Nothing Phone (1) After 6 Months — Long Term Review
It’s not every day you get a new company entering the smartphone game. In fact before Nothing came along we hadn’t had one for a long time, and it’s even longer since we had one that didn’t just fade to nothing almost instantly.
Well the Nothing phone (1) has gone from strength to strength since it’s release just over six months ago and Nothing has recently launched a beta program for US buyers interested in testing the phone before a potential public launch later in 2023.
Now I’ll admit, I was a bit sceptical when the phone was first announced but after some hands on time at the launch event in London, picking the phone up at launch and using it alongside many other phones including its main competition for the last 6 months I have to say I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoy this phone. It’s by no means perfect but it is one of the best midrange phones out there. SO..what makes it so great? We should talk hardware first because that is clearly what catches the eye to begin with. Btw if you find any of this useful a thumbs up and sharing of the video would be hugely appreciated.
I honestly think the Nothing phone is the best looking midrange device out there. Sure..it looks quite a lot like an iPhone 12 from the sides and the placement of the cameras, but that’s where the similarities stop.
It has a wonderfully responsive 6.55inch 1080p/120hz OLED HDR display covered in Gorilla Glass 5 with uniform bezels and it’s nice and bright. It’s an absolute joy to use. There’s just a little hole punch in the top left corner for that front facing 16mp cam. The rear is where the party’s at though as always and what a great looking arse it has. It’s covered in LED’s that light up when the phone rings, notifications pop or when charging the phone. There’s even a cool little red led to indicate that the phone is recording video. And you’ll see there’s a dual camera arrangement on the back. It’s super refreshing to see a manufacturer not putting pointless macro cameras and such in there just to make up “the numbers”. It has dual 50mp sensors. One wide and one ultrawide. We’ll get into those cameras a little shortly but just to round out the specs of the phone. This white model starts at 8gb RAM with 256gb of storage. The black starts at 8gb Ram and 128gb. The SoC is the Snapdragon 778G+. A very competent mid range chipset with decent performance even for gaming, then in general use runs pretty cool and efficiently. It doesn’t have the best battery life in the world but it doesn’t have the worst either. The 4500mah cell is more than enough to get through a full day and with 33w charging it’s faster to top up than the Pixel and Galaxy competition but obviously nothing close to the Chinese brands like Oppo and Xiaomi.
So cameras. For me almost the weakest part about this phone considering the main competition is a Pixel 6/6a. Don’t get me wrong in a lot of scenarios they’re perfectly capable and I like many of the shots I’ve taken with the phone. But if you want the best camera at this price point then you’re definitely going to look at Pixel instead. The 50mp wide lens uses a Sony IMX 766 and is perfectly capable in good lighting. Lots of detail. It produces images more on the cool side temperature wise. The ultrawide uses the Samsung JN1 sensor which is much smaller by comparison. It still produces decent images in well lit conditions but as soon as the light starts to fade it falls apart very quickly. Still for a midrange phone this is a solid setup. There’s also a decent night mode along with a basic “Pro” mode.
Video is pretty standard for phones at this price range. Both of the rear cameras allow for 4k/30 video recording or 1080p/60. The front camera only gives 1080p/30. Speaking of the front camera. Selfies aren’t too bad at all. Other than my face obviously. But for your face they will likely be glorious!
One worry people had in the first few months was in regards to software. Nothing said that updates would come roughly every two months and they have done well with this especially considering they really struggled to get software developers on board. Other than the first update reducing GPU performance in games to help battery life (RIP my 120hz Pokemon GO) the updates have brought many fixes and better stability. The main delay that people have got worked up about is for Android 13. There’s currently a beta for Nothing OS 1.5 with Android 13 that a select group are testing. I’m one of those people and so far the beta has been perfect for me. It’s nothing drastic compared to Android 12 but it’s good to have it.
Now I know what you’re thinking. We haven’t really talked about that flashy arse much. Yes the Glyph system is a little gimmicky but it looks pretty epic when you have someone calling, it’s handy to receive a little flash for notifications while the phone is face down instead of having the screen turn on, it makes for a really good soft light if you’re recording video and one thing I don’t think many think of is that it’s handy for those that are hard of hearing. Overall I think the Glyph LED’s are pretty useful. If you don’t like them however you can turn them off and you still have a fantastic looking blower.
It’s a phone I keep going back to but it isn’t perfect by any means. The speakers whilst loud don’t offer much in the way of low end and when you really turn it up the high end can become quite piercing. You certainly notice it whilst blasting a bit of the Wombats whilst in the shower. It’s almost too painful to listen to, and no I’m not talking about my singing!
The haptics are very tinny and loud unless you turn them down. And then there’s no water or dust resistance. BUT you do get wireless charging as well as reverse wireless charging which aren’t features you often get at this price point so it’ll come down to what features you want from your phone.
Overall I think the Nothing Phone is the natural competition right now for the likes of the Pixel 6a and the Galaxy A53. It will be solid throughout 2023 and beyond with software support for 3yrs and security updates for 4yrs.
It’s a great first phone by a new company and deserves to be in your pocket. I’m super excited to see what’s coming next.
