Nothing Phone (1) Review: Nice lights, just right

It’s weird for the first generation of a technical consumer product to be almost perfect, but here we are with the Nothing Phone (1). It is the very first smartphone from Nothing – a new company led by former OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei—and only the company’s second ever release, after last year’s Ear 1 wireless earbuds.

What’s? not rare is that a first generation product has some flashy feature to draw you in. Think of the Red hydrogen one and its funky holographic display? The Essential Phone Magnetic Port that never really meant muchfor a good reason)? Or even the Amazon Fire Phones”Dynamic Perspective”? The glitter on the Nothing Phone (1) is extra fun: 900 LEDs under the glass on the back that light up with unique patterns when notifications come in and can act as an alternative camera flash when shooting in low light.

Nothing calls it the Glyph interface. It’s crazy, and maybe even a gimmick. But I like to watch it. I love seeing it light up so much that I frequently flip the phone over when it’s on my desk to see the design. I also love the fun little sounds the device makes with Nothing’s custom ringtones and alerts. beep boop! (Fair warning: the alarm sound could seriously injure you if someone sleeps next to you.)

What sets the Nothing Phone (1) apart from other first-generation smartphones is that it does a great job of nailing every primary function. Take out the bright lights and you have a simple, affordable and effective phone, from the screen to the camera to the battery. It is difficult to find many mistakes. The only problem? It is not sold in the US.

nothing is everything

Nothing Phone (1)

Photo: Julian Chokkattu

Price is everything these days, and the Nothing Phone (1) starts at £399, or about $472, putting it in competition with the Google Pixel 5A (plus the coming Pixel 6A), Samsung Galaxy A53and other devices from Xiaomi, Poco and OnePlus. For the money, you mainly get high-end smartphone specs, which is the same tactic OnePlus used in the past the good old days.

There’s the exceptional 6.55-inch OLED display. It is sharp and becomes bright enough to see clearly on sunny summer days. It also has a 120 Hz adaptive refresh rate, making every interaction with the phone feel smooth, like a knife through soft butter. It’s a respectable size – not too big, not too small – with flat edges that make it easy to hold.

Performance is another highlight. Powered by the mid-range Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G+ with 8GB of RAM, I’ve never seen a hiccup on the Nothing Phone (1). (You can also upgrade to 12 GB RAM.) Games like Dead cells and Alto’s Odyssey ran flawlessly, and more demanding titles like Genshin impact performed well enough. The device never got questionably warm either.

All the other key benefits are there, including wireless charging, reverse wireless charging to charge your wireless earbuds in no time at all, NFC for contactless payments, a beautiful haptic motor for gentle vibrations, and Gorilla Glass 5 that protects the front and back. . There’s an in-screen fingerprint sensor which I’ve found quite reliable, and the dual stereo speakers sound great.

Photo: Nothing