CMF Phone 1 by Nothing review
Nothing OS on top of Android 14
The CMF Phone 1 is not afraid of its Nothing roots. On the contrary, as we mentioned, Nothing views the CMF Phone 1 as another entryway into the broader Nothing ecosystem. Hence, it makes perfect sense that the CMF Phone 1 would be running Nothing OS. In this particular case, there is Nothing OS 2.6 on top of Android 14.
Nothing promises the CMF Phone 1 will receive two years of major Android updates and three years of security patches. That's decent but not that great as far as software support on modern Android devices goes.
Nothing OS continues to be very "clean" in terms of feature customization and thus near to AOSP. However, at the same time, it is heavily visually customized with a very distinct look and feel. Nothing's signature dot matrix font and overall aesthetic surrounding it permeate the UI. You get a whole slew of custom widgets (24 in total) from everything from clocks and calendars to contacts and weather, so you can retain that consistent Nothing look.
The notification shade and quick toggles are also as much AOSP as they are Nothing. With Nothing OS 2.5, the top two big quick toggle areas were changed from circles to squares with rounded corners. That's what we get in 2.6 as well.
Another relatively new addition to Nothing OS is the custom icon pack that, expectedly, is monochrome and has a consistent look.
Nothing OS 2.6
Interestingly enough, despite having an AMOLED display, the CMF Phone 1 seems to be lacking an always-on display feature. An interesting choice, considering even the Nothing Phone (2a) has the AOD option.
Nothing OS has a Monochrome UI option for those wanting an even more exclusive, unique experience. It is part of the Do Not Disturb and Bedtime routines, but you can set it up for you however you prefer. The monochrome UI is a display option, and it doesn't affect the UI exactly, so if you take a screenshot or a picture, it will still be colorful.
In a bid to innovate and be a part of the "trendy crowd," Nothing is constantly trying its hand at some advanced and experimental features. Our review unit is missing the "Connect to Tesla" menu that the Nothing Phone (2) had, so perhaps that didn't pan out. However, the experimental AirPods support is still present.
There are some less experimental hardware OS-level integrations available as well, like through the Nothing X app, which supports several headphones like the Ear (1), Ear (stick), Ear (2) and CMF Buds, Neckband Pro and Buds Pro.
As far as bloatware is concerned, the CMF Phone 1 has none to speak of, assuming you don't count the ever-increasing mandatory Google apps as bloatware. The only custom apps on the phone are the Camera, Weather, and Recorder apps. These expectedly share a cohesive design. The Nothing X app was pre-installed on our unit as well, but if yours is missing, it is available on the Google Play store.
Benchmarks and performance
The CMF Phone 1 is based on the MediaTek Dimensity 7300 chipset. It's largely based on the older Dimensity 7050 but with a twist - it's manufactured using a 4nm manufacturing process, which should give it up to 25% better power efficiency than its 6nm predecessor.
The CPU department has 4x 2.5 GHz Cortex-A78 cores and 4x 2.0 GHz Cortex-A55 cores, while the GPU is the Mali-G615.
Another difference between the older 7050 and the current 7300 is the ISP. The Imagiq 950 12-bit HDR can dual video capture using two cameras simultaneously. It can also capture 4K video, which is not always a given at this price point.
The CMF Phone 1 has a trio of memory variants: 6GB/128GB, 8GB/128GB and 8GB/256GB. The first one seems exclusive to India, while the last one is unavailable in India. We managed to tell through speed testing that the storage chips are UFS 3.1. Storage is expandable via microSD. Our review unit is an 8GB/256GB one.
Let's kick things off with GeekBench and some CPU testing. The Dimensity 7300 is a pretty new chipset, but it is not entirely unfamiliar to us. We've already seen it in the Oppo Reno12 and Reno12 Pro, and we are happy to report that the CMF Phone 1 seems to be making better use of it and squeezing a bit more CPU performance from it.
GeekBench 6
- Multi-core
- Single-core
Nothing Phone (2)
Nothing Phone (1)
Poco X6
Galaxy A35
Nothing CMF Phone 1
Oppo Reno12
Oppo Reno12 Pro
In case you were wondering where the CMF Phone 1 slots performance-wise within the current Nothing lineup, it kind of trades blows with the Nothing Phone 2a, at least in the CPU department. And both devices are too far off from the original Nothing Phone (1).
AnTuTu is a much more compound benchmark with graphical and memory tests. It paints a similar overall picture with the Nothing Phone (2a) just slightly outpacing the CMF Phone 1 overall performance. Remember that we have the highest memory version of the CMF Phone 1 for testing.
AnTuTu
- v9
- v10
Nothing Phone (2)
Nothing Phone (1)
Nothing Phone (2a)
Nothing CMF Phone 1
Poco X6
Galaxy A35
Galaxy A34
GPU performance testing shows a bit of a wider gap between the CMF Phone 1 and the Nothing Phone (2a). The latter has a commanding lead. It's not a drastic one, but it's definitely noticeable. We've included the Nothing Phone (2) in the charts to illustrate that it is playing in a different league. Then again, it costs a lot more, too.
3DMark (offscreen)
- Wild Life (1440p)
- Wild Life Extreme (2160p)
Nothing Phone (2)
Nothing Phone (2a)
Oppo Reno12
Oppo Reno12 Pro
Nothing CMF Phone 1
Poco X6
Nothing Phone (1)
We've discontinued GFXBench graphics benchmarking as the app is often banned/blacklisted on the phones we receive for review. The graphics performance ranking in 3D Mark is just as meaningful, so we suggest you refer to that one instead.
While the CMF Phone 1 won't be winning any performance races any time soon, its Dimensity 7300 chipset is definitely competent and more than capable of handling everyday tasks. Even some light to moderate-intensity gaming is no problem at all.
Thermal-throttling
The Dimensity 7300 isn't a particularly hot-running chip, and the CMF Phone 1 handles its heat output masterfully. The device has an elaborate liquid cooling system comprising a heat pipe and graphite sheets on both the front and back for better thermal conductivity.
The phone's thermal-throttling curve is gentle and controlled without any major stutters and slowdowns. Plus, the phone's surface never gets more than lukewarm.
Thermal-throttling
Reader comments
- Phone enthusiast
- 09 Sep 2024
- k7B
I am a person who uses a phone for internet browsing and mobile gaming. When I want to buy something I use a credit card and when I want to hear something I pull out my wireless earbuds. This phone was made people like me. They put a chipset in ...
- GG
- 03 Sep 2024
- EqZ
Why some of you guys do not get it. Please make a technical comparison in terms of processor and how come you can get mtk 7000 series with only 200 bucks on this phone if you do not have some backlash like the lack of nfc. Please think. Im tired of p...
- Anonymous
- 21 Aug 2024
- xK5
I don't personally care about the lack of stereo speakers as I would never use them for anything (phone speakers aren't great usually, and I got earbuds for music/calls anyway), but no NFC is a deal-breaker in this day and age.