New company is going to battle with “boring” tech giants with transparent Nothing Phone (1) of 469 euros | Smartphones

During the run-up to today’s press conference, Pei hammered on the same nail several times: tech has become boring and that’s a shame. But with the Nothing Phone (1), the sector is not immediately turned upside down, marketing boss Akis Evangelidis nuances during a video conversation with HLN. “We are not going to reinvent hot water. We are a one and a half year old company so have to be humble about it. But we are at least going in the right direction,” he says.

The Nothing Phone (1) indeed immediately catches the eye because of a unique, but sleek design without an exuberant cost. As with many other phones, the back is made of glass. The difference is that with this Phone (1) there is no color layer under that glass, so you can look ‘inside’. For example, the coil for wireless charging can be seen centrally, but also one of the heat pipes that help cool the device. Everything is colored black or white, which makes it look neat.

The ‘Glyph’ can also be found at the back. Those are different lights in a quirky pattern. The ‘Glyph’ can be used to display notifications. The sounds of the ringtone match the vibration and the lighting of the ‘Glyph’. You can also switch it on to use as a fill light, which is less bright than the classic flash of a smartphone.

Furthermore, in terms of design, the Nothing Phone (1) has similarities with recent iPhones. The sides are made of recycled aluminum with a matte finish. At the front we find a flat screen with nicely symmetrical screen edges and a built-in fingerprint scanner.

That screen has a refresh rate of 120 frames per second. In this price range there are smartphones that can refresh the screen up to 144 times, but not everyone notices the difference.

The Nothing Phone (1) is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G+ processor, which can also be found in the Motorola Edge 30, among others. However, that chipset was adapted for Nothing to make wireless charging possible. You can also wirelessly provide other devices with extra battery life with the Phone (1). There is a battery of 4,500 mAh, which is the standard for this type of smartphone.

No special, self-designed parts such as tech giants such as Samsung, Apple and Google dare to use for their phones. For Nothing, the design and getting the user experience right was more important. “What we have spent the most time on when it comes to new innovations is the design. In order to coat the coil for wireless charging with a color, we had to carry out extensive tests,” marketing boss Evangelidis tells HLN.

That vision is extended to the cameras of the Nothing Phone (1). For example, we have already seen the main camera appear on the OnePlus 9. “We went for a sensor that can move and is optimized in terms of software. That way we had a solid foundation to start from. As a result, we didn’t have to start from scratch,” says the Nothing marketer.

There is also an ultra-wide-angle camera at the back of the Phone (1). The Samsung JN1 sensor was used for this, which can also be found in the (much more expensive) OnePlus 10 Pro. The selfie camera can be found at the top left through a hole in the screen and is also found in various OnePlus smartphones.

It is not illogical that Nothing will immediately break with the Phone (1). The company itself is aware of this. “Currently, we have agreed with the supply chain to make 700,000 phones. That’s the minimum number we sell,” says Akis Evangelidis. There is also talk of trying to sell one million copies.

With the Phone (1), Nothing tries to reach people who have a weakness for design and people who want something different. Then you quickly end up with iPhone users. “About 50 to 60 percent of our customers come from iOS devices,” according to Evangelidis. That is about the wireless earphones Ear (1). With a cost of 99 euros, you can buy it more easily than a new phone on a different operating system.

Apple remains a source of inspiration, with the success product that the iPhone still is. “Apple has managed to do something that no one else could. But at Nothing we mainly remember the Apple of a few years ago. The feeling of excitement when first interacting with the iPod or iPhone. We want to provoke that in people,” says the marketing boss. This can be achieved with the design alone, but the strength of the iPhone also lies in the day-to-day user experience and long-term reliability. That’s another question mark with Nothing.

If the Phone (1) sells well, Nothing will become one of the few new players who can achieve success. Essential, the startup of Android creator Andy Rubin, sold about 150,000 phones before the company went bankrupt, according to Bloomberg news agency. “It’s great that as a new player in the industry we get a chance, but if we don’t succeed, nobody will be new for a few years,” claims Evangelidis. The fact that Andy Rubin failed in his intent had less to do with the vision. “The execution wasn’t the best, to be honest,” said the Nothing marketing boss.

The company could also have launched a foldable smartphone to stand out as a newcomer, but according to Evangelidis that is a niche product: “The price tags are also surreal. We didn’t want to take such a big gamble. We are building on our vision step by step and want to survive as a company by selling enough products.”

The next steps are the further development of an open ecosystem. For example, a test is already running to connect to Teslas from the settings window of the Phone (1). However, that is less important than things like photo quality, battery life and ease of use, but you will read more about that next week on HLN.

The Nothing Phone (1) is for sale from July 21 at 8 a.m. on the company’s website† For 469 euros you get the basic model with 8 gigabytes of RAM and 128 gigabytes of storage. You have the model with the same amount of RAM, but 256 gigabytes of storage for 499 euros. At the end of this summer there will also be a model with 12 gigabytes of RAM and 256 gigabytes of storage, for 549 euros.

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