Nothing Phone (1) - 8GB RAM + 256GB, Glyph Interface, 50 MP dual camera, Nothing OS, 6.55” 120Hz OLED display, White

Product Information

The home screen is just as customizable with Nothing’s own widgets that let you access apps like Weather without having to actually open them. For instance, I can swipe up on the circle on the bottom left to see the current temperature as well as each day’s high and low. In the top left corner of my new phone, I’ve added a photo widget with pictures of my son that change each time I open the phone. This helps me keep what’s really important in mind instead of getting lost in my phone. Nothing isn’t rewriting the rulebook when it comes to the Phone (1)’s blueprint, but it is trying to differentiate itself with a striking design. With that said, what is on offer with the Nothing Phone (1) is more than enough for most users. RAM comes in either 8 or 12GB sizes, while the mid-range Snapdragon 778G+ chip has been tweaked especially for Nothing thanks to the addition of both wireless, and reverse wireless charging. I fired up some HDR videos on YouTube and they popped with brightness, while the screen can hit just under 500 nits of brightness in everyday use. This is enough to cope with brighter days and the Nothing Phone (1) managed to avoid becoming unusable in direct sunlight. The phone has no telephoto camera but the digital zoom produced usable images at 2x, becoming full of artefacts after about 5x magnification. The glyphs can be lit up to create a fill light at night instead of using the flash, which is novel but produces a blue hue to the images. The selfie camera is equally good, producing detailed photos in good light.

There is one aspect of the Nothing Phone I’ve entirely glossed over though. If you put it face up and side by side with one of the best iPhones, it’s quite hard for the average person to tell the difference. Those who know will be able to spot it but the Nothing Phone’s dimensions, outer frame, curvature and even its size are really quite close to an iPhone. After putting it next to my wife’s iPhone 14 Pro Max though, there’s one thing that Nothing did better than Apple: the phone’s volume and power buttons are slightly lower which makes them easier to reach. It’s a design feature so distinctive that Nothing also opted to use the system on the newer Nothing Phone (2). The Nothing Phone 2 gets a slightly bigger battery than the original phone, perhaps owing to being a slightly larger phone all around. I had no trouble making it through a full day on a single charge with the Nothing Phone 2, and there are probably many aspects of the phone that help. The Nothing Phone (1) is unique in its approach to design. The mid-priced handset is transparent, allowing you to take a peek at the internal componentry, with an intriguing set of LED lights on the rear. Nothing calls this the “Glyph Interface” and it’s used for ringtones and notifications, as well as a charging indicator and a fill light for the rear camera. You can customize ringtones with the glyph lights, and you can set different lights for different people, or different types of notifications. That’s kind of useful, but I could have a simple sound effect do the same thing. You can use the lights as a fill lamp for the camera, but it isn’t powerful enough to light up your subject unless you’re fairly close.

FAQs

If the lights are a disappointment, the interface was a pleasant surprise. The NothingOS 2 is a fairly basic Android implementation. Nothing isn’t adding a ton of features like you’ll find on Samsung Galaxy phones. Instead, Nothing tries to eliminate distractions by eliminating color and text. There’s no bloatware, with only the usual selection of Google’s first-party applications. That said, it’s worth mentioning that there’s currently an experimental feature in the phone’s settings that allows you to connect to your Tesla – you can monitor air-con levels and remotely open your boot, among other things – and an NFT wallet app is scheduled to be released via a future update. Video recording was solid for the money but only up to 4K at 30 frames a second, not 60 as is increasingly common. Meanwhile, the Phone (1)’s wide-angle camera produced mixed results in testing. If you’re blessed with plenty of natural light there’s not much to complain about, but as the sun begins to set the visual noise creeps in. The camera adds a warm hue to these low-light images as well. Durability is going to be an issue with the Nothing Phone 2. This sequel is more water resistant than the original Nothing Phone, but not by much. It can take a splash, but you can’t dunk it. Heavy rain could probably destroy this phone.

The Nothing Phone (1) is sandwiched between two layers of Gorilla Glass 5 for impact and scratch protection, with an IP53 water resistance rating. A fingerprint sensor is positioned underneath the screen. Nothing Phone (1) review: Glyph Interface With LTPO technology, the screen can slow down to one refresh per second or ramp up to 120Hz, as needed. That makes for an always-on display that won’t drain your battery significantly, and Nothing does a nice job designing the always-on screen and making it very useful. It may help that I am using the highest-tier model of the Nothing Phone 2 for my review. There are 8GB and 12GB models available, and that much RAM can make a difference in an Android phone. I’m sure apps will still run smoothly on both models, but if you switch between apps often or work with large games, you might want to spring for the extra memory. I’d like a persistent light, and something larger than just the smallest bar at the bottom of the glyph. Why not embrace the glyph with everything we’ve got? Like other aspects of the phone, the battery and charging treat the glyph as less than a feature, and more like an annoyance. For charging, I used an Anker charger capable of up to 65W, much more than the 45W charging that Nothing Phone 2 offers. Nothing says this phone can charge to 100% in 55 minutes and I can verify that claim. I got to a full battery in under an hour.Display: The Phone 1’s 6.55-inch OLED display is crisp, colorful, and fluid. The choice of a flexible panel was key to those symmetrical bezels, as the display wraps neatly into the base of the phone on all sides. The adaptive brightness is a little too aggressive at times, and it’s hampered a little by the minimal customization options in Nothing OS, but more broadly, this is a high-quality panel. While there have been some reports of green tint problems, our Nothing Phone 1 review unit did not have this issue. It has, however, been affected by the display brightness controversy. Originally advertised as peaking at 1,200 nits, Nothing has restricted the screen brightness to a max of 700 nits. Unless you’re in direct sunlight, you won’t notice this at all, and even then, it’s far from the dimmest screen on phones at this price point. Nevertheless, it’s a shame Nothing wasn’t upfront about it in the first place. Yet I’m curious to see how the Nothing Phone (1) is received by the average consumer. Primarily appealing to tech enthusiasts, it will be interesting to see whether the Phone (1) achieves a wider reach, including those less informed about the newest releases who simply want a new phone without having to pay too much. Things have been improved with the Android 13-based Nothing OS 2.0 on the Nothing Phone (2), however, and Nothing has promised that the update will hit the Nothing Phone (1) in the coming months. Battery Life The results were less impressive with the secondary ultrawide lens. The colours are very different when you switch and the end product is a bit disappointing. Still, I like the addition of this focal length and it can still produce some nice images. The ultrawide camera is good for added versatility Gaming performance is a different story, with the Nothing Phone (1) hitting an average onscreen frame rate of 82fps in the GFXBench Manhattan 3 test. That’s roughly 44% faster than both the Samsung Galaxy A53 5G and OnePlus Nord 2T 5G. One thing to note is that the Google Pixel 6a’s flagship Tensor chip is technically faster than the Snapdragon 778G+, but it is limited by a 60Hz screen.

Call quality, Wi-Fi performance and cellular connectivity are all good and the 8GB RAM in my review unit is more than enough for a day’s worth of apps to stay in memory. The Nothing Phone (1) is a remarkable first effort for the fledgling company. With a unique design, quirky LED lighting effects, a clean installation of Android and a sublime screen, the Phone (1) is well and truly on the way to becoming a hallmark of the mid-range scene. Video doesn’t seem to have been much of a focus for Nothing here, as the feature-set is minimal. You can shoot in 4K up to 60fps with a fairly standard level of stabilisation and that’s about it.I will continue to test the Nothing Phone 2 and update this review as it receives software updates. After the phone went on sale, Nothing offered a major software update, and every feature, especially the camera, was retested to account for any changes and improvements.