Nothing Phone (1) - Worth All The Hype?

        It's here... The most hyped smartphone of 2022... The NOTHING PHONE (1)

The Phone (1) is Nothing's second product and first smartphone! The motto of Nothing is to create practical products that stand out from the rest of its rivals. Is this device worth all the hype? Let's find out

SPOILER ALERT: A gamechanger just penetrated the field of mid-rangers 😮

Okay... The Nothing Phone (1) event was one of the best events I've seen. I usually do not ask the readers see the launch events but this time I should, because the event was very concise, and simple. CEO Carl Pei himself gave an overview of the phone in simple words. So do check it out

Let's address the elephant in the room first, THE DESIGN, Right off the bat, it's "SPLENDID and REFRESHING"

The transparent back panel allows us to see the internal components of the phone and the addition of LED lights surrounding these components making it look elegant and catch eyeballs for sure. Nothing is calling this the GLYPH INTERFACE.

These LED lights not only make the phone look appealing but also has a ton of functions assigned to it. They act as notification lights, charging indicators, flashlights, and sync with ringtones to make the device look cool. You can also set a custom pattern of lights for a particular contacts.

Advantages of the GLYPH INTERFACE (my opinion):

1. These lights can serve as the brightest flashlight in the smartphone industry.
2. Normal smartphone flashlights emit concentrated, sharp white light which illuminates only a small area but the glyph interface spread the light concentration evenly, giving a natural tone to the subject. Thus, helps a lot in macro photography.
3. Nothing programmed these lights to analyze a music track and create a custom light pattern based on that music. Also, these lights are synced with 10 in-built ringtones that Nothing provides.

Here are some in-built ringtones... 

Ringtones

Notification Sounds

Ya, most of these sounds are inspired by nature like beetle, squirrels, etc.

You might have observed that Phone (1) has symmetrical bezels. This is achieved by adding a flexible OLED display and bending it along the base so display ribbon connectors can be attached to the back of the phone. 

Other Android smartphone makers choose rigid displays to cut production costs but Nothing claims that they have invested double the amount in the display category by choosing flexible displays. A great move by Nothing in the design category. I'll give it a 9.5/10👏👍.

Ribbon cables that lead to bigger bezels

Flexible display that bends along the bottom

The next thing I want to bring the focus is on THE SOFTWARE:- Straight away I'll say that Nothing OS i.e. the software skin of Nothing, is the cleanest, most elegant, and user-friendly software. 

GO THROUGH THIS VERY CAREFULLY... 

1. Nothing gathered 500 engineers to just focus on the software and software optimization.
2. The chipset maker, Snapdragon worked with Nothing to tune the chipset efficiently with the device.
3. Google worked with Nothing to make the software look as elegant as stock android.
4. Nothing's signature dot font makes it look sleek.
5. It's a very lite software thus, consuming less power and improving battery health. 
6. Nothing promises 3 years of Android updates and 4 years of security updates on this device.

Therefore, it's an easy 9/10 on the software👍. Ya, it misses out on some fun camera and accessibility features but, I'll say that this software will not disappoint you in your day-to-day usage.

If you wanna learn about smartphone software and its trick, click here

Next up, THE PERFORMANCE, the Phone (1) is powered by Snapdragon 778G+,  a mid-range processor which can run high loads of tasks without hesitation.

 

High graphic games can be played on this phone. I'll say that it's good for gaming but not great for gaming.

 

The thermals are also maintained very well on this phone. I'll not get too hot to the touch even while performing hardcore tasks.

As there is good software optimization and tuning, performance will not be an issue on this device.

In the performance area, I'll give it an 8.5/10 considering the fact that this is a mid-ranger.

Other phones under this category offer higher-end chipsets but their software is crappy and not well optimized. 

What about THE CAMERAS... Carl Pei was very open in letting us know the reason for using only 2 sets of cameras on the Phone (1). He said that other smartphone companies add 4-5 cameras on the back of their device, but only 2 cameras work fine on those devices. Adding more cameras on the back is just a marketing gimmick😠.

Yeah, I quite agree with Carl cuz most mid-range phones have a telephoto lens, wide-angle lens, macro camera, and a depth sensor. On these types of devices the ultrawide camera performance is okish and the macro camera is worse, companies also trick people by making the depth sensor look like a camera 😶

What Nothing has done is that they have included a 50-megapixel Sony IMX766 f/1.88 primary sensor and a Samsung JN1 50-megapixel f/2.2 ultra-wide angle sensor which doubles as a macro camera. This phone takes photos that look natural with no over processing. The image processing is done quite quickly and the photos from ultrawide lens also come out quite well. macro photography is also very good thanks to glyph lights that fully light up the tiny object that the camera focuses on.

Selfies come out very good with a 16MP front-facing camera but you can turn on the glyph lights and take a selfie using the rear camera, this makes your photos look as if they were taken with the help of a ring-light... Life Hack 😁 

Here are some camera samples 

Outdoor shot

Macro Shot

Artificial Lighting (Indoor)

Carl Pei also mentioned that they will not hire professional photographers to take photos, instead he'll hand over the phone to normal people to experience the camera. Nice move 👍

Hmm, let's catch THE PRICING of this device. The Phone (1) starts from ₹31,999 for 8GB; 128GB, all the way up to 37,999 for 12GB; 256GB on Flipkart. Yes, it's 3-4 k pricier than the other androids out there but considering the unique design, software, and performance, it's a great price. 

Oh, also you'll get ₹2000 cashback with specified bank cards.

So, it all comes down to this question... 

Is it worth buying the Phone (1) or is it just a marketing gimmick?

The answer from my side is... If you are looking for a mid-ranger with a premium and unique design, great software, eminent performance, and a fine set of cameras, Nothing Phone (1) is your pick 👈

The glyph interface is not a gimmick because I feel that the more you gaze at the screen of a phone, then you are more likely to pick it up and use it. The glyph interface makes the users to flip their phone upside down, making it look like "a piece of art with dancing lights" on their table, therefore helping them to concentrate more on their work, maintaining a good work-life balance :) So, Nothing Phone (1) has its own advantages with its design.

When you want to enter into an immense game and want to glow in it, then you have to be a gamechanger, that is what Nothing showed us. The time when smartphones started to look boring by copying the same design again and again [hem! Apple], Nothing gave their device a refreshing look.

I'm not gonna consider it a "flagship killer" but I'll say that in the mid-range category this really stands out and will attract buyers from all age groups.