Nothing Phone 1

The Nothing Phone (1) is an Android smartphone by Nothing. The phone was announced on 23 March 2022 and went on sale on 21 July 2022.

History

Nothing was founded in October 2020. It was announced on January 27, 2021, by former OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei, three months after Pei had left OnePlus. The goal of the new company was to "remove barriers between people and technology to create a seamless digital future." While no product was announced at the time, the company announced that new products from the company would be released later in the year.

After Nothing released their first product, the Ear (1), Nothing announced a partnership with Qualcomm, which will allow them to use their Snapdragon chips in their future devices.

Speculation on Nothing's first smartphone began to rise in March 2022 during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, when the company showed its prototype to executives, including Qualcomm. After securing up to $70 million in Series B financing, Nothing announced its 23 March keynote, at which it would announce its first smartphone.

On 20 June 2022, Nothing revealed the design of the Nothing Phone (1) at the Art Basel Show in Basel, Switzerland. Nothing also confirmed that another event would take place on 12 July to announce additional information regarding the Phone (1), including pricing and specs.

On 12 July 2022, the phone was released during an online event. The phone's slogan was "Pure Instinct".

Release

Nothing has announced partnerships with O2 in the United Kingdom, Deutsche Telekom in Germany, and Flipkart in India to release the phone, with the phone to be released exclusively in the UK on O2 and Germany on Deutsche Telekom. When asked about releasing the phone to the North American market, the company confirmed that the phone would not be released in North America. Although the company has confirmed that Nothing has plans to release a smartphone for the North American market, the Phone (1) will instead be distributed to private investors through a closed beta program.

Pre-orders for the UK and Germany began on 24 June 2022, via invitation only with private community members going first, with customers who wanted to pre-order the phone required to pay £20/€20 to purchase the phone by July. In January 2023, Nothing announced a United States launch as a "beta program" to test the release of Android 13 on the device; "beta members" will pay US$299 and receive a phone with limited connectivity on US networks.

Design

The Phone (1) features a transparent design, similar to that of the company's other products, such as the Nothing Ear (1). It has flat sides, similar to the iPhone 12, and an IP53 splash, water, and dust resistance rating.

The design features 900 small LEDs on the back which uses the Glyph Interface to make rear LEDs light up in sync with the phone sounds. These 'glyph lights' also light up to show the phone's charging status. The phone's frame consists of recycled aluminum with additional plastic components that are 50% made from bio-based or post-consumer recycled materials. The display is protected by Gorilla Glass 5 and the phone is covered with Gorilla Glass 6. There is an in-display fingerprint sensor as well.

The phone has stereo speakers but does not come with a headphone jack. The phone supports Bluetooth 5.2 and NFC capabilities. The phone comes in white and black colors.

Hardware

The Phone (1) is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G+ processor and has a 6.5 inch 1080 x 2400 resolution punch hole display screen with a 120 Hz refresh rate. The screen can get as bright as 1200 nits and supports displaying 1 billion colors. The phone has a 4500 mAh battery, with 33W charging, which is capable of charging the phone from 0 to 50% in 30 minutes and a full charge in 70 minutes. It also features 15W wireless charging, 5W reverse-wireless charging, and supports Quick Charge 4.0 and Power Delivery 3.0 up to 33W. It can be configured with either 8+128, 8+256, or 12+256 RAM and storage configurations. It also features a RAM booster using 8GB, so it can go up to 20GB of RAM.

The phone has dual 50-megapixel main and ultra-wide cameras. The main camera supports both optical image stabilization and electronic image stabilization and is capable of recording 4K video at 30 fps and FHD video at 60 fps. The phone does not have a dedicated telephoto lens, and instead uses digital zoom to take close-up shots. There is a red LED on the back of the phone that lights up when video is recorded.

Software

The Phone (1) runs on Nothing OS. Nothing OS was tested and found to be near-stock Android, with some tweaks to ensure that the phone would provide "a fast, smooth, and personal experience." The phone will receive at least three years of software updates and four years of security updates.

Nothing OS is an Android skin developed by Nothing for the Nothing Phone (1).

Features

It uses a dot-matrix font used by the company in the majority of its products.

Nothing OS uses a stock Android look and feel tuned up to the company preference.

Nothing claims that Nothing OS is bloatware free, the only manufacturer modified apps are the Nothing Camera and Nothing voice recorder and a lot of added features. The main features are promised Tesla integration and a glyph interface.

History

On 23 March 2022 during Nothing's keynote speech on their first smartphone, Nothing announced their Android-based operating system, Nothing OS.

Nothing OS 1.1.8 was released on 19 January 2023, bringing the January 2023 Android security patches.

Nothing OS 1.5 Beta 1 was released on 16 December 2022, powered by Android 13. It received its second beta update on 13 January 2023. The second beta received bug fixes on 18 January 2023. It has improved performance and glyph interface. It started to get rolled out to the public as Nothing OS 1.5.2 on 16 February 2023, this update introduces a new weather app, and other features, including improvements to the performance and other Android 13 features, like Android's new QR Code reader, according to ''The Verge''. It was officially released to the public on 22 February 2023, via a press release by Nothing. Tech Outlook leaked the new OS one day before its launch, which was on 21 February 2023. GSMArena said: "The Nothing OS 1.5 update comes in at 1.25GB and offers plentiful new features and optimizations including a new weather app, new media controls, more glyph interface options and improvements to the camera interface."

Nothing OS 1.5.3 was released on 14 March 2023, bringing Nothing Ear 2 support, February 2023 patches and more features.

Nothing OS 1.5.4 was released on 5 May 2023, bringing three new features. First, users can send feedback to Nothing about the software experience from within the phone. The Bluetooth functionality in Quick Settings gives quick access to paired devices. Plus, users can now scan UPI QR codes with the camera app and make payments directly. It also brings system improvements and bug fixes.

Nothing OS 2.0 was released on 28 August 2023, new features includes a monochromatic icon pack and updating the Glyph Interface to version 2. Glyph Torch can be used as a flashlight, and essential Notifications allows select contacts and apps to leave a persistent notification.

Nothing OS 3.0 was released on 16 January 2025, new features include shared widgets, Nothing Gallery, and improved quick settings.

Reception

''Engadget'' named the phone "a very remarkable Android mid-ranger". The attention to detail in the phone was praised. Overall, they gave it a rating of 88/100.

Many early purchasers have complained about green tinting and dead pixels on their screens. Nothing stated that they would calibrate the display effect in an upcoming software update and encouraged affected customers to contact customer support and request replacements.

The Nothing Phone (1) received a very low repairability score of 4 out of 10 in a video review.

Glyph interface

File:Nothing Phone (Glyph bug).gif, Glyph bug
File:Nothing Phone (Glyph molitor).gif, Glyph molitor
File:Nothing Phone (Glyph pepelu).gif, Glyph pepelu
File:Nothing Phone (Glyph karha).gif, Glyph karha
File:Nothing Phone (Glyph radiate).gif, Glyph radiate
File:Nothing Phone (Glyph beetle).gif, Glyph beetle
File:Nothing Phone (Glyph pneumatic).gif, Glyph pneumatic

References

External links

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{{Nothing Technology
Nothing smartphones
Mobile phones introduced in 2022
Mobile phones with multiple rear cameras
Mobile phones with 4K video recording
Discontinued smartphones