Nothing Phone (1) review

22 July 2022


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  • K
  • Kev
  • T0U
  • 23 Jul 2022

marbles, 23 Jul 20224.3 on a device with "horrible audio"? GSMArena evidently is in the camp of my parents. They NEVER listen to music on either of their phones, even as they use iPhones with arguably the most powerful audio system. The people who won't care for this will not notice.

However. I understand you because I am in your camp; I ALWAYS listen to music when I'm commuting or working, so I would actually NOT recommend this phone to anyone I'm close with. 99% of them listen to music, like civilized people. (lol)

However, for those who don't....this phone is a total bargain. The screen is good (max auto was surprisingly weak, but HDR should fix that) The chipset is okay, the camera is VERY good. The quiet earpiece speaker and audio processing problems don't matter to them, and those were GSMArena's only complaints.

    No offense GSMArena but this review is quite biased

      • D
      • Dorry
      • TSR
      • 23 Jul 2022

      I like it, keep me more productive than iPhone.

        4.3 on a device with "horrible audio"?

          the body looks solid, but unfortunately only IP53 with this sturdy body. UFS 3.0 at this price is quite rare, nice dual camera setup 50+50MP with great quality. Just sad with performance and charging speed.

            • j
            • james
            • u44
            • 23 Jul 2022

            LGs, 22 Jul 2022Nothing phone (1) 4500 mAh 108h 35:32h 15:41h 20:27h ... moreOverall endurance is 1 hour for each activity for each day, the rest is standby. Nothing phone has worse standby drain, hence lower endurance.

              "while it's not a flagship killer, it sure isn't a glorified mid-ranger either" - then proceeded to glorify this mid-ranger, especially in the final verdict.

              I mean, they literally stated why AOD notifications make the glyph interface pointless in their "Design, build quality, handling" section then implied that it's an "innovative feature" in their "The competition" section.

              "The Nothing Phone (1) processor scored closely to the Snapdragon 870 CPU within the Realme GT Neo 3T and Poco F4 and is bested only by the flagship-grade Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 (Poco F4 GT) and the Dimensity 8100 (Poco X4 GT)." - then presented Antutu and other GPU benchmarks that showed significant difference.

              "And we can get behind the idea of having a platform that can handle properly the content available today instead of aiming to be powerful after the end of software support." That completely defeats the purpose of the 3-year major OS update. Better to have a more capable chipset now and still be able to perform as a proper midranger after 3-4 years with the promised updates. Yeah, 888/+ and 8 gen 1 are overkill but 870 would've been ideal - just as power efficient (if not more) as the 778/+ per your past reviews while having a much better sustained performance.

              Still in their "Performance and benchmarks" section, "We found the Phone (1) perfectly capable of playing all sorts of games with high-quality graphics." - then doesn't even specify which games and in what setting they ran on this phone. From personal experience, I got stutters playing Genshin Impact (only tried it for an hour) on Dimensity 1100, which has about the same performance as 778/+

              I get that it's not as bad as others claim it to be but it's not as amazing as GSMArena makes it out to be either. The reviewer/s appear to be more invested in this phone than they objectively should imho.

                • ?
                • Anonymous
                • cT{
                • 23 Jul 2022

                Whackcar, 22 Jul 2022Aside from the LED gimmicks on the backside, there's r... moreNothing to see here phone?

                  • S
                  • Syn
                  • 7j{
                  • 23 Jul 2022

                  Anonymous, 22 Jul 2022- No jack , no sd slot are con for other like reno 8 pro.. ... moreNothing has clearly paid most of the big tech reviewers to paint a rosy picture. I am also surprised how they glossed over the audio part... Everyone who buys a smartphone will use an earphone, if the experience is so bad, it is a major issue.

                    • ?
                    • Anonymous
                    • nIL
                    • 23 Jul 2022

                    You received two units, have you tested the headphone jack output quality on both? Maybe the one you tested is faulty.

                      • ?
                      • Anonymous
                      • nIL
                      • 23 Jul 2022

                      Anonymous, 22 Jul 2022Just want to remind GSMArena that ToF is also used to assis... moreBut does it actually work? See S20 ultra autofocus problems

                        • ?
                        • Anonymous
                        • nIL
                        • 23 Jul 2022

                        stoon, 22 Jul 2022in your audio test, you said the speakers are very good and... moreOr you didn't read the review - see headphone jack output quality

                          • n
                          • nanii
                          • vxs
                          • 23 Jul 2022

                          waw so positive review haha

                            • ?
                            • Anonymous
                            • vaS
                            • 23 Jul 2022

                            Little Penguin , 22 Jul 2022Outstanding portraits? Before using the 🔎 tool I can s... moreGSMArena has also been very generous with the camera reviews of other phones, so it's fair in that regard, I guess (using Zenfone 8 now and they also oversold their camera review on this phone).

                            GSMArena should indicate the reviewer (or main reviewer) of their review articles just like in their news stories to help us in managing our expectations when it comes to their camera reviews.

                              'everything you need, nothing you don't'? Yet it some random cringey lights plastered on the back..

                                • ?
                                • Anonymous
                                • uCp
                                • 23 Jul 2022

                                i feel nothing

                                  • ?
                                  • Anonymous
                                  • 8N3
                                  • 23 Jul 2022

                                  AnonD-970391, 23 Jul 2022 I prefer a well balanced 778 midrange than a gaming 888 d... moreIf something is pointed as CON against phone A, the same has to be CON against phone B. But here often is not.

                                  Watched two reviews of 6a yesterday. I am horrified of how bad video recording is.
                                  Way inferior compared to pixel 5 with same imx363. Mainly video.
                                  Phone has ancient Gorilla 3, plastic back, hot SoC Tensynos , no jack anymore, no 256GB option (phone that lacks micro sd slot).

                                  No tech site is gonna say it is so so phone.

                                  Something else. Tech media review units never seem to have issues costumers report. They are so lucky when they review some brands like google, samsung, one plus ..

                                    • ?
                                    • Anonymous
                                    • uiL
                                    • 23 Jul 2022

                                    i'm sorry, but i compared the camera quality of this phone 1 with poco f3 also in your own review and it's like night and days, the phone 1 looks really soft compared to f3 and you called the camera quality of phone 1 is good?? is this review biased?

                                      • D
                                      • AnonD-970391
                                      • swe
                                      • 23 Jul 2022

                                      Anonymous, 22 Jul 2022- No jack , no sd slot are con for other like reno 8 pro.. ... more I prefer a well balanced 778 midrange than a gaming 888 device with inferior cameras, software support etc.
                                      On this price range, lucking some features (say 4k 60fps etc) is more honest to me than offering some "flagship" extras that doesn't work well or even doesn't have the basics right!!
                                      Remember pixel 5 with sd775? How well did the job even lacking a flagship Chip? It's not only numbers and tests. Best tests are the every day use ;)
                                      Thanks

                                        • D
                                        • AnonD-970391
                                        • swe
                                        • 23 Jul 2022

                                        Marco M, 22 Jul 2022Overpriced and over hyped. Camera performance like a lo... moreWow how easy you find out so much to complain people? :)
                                        Come on , it's a solid balanced midrange that stands nice against Xiaomi, Realme etc .
                                        I am a simple person, I like simple things, that's why I like what I saw (in this review). Maybe it's not your cup of tea (if you know what you search for)
                                        I have pixel 6 if you are going to ask .