Nothing Phone (1) Review
Features Good Fast Chipset
- unique new design
- glyph interface
- wireless charging
- 120Hz OLED Display
- IP53 Rating
Weaknesses
- Secondary cameras are average
- the charger will not come in box
- 33W fast charging only
The Nothing brand has launched its first smartphone. Don’t take Nothing here as ‘Nothing’, it’s a new brand! So, the first smartphone of the new brand Nothing from OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei, Nothing Phone (1) has been launched. The phone has been getting a lot of hype, and this is because of its transparent design and glyph interface. The Nothing Phone 1 has been launched in the mid-range segment (budget of Rs 35,000). Features like Snapdragon 778G chipset, 120Hz OLED display and wireless charging are available in the phone at this price. The features are pretty decent in the spec sheet, and the company’s phone has been heavily promoted for its features and unique design. But now that it’s been a few days since it was launched and its hype has subsided, wouldn’t you like to know how powerful it really is other than its flashing lights. We have the same question and that’s why we have been using this phone for some time and are sharing our experience in this Nothing Phone (1) review today so that you will also know if this phone is the other mid-range phone available in the market. The range is better than the phones or not.
Nothing Phone (1) Specifications
Specifications Nothing Phone (1)
- Software Android 12 Based Nothing OS
- Display 55-Inch Full HD+ OLED, 120Hz Refresh Rate; HDR10+ 1200 Nits Brightness
- Chipset Snapdragon 778G Chipset; Adreno 642L GPU
- RAM 8GB / 12GB
- Storage 128GB / 256GB
- Rear Cameras 50MP+50MP
- Front Camera 16MP
- Battery 4500mah
- Charging 33W Fast Charging
- 15W Wireless Charging
- Reverse Wireless Charging
- Size 2 X 75.8 X 8.3 Mm
- Weight 5 Grams
Connectivity options WiFi 802.11, Bluetooth 5.2, GPS, NFC, USB Type-C 2.0, USB OTG
Nothing Phone (1): Prices and Availability
Nothing Phone (1) is available in India in three storage variants from 21st July 2022 on Flipkart. You can buy this smartphone in black and white colors.
- 8GB+128GB – ₹32,999
- 8+256GB – ₹35,999
- 12+256GB – ₹38,999
Those who have pre-ordered the phone with Invite will get a discount of Rs.1,000 on all models.
2,000 more discounts on purchases made with HDFC credit/debit cards. That is, if you have pre-ordered and are buying through an HDFC card, then you can get this phone for Rs 29,999, 32,999 and Rs 35,999.
Nothing Phone (1) Review: Unboxing
Nothing Phone (1) comes in a simple yet quite different and slim box. If you take the phone in white colour, then it will come in the white box and the box of the black colour phone is also black in colour. You will get all these things in the box –
- A new Nothing Phone (1) Smartphone
- sim ejector tool
- Quick Guide and other papers
- USB Type-C to Type-C Cable
The phone has a dual camera setup at the back with a ring around it. The phone does not have an LED flashlight, it is the glyph lighting system present on the rear, which acts as a flashlight while taking photos. On the back side of the phone, you will also see the wireless charging coil through this transparent design. The phone has a large 6.55-inch screen when flipped over. The best part here compared to other Android phones is that the bezel is quite slim all around and the bottom bezel is also on par with the rest, not thick. To reduce the lower bezel, the company has used a flexible OLED display, like the iPhone also has. This display is folded in from the bottom side. Apart from this, there is a punch-hole cutout on the top left side.
The phone houses the SIM tray slot, microphone, USB Type-C port and speaker grille on the lower bezel. While the volume button is given on the left edge and the power button on the right side.
glyph interface
There is one thing in this which is different and has not been seen in any phone till now, that is its glyph lighting system. By the way, to bring this new idea to the phone, this company should be given a donation. Some of the special things you can do with this lighting system are –
Here you can set ringtones with your contacts and choose different light animations for them. With this, just by looking at the lighting of the phone, you will understand whose phone it is. But the thing to think about is who usually keeps the phone upside down, I have not seen most of people holding their phone to the display and when the name appears directly in the display, then who will see the phone upside down? You can set different lighting patterns for different notifications, such as different for messages, different for e-mails.
The LED strip at the bottom of it shows the charging and battery status, but again the same thing comes when you see the battery status above with the exact numbers in the screen, then why here?
Apart from this, all these LED strips act as flashlights while taking pictures, which is a unique way.
So here we can not call this glyph lighting interface a very useful or useful thing, but from the design point of view, it is something new, which can definitely attract customers.
Nothing Phone (1) review: Display
Nothing Phone (1) will get a 6.55-inch OLED display with Full HD + resolution and 120Hz refresh rate. The display has a brightness of up to 1200 nits, with which it is quite bright. Even in sunlight, we had no problem using it. The colors on the display look bright and natural.
Some customers have complained of blue tint or color manipulation in app icons after buying the phone, but we did not feel any such thing. Then if someone is facing this kind of problem, then according to the company it can be corrected with the next update.
Nothing Phone (1) Review: Camera
Nothing Phone (1) has two 50MP cameras fitted on the rear panel. Among them, the main 50MP camera comes with Sony IMX766 sensor, which has good performance. The colours in the photos taken with this look quite accurate and natural, and there is no lack of detail in them. You can see the pictures taken from the primary sensor below.
However, as soon as you move from the main camera to the ultra-wide camera, the difference is clearly visible in the pictures. The 50MP ultra-wide camera doesn’t deliver as good results as the primary camera. Actually, the primary camera comes with a Sony sensor, which is much better than the Samsung JN1 sensor used in ultra-wide. In ultra-wide photos, colours also change slightly and detail is also reduced.
In this, the company has not given many camera modes, but all the frequently used ones are present, such as Timelapse, Portrait, Panorama, and Slo-mo. Instead of night mode, you can click the moon at the top of the viewfinder as soon as the camera is open. With this, pictures in low light become more beautiful. Although the detailing is definitely lost in low-light photos, but you will notice it only after zooming a lot, so if you do not know much about photography, then you will not notice much difference in them.
Nothing Phone (1) Review: Performance
At the same price, phones with chipsets like Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 are available in the market. In such a situation, this Phone 1 of Nothing has come with Snapdragon 778G, but we cannot underestimate this chipset either. This processor based on 6nm fabrication is also very power efficient and capable of giving good performance.
We did not see any lag or lag in our daily activities or use. Be it multi-tasking or social media surfing, everything has gone smoothly. Talking about gaming, games like CoD Mobile and Asphalt 9 run smoothly in the phone. With 120Hz refresh rate, animations become smoother while gaming, making the experience even better. Although it does feel a little warm after a long session, it is normal.
It also has HDR support, so those videos also play well here. Also the speakers are quite loud, which is enough for a room. We also got a good calling experience in the phone, and we did not see any call drop during this time.
It has 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. You can also increase the RAM here with the Virtual RAM feature. But if that’s still not enough for you, then you can go for the 256GB storage variant with 12GB of RAM, but that too costs a bit more.
Nothing Phone (1) Review: Battery
Nothing phone 1 pack a 4500mAh battery, which gives a backup of around 5-6 hours with heavy usage (like hours of gaming). But if you are a moderate user who has little usage, then this battery lasts a day comfortably. We spent some time calling, watching some videos and gaming for about 20 minutes, using apps like WhatsApp, and then it lasted a day smoothly. The phone has 33W fast charging, with this technology, it gets charged up to 50% in 30 minutes. Apart from this, it has 15W wireless charging and 5W reverse wireless charging and this feature puts it further in the mid-range race, as it is the only phone to come with wireless charging at this price. But there is a drawback that the company is not giving a charger in the box with this first smartphone.
If you need a charger for Nothing, the company has also launched its 45W charger with the phone, which is priced at Rs.1,499.
Now at this price, we have no complaints about its battery performance, but smartphones like Nord 2T and iQOO Neo 6 are available with 80W charging at a lower price. However, they don’t have wireless charging, which is only available on the Nothing phone. So you have to decide for yourself.
Review Verdict: Should you buy the Nothing Phone (1) phone?
The OnePlus Nord 2T can be called a good upgrade of the OnePlus Nord 2. Although this smartphone is not equipped with any very unique design or features, but it definitely has its own merits. It has a fast processor, a good AMOLED display, and super-fast charging technology. But its design reminds you of the old Nord 2. Also, it is a 5 G-ready phone with an IP52 rating and a clean UI. Although the camera is not very good here, and the refresh rate is limited to 90Hz, but if this feature is not important to you, then it can be ignored and then the Nord 2T seems to be one of the best smartphones in the Rs 30,000 range.
The biggest highlight of Nothing Phone (1) is its design. Although the lighting on the rear has not proved to be very useful, but design-wise, it is a new and good effort. But if we look closely, its spec sheet has the same features as many mid-range smartphones available in the Rs 30,000 range on Amazon, and Flipkart, and these phones are just a little bit cheaper than this smartphone. But Nothing OS has the best software among all these phones, as there is absolutely no bloatware. Also, in the mid-range, no other phone offers wireless charging and the Glyph interface is also a big feature of it. While 120Hz display, Snapdragon 778G+ chipset, dual cameras are good features, they will be found in almost all phones in this range. But it’s up to you to decide whether you want to spend a little extra money for wireless charging, better software, and the Glyph lighting system.
