Edward Collins 
Mar 14, 2024
The Nothing Phone 2a was initially priced at $349, but saw a price drop to $250 in India through a special offer, followed by an impressive giveaway of a $200 bonus. This bonus is essentially a one-year subscription to Perplexity AI's Pro version (valued at $200), available to early adopters until March 19.
The Nothing team is currently engaging in an intensive marketing drive, hosting Pop-up events to showcase their new, affordable, yet impressive phone to fans and potential customers. This device, in my short time with it, seems to be Nothing's finest creation so far.
A less emphasised but equally significant aspect of Nothing's marketing strategy is its valuable partnership with Perplexity. At its core, Perplexity is a generative AI chatbot for web summarsation that combines the intelligence of ChatGPT with the flexibility of other top AI models.
Read more: Nothing Phone 2a design renders leaked — Key specifications, launch date confirmed
In my experience, it has effectively halved the time I used to spend on Google Search. Perplexity is adept at extracting concise information from the web, avoiding the clutter of ad-heavy, SEO-focused articles that dominate current search engines.
In conjunction with Arc Search, another superb AI tool for web summarisation, Perplexity stands as a strong contender to replace or at least reduce reliance on traditional web searches. The Pro version of Perplexity adds substantial value for the average Nothing Phone 2a user.
The most significant advantage of the Pro version is access to OpenAI's latest and most dynamic GPT-4 Turbo model, along with the option to switch to Anthropic's Claude 3 model, renowned for its capabilities in mathematics, reasoning, and knowledge processing.
Gaining access to the latest Claude models isn't a given, as Anthropic's subscription service starts at $20 per month, similar to the cost of other services like ChatGPT Plus, Microsoft's Copilot Pro, and Google's AI Premium Plan for Gemini Advanced. The latest GPT-4 model for ChatGPT Plus also requires a subscription.
However, AI is not without its drawbacks, including a tendency for "hallucinations," as explained by Perplexity's CEO Srinivas. Moreover, the rise of AI-driven search tools like Perplexity poses ethical and moral questions for the survival of independent websites and reader-supported outlets in an era where AI summarises web content.
This presents a challenging dilemma for the web, with no clear solutions currently available. In my opinion, AI tools like Perplexity are beneficial for urgent information needs, but it's still vital to engage with journalistic content, which is the product of extensive research, testing, interviews, and industry expertise.
It will be interesting to see if Nothing expands its collaboration with Perplexity in other innovative ways, possibly integrating AI tools for more personalised and dynamic user experiences.
