Nothing Phone 1 Reviews: Is This Phone 100% Legit?

It would be all too easy to write Phone 1’s transparent design and glyph lighting off as a gimmick, but there’s a truly capable handset lurking underneath.

The screen and cameras punch above their weight, the materials and build quality give it the feel of a more expensive device, and Nothing clearly has big plans for its minimal take on Android – even if they haven’t been entirely realized at launch. We’re also big fans of anyone doing things differently in a market stuffed with increasingly samey handsets. The rival Xiaomi 12 Lite has near-identical underlying hardware and isn’t nearly as interesting to look at or use.

Battery life is a weak point though, and those with a need for speed will find faster performance elsewhere. Google, Samsung, and Apple also retain the edge on camera image quality – but it’s closer than you’d expect given Nothing’s newbie status.

As a phone, the Phone (1) is an almost unqualified success. The limited battery life and minor bugs and issues I’ve encountered are the only real weaknesses, while the capable cameras, IP53 rating, and wireless charging all stand out from the pack.

That’s before we even get to the design. Perhaps it will prove divisive, but you certainly couldn’t call the Phone (1) boring-looking, and ultimately the semi-transparent rear and LED patterns will prove the main reason to consider picking the Phone (1) up.

Making a great phone is difficult though, and making a great phone as your second-ever product is absolutely remarkable. So even if this is nothing special, it’s still a great choice.

The choice to include a less expensive (but still highly capable) chipset has helped shape the Phone 1 as something worthy of a different kind of hype: a very good, reasonably priced phone backed up with a solid software support policy. It’s exactly the kind of phone we could use more of in the US, so it’s a real shame that it won’t be available here.

The Phone 1’s marquee feature, the glyph notifications, are kind of a gimmick — but they’re ultimately harmless. It’s part of the phone’s unique style, which some people (maybe the kind who own NFTs and drive Teslas) will find appealing. Others won’t, and that’s fine. As it is, the Phone 1 doesn’t live up to Nothing’s marketing hype because no consumer tech product possibly could. It’s just a phone — and that’s okay because it’s a good one.

Brushing away the hype, the Nothing Phone (1) is a good mid-range Android phone. For £399 (no US price or release date is available yet) you’re getting a nice screen, versatile camera, a day-long battery, and a unique design.

However, nothing really stands out here as being better than what was already on the market. The Pixel A series takes nicer photos, the OnePlus Nord 2T is a better performer, and the Realme GT Neo 3T charges faster.

At least the Nothing Phone (1) is a good all-rounder and for many, that’ll be enough, especially when it’s paired with a neat design that’ll certainly get people talking. Hopefully, whenever the Phone (2) rolls around, we’ll have a device with a little more ambition.

Does the Nothing Phone 1 live up to the excessive hype? No, and Nothing has no one but itself to blame for that. This isn’t a revolutionary smartphone. The Glyph Interface isn’t going to recode your brain into only acknowledging incoming calls when accompanied by cryptic, blinking symbols. Nothing OS is not a utopian iteration of Android where all devices are made equal under Google. No matter how efficient or amended with additional perks, a mid-of-the-road chipset can’t resolve an inherent performance delta against Google Tensor or an A15 Bionic. One pretty good camera out of three does not make for a photography powerhouse.

Yet for all of the brand’s tiring bluster and occasional drifts into pretentiousness, it’s hard not to admire what it’s achieved with the Phone 1. As soon as we got a glimpse at the company’s first smartphone it was immediately subjected to accusations of being all style and no substance. That’s categorically not the case. Yes, it’s stylish in a way that blends retro chic and contemporary cool. But at its fundamentals, this is an exceptionally well-made handset that effortlessly competes with the best budget phones — a category that is dominated by some of the industry’s biggest names — at the first time of asking. That shouldn’t count for… nothing (okay, two, I lied).

The Nothing Phone 1 certainly isn’t an iPhone 13 Pro or Galaxy S22 Ultra rival. But it’s not trying to be. It’s a good phone, not because it tries to cram in every feature you could possibly imagine, but because it leaves them out. Both its hardware and software are stripped back, leaving you with a phone that’s well suited for everyday needs at a price that’ll still leave some cash in your bank.

It’s rare that a new company arrives on the scene with a first product that feels this polished, but the Nothing Phone 1 manages to get all the essentials right while adding in the extra pizzazz of that flashy design. If you’re after a well-performing phone for a good price, it’s definitely worth considering.