While some may think we’ve reached what Marques Brownlee calls “the smartphone peak,” real innovation still happens every year, realizing that materials science needs to take some giant leaps before we can improve the form of modern mobile phones. The screen is already foldable to provide more usable space in less space and from cameras that can be hidden under the display glass to charging so fast you never have to worry about running out of battery so development is still going on continue.
Meanwhile, we’ve been dead in the smartphone game for years, in part because all the new demos are usually about “better cameras, higher prices,” not more.
Designer Carl Pei and his relatively new consumer electronics company Nothing have not changed the static form that modern smartphones take. It has a touch display, stock Android operating kit, two camera lenses, an under-glass fingerprint reader, volume buttons and a competitive price. In other words, it’s conventional. but it is not the truth. Nothing Phone 1 is actually innovative and different. Just not in the way you expect.
Well, this sounds like the beginning of a video novel, so let’s take a step back. The cheapest version of Nothing Phone 1 costs around £400. That’s an aggressive price that reflects a set of mid-road specs and a unique feature that Pei and company hope will catch their attention.
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Before we get into those two aspects, it’s worth appreciating the shape itself here. The 6.55″ 1080×2400 OLED display is reliably calibrated. It can output up to 1200 NITS of brightness and offers an adaptive 120Hz refresh rate, and it’s surrounded by a handsome aluminum frame with rock-solid volume buttons and a generally understated aesthetic that’s very reminiscent of… well Well, an iPhone – in the best way possible.
Inside, we find a 4500mAh battery that will easily give you two days of use, and there’s 33-watt wired charging and 15-watt wireless charging – there’s even reverse wireless charging, so you can charge for Charge your Nothing Ear 1. The fingerprint reader is sturdy and the stereo speakers are surprisingly roomy.
But we need to look at the back and see the real differentiators. Just like the Ear 1, the entire back is clear, with Gorilla Glass 5 on it (it’s still IP53 certified, by the way). That doesn’t mean you have a completely raw and brutal look at the phone’s components, but rather a carefully curated, color-coordinated look at the various components. It’s shocking, no doubt, and it’s also much better than the teardown skins on existing competing phones like the Dbrand. We received the white version, which really caught the eye. Due to the light’s transparent back, several people asked about the Nothing Phone 1 during the review, and almost everyone had nothing to say.
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We can only agree that this is a tasteful way to give consumers something that, if nothing else, is truly different. We haven’t even started talking about Glyph yet. Not only is the spine transparent for play, it also paves the way for the Glyph system, a series of LED stripes that emit patterns of white light. There’s a large circular LED stripe around the wireless charging area, an apostrophe in the upper right corner, one around the two camera lenses, and an exclamation mark at the bottom. These can be programmed very broadly, like showing a certain pattern when you get a specific notification, filling up gradually while charging your phone, or even being used as a replacement for a flash in low light.
You might be thinking, “Wait a minute, don’t I always put my phone face down?” Yeah, the whole notification thing is hard to judge from an overly functional standpoint, because we’re in the newsroom and others, Can’t really see the cool glyph light show most of the time. But that’s the nature of the design and aesthetics, and the bottom line is that the Glyph is actually pretty fun and different. In a sense, that’s enough.
But if you end up putting your phone under the screen, the Glyph can do a lot. There’s a Google Assistant animation to indicate if it hears your commands, the aforementioned charging-lights do a good job.
Then there is no operating system. It’s pretty much just stock Android, and many will probably be happy without any unnecessary fat. Sure, there are some fonts here and there, some unique parts that are awesome, and cool ringtones that certainly work with the Glyph system. Nothing adds to everything, and while nothing is more useful than Motorola’s Moto Display, there’s nothing to praise.
Phones around are pretty good too. The Snapdragon 778G+ processor never made me wait or get frustrated, and 8GB of RAM is more than enough for most usage scenarios. And actually, it doesn’t cost much more to get 256GB of UFS 3.1 space. All in all, if you think about it, this is a pretty exciting list of specs for the price. Great build quality, solid battery life, IP certification, wireless charging, nice specs and a truly innovative design that’s not just your average Motorola G phone. Set next to Samsung Galaxy A53? Well, Nothing Phone 1 is just more… exciting. in all respects.
On the back, we find two lenses. More specifically, there’s a 50-megapixel standard wide, 24mm, with optical stabilization, and a 50-megapixel ultra-wide, at 114 degrees. Glad it’s not a wide and stupid macro camera, but at the same time 114 degrees is narrow enough for an ultra-wide angle. It can shoot at 4K/30fps (sadly, not 4K/60fps), but has instant HDR and gyro stabilization. What does all this mean? Well, they are photos… well. For £400, there’s sharpness, especially if you give the lens enough light, but yes, you get a lot of noise. Exactly as expected.
Honestly, it’s a lot worse than the iPhone SE and Pixel 6A, for example, even the aforementioned Galaxy A53 has quite a significant advantage, but nothing makes the camera neither confusing nor sub-par OnePlus North or Motorola phone results.
Overall, though, credit to Pei and company for reaching so much on the first try. The innovation here makes sense, and the rest of the phone seems so focused that all sacrifices are strategic. In other words, it’s one of the most recommended phones of the year.