What it's like using Nothing's Phone (1) for a week
The transparent design and Glyph interface’s LED lights are futuristic as hell.
The Nothing Phone (1) arrived at my door last Wednesday, and I’ve been using the highly anticipated transparent Android phone as my main driver ever since. This is not a full review of the Phone (1)’s performance, cameras, or battery life — they’re more of my first impressions.
Nothing sent me the black version of the Phone (1). Having also seen the white model, I much prefer the darker shade. It looks sleeker, especially when the rear Glyph LED lights illuminate.
The complete Phone (1) tech specs, launch regions, and pricing details are below, but I really want to talk about the transparent design and Glyph interface because they are the main attractions. The design is simply refreshing. In the hand, it feels like a lighter iPhone 13 Pro Max that’s made of aluminum instead of stainless steel, but being able to see the inside components evokes an emotion about technology that I haven’t had in a while. My colleague James and I were unusually giddy as we unboxed the device. We’d already seen the Phone (1) from every angle in online pictures, but finally getting to see the phone in person — watch the Glyph illuminate and play custom sounds whenever a notification came in — just hit differently.
The Phone (1) runs on Android 12 with Nothing OS 1.0.2. As with the hardware, I can’t share detailed thoughts on the software today, but I can tell you that it’s clean — basically, stock Android. Similar to original OnePlus phones, Nothing’s Carl Pei chose to go with stock Android to provide the fastest and smoothest experience — that much is obvious.
Can the Phone (1) be the disruptor that the mobile market needs? The phone to make technology fun again? Stay tuned for my review. Everything that you’ve been wanting to know about the Phone (1) is below.
Tech specs
The 6.55-inch OLED display has equal-sized bezels on all four sides.
Nothing previously confirmed to Input that the Phone (1) is powered by a mid-range Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G+ chip. Now, we know the full spec sheet for the Phone (1).
- Display: 6.55 OLED display (2,400 x 1,080 resolution at 402 ppi) / 500 nits brightness and 1,200 nits peak brightness / 240Hz touch sampling rate
- Refresh rate: Adaptive refresh rate (60-120Hz)
- Chipset: 6nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G+ chip
- RAM + storage: 8GB RAM + 128GB storage / 8GB RAM + 256GB storage / 12GB RAM + 256GB storage
- Battery: 4,500 mAh
- Charging: 33W PD3.0 wired, 15W Qi wireless with dual charging support, 5W reverse charging
- Biometrics: In-display fingerprint sensor / face unlock
- SIM slots: 2
- Wireless: 5G, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2
- IP rating: IP53 water and dust-resistance
- Android version: Android 12 with Nothing OS 1.0.2
- Dimensions: 159.2 x 75.8 x 8.3mm
- Weight: 193.5g
- Colors: White or black
Cameras
The Nothing Phone (1) has two cameras on the rear: 50-megapixel wide and 50-megapixel ultra-wide.
As for the cameras, there are three in total: a selfie camera on the front, and a wide and ultrawide lens on the rear. Here’s what you get with the Phone (1) cameras:
- Selfie camera: 16-megapixel Sony IMX471 sensor with f/2.45 aperture / 1080p at 30 fps
- Wide camera: 50-megapixel Sony IMX766 sensor with f/1.88 aperture
- Ultrawide camera: 50-megapixel Samsung JN1 sensor with f/2.2 aperture and 114-degree FOV / 4cm macro mode
The rear cameras can record in 4K resolution at 30 fps, or in 1080p at 30 fps or 60 fps. It also does slo-mo video capture at 120 fps. Together, the rear camera system has OIS and EIS for stabilization.
Release regions
Although the Phone (1) is not launching in the U.S., it will be released on July 21 in “40+ countries and regions, including the UK, Europe and Japan at nothing.tech and select carriers and retailers” according to Nothing.
In the UK, Nothing is selling the Phone (1) directly at a company kiosk, Smartech, Selfridges London, and Amazon. Carrier O2 will also sell the Phone (1).
Price
The Phone (1) is not launching in the U.S.
Nothing shared the UK pricing for the Phone (1). They’re as follows for each SKU:
- 8GB RAM + 128GB storage = £399 (about $473 USD)
- 8GB RAM + 256GB storage = £449 (about $533 USD)
- 12GB RAM + 256GB storage = £499 (about $592 USD)
These prices are converted from GBP to USD at the time of writing. These prices are subject to change with time.
This article was originally published on Input. Read the original article here.
