Nothing Phone 1: Not that Different
When the initial specs and images were released, the Nothing Phone 1 looked something different, something that has never been seen before but upon a closer look that might not be the case. If you judge it by the design then it is definitely not your typical Samsung and Apple smartphone.
Let’s dive into the details of the infamous, “Nothing Phone 1”
Features & Specifications
The phone’s unique rear panel has been the focus of early first glances and advertising materials, and it boasts a translucent glass that shows the phone’s innards — either white or black depending on the model you buy. If you look attentively, you will see an elephant at the bottom.
The light strips that run across the rear panel flash in glyph combinations that are both practical and decorative. Individual contacts and app alerts may be assigned specific glyphs. Glyphs have their own characteristic sound, a mix of old-school-tech-inspired pings and chirps with names like “squiggle” and “isolator.”
By activating the “flip to glyph” function, you can switch off notification noises automatically by setting the phone screen down on a flat surface while keeping the glyph light notifications enabled. You may also just turn off the glyph lights entirely.
The Phone 1’s devotion to vintage technology extends to the operating system, with a dot-matrix typeface utilized across menu screens and in a handful of the preinstalled clock, Android to iPhone transfers and weather widgets. The preloaded voice recording software is designed to seem like an analog tape recorder, and the alarm noises are reminiscent of the digital bedside clocks that everyone’s dad owned in the 1980s.
Phone 1 also has a lot of futuristic elements. A spot to show your NFTs is one of its homescreen widget choices, beside the classic, dot-matrix weather widget. The wallpaper alternatives supplied by Nothing are equally futuristic with an air of mystery. As an experimental feature at launch, there is also system-level connectivity with Tesla, which allows access to specific vehicle features from fast settings without installing a separate app.
Phone 1, on the other hand, has one foot in the past and one foot in the future. Apart from these capabilities, as well as some unique widgets and alert noises, there isn’t much that distinguishes it from any number of other contemporary Android phones. Nothing’s take on Android 12 is light, with no superfluous pre-downloaded applications or virtual assistants. The phone’s 6.55-inch OLED screen is easy to operate and enables smooth scrolling at 120Hz. With 12GB of RAM on the version I tested, the Snapdragon 778 processor delivers decent day-to-day performance. Overall, it’s a pretty nice but ordinary midrange Android phone.
The camera hardware of the Phone 1 is similarly competent but hardly groundbreaking. A 50-megapixel conventional back camera with an f/1.8 lens and optical stabilization is included. It’s combined with a 50-megapixel ultrawide camera and a 16-megapixel selfie camera on the front.
Nothing’s advertising materials make a great fuss of the camera’s lack of extra depth or macro sensors to pad up the number of lenses on the rear. OnePlus is infamous for adding these kind of sensors on their phones.
Apart from the apparent design modifications on the rear panel, the phone’s form and quality are extremely similar to current iPhones. The metal frame’s edges are straight, while the screen’s corners are rounded.
We are still exploring all of the features of this highly-anticipated device hence keep a lookout. Phone 1 has a pretty respectable set of specifications for a midrange phone, as well as a clean UI and a unique notification system. It doesn’t strike us as the game-changing item that the business claims it is. It’s neither pure nostalgic nostalgia nor the phone of the future. That’s OK since it has a strong chance of becoming a great midrange phone right now.
