Nothing phone (1) long-term review

Conclusion

If you dare look past all the hype, marketing, and gimmicks, the Nothing Phone (1) is a mid-range device with a rather unique design, good performance and smoothness, good battery life, and good cameras. It may however seem to you like Nothing has been trying very hard to push the aesthetic qualities of the phone above all else. We might even agree with that assessment somewhat, but we think it has to do with how you can stand out in an incredibly crowded market, and not one that's growing anymore, as a startup, without spending tens of millions or more on marketing.

We're not saying this is the only way to do it, but it's definitely one way to do it, and going by all the interest we've seen for the Nothing Phone (1) since it started leaking, and even up until today, we have to say it worked. Even if your only motivation for clicking on a Nothing Phone-related article is to comment about how much you hate it, you are in fact perpetuating the hype cycle, and that serves Nothing very well. So it's a good, and we dare assume affordable, marketing move they pulled here indeed.

But here's the thing. Behind all of that, there's a mostly good phone too, it's not all fluff (even if there is a lot of fluff at times). As we already mentioned, performance is about as good as you could get from an Android mid-ranger in 2022, smoothness is mostly on point too, battery life was always enough for a full day's use for us, and the cameras obviously don't compete with the highest-end ones out there, but they're definitely good.

So what gives? The screen's green tint is inexcusable even at this price point, but you may find a way to live with it, especially if you're not a fan of the dark theme or only use the phone in bright environments. The auto-brightness algorithm is atrocious and the worst one we've ever encountered, but that's an easy fix through a software update, if Nothing ever wants to fix it. Which may not be a given considering the phone has already been out for months at this point. The screen is also among the most reflective we've handled in recent years, which isn't a huge usability downside, but it's not Nothing either (once again we couldn't help ourselves, sorry).

And then there's the design. You're more likely to be asked "which iPhone is that?" rocking this phone than any other that isn't actually an iPhone, even by people who don't think "iPhone", "smartphone", and "phone" are synonyms. You need to be okay with explaining that actually it's not. Every. Single. Time. Well, you could also lie, but we assume you're not that type of person.

The point is, this is a conversation starter, and if you dread conversations about tech, especially ones that almost always inevitably lead to "but why not just buy an iPhone instead?", you might best avoid it. There's really only one answer to that question, and you may or may not be able to say it out loud - because it's cheaper. If you like an iPhone's shape, and the design of the flat sides and the camera bumps, but don't want to shell out the necessary cash (yes, we're ignoring the iPhone SE abominations giving us BMW 1-series vibes), then here's a device that definitely looks iPhone-inspired for you. And it even has symmetrical bezels on the front!

But wait, there's more! See that back? It's transparent! Ish. And it has a bunch of LEDs on it, which are shiny! So it's a phone that kind of looks like an iPhone, but not entirely. Has that ever been anyone's specific requirement? Probably not, but here we are. This is why we keep saying it's clearly inspired, but also unique, despite how contradictory that sounds.

The LEDs, by the way, are gimmicks, but it's okay if you love them even so - really, it is. They're just not in any way more useful at anything than simply having the phone lie on its back and making use of the convolutedly named always-on display. But - if you are one of those people who always has their phone face-down, this is definitely the one for you, and you should ignore everything else we said and just pick one up.

The software has some bugs, but updates do seem to be coming out reasonably regularly. That said, this is a startup you're dealing with, so while we hope it will be around for many years to come, that's never a given in the cutthroat startup world, so do keep that in mind. You are taking a bit of a gamble buying from a company that's just released its first ever smartphone, although the people working there, starting with the CEO himself, do have experience in other similar ventures as you may know.

The Nothing Phone (1), then, is for the bold. Ish. For those who want to stand out from the crowd, but not too much. For those who enjoy explaining things like how the name of this company is actually Nothing, and how there are in fact brackets around the number (1). And also that it's not an iPhone. And also the point of the LEDs. Stuff like that.

Or you can ignore all the questions and simply let people believe you have a special iPhone of sorts. But you're definitely not one to go with the conservative options around, and you appreciate some reasonably fresh design elements to your tech. New twists, but again, Nothing too overboard, just a pinch or two of said twists.

On the other hand, speaking of pinches, if you can take all of Nothing's marketing and hype-building with at least one pinch of salt, if not many more than that, you'll realize you're left with a device that is a very capable mid-ranger in its own right, and one that's a very solid first device to come out from a new company, at a reasonable price (especially compared to early 2023 releases, we might snarkily point out).

And yet, there were letdowns for us during our time with it - the screen, yes, but also the vibration motor could have been better, while the box contents is still rather surprising to see in its bareness from a company that isn't as established as Apple or Samsung.

As always then, everything comes down to what you prioritize - what you value most, and what you care for least. If you love hype, but can't afford an iPhone or a hype watch or even a pair of hype sneakers, this is a thing for you. If you can ignore that and decide the specs for the price are good enough for you, then go for it too. But if you want an iPhone, or a flagship Android phone even, for half the price, there's Nothing for you here.