Nothing Phone 1 Stores: Phone Review, Specs, Price & Photos below. One can certainly accuse the smartphone market of being a bit boring at the moment. Innovation is still there, for example with record-breaking charging technologies, but it is happening in ever smaller increments. Even Apple hasn’t stood for innovation for several generations.
But there is the silver lining. It’s called “Nothing Phone (1)” by Nothing, the “new” company of Carl Pei, the OnePlus founder. Is this really the smartphone revolution that everyone is currently hoping for – due to the hype that has certainly been created by themselves?
Nothing Phone 1 Stores – Nothing Phone 1 Review, Specs & Price
Nothing Phone 1 Stores price list – Review, Specs & Photos below;
- Nothing Phone (1) (8/128GB)
- Nothing Phone (1) (8/256GB)
- Nothing Phone (1) (12/256GB)
- Nothing Phone Accessories (1)
- Technical details of the Nothing Phone (1)
| Nothing Phone (1) | |
| screen | 6.55″ AMOLED (2400x1080p), 120Hz |
| processor | Qualcomm Snapdragon 778+, Octa Core @ 2.5GHz |
| graphics chip | Qualcomm Adreno 642L GPU |
| random access memory | 8/12GB LPDDR4X |
| Internal memory | 128/256GB UFS 2.2 |
| main camera | 50 MP Sony IMX766 @ ƒ/1.88 50 MP Samsung JN1 ultra wide angle camera (114°) |
| front camera | 16 MP Sony IMX471 with ƒ/2.45 aperture |
| battery pack | 4,500 mAh, 45W charging (power adapter separate) 15W wireless charging & 5W reverse wireless charging |
| connectivity | LTE Band 20, Bluetooth, USB-C, GPS, NFC, 5G, Dual SIM |
| features | Fingerprint sensor under display, Glyph back |
| operating system | Nothing OS based on Android 12, 3 years software updates & 4 years system updates |
| dimensions / weight | 159.2 x 75.8 x 8.3mm / 193.5g |
- Technology + people = nothing
The purpose, i.e. the meaning and purpose of the company Nothing, is to allow technology and people to merge completely. Its own mission is to produce technology that is fully connected and simply works without you having to think about it.
People want to use the full potential of technology to “improve our lives” without complicated technical terms or confusing product names. Many manufacturers could take a lesson from this in particular. You already know that the smartphone will be called “Nothing Phone (1)”, no suffix á la 5G, Pro or Ultra. You could already see that in the first product, the ” Nothing ear (1) “.
You could already see the design language of the manufacturer from them. In order to better merge technology and people, external distractions are avoided and the product is designed to be transparent – at least the headphone trunk of the ear 1. For a long time, the big question was whether this transparency is also part of the Nothing Phone (1). Now it is clear: yes and no.
That’s how the hype was created
Even before the launch, 100 people had the opportunity to bid on one of 100 Nothing Phones (1) via the DropX platform. DropX, like StockX, is a platform where you can otherwise bid on limited lifestyle products such as sneakers. Technology as a lifestyle product, we know that from somewhere. Incidentally, the last bid is currently ~2938€ for a smartphone whose technical details were not even known at the time. So are these secondary?
“Is that an iPhone?”
When Nothing founder Carl Pei mentioned in an interview at the event with Telekom in Cologne that he himself is a big Apple fan, we were not surprised. After all, the Nothing Phone (1) is reminiscent of an iPhone 12 or 13 at first glance. So much so that office colleagues from other teams initially took it for an iPhone with a special case or skin. This is mainly due to the angular design, the vertically arranged dual camera on the back and the similarly positioned antenna strips.
You can also see the look at Apple from the fact that the volume buttons are on the left and not on the right above the power button. But there is no notification slider for this; a unique selling proposition of the Californians and Carl Pei’s former company OnePlus. The symmetry on the front is also pleasing; the edges of the screen are equally thin everywhere.
You can almost only get that from Apple or the Samsung S22 series. This was only possible by installing a flexible OLED display, which could be bent at the edges. With the iPhone X, this caused the €1000 mark to be broken, a cost factor that almost no other manufacturer has agreed to.
The Nothing Phone (1) is available in two colors: black and white. The back is transparent in both cases , a design approach that has already been followed with the Nothing Ear (1). This is due to the approach of merging “people and technology” as well as possible and not building any barriers between them. But of course you have an absolute, probably even the highlight of the smartphone integrated on the back: the Glyph back.
Is the glyph back just a gimmick?
The hype of the Nothing-Phone (1) was not only created by clever marketing, but also by the Glyph back. This is what the new company calls the LEDs on the back , which are almost all around the Qi charging coil and the camera, on the top right and below the USB-C port. On the one hand, this serves as probably the brightest LED flashlight in a smartphone on the market, but also as a notification LED. There are also LED animations for charging via the USB-C port and for reverse wireless charging of, for example, the Nothing ear (1). Is it just a gimmick?
For all fans of the now almost lost RGB notification LED, this may be the rescue. Finally, one can select different ringtones that contain a respective glyph animation and assign the different notifications. There is also a “Rotate to Glyph” feature. Placing the phone face up on the table will mute it and notifications and calls will be displayed via the glyph animation. You can also leave it permanently active when recording videos or photos, which means that it acts as a fill light.
Naturally, questions arise: How much battery does it consume? How does it look through the case? Who Still Uses Ringtones in 2022? Personally, I haven’t changed my smartphone behavior even after several weeks of use. I use my smartphone silently, without vibration and I don’t put it face down on a table. Accordingly, I rarely get to see the glyph back. Sometimes the fill light was very practical, but in the vast majority of cases I take pictures without a flash. It’s definitely an eye-catcher, but for me it’s just a gimmick. But that can be completely different for you.
How is the first cell phone from the new manufacturer processed?
Rounded smartphones are theoretically more ergonomic, after all they nestle better in the palm of your hand. Nevertheless, I like holding the Nothing Phone in my hand, which is partly due to the surprisingly light weight, which somehow feels less than 193.5 g . With 159.2 x 75.8 x 8.3 mm, it offers absolutely average dimensions for a smartphone in its class. The Nothing Phone (1) uses fully recycled aluminum and recycled plastic. A plus for the environment.
Also a plus point for the Nothing Phone, because you can’t really fault the smartphone in terms of processing technology. It feels high-quality, uses Gorilla Glass on both sides and is therefore scratch-resistant. The pressure points are pleasant, the cutouts are precise. On the other hand, it only has an IP53 rating, which practically protects against nothing but a little spray of water. If you try to break the smartphone, a weak point is revealed on the antenna strips, and there is some movement inside. So you shouldn’t let that matter.
Surprisingly powerful display
As the leak already predicted, a 6.55″ AMOLED display with a 120 Hz refresh rate is used on the front. The 10bit panel has a resolution of 2400 x 1080p and ensures a display sharpness of 402 ppi. With HDR10+ content it can get up to 1200 nits bright, in regular use 500 nits are possible. By their own admission, Nothing OS throttles it to 700 nits. The punch hole camera is on the top left of the flat display.
Not only is it flexible, it’s also a surprisingly good display. The 120 Hz would have made headlines two years ago, but is now an industry standard, as is the almost 400 ppi pixel density. However, this still ensures smooth navigation through the Nothing OS operating system. You have to do without LTPO technology for automatic adaptation of the refresh rate, but the brightness distribution is very good. I’ve been using it on medium settings so far and that’s enough in most situations. In addition, I find the viewing angles to be very stable and I can’t see any color shift, unlike the Samsung Galaxy A53 5G.
The under-screen fingerprint sensor is also surprisingly good. The positioning is lower than many competitors, which suits my hands well. The speed and reliability ensure a pleasant experience in everyday life. Apart from that, NothingOS offers relatively few setting options for the panel. There are three different color modes and you can adjust the temperature, but the always-on display, for example, cannot be adjusted. That could of course come with an update.
The Nothing Phone (1) is strong enough
Originally, many probably expected a flagship smartphone, but the first Nothing Phone did not place itself there. Finally, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 778+ processor is installed , which is also found in a Motorola Edge 30, for example. The 6 nm processor offers 2.5 GHz clock frequency and the Adreno 642L GPU. The performance can therefore be categorized as upper class at best, but not as a flagship level. The normal variant of this can be found, for example, in the realme GT Master Edition or the Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G NE. Either 8 or 12 GB LPDDR5 RAM and 128 or 256 GB UFS 3.1 mass storage are available.
This is not the best option in the price range, you can get the 778 from Xiaomi for under €300, for under €500 POCO even offers a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 in the F4 GT. Nevertheless, I can’t fault the performance. The chip is powerful enough for everyday use, for games and also for light image or video editing.
Of course there are sometimes longer loading screens than with flagships, but how noticeable is the difference in everyday life without a direct comparison? Especially since Nothing has cleverly optimized here. The fingerprint sensor and the camera shutter respond quickly. This is not least due to the 120 Hz refresh rate and the 240 Hz touch sampling rate.
Anyone who is really a power user and, for example, regularly edits photos and videos for social media or plays a lot of demanding games like CoD, will be happy with a more powerful smartphone. If you limit yourself to everyday applications such as messenger, streaming and social media apps, the Nothing Phone (1) is fast enough.
Like Apple: No charger included
The battery is average in size at 4,500 mAh. The processor and AMOLED indicate a relatively efficient behavior, but there are also LEDs on the back. Even if there are smartphones with significantly larger batteries, the manufacturer’s first cell phone convinces with a very solid battery life . In principle, up to 1.5 days are possible, depending on use. But everyone should get through the day without any problems, even with intensive use. The glyph back only takes up a small part of the runtime at 2 to 3 percent.
The Nothing Phone (1) is charged with the included 33W USB-C cable in about 70 minutes, but a power adapter is not included. The 45W charger costs €35, but you could also use another USB-C charger with PD and QC 4.0 support such as the TOPK charger. Unfortunately, it only charges with 33W and not with the full 45W, but that is still enough for a charge from 15% to 45% in 15 minutes. A Redmi Note 11 Pro+ still wipes the floor thanks to 120W charging with the Nothing Phone.
What Nothing seems to have understood is that wireless charging serves a niche in the price segment. For less than €500 there is almost only the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE , which supports Qi charging. The Nothing Phone (1) can also be charged wirelessly with 15W and it even supports 5W reverse wireless charging, for example to charge the Nothing ear (1) . Of course, that takes a lot more time.
“Only” a dual camera
It seems like Carl Pei follows our YouTube videos, like us he also criticizes the camera quantity of most phones. More sensors doesn’t make for a better camera. Nothing sees the sweet spot in two cameras: the 50 MP Sony IMX766 sensor with ƒ/1.88 aperture and 24 mm focal length equivalent and the 50 MP Samsung JN1 sensor for the ultra wide angle camera. With ƒ/2.2 aperture and 114° field of view, it also allows macro shots with a close-up limit of 4 cm. With the main camera, 4K recordings are possible at 30 fps, Slo-Mo videos succeed with 120 fps. In addition, the sensor is optically and electrically stabilized.
The sensor is currently the choice for many, for example it is also in the Xiaomi Mix Fold 2, but also in the cheaper NORD 2. This is understandable, because the Nothing Phone (1) generally takes good pictures. There’s pronounced sharpness, which we like better than in the Samsung Galaxy A53 5G, for example. Fonts are much easier to read and the bokeh is soft, but not as direct as with larger sensors.
Nothing’s color profile is a bit cooler and more reserved than, for example, Samsung, where colors are stronger. This works well with the skin tones, as they appear a little more true to color without being weirdly oversaturated, and this sometimes resulted in a boring photo when taking pictures in the office.
These advantages and disadvantages are even more noticeable with the ultra-wide-angle camera. The sharpness is certainly better than that of other ultra-wide-angle cameras in the price range, but it cannot keep up with the main sensor. It also quickly becomes grainy in the edges of the image. However, the color profile lacks some saturation here, so that the use of the different cameras is immediately noticeable in a direct comparison. Although it is practical that you can also use the sensor for macro cameras, the image quality is not good.
The camera app is still fairly clear and the shutter release time is noticeably faster than that of the competition. On the other hand, the autofocus is a bit erratic and a slow shutter speed is quickly recognizable in the viewfinder.
Front Camera
The front camera also comes from Sony. The IMX471 sensor offers a 16 megapixel resolution and a ƒ/2.45 aperture and also supports 1080p recordings at 30 fps. When it comes to selfies, Nothing still has some catching up to do. Although 16 megapixels are more than enough pixels for sharp selfies, they are not available here. Hair is agglomerated into a pixel mash, the color profile is very flat and there is little detail. The Samsung Galaxy A53 5G does a much better job in comparison.
Nothing OS: No bloatware & 3 years of updates!
But the fact that hardware is only half the battle is something that Carl Pei is sure – when will his own payment service with THE name come out? – have learned from the OnePlus past. A large part of the fan community can probably be traced back to the OxygenOS operating system. I like the clean operating system very much and it completes the overall package.
With the Nothing Phone (1), not only their own hardware was presented, but also their own software. The operating system is based on Android 12 and is as close to pure Android 12 as almost only the Pixel devices are. There is no bloatware! That means there are no third-party apps pre-installed. Only the camera app and the audio recorder have been modified for this purpose.
Plus: custom widgets, Glyph back cover customization, and seamless integration with its own and third-party headphones. For example, Tesla integration has also been promised, with which you can switch on the car’s lights from the OS, for example. You also stay on brand visually and pull your own dot matrix font through the OS.
NothingOS update policy
I found NothingOS to be relatively stable, with a few hiccups here and there. So far, Nothing has been providing us with updates relatively regularly. There were also many bug fixes at the beginning, but the camera and loading behavior have also been improved. In addition, Nothing promises three years of software updates and four years of security updates. This is how it works and no other way.
As well as pre-orders had to invest 20€, you also have to invest a bit of trust in NothingOS. Finally, the system integration of some third-party apps or products such as Tesla, but also other, previously unknown partners are promised. There is also a promise of three years of Android updates and four years of security updates. From a two year old company.
There is currently said to be a bug with Google Pay that should be fixed with an update. However, this is probably not the case with our test device, since it corresponds to a different batch.
What does the Nothing Phone (1) receive
Thanks to the Snapdragon 778+, support for 5G is of course given, with all frequency bands important for Germany being supported. Just like 5G on both SIM slots. But LTE, including LTE Band 20, is also part of the game. The microphone and loudspeaker quality of the stereo speakers is satisfactory overall. I would not have noticed any significant difference to other devices in the price range. There is WiFi 6 for local Internet, otherwise there is Bluetooth 5.2, GPS and NFC for contactless payment via Google Pay. A USB-C 2.0 port is located on the underside.
Nothing contradicts itself
I’m glad the hype train has finally arrived at the terminus . Not that I don’t appreciate a good marketing campaign, but I still wanted to see the device. To be honest, I think it’s good that you don’t release a smartphone at a “flagship” level. Hardware is now so good that even mid-range devices are prepared for all tasks. “Everyone” can benefit from this “cheap” technology and so Nothing can pursue its goal of making it easier for people and technology to interact with each other and breaking down barriers.
As inclusive as this purpose is, the whole sales strategy with DropX and an invitation system is not. That feels more like cool kids club than inclusive technology, an approach that Apple, for example, has been pursuing with its pricing policy for years. So doesn’t Nothing contradict itself here?
Only in this regard, because with an RRP of €469 the Nothing Phone (1) is far removed from an iPhone. And yet it offers a lot: The performance is good enough, the display is very good, the Glyph back is an eye-catcher and functional, the camera results are impressive and NothingOS doesn’t do much and therefore not much wrong.
It’s not the strongest smartphone for the money, but it offers a really good all-round package and hardly leaves room for criticism in any category. The back gives it a unique advantage that makes the price difficult to compare. There’s no other phone that has it, so how much is it worth? If you can do without such a design, you can definitely get a Samsung Galaxy S21 FE , POCO F4 GT or Pixel 6 in a good offer for less than €500, which are all a better overall package. The Nothing Phone (1) is not the best smartphone for its money, but it is still unique.
