The mid-range smartphone market is filled with offers from Samsung, Motorola, OnePlus and even google. Nothing, Carl Pei’s new technology startup, has just launched its very first smartphone, the Nothing Phone (1). The Nothing Phone 1 is priced at £399 and is poised to disrupt the mid-range market. In this article we take down the Nothing Phone 1 vs Samsung Galaxy A53 to see which £399 smartphone is best for you.
Design
Starting with the design, it’s pretty obvious that the Nothing Phone (1) doesn’t look like any other mid-range Android smartphone. The smartphone has a transparent back that shows off its industrial elements, such as screws that hold the panel in place and the coil for wireless charging. There is also a set of LED light strips on the back of the phone. Nothing calls this “Glyph Interface”. You can read more about the functionality and what the Glyph Interface offers here.
Apart from the futuristic looking back, Nothing Phone (1) is surrounded by an aluminum metal frame. The Phone 1 also has Gorilla Glass 5 protection on the front and back. The Nothing logo, engraved in the dot matrix font, is in the lower left corner. Overall, we can safely say that the design of the Nothing Phone 1 is quite unique and eye-catching.
On the other hand, the design of the Galaxy A53 does not differ much from the other Galaxy A series smartphones. This is because the design has basically remained unchanged from last year. The rectangular camera module still sits in the top left corner with the continuous polycarbonate back cover over it. Just like the Nothing Phone 1, the Samsung Galaxy A53 also uses an aluminum metal frame.
Display
Samsung is known for offering excellent displays even on budget smartphones, and the Galaxy A53 is no exception. The Samsung Galaxy A53 5G comes with a large 6.5-inch Super AMOLED screen with FHD+ resolution (1080 x 2340 pixels) and support for a refresh rate up to 120 Hz. As you would expect from a Samsung smartphone, the display of the Galaxy A53 offers vibrant and punchy colors.
On the other hand, we have the first smartphone from Nothing. The Nothing Phone (1) comes with a 6.55-inch OLED display with a resolution of 2400 x 1080 pixels at 402 PPI. The display supports an adaptive refresh rate of 120 Hz and a sampling rate of 240 Hz. One advantage of the Nothing Phone 1 over the Galaxy A53 is that it has a peak brightness of 1200 nits versus 800 nits on the Galaxy A53. On paper, this means that the outdoor visibility of the Nothing Phone 1 should be better than that of the Galaxy A53.
The Nothing Phone (1) also offers uniform (and slim) bezels compared to the Samsung Galaxy A53. This is due to the flexible OLED display technology. Nothing has been used in the Phone 1, with it bending the lower part of the display to give a unified look. Aside from the peak brightness and screen bezels, both smartphones offer fantastic displays, and you won’t be disappointed with either one.
Performance
This is one of the areas where smartphone makers compromise to keep the price down, and both the Nothing Phone 1 and Samsung Galaxy A53 are no different. The Nothing Phone (1) is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 778G+ processor. This is an octa-core chipset with one Cortex-A78 core clocked at 2.5GHz, three Cortex-A78 cores clocked at 2.4GHz, and four power-efficient Cortex-A55 cores clocked at 1.8GHz. In addition, the chipset is equipped with Adreno 642L GPU and an X53 5G modem.
On the other hand, the Samsung Galaxy A53 is powered by the company’s own Exynos 1280 processor. This is a 5nm node-based octa-core chipset with two Cortex-A78 CPU cores clocked at 2.4GHz and six Cortex-A55 CPU cores clocked at 2GHz. While both processors won’t come close to the $1000 Android smartphones, they’ll manage “just enough” for the device to handle everyday activities and multitasking.
Camera hardware
Moving on to the camera setup, the Galaxy A53 has a four-camera setup with a 64MP primary camera sensor (f/1.8), a 12MP ultra-wide camera (f/2.2), a 5MP depth sensor (f/2.4 ), and a 5MP macro lens (f/2.4). The software on the Galaxy A53 is much improved as it has a brand new night mode and many features such as Object Eraser, Photo Remaster and more that the flagship Samsung devices come with.
On the other hand, the Nothing Phone 1 comes with a dual 50MP camera setup. This camera system includes a 50MP Sony IMX 766 primary camera and a 50MP Samsung ISOCELL JN1 ultra-wide angle lens with 114 degrees FoV. Software features include portrait mode, night mode, panorama night mode, Google filter, bokeh, beauty mode, night video and expert mode.
More cameras (and higher resolution) does not necessarily mean that the Samsung Galaxy A53 camera is better than Nothing Phone (1). Although the Samsung Galaxy A53 is a solid performer, we are still waiting for the camera performance of the Nothing Phone 1. Make sure you are subscribed to Pocketnow’s YouTube Channel for the full review of the Nothing Phone (1).
Battery
The Samsung Galaxy A53, which focuses on the batteries that both smartphones offer, comes with a 5000 mAh cell. This battery can easily last a whole day for most users. In comparison, the Nothing Phone 1 has a smaller cell of 4500 mAh. While Nothing claims that the Phone’s battery lasts 1 to 18 hours, it also depends on how the phone is used and how the company has optimized the software.
When it comes to charging, the Nothing Phone 1 leaves the Samsung Galaxy A53 behind. While the Galaxy A53 only supports 25W fast charging, the Nothing Phone 1 supports fast charging up to 33W. And not just (slightly) faster wired charging, the Nothing Phone 1 also supports 15W Qi wireless charging and 5W reverse wireless charging. Using the reverse wireless charging feature, you can charge your Qi-compatible products, such as the company’s own Ear (1), by placing them on the back of the phone.
Nothing Phone (1)
Phone 1 is the very first smartphone from Nothing. It comes with a 6.55-inch 120Hz OLED display with slim bezels, Qualcomm’s custom-tuned Snapdragon 778G+ processor, LEDs on the back, dual 50MP camera sensors and more.
Samsung Galaxy A53
Samsung Galaxy A53 packs in a 6.5-inch Super AMOLED display, the Exynos 1280 and a 5000 mAh battery alongside a decent set of camera sensors. At $450, it offers a combination that strikes a perfect balance between price and specs.
Technical specifications
| Smartphone | Nothing Phone 1 | Samsung Galaxy A53 |
|---|---|---|
| Operating system | android 12 | android 12 |
| Dimensions | 159.2 x 75.8 x 8.3mm | 159.6 x 74.8 x 8.1mm |
| Weight | 193.5g | 189g |
| Display | 6.55-inch, 2400×1080, OLED, 120Hz | 6.5-inch, 1080 x 2400, Super AMOLED, 120 Hz |
| Screensaver | Corning Gorilla Glass 5 | Corning Gorilla Glass 5 |
| Processor | Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G+ | Exynos 1280 |
| CPU Specifications | – 6nm – 1x 2.5GHz Cortex-A78 – 3x 2.4GHz Cortex-A78 – 4x 1.8GHz Cortex-A55 |
– 5nm -2x 2.4GHz Cortex A78 – 6x 2.0GHz Cortex A55 |
| GPU | Adreno 642L | Mali-G68 |
| RAM | 8/12 GB | 4/6/8GB |
| Rom | 128/256GB | 128/256GB |
| Expandable Storage | no | Yes (uses shared SIM slot) |
| rear cameras | Primary: 50 MP, f/1.88, widescreen, OIS, HDR Ultra wide angle: 8 MP, f/2.2, 1140 degrees FoV, HDR |
64MP, /1.8, OIS 12 MP, ƒ/2.2, ultra wide angle 5MP, ƒ/2.4, depth 5MP, /2.4, macro |
| Front camera | 16MP, ƒ/2.24, HDR | 32MP, ƒ/2.2, Wide, HDR |
| Connectivity | 5G, LTE, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2 | 5G, LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 5.1, NFC |
| Ports | USB-C | USB-C |
| IP value | IP53 | IP67 |
| Battery | 4500 mAh | 5000 mAh |
| Wired charging | 33W | 25W |
| Wireless charging | – 15W Qi wireless charging – 5W reverse wireless |
no |
| Colors | White black | Black, White, Blue, Peach |
| Price | £399 |