Nothing Phone (1) first impressions: Gets the basics right, fun to use:

 

Nothing Phone (1) has been officially launched in India and worldwide. The Phone (1) not only offers a fun design, but also gets the basics right. In this quick review of the Nothing Phone (1), we find that it is one of the finest phones available on the market at the price of around Rs 30,000.

HIGHLIGHTS

• -Nothing Phone (1) has been launched in India and the global market.
• -The Nothing Phone (1) starts at a price of Rs 32,999 for the base 8GB RAM + 128GB storage model.
• -The Nothing Phone (1) comes in two colour options: White and Black.
• 
  

Almost all phones, regardless of their prices, look the same these days. In fact, if you remove the company logo, it will be hard to distinguish between an Oppo and a Vivo phone or even a Xiaomi and a Realme phone. They all look just the same, and that's boring. More so for us reviewers and smartphone enthusiasts. Nothing, with the Phone (1), clearly wants to be different. Good thing: It has managed to achieve its goal. In a good way.

Now, the Phone (1) not only looks unique but offers some decent set of specifications. And unlike most smartphones these days, this phone isn't just about a bunch of solid specifications. With the device, Nothing is primarily focusing on getting the basics right while offering a fun experience. After using the Phone (1) for the last few days, I must say that it mostly suceeds.

Months ago, when the company started to tease the Phone (1), it looked like the smartphone would just be about the design and those fancy LED lights sandwiched under the transparent rear panel. Indeed, there are 900 LEDs packed inside, which offer a total of 10 Glyph patterns (more about this in a while). But, after spending around 5 days with the phone, I feel it is way more than just the transparent-looking design and the lights.

Things other than the design:

One of the best things about the Nothing Phone (1) that I find is it doesn’t get hot at any point in time. I used the phone to watch multiple videos on YouTube, browse Instagram, send emails, and capture lots of photos, and the Phone (1) handled it all with ease while remaining cool. I will have more to say about the performance in the full review in a few days, but so far my impression here is positive.

The screen, though, feels somewhat dull relative to other phones in the segment. Like other phones in this segment, the Phone (1) too gets an OLED screen. And its resolution of 2400x1080 pixels and size of 6.55-inch is in line with what one would expect in this segment. It supports HDR 10+ colours and gets a refresh rate of 120Hz, although it is a variable refresh rate with the manual mode limiting it to 60Hz if users want to save battery. So, the specs are there and the numbers are fine. But, I have seen brighter and sharper displays on phones priced close to Rs 35,000.

The Phone (1) offers solid build quality, I feel. The smartphone comes with Gorilla Glass 5 protection on the front and back and front, and the aluminium frame looks polished and sleek. Although the phone offers a wide form factor -- kind of like the iPhones -- it's weight and dimensions are well balanced. Despite its weight of a little over 190 grams, the Phone (1) feels extremely light in the hands.

In my limited use, I found the Phone (1) cameras capable and fun to use. Although there are just two cameras here -- 50-megapixel Sony IMX766 camera and a 50-megapixel Samsung JN1 camera. While I am going to take a deeper look at the camera performance in the review, I do want to put out what Nothing is saying about "just" two cameras. The company believes that it wants to use cameras on its phone that are more than a tick box. As in, the cameras need to perform well and should not be there just for the sake of it. So, while many phones in this segment come with 3 or 4 cameras, Nothing is sticking to just two. But the promise is that these two will perform well. We will evaluate this promise in the full review.

Though, my limited experience with the cameras is that they get the job done. I clicked some photos with it and found that both the primary camera and the ultra-wide camera, which can also shoot macro photos due to low focus distance with this sensor, clicked photos with pleasant colours and exposure in good light.

One of the key highlights of the camera is the Studio light and Glyph fill support. These modes are built in the camera app and help click images in limited lighting. In instances where you want to use an external light to brighten up the scene, the Studio lighting model helps. If you need a subtle light source, the Glyph mode helps, which basically lights up the LEDs to offer soft light. I must also mention that the camera app is very well designed and I could access all the available modes without much fuss and tinkering.

The smartphone offers decent performance but the Nothing OS on my unit seemed buggy, probably because it is an early build. The Phone (1) is powered by Snapdragon 778+ SoC paired with up to 12GB RAM and 256GB of internal storage. In total, there are three variants: 8GB RAM + 128GB, 8GB RAM + 256GB, and 12GB + 256GB storage. The phone runs on Android 12 operating system with NothingOS custom skin on top. It is great to see that the Nothing Phone (1) offers a stock Android experience and there are absolutely no ads or bloatware on this one. No unwanted apps. Yay!

While it is disappointing to see there’s no charger in the box, the battery performance of the phone seems good. Given there are hundreds of LEDs fitted inside, I thought that battery life would take a hit here, but good to see that Nothing has optimised the software and performance well. So far -- some 4 days -- I have noticed that the phone lasts me a little more than a day.

Now, the design:

Design is always something subjective. I love the Phone (1) design. Nothing has nailed the design of its first phone. The company said that the Phone (1) primarily targets the millennials and users who are tired of boring smartphone design. The phone comes in two options: white and black. Of the two, I like the black one more.

The Nothing Phone (1) takes the design inspiration from the Ear (1) and offers a transparent rear panel that also includes wireless charging support and 900 LEDs built inside. The phone offers 10 Glyph patterns, which users can customise. For example, different Glyph patterns can be set as different call notification patterns for different contacts. The Glyph interface can also show battery charging status. On the front, there's a hole punch display with minimal bezels on the sides. One highlight of the front design is the lack of a chin. The bezels are uniform on all sides, making the Phone (1) the first Android phone to sport such bezels. So far, we have only seen such bezels on iPhones.

Nothing Phone (1) quick review:

Nothing Phone (1) may not be the most powerful phone in its price segment, but it gets the basics right and that's important. While most other smartphone brands are focusing on specifications and big numbers, Nothing has focused on making a phone that is unique and fun to use. The Nothing Phone (1) starts at a price of Rs 32,999 and goes up to Rs 38,999, but there are bank offers to bring down the price to around Rs 30,000. Flipkart has partnered with HDFC Bank to offer Rs 2,000 instant discount on the purchase of the Nothing Phone (1).

Considering the price, the Nothing Phone (1) faces tough competition such as the OnePlus Nord 2T, iQOO Neo 6, Poco F4 5G, among others. The question that arises -- is the Nothing Phone (1) worth the price? I will take a better look at this question in my full review later this week. Till then, stay tuned to India Today Tech.

more information:https://youtu.be/YWV2XjoRKhk