Nothing Phone (1) – mid-range phone

Nothing is a newcomer to the phone market. It is headed by a founding member of Oneplussa Carl Peiwho left Oneplussa at the end of 2020 and focused entirely on a new phone brand.

Before the phone, Nothing had time to release the Ear (1) wireless noise-cancelling headphones, which are good basic headphones, for a good hundred euros. The headphones follow the same idea as the phone in that their shell is transparent, so that the components inside are visible.

The transparent back cover makes the Nothing Phone (1) an interesting novelty. There has been a demand for transparent covers on the market for a long time, and protective stickers have been offered for phones that make the back cover look like you can see through it.

900 LEDs on the back

The transparent back cover of the Nothing phone reveals a copper coil that supports wireless charging (white or black depending on the color of the phone), as well as a feature that sets Nothing apart from its competitors. 900 white LED lights are placed under the phone’s glass back cover. The lights are placed in strips around the camera and the charging coil, and diagonally in the upper right corner and down in the shape of an exclamation mark.

The LED lights placed at the back are not just decorative, but can actually be useful for the user. Nothing calls its user interface Glyph, which, according to the manufacturer, offers a new way to communicate. The LED lights can be adjusted through the phone’s settings so that they display the notifications that arrive on the phone, and they can be used to quickly identify the caller based on the notification pattern.

Glyph also tells the user the battery charge level when charging, and the lights can also be used as a fill light when shooting. The lights also react to the ringing sound, forming different patterns. In addition to the white LEDs, there is also one red light on the back of the phone, which works as a recording light.

The LED lights are definitely the most interesting feature of the Nothing Phone, but it means that the user has to get used to holding the phone with the screen facing down. I personally store the phone on the table with the screen facing up, so that the possible dirt on the table does not scratch the screen. During the test, I had to learn to store the phone in a new way.

Glyph is not a revolutionary feature, but once you get used to the light notifications, you have to say that it is by no means a useless feature to try to market the phone with. The light notifications were especially convenient during the workday, when you could see what was going on without looking at the screen with a quick glance. In addition, the lights indicate the battery charge level when the phone is connected to the charger.

Apart from the transparent back cover, the design of the Nothing Phone is very similar to the new iPhones. The corners of the phone are rounded like the iPhone 13 and the phone is the same size as the iPhone 13 Pro and feels the same in the hand with the difference that the Nothing Phone is a little lighter.

Nothing offers its own Nothing OS user interface based on Android 12. The user experience is nicely stripped down and clean, and not much extra has been included in the phone. Nothing has promised to bring three Android version updates and four years of security updates to the phone. This is a big plus for Nothing, as in this price range the upgrade promise is usually worse except for Samsung.

Some children’s diseases came across during the test, which will probably be fixed with updates. One of the most annoying errors was often encountered when unlocking the phone, when the home view did not open, but only the background image was displayed on the screen. This was fixed by locking the screen and unlocking it again. In addition, the night display remained on despite the timing, and not all chargers worked on the phone, but the phone remained in a limbo of fast and slow charging.

Otherwise, using the phone was smooth and applications opened quickly. The connections worked reliably and the usability of the phone was comparable to more expensive phones.

A basic performer in terms of cameras

In addition to the front camera, Nothing Phone includes only two rear cameras, which deviates from the current trend, where there are starting to be several cameras. According to Nothing, less is more and the device focuses on the quality of the cameras and not the quantity.

The phone’s main camera is Sony’s 50 megapixel IMX766 sensor with f/1.88 aperture and optical image stabilization. The second camera has 50 megapixels and an ultra-wide angle of 114 degrees. There is a 16 megapixel front camera on the front.

Shooting with Nothing Phone is as effortless as with other current smartphone cameras. With automatic settings, the end result is nice and natural, and night photography and object recognition are also available. The colors are naturally repeated in the pictures, although there is quite a lot of contrast. It can be said that Nothing’s camera is fully qualified for so-called basic photography.

The overall impression of the cameras is very good and fundamentally reliable. We didn’t test the night photography very extensively, but with a little testing, the results were quite good.

Although according to Nothing, most of the pictures are taken with the so-called main camera, the absence of a telephoto camera was a bit disturbing during the test. There were a few situations in the test period where it would have been useful, and the digital zoom does not really cover the absence of the telephoto camera itself. However, the lack of a telephoto camera for a phone in this price range can be forgiven.

Below you can see pictures taken with Nothing Phone’s automatic settings.

Effective enough

On the iron side, Nothing Phone (1) ranks nicely in its price category. It has a Snapdragon 778G+ chipset, a 4500 mAh battery, a 6.55-inch Amoled display panel with a 120 Hz refresh rate, and the already mentioned support for wireless charging.

At this point, it is good to highlight the phone’s 4500 mAh battery, which could have been bigger. However, during the test it turned out that the battery optimization works well on the phone. Although the phone is not the best on the market in terms of battery life, the battery had enough power for a day with moderate use. However, with more active use, the battery wears down quite quickly, and for longer trips you should bring a spare power source.

The battery charges very quickly, but Chinese brands, for example, lag far behind in charging speeds. The sales package does not come with a charger, but the phone supports 33 watt wired charging, which is not a lot by today’s standards. is

There are three different memory versions of Nothing Phone: 8/128 GB (499 euros), 8/256 GB (529 euros) and 12/256 GB (579 euros). The prices of the models are moderate, and the price does not increase by more than tens between versions. The price range makes Nothing Phone a viable competitor on the market.

The material choices and the feeling of quality are also one big distinguishing factor compared to competitors. Whereas many products in this price range are made of plastic, Nothing Phone’s glass and aluminum frame feel high-quality in the hand.

All in all, Nothing has succeeded very well with its first phone. Purely in terms of its user interface and user experience, it doesn’t manage to surprise much, except for the LED lights, but it doesn’t need to. It is a high-quality basic phone that will certainly meet the needs of many users. It is not intended to challenge the flagship models of iPhone or Samsung.

Nothing has stated that the mid-price category has been underfoot for a long time. The devices do not get excited, and this can be signed. Nothing Phone (1) is a nice breeze that really gets you excited.

It will be interesting to see what this company has to offer in the future. In the online meeting, I asked Nothing if its intention is to focus on medium-priced products. Nothing’s representative denied this, and in the future it is quite possible that Nothing will also see a model that challenges the flagship category.