I also received the CMF Phone 1 at the beginning of May, which means that for the last 2 months I have been part of the pre-release testing for the CMF Phone 1 through the (Insiders) programme. I’ve done pre-release testing before, so I was really excited. I was part of a small group of testers and software team members, and we could always contact the software team if we had any questions. It felt like we were really involved in Nothing, helping to improve the product together.
When I picked it up for the first time, I immediately noticed: It has a familiar button layout. The volume key might be a little high for some right-handed people, but for me it was still within easy reach.
Starting up the phone felt like any other Nothing phone running Nothing OS. Sadly, I was unable to test the modularity aspect of the case.
Looking at the specifications, they seem very similar to the Nothing Phone (2a)! Only NFC, wireless charging and the glyphs are missing.
We have a MediaTek Dimensity 7300 with 8GB of RAM (another 8GB available with RAM Booster). A storage option of 128GB or 256GB along with a 1080×2400 Super AMOLED and a 120Hz dynamic refresh rate as well as HDR support. The 5000mAh battery comes with a 33W wired fast charger (no wireless charging, unfortunately).
The phone feels similar to Nothing’s main range and is very responsive when used as a daily driver. It’s slightly slower than the Nothing Phone 2 in tasks like unlocking and booting, but it’s on the same level as the Nothing Phone (2a). It handles multitasking well and has been extremely stable since the start of the test programme. However, I noticed a few minor bugs that were quickly fixed during the test period.
Bluetooth performance is very good. It works well with gamepads such as an Xbox Elite Gamepad or wireless earphones such as Nothing Ear, Ear(a) and Buds Pro 2.
The quality of the display itself is high. You can see vivid HDR colours (in supported videos, of course) as well as SDR content.
Moving on to the speakers, I have to admit I rarely use phone speakers, so I can’t really compare them. But they sounded good enough.
The battery life is impressive. With a 5000mAh battery, it’s hard to drain it in a single day, even with heavy use. I would say it could potentially last up to two days on a full charge.
In terms of gaming, more demanding games such as Honkai Star Rail run on high quality settings with minimal stuttering, so I would recommend keeping the details a little lower. Less demanding games, on the other hand, run very smoothly.
My final thoughts:
Overall, the CMF Phone 1 offers a stable and refined user experience. The UI/UX is smooth, and the test programme has been very well managed, with frequent OTA updates that have fixed the bugs that have been reported. While there are minor trade-offs in comparison to the Nothing Phone 2 and 2a, such as the lack of NFC and wireless charging, the phone’s performance is solid.
The CMF Phone 1 runs on NOS 2.6, with unique features such as the battery charge limiter. It is also the first Nothing/CMF product to include a microSD card slot (up to 2TB), so you never have to worry about running out of space.
If you’re looking for an affordable daily driver that doesn’t need NFC, wireless charging or the Glyphs, or if you just want to tinker with the backplate, go for it!
