Carl Pei, a former co-founder of OnePlus, founded the enigmatic start-up Nothing, which has only produced one product since its founding less than two years ago.
The Nothing Phone, which is the company’s second product ever, has finally been released ahead of its formal debut later this month.
Our knowledge of the phone’s complete specifications has now been established.
Not to mention its cost, which may be less than you had anticipated. Sadly, it won’t even be released in the US, but fans in the UK, Europe, and Asia will soon be able to purchase a rather interesting phone that undoubtedly lives up to (some of) the anticipation.
Here is all the information you need to know about Nothing’s first phone. You can also read our first impressions of the phone to see what we thought after using it for a few days.
What day will the Nothing Phone debut?
Prior to a formal launch ceremony on July 12, the business originally revealed that it was developing a smartphone during an event on March 23. After that, the news was gradually released to fans. The phone won’t really go on sale at that time; you’ll have to wait until July 21.
There are other ways to receive the phone earlier, though. A fortunate (and affluent) 100 people had the opportunity to buy numbered and engraved copies thanks to a partnership with the auction website StockX. Those who were fortunate in securing pre-order invites from the waiting list will soon begin receiving their phones before to the release date of July 21. From July 16 to July 20, the company will also offer the phone early at a pop-up kiosk in London.
Where Is The Launch Of The Nothing Phone?
Global accessibility is another important consideration. Although the phone won’t be released in the US or Canada, international carrier partners have been confirmed for the UK, Europe, and Asia.
Nothing has officially said that only a “closed beta programme” with “a small number of our private community investors in the U.S.” would be implemented. Given the “unpredictable” performance on T-Mobile, the absence of voice-over-4G on AT&T, and the complete lack of coverage on Verizon, it appears that even those fortunate few will have difficulty using the phone frequently.
“Although we’d like to make the phone accessible to everyone in the globe, we’re focusing on our home nations, such as the UK and Europe, where we have strong ties to leading local carriers. You probably already know how much goes into launching a smartphone, from carrier agreements to local regulations to making sure the device is compatible with the nation’s cellular technology. Since our brand is still relatively new, we need to be strategic.
The future is still hopeful, though. The business acknowledged that it has “huge intentions to offer the U.S. supported smartphone in the future,” but made no promises regarding the timing of such a launch.
What Is The Price Of The Nothing Phone?
There are three variants of the Phone, however, one comes out a bit later than the others:
8GB + 128GB: £399/€469
8GB + 256GB: £449/€499
12GB + 256GB: £499/€549
You may purchase it directly from Nothing’s website, as well as via networks including O2 in the UK, Amazon in the UK and Europe, and Flipkart in India. For additional information, see our more thorough advice on where to buy the phone.
The phone is well-positioned to compete with devices like the Google Pixel 6, Samsung Galaxy S22, and iPhone 13 at that pricing, which is really closer to mid-range alternatives like the OnePlus Nord 2T and Samsung Galaxy A53.
Really, it’s a tried-and-true tactic from Nothing. While maintaining premium features like ANC (active noise cancellation), the company’s ear headphones offered a reasonable price at $99/£99/€99, putting them at the higher end of what would be termed “budget” within their specific product category.
What Are The Specs And Features Of The Nothing Phone?
Although not a real flagship, the Phone has some good enough specs to offer despite its low price.
Design
The design of the phone, which was initially unveiled on June 15, is its most alluring feature.
Anyone who has seen the Ear headphones would immediately recognise the design language, which uses a combination of opaque and translucent plastic to allude to the phone’s internals without outright disclosing too much of them. It comes in either black or white.
The phone’s series of LED light strips on the rear is its most noticeable feature. These are known as the Glyph Interface, and they have a few cool tricks. They can flash in white (but only white) in different patterns.
- flashing warning signs
- while reverse wireless charging, illumination surrounding the charging coil
- When utilizing connected charging, the bottom bar slowly fills up to serve as a battery indication.
- When utilizing the camera, a fill light that illuminates all at once
- flashing in recognizable patterns timed to a variety of pre-set ringtones and notification alerts
The phone’s materials include recycled aluminium for the phone’s frame and post-consumer recycled plastic for the majority of its plastic components. The phone has Gorilla Glass 5 on the front and back for protection, and it has an IP53 classification for water and dust resistance.
Fundamental Specifications
The phone’s features are a tad more conventional, but still excellent, compared to its unique look.
Hopes that the phone will employ the newest Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 or the flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset were dashed by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G+ chipset. It comes with 128GB or 256GB of storage and 8GB or 12GB of RAM.
According to Carl Pei, Qualcomm developed capabilities for wireless charging and reverse charging exclusively for this phone and created a “custom-tuned” version of the chip for Nothing.
It was always known that the phone will enable wireless charging, as seen by the large circular coil that sits in the centre of the design, and it has now been verified to be Qi-compatible at rates of up to 15W, with support for
Additionally for 5W reverse wireless charging. The trade-off is that Nothing ships the phone without a charger in the package and that cable charging is just 33W, which is excellent but not the quickest available. The battery itself has a 4500mAh capacity, which is very standard.
The Phone (1)’s 6.55-inch screen, which is around typical for Android devices, uses 120Hz OLED technology. Although at the higher end of what you may anticipate, it supports HDR10+, a 240Hz touch sampling rate, and an under-display fingerprint sensor, all of which are rather standard for a modern mid-ranger.
It’s a little different with cameras. The pair of 50Mp back lenses are less common than the 16Mp, f/2.5 selfie camera. Nothing has instead focused on including two cameras that should be able to hold their own. Most phones at this price point just have a single competent camera and then fill the rear with questionable additional lenses.
With an f/1.9 aperture and the well-liked Sony IMX766 sensor in tow, which comes with it optical image stabilisation, the primary camera is still perhaps the more striking. The f/2.2 ultrawide, in contrast, employs Samsung’s JN1 image sensor and lacks OIS, making it less likely to match the primary camera in quality but still expected to rank among the top ultrawide cameras available in a phone at this price point.
Nothing OS
The software on the phone is the last crucial component. Pei also unveiled Nothing OS, the Android-based user interface that will debut on the business’s first smartphone, during the announcement event in March.
By reducing the operating system to its bare minimum and giving each byte a specific function, Nothing OS, in Pei’s words, “captures the greatest qualities of pure Android.”
It’s a well-known strategy that adheres to the same ideas as the OxygenOS user interface used on devices built by Pei’s old business, OnePlus.
Nothing OS has a distinctive style that carries over the retro-futurism already present in the brand’s larger assets, as shown in the screenshots above.
In an effort to provide a cleaner and simpler navigation experience, the OS’s ringtones and notification noises are reportedly inspired by “Morse code, oscillators, and digital timepieces.” In contrast, the user interface has relatively few animations.
Pei also promised a connection with not just the Nothing Ear (1) buds but also Tesla automobiles and NFTs, as well as 40% less pre-loaded applications and a concentration on Google’s own experiences as the primary port of contact for most services.
Pei promised four years of security upgrades in addition to three years of Android OS updates, thus the phone would first ship with Android 12 before receiving updates to Android 13, 14, and 15.
A beta version of the company’s app launcher is now available on some smartphones running Android 11 or newer if you want to get a preview of what Nothing OS will look and feel like. Although it isn’t the complete OS, it will give you a taste of the interface.
Nothing Phone (1) full specs
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G+
- 8/12GB LPDDR5 RAM
- 128/256GB UFS 3.1 storage
- 6.55in 120HZ OLED display
- Rear camera:
- 50Mp, f/1.9 OIS main camera
- 50Mp, f/2.2 ultrawide camera
- 16Mp, f/2.5 selfie camera
- 4500mAh battery
- 33W wired charging
- 15W wireless charging
- 5W reverse wireless charging
- 5G
- Stereo speakers
- Wi-Fi 6
- Bluetooth 5.2
- NFC
- Glyph Interface LED lights
- IP53
- Gorilla Glass 5
- Android 12 with Nothing OS 1
- 159.2 x 75.8 x 8.3mm
- 194g
