not like using someone else’s phone with pre-loaded junk.

Where the Shoe Pinches

Here’s what annoyed me: the single bottom-firing speaker. Even with maximum volume, it scarcely filled the silence of my tiny room. It felt incomplete to watch Netflix without headphones. For stereo speakers you usually have to fork out more, I suppose.

At first gaming was going great for me. I could run BGMI at 120fps with no trouble wonderful experience. Live online twenty minutes later? Frame drops. Stuttering. The phone grew warm, and its performance suffered a bit. You can play a few games at leisure, but marathon gaming marathons require other designs.

Wi-Fi connectivity was also problematic for me. I’d get three bars on the CMF Phone 2 Pro while my old phone only showed two in that same spot. Downloads were slower, and streaming from time to time included buffering. It wasn’t a dealbreaker by any means, but it was noticeable.

Charging seemed slow too. With the 33W fast charge it took me about 90 minutes to recharge completely. Compare that to phones offering 60W or more and it’s hard to avoid feeling you’re waiting longer than necessary. A half-charge took twenty minutes which is not too bad, but to fully recharge I had to exercise some real patience.

The Essential Key which is a unique button for taking screenshots and making notes felt neat at first. After about a week, I’ve barely used it. It felt like a phony thing, thrown in for marketing rather than usability.

Should You Buy It?

The Phone 2 Pro continues in the CMF quartet tradition of caring about design, software experience, and battery life. The display is the only handset so far to manage over 7 hours of screenon time on a regular basis during our two weeks of testing, which alone makes it worth considering. But if you’re big on audio quality, sustained gaming or fast charging, you’ll feel the compromises.

Here’s my take: It’s among the top options at ₹20,000, but you should keep in mind “better” doesn’t mean flawless. The thermal issues during gaming and low speaker output bothered me more than expected. The camera showed up in good lighting but struggled with low light.

If you’re coming from a budget phone and want something that feel premium without spending flagship money, just go for it. But be prepared to know what you’re getting into. The CMF Phone 2 Pro is honest about what it offers and that’s precisely what we mean in this article too.