From the back, the Nothing Phone 1 is unmistakably different. Even before the light bars light up, it’s very clearly not an Apple, Samsung or Motorola phone. When the “glyph” flashes to signal a notification or an incoming call, then you definitely know it’s something else. This is the definition of attention grabbing.
Otherwise, the Phone 1 is awfully familiar. And that’s actually not a bad thing.
Before we get into what’s not different, let’s talk about the elephant in the room: OnePlus. Nothing is Carl Pei’s new venture following his departure in 2020 from the company he co-founded. With the Nothing’s focus on style, it doesn’t look like it’s trying to directly clone OnePlus’ flagship specs for a budget formula, but that’s not too far off. The Phone 1 has so far existed in a cloud of noise generated by Nothing – no doubt a carryover from OnePlus. It also lacks the hallmarks of a true flagship: no Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor, telephoto camera or IP68 water resistance. But the price is right: it starts at £399 (about $475 USD). Sounds kind of familiar.
There’s also a (sort of) literal elephant in the room—Nothing spokesperson Melissa Medeiros said some people are seeing the shape of an elephant in the coils and components on the back of the Phone 1. The phone’s unusual back panel has been the focus of early first looks and advertising Nothing materials and includes clear glass that reveals the insides of the phone – painted white or black depending on the model you order. The elephant isn’t the first thing I would see in this Rorschach test, but once you know where to look, it’s there.
Look at him?
The light bars spread across the back panel flash in combinations called glyphs, and they are both functional and decorative. You can assign specific glyphs to individual contacts and app notifications. Each of the glyphs is paired with its own signature sound, a mix of old-school-inspired tech squeals and chirps with odd names like “scuggle” and “isolator.”
By enabling a feature called “turn to glyph”, you can automatically turn off notification sounds by placing the phone’s screen down on a flat surface, while keeping the glyph light notifications active. You could also just turn off the glyph lights completely, but what’s the point? (The glyph lights are really bright by default, but you can turn them down in the settings.)
Everything is illuminated.
The Phone 1’s homage to retro technology continues into the operating system, with a dot matrix font scattered across the menu screens and used in several of the pre-installed clock and weather widgets. The pre-installed voice recording app is styled with a nod to analog tape recorders, and the alarm sounds are reminiscent of the digital night clocks everyone’s dad had in the 1980s.
There’s also plenty of forward-looking stuff for the Phone 1. One of the home screen widget options — along with a retro, matrix weather widget — is a place to display your NFTs. I don’t have monkeys and personally find the inclusion a little off-putting, but the widget isn’t enabled by default and it’s easy enough to pretend it doesn’t exist. Nothing-provided wallpaper options are also futuristic with a hint of mystery in them. There’s also system-level integration with Tesla as an experimental feature at launch that provides access to certain car controls from Quick Settings without downloading a separate app. You know, for all Tesla owners. I won’t hold my breath for integration with my Honda Fit.
Network view
But with one foot in the past and the other in the future, the Phone 1 lands squarely in the present. Outside of these features (some might say gimmicks) and some custom widgets and alert sounds, there’s not much to separate it from many other current Android phones. Nothing’s take on Android 12 is a light touch, with no unnecessary pre-downloaded apps and duplicative virtual assistants. The phone’s 6.55-inch OLED is pleasant to use and offers smooth scrolling with a 120Hz screen. Its Snapdragon 778 chipset shows good day-to-day performance with 12GB of RAM on the version I tested. Overall, this is a very good, very unremarkable mid-range Android phone.
Something old, something new. Photo by Alison Johnson/The Verge
The Phone 1’s camera hardware is also respectable, but not revolutionary. It has a 50-megapixel standard rear camera with f/1.8 lens and optical stabilization. It is paired with a 50-megapixel ultra-wide and there is a 16-megapixel selfie camera on the front. Nothing’s promotional materials make a big deal about not including redundant depth or macro sensors to increase the number of lenses on the back of the camera. By the way, OnePlus is known for including this kind of sensors in its phones. As it stands, there’s nothing (ugh) in the Phone 1’s spec sheet or the initial photos I took to indicate that its cameras are exceptionally good or bad.
Network view
Apart from the very obvious differences in the design of the rear panel, the phone’s shape and finish are very similar to recent iPhones. The edges of the aluminum frame are straight, and the screen is rounded at the corners. I reached for it more than once, thinking it was the iPhone 13 Pro Max, which I’m also currently using. When you can’t see the flashing lights on the back, the Phone 1 is a very mainstream, familiar-looking device. Without the glyph feature, this phone could have been a starter.
We’re working on more in-depth testing with the Phone 1, but the first impression it leaves is a good one — if not exactly what Nothing and its ad machine are hoping to create. What the Phone 1 offers is a very good set of specifications for a mid-range phone with a clean interface and a new notification system. It doesn’t strike me as the revolutionary device that the company advertises it to be. It’s not pure retro nostalgia, and it’s not the phone of the future. That’s good because it has a good chance of being an excellent mid-range phone for now.
Photo by Alison Johnson/The Verge
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