Nothing Phone (1) - 8GB RAM + 256GB, Glyph Interface, 50 MP dual camera, Nothing OS, 6.55” 120Hz OLED display, White

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As for performance, this is precisely what’s to be expected of a modern mid-ranger. In the Geekbench 5 test, the Nothing Phone (1) achieved broadly similar single-core and multicore processing results as its rivals. There’s a lot to like when it comes to speeds – it’s just that the comparison graph isn’t all that interesting to analyse.

Standing out is hard for a smartphone. A decade ago we had variety in terms of design, but now just about everything – aside from pricey foldables that are out of reach for most buyers– is a rounded-off rectangle. Gaming performance is a different story, with the Nothing Phone (1) hitting an average onscreen frame rate of 82fps in the GFXBench Manhattan 3 test. That’s roughly 44% faster than both the Samsung Galaxy A53 5G and OnePlus Nord 2T 5G. One thing to note is that the Google Pixel 6a’s flagship Tensor chip is technically faster than the Snapdragon 778G+, but it is limited by a 60Hz screen. I still really like the bottom LED that slowly fills up as the phone charges giving you a visual indicator of how close you are to 100% without getting distracted by the phone itself.

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Perhaps the most useful tweak is a pair of bubbles in the notification drawer. Swipe through the left bubble and you can access mobile data, Wi-Fi and hotspot settings, with the right-most bubble listing your connected Bluetooth devices. Things have been improved with the Android 13-based Nothing OS 2.0 on the Nothing Phone (2), however, and Nothing has promised that the update will hit the Nothing Phone (1) in the coming months. Battery Life The Nothing Phone (1) records video at a maximum 4K resolution at 30fps. 1080p recording opens the frame rate up to 60fps and this is the setting I would recommend using, since the increase in detail at 4K is let down by choppy footage. Nothing Phone (1) review: Verdict

If you want a faster phone than this for the same price, the OnePlus is a bit faster, but you’ll only be able to tell in benchmark tests. The Nothing Phone 2 has plenty of power to run games at high graphics levels, and the visual flourishes Nothing adds to the interface look very smooth running on this phone. There is one aspect of the Nothing Phone I’ve entirely glossed over though. If you put it face up and side by side with one of the best iPhones, it’s quite hard for the average person to tell the difference. Those who know will be able to spot it but the Nothing Phone’s dimensions, outer frame, curvature and even its size are really quite close to an iPhone. After putting it next to my wife’s iPhone 14 Pro Max though, there’s one thing that Nothing did better than Apple: the phone’s volume and power buttons are slightly lower which makes them easier to reach. Nothing has to be commended for not adding an extra terrible telephoto sensor or a pointless macro sensor here just for marketing purposes. Yes, a true telephoto camera would have been nice, but I have yet to use a phone at this price that can do zoomed images justice. Connectivity: It may be a mid-range handset, but Nothing certainly didn’t skimp on the Phone 1’s connectivity suite. There are the expected sub-6Ghz 5G bands, but the Phone 1 also supports Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 for some significant and welcome future-proofing. Standby times are oddly poor, far worse than what I would usually expect from an Android phone at this price. Leaving the phone unplugged overnight saw it drop by 15% four nights in a row. Like the slow cameras, there’s every chance this could be a result of poorly optimised software.Despite an odd bug due to be fixed, the Android software is pleasingly bloat-free, which helps the phone feel snappy in use. The battery life is pretty good, too. Four years of promised software updates is good but not the best, and relies on Nothing succeeding in fulfilling its commitment, which is not guaranteed for any new entrant. The Nothing Phone (1) is a remarkable first effort for the fledgling company. With a unique design, quirky LED lighting effects, a clean installation of Android and a sublime screen, the Phone (1) is well and truly on the way to becoming a hallmark of the mid-range scene. Nothing has equipped its first smartphone with a 2.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G+ 5G processor, which according to the company is a specially tweaked version of the chipset to allow for wireless and reverse wireless charging. I was sent the model with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage for review, but the Nothing Phone (1) also comes in 8GB/128GB and 12GB/256GB flavours. I have been using the Nothing Phone 2 as my exclusive smartphone for both personal and work purposes for the last couple of weeks before this review was published. I use it for everything I do with my smartphone, from messaging to gaming to photography to getting work done.

The optical fingerprint scanner under the screen is fast and accurate. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian Price Unlike OnePlus, Nothing isn’t touting the Phone (1) as a flagship in terms of performance. In fact, the spec list here is very modest. If a top-tier Qualcomm chipset or ridiculously fast charging is a must-have feature, you might be better off looking at something from Realme or Xiaomi – or even the newer Nothing Phone (2). The camera specs sound good on paper as this is the same sensor you’ll find on excellent smartphones like the Oppo Find X5 Pro and Xiaomi 12, which really impressed us when we tested them. It also thoroughly impressed our reviewer of the OnePlus Nord 2T, another phone that uses this sensor. The Nothing Phone 2 gets a slightly bigger battery than the original phone, perhaps owing to being a slightly larger phone all around. I had no trouble making it through a full day on a single charge with the Nothing Phone 2, and there are probably many aspects of the phone that help.The Nothing Phone (1) is the first Android phone and second product after the Nothing Ear (1) from OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei’s hyped startup. Video doesn’t seem to have been much of a focus for Nothing here, as the feature-set is minimal. You can shoot in 4K up to 60fps with a fairly standard level of stabilisation and that’s about it.

For reference, the newer Nothing Phone (2) sports an identical dual-50MP camera setup, though with a different main sensor and an improved ISP that can capture much more data – though whether this results in notably better results is yet to be seen. Performance There is a charging glyph when the phone is plugged in, and it’s sort of emblematic of the whole problem with the glyph system. There are myriad ways Nothing could use the glyphs to show me that my phone is charging, and how much longer it will take. It could light the glyphs slowly, or fill them all individually. I’m not a designer, but anyone could come up with something better than what Nothing offers. I would say the issues I have experienced are down to software optimisation, something not unusual for a new brand creating its first phone. It does lead to an often frustrating experience though. While the Nothing Phone 2 isn’t technically as sharp as its rivals, like the Pixel 7, it can get much brighter than other phones in this price range, and that’s a perfect trade-off. I had no trouble shooting photos on the Nothing Phone 2 display in bright sunlight or reading directions on a hiking map.Proximity Sensor, Light Sensor, Gyroscope Sensor, Accelerometer (G-Sensor), Magnetometer, Motion Sensor, Fingerprint Sensor When you charge the phone, you get a little bar of light at the bottom of the phone near the charger, but only for a moment. You can’t opt to keep that light lit, even though it’s a low-power LED and the phone is plugged in. If you want to see the light again, you need to wiggle the phone. Wiggle it, just a little bit. Nothing isn’t rewriting the rulebook when it comes to the Phone (1)’s blueprint, but it is trying to differentiate itself with a striking design.