Nothing Phone (1) Review: Fun Lights, Just Right

It is uncommon for the primary technology of a shopper tech product to be almost excellent, however right here we’re with the Nothing Phone (1). It’s the first-ever smartphone from Nothing—a brand new firm headed by former OnePlus cofounder Carl Pei—and solely the corporate’s second-ever launch, following final 12 months’s Ear 1 wireless earbuds.

What’s not uncommon is for a first-gen product to have some form of flashy function to attract you in. Remember the Red Hydrogen One and its funky holographic show? The Essential Phone’s magnetic port that by no means actually amounted to a lot (for good reason)? Or even the Amazon Fire Phone’s “Dynamic Perspective”? The glitz on the Nothing Phone (1) is additional enjoyable: 900 LEDs beneath the glass on the rear that gentle up with distinctive patterns when notifications arrive and may act in its place digicam flash if you shoot in low gentle.

Nothing calls it the Glyph Interface. It’s foolish, and perhaps even gimmicky. But I like it. I like seeing it gentle up, a lot in order that I repeatedly flip the telephone round when it’s on my desk to see the design. I additionally love the enjoyable little sounds the machine makes with Nothing’s customized ringtones and alerts. Beep boop! (Fair warning: The alarm sounds might trigger you severe hurt if there’s somebody sleeping subsequent to you.) 

What units the Nothing Phone (1) other than different first-gen smartphones is that it nails each main operate splendidly. Take away the intense lights and also you’re left with a easy, inexpensive, and efficient telephone, from the display to the digicam to the battery. It’s exhausting to seek out many faults. The solely drawback? It’s not bought within the US.

Nothing Is Everything

Price is the whole lot nowadays, and the Nothing Phone (1) begins at £399, or roughly $472, placing it in league with the Google Pixel 5A (plus the upcoming Pixel 6A), Samsung Galaxy A53, and different gadgets from Xiaomi, Poco, and OnePlus. For the cash, you’re getting largely high-end smartphone specs, which is similar tactic OnePlus employed again within the good old days. 

There’s the distinctive 6.55-inch OLED show. It’s sharp and will get a lot shiny sufficient to obviously see on sunny summer time days. It additionally has a 120-Hz adaptive refresh rate, which makes each interplay with the telephone really feel easy, like a knife by mushy butter. It’s a good dimension—not too massive, not too small—with flat edges that make it straightforward to carry. 

Performance is one other standout. Powered by the midrange Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G+ with 8 GB of RAM, I’ve nary seen a stutter on the Nothing Phone (1). (You can improve to 12 GB RAM as nicely.) Games like Dead Cells and Alto’s Odyssey ran with out a hitch, and extra demanding titles like Genshin Impact carried out sufficiently nicely. The machine by no means acquired questionably heat both.  

All the opposite vital perks are right here, together with wi-fi charging, reverse wi-fi charging to juice up your wi-fi earbuds in a pinch, NFC for contactless funds, an exquisite haptic motor for mild vibrations, and Gorilla Glass 5 defending the back and front. There’s an in-display fingerprint sensor I’ve discovered to be fairly dependable, and the twin stereo audio system sound nice.