CMF Phone 1 – Nothing (insiders) Review – Value Never Felt So Good
Over the past 2 months I had the pleasure of being involved in pre-release testing for the CMF Phone 1 as part of the (insiders) programme. It was my first experience with something like this so my excitement was palpable. I was introduced to the small group of other testers along with members of the software team, who we could directly contact at any time with queries. It truly felt like we were part of the inner workings of Nothing, where we could build and improve this product together.
My daily driver is currently the Nothing Phone (1) and to avoid needing to transfer all of my data, in addition to the lack of/ability to use Google Pay (something I rely heavily on), I opted to use the phone as my secondary device for the testing period. This also mitigated the necessity to carry a pre-release phone out with me every time.
Design
With the hardware not being final, our devices were issued with hard, plastic, black protective cases. Whilst this unfortunately meant that we were unable to see or (more importantly) feel the hardware, I did manage to immediately notice a peculiar raised portion on the bottom corner of the case, which prompted me to investigate through whatever tiny gaps the case left open. This is when I first caught a glimpse of what looked like a dial, protruding from the body of the phone. Naturally, this discovery generated a heap of questions.
Is it a dial or a button? It has notches so it must be able to spin, right? What would it be for? Volume control? But we already have a volume rocker…brightness? Maybe it will be mappable? Wouldn’t it be quite uncomfortable, if not impossible, to use the phone in your left hand? Can we take it off? etc.
Presenting my findings to the (insiders) group chat raised even more questions, as we had a little guessing game amongst ourselves, all the while Natalie, Rob and other Nothing staff were probably laughing at our detective efforts with full knowledge of this seemingly mysterious feature. Unfortunately, we had to wait to get our answers just like everybody else, which at least left us with plenty still to look forward to come the full reveal.
On the things I can comment on design-wise, the 2 cameras are arranged in the same way as on Nothing Phone (1) and (2) which provided a sense of familiarity, whilst the screen is big, sharp and beautiful. We weren’t given any information about pricing, but going off CMF’s track record with their pricing in relation to Nothing products - if prices start at below £250, it wouldn’t be surprising. This is why I was pleasantly surprised with the support of a 120hz refresh rate as well as HDR10.
The protective case covered most of the front bezel, but they seem ever so slightly thicker than the bezels on Phone (1). An interesting detail I noticed is that the corners of the display are not curved in the same way as on Nothing’s line of smartphones which take a ‘rounded rectangle’ approach. The display has “continuous corners” or a “squircle” shape; this is the same way iPhone corners are rounded and is said to be a “more natural” shape, but as always, preference is subjective.
Performance
The biggest compliment I can give CMF Phone 1 is that I wasn’t of much use during the testing period, because apart from one hiccup with an OTA update, I had no real problems to report back to the team, no bugs, no errors. Using this phone just feels like I’m using…any Nothing Phone really, with Nothing OS being as smooth as ever. As mentioned earlier, it wasn’t my main device but I was doing about 85% of what I use my daily driver for, on a daily basis. Whether it was scrolling through social media, browsing the web, watching YouTube videos, instant messaging or light gaming, there was never a situation within my normal usage in which I was reminded that this was a “budget” device.
I don’t usually play heavy games on my phone, so I can’t comment on how it handles those more intensive games. However, testing PUBG at HDR Graphics and ‘Ultra’ Frame Rate, I maintained a solid 60 fps throughout.
Over the 2 months of testing, the software team worked tirelessly to pump out update after update, improving minor issues here and there whilst also adding new features for us to try out. Features like being able to drag down on a notification to open the app in pop-up view, an in-game Game Mode panel and new AI-driven scene optimisation in the camera app. Being able to try and give feedback on these brand-new features before they go live on Nothing/CMF products around the world was a surreal experience that I’m very grateful for.
Battery
The battery life was one of the things I was most impressed by. Again, since I was using it as a secondary device, your milage may vary. Regardless of this, I found myself regularly reaching around 9 hours (!!) of screen time before needing to charge - every two and a half days or so. Truly incredible.
Throughout the dozen or so OTA updates, I didn’t notice any improvements or degradation of battery life. Where there were improvements however, was the cameras.
Camera
I opened up the camera app for the first time, ready to be greeted with below average pictures that one probably wouldn’t want posted on social media, naturally assuming this was where corners could be cut. I’m happy to say I was once again pleasantly surprised.
Outdoors, with lots of light, the CMF Phone 1 can capture decent looking photos with a lot of detail and vivid colours. Even on one of the earliest builds, the camera did well in picking out inanimate subjects and having a natural-looking falloff in the background, whether this was through the natural bokeh of the 50MP sensor or in portrait mode. Below are some of my favourite outdoor shots:
With the new “vivid mode”, the phone can produce pictures with colours that have a bit more kick to them, without going overboard. Here are some comparisons of Natural Mode vs Vivid Mode:
Natural Mode | Vivid Mode
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When the light gets low, the phone does struggle to capture good detail and grain is introduced (as is to be expected for a phone of this calibre), but the colours still remain surprisingly accurate and pleasant. This is an area that has improved drastically over the testing period and I’m confident more improvements will arrive in the future.
Final thoughts
This was a great experience, hopefully my first of many. It’s cool that a brand like Nothing is able to involve regular people like me in such confidential parts of their processes, and long may it continue.
Since we now know the pricing (£209 wow!), I can say: If this is your price segment, this would be my first recommendation, as I don’t think there is a better package at this price point on the market right now than CMF Phone 1. Even without all the accessories or extras, as just a smartphone, with how quick and fluid Nothing OS feels and the decent cameras, you can’t go wrong.
