Did Nothing really listen to its community when designing the Nothing Phone 3 ?

Rodrigue

Hello everyone. Like many of you here, I was very surprised, even disappointed, by the design of the Nothing Phone 3, which looks more like a gadget than a real phone. It’s a real shame for a brand that built its identity on making clean, minimalist, and different phones.

What I’d like to know is: did Nothing really listen to its community before making this phone? I mean, I feel like at least 70% of the people here are against this design and this new approach, which completely breaks what Nothing used to stand for. The Glyphs were genuinely useful, and even though the camera placement was unusual, at least it had some consistency. Now, I just feel like I’m holding a cheap AliExpress phone with a gimmick on the back…

I think it’s such a shame…

DebansuPanigrahi

Rodrigue i don’t think nothing actually listens to is community or customer feedback they only listen where there is profit or for publicity

JorahMormont3

Rodrigue That grid in the design looks like construction lines in an unfinished drawing. It looks incomplete. They put all the experiments in this and left space for more in lower portion. It’s like they don’t even want to sell it just put it out there and experiment for the next phone.

Sp4ce_Migr4tion

Nothing is not listening to it’s community anymore. They built their whole idendity around the community and turned into yet another greedy corporate company. Sorry, that’s the truth. They release buggy products and just dont fix them, promising to fix them in the next product, which bring more issues. So every previous product owner is left disappointed. I am saying this as an owner of CMF Phone 1, Nothing Phone 2, CMF Watch 2 Pro, Ear 2024. They all have issues mostly software, that can be fixed. But nobody cares, they just rush to release the next half-baked product. The only decent product they had was Phone 1 and Nothing Ear.

Rodrigue

Yeah, it’s really a shame… I really hope they go back to what they were at the beginning and start collaborating with their community again

Sp4ce_Migr4tion

Rodrigue even if they start listening to the community in the future, at least half of the community will be gone. But what about the owners of current products? I spent my last savings to buy a Phone 2 for them to throw in some buggy updates that trashed the camera, the battery life, bluetooth communication. I could’ve bought a Pixel but decided to give Nothing a chance because it felt promising. I’ve never been this disappointed in tech, really. This will be the last time I am giving a non A-list company a chance. And I suggest you do so, too. Once they feel the taste of profit, they all forget about the community. I’ve been through this multiple times: Xiaomi, OnePlus, Realme, Nothing. Just buy an A-list company phone, at least they will be forced to face their faults.

ItsmehotdogGaming

Honestly, yeah I feel the same. Nothing has really descended into make the phone so unique it looks ugly. Camera spec not good, processor is not good, design certain not good. My question to the Nothing design team is:

What did the Nothing team do to ensure that the people in the Nothing community liked the design and could get behind this design choice? Did you even look at the prototypes people were creating and looking at customer opinions to see what design changes could be made?

Rodrigue

ItsmehotdogGaming agree, but on the other hand, I’m really satisfied with the headphones, which are very beautiful and really well made.

ItsmehotdogGaming

Rodrigue though the phone 3 is the main product and the flagship of the brand. Phone 3 is going to represent what future releases might look like. Although yes the Nothing headphones does introduce a new market for the Nothing brand, it won’t bring a big impact like the phone 3 will.

SomeUser

I’m just in shock.

After the ugly 3a pro, they outdid themselves.

It was necessary to develop glyphs programmatically, to give more functions. Everyone asked for it.

They abandoned a good idea and started pitching something ridiculous. Moreover, they break the software all the time. Are there few testers?

There were just as many beautiful ideas in the forum. People said we want this, make us a phone like this.

AvyuktGupta

If nothing keeps on doing this, the company may fall down like nokia

Anonymous931

AvyuktGupta If they keep delivering what majority of their user base wants and likes?

CMF1_hacker

I really like the way it looks and so does everyone I have showed it to.

CMF1_hacker

Anonymous931 I agree and think the NP3 is a resounding success.

Stereobasic

The phone 3 design is sublime in real life. I was disappointed they don’t add at least a little touch of glyph light, and i’m still think it’s missing. But the Matrix is way more useful and beautiful for what it does. Animations are so cool. Like them a lot. The back of the phone is very well done with lot of depth, details, gradients. Every day i’m mesmerized when i’m looking at. It’s almost magical the effects it does and the simple pleasure it offer to me.

Maybe the flash circle might be one circle too many, because there are already 6 circles around it. which is too much, and changing this circle to two kind of diagonal line to follow up the diagonal of the Telephoto might have been more beautiful.

Honestly, yes it was surprising design, but in fact in reality it’s a high end design. It’s incredibly well done. You know one of the most interesting things in life is to be wrong, because then you learn something new and that’s thrilling.

CMF1_hacker

Stereobasic I was shocked about the backlash of the design and how excellent it looks in the hand. The dark variant is stellar and that recording light is some of the best design I have seen in year. I honestly wonder whether people have no understanding for design and simply want everything lined up?

Ali Fakhruddin

After using the Phone 3 in person for about a month, I was genuinely surprised how much the team had put the efforts in it. I am not fan of the camera design as well. But you know why I Love the Phone 3? Because it’s not a sheep, it’s a lone wolf that dares to stand out. The battery really needs improvement but rest is just top notch. The phone never lagged, smooth as butter, raw performance in the cameras, videos etc. As for the software it still needs to catch up, but does the job very well too. Comparatively it made my Phone 2 feel a decade old. While holding the device in hand, it feels premium enough that it’s almost like holding the iPhone 16 max pro.

Design is subjective. You can always say what you don’t like. And Nothing tends to be different if not, trend setters. But on a daily basis the phone 3 is a right choice for a Nothing fan who wants a close Flagship performance. What you feel gimmick has enough tools now that makes my day fun personally, be it Spin the bottle, music viz or 8 ball. Rest is your view but I shared mine to just balance it out that not everything about the Phone 3 is as bad as you think it is. Don’t be like me who judged the book too quickly.

HarshAggarwal_5ELXmtYBAM

Honestly design being one thing, they’ve always been a bit bold and teenage engineering vibes. I actually am more disappointed by the phone 3 as a smartphone. What’s worse to me is how obtuse they’ve been about it post launch. Our market in India is seemingly their largest one yet trying to defend phone 3 they just go and say that this product isn’t for you in india. I’m a phone 2 user and whilst the phone started of well enough nowadays it gets very little Good updates. I bought phone 2 thinking it being a flagship would get meaningful support and was looking forward to upgrading to phone 3 even.

xxx_xxx

HarshAggarwal_5ELXmtYBAM

From what I gathered the update policy of 5 years is kinda questionable.

Also design aside this thing is too thick and heavy

CMF1_hacker

xxx_xxx I don’t think the phone is perfect, but too thick and heavy? Every person I’ve handed it to likes the heft. They usually take the TPU off to feel it. One could argue about the bold engineering of the GM, flashing red light and camera lens positioning but thickness and heft? Is that 220g or so too much for ya?

We have a 1+12 in the house and like the feel of this phone much better.

tucos

This is hilarious, you didn’t like the design, but you bought the phone. Next up. Every company had bad decisions. Phone (3)'s false “true flagship” expectations were mentioned in last Q2 2025 Community Board Observer digest. Too much drama here. Only those who do nothing make no mistakes.