Well… for the design itself, I have an unfinished version of a redesign featuring the original as reference (now featuring fixed camera layout) and meant to have the coil, and there’s… this. An idea for a currently-hypothetical version of a phone most of us community now loathed: the “true flagship” that’s deemed utterly overpriced for (being) under-spec, the Nothing Phone (3).
We already know how the Community Editions work. We suggest color design, marketing and some software, with extra spec as well as cherry on top (like (2a) Plus being 12GB instead of 8GB of RAM). At the current state, we don’t know the exact release date of Nothing Phone (4) (only that it, like all mainline phones up to this point, have been released on July) and thread no dedicated model left to add to the (3) family (Carl Pei said he’s done with the family), so Community Edition is our only option. While the (3a) Community Edition has been confirmed already, the situation became so bad that (3) Community Edition is a must to… uh, satisfy as many people as possible while still being the Nothing?
- Design: Either the current design or the finished version of the redesign in question (with the coil and modifications to the grids). I would rather use the redesign because a lot of us at least disliked the original (look at that camera layout - it’s ridiculous!) and we missed the old Glyph Interface, but I can tolerate the recoloring of the original design (because there’s literally nothing else wrong with it - it’s deemed a flagship by Nothing themselves and is built like one).
+ Packaging: Community-made, same as with ones from (2a) Plus and (3a).
+ Keep the Glyph Matrix as is, but if you seek to give us the old Glyph Interface back, make it at least resemble the redesign’s layout (The redesign’s layout already resembles the ones from (1) and (2), maybe with (2a)/(3a) proportions as well), and with all the functionalities both intact and synchronized and complementary with the Matrix. (I call this: Glyph Orchestra)
+ Same physical size as the original, maybe with additional thickness to accommodate thick features such as larger periscope telephoto or bigger vapor chamber. Same materials too.
- Color: Community-made, same as with other Community Editions ((2a) Plus and (3a)).
- Processor: Snapdragon 8 Elite. This one has been called at this point, and while Nothing does have some good point in using 8s Gen 4 instead, so many of us wanted the 8 Elite - didn’t help a bunch of 8 Elite devices are close to the original (3)'s MSRP and the 8s Gen 4 ones can be found for cheaper, extra compromises or no. People want flagships as the best of the best and wanted such devices to feature at least a good amount of the very best stuffs, which is understandable due to perspective and power usage.
+ Pro: Noticeably better performance and efficiency, and more more capabilities. 7-core version even more efficient or 8-core version even more powerful - these are better and definitely us preferred over the 8s Gen 4.
+ Con: So expensive. Nothing doesn’t have the privilege, so 8 Elite becomes very expensive. Like, roughly 200$ per chipset! No wonder they resorted to 8s Gen 4!
+ Note: Nothing Phone (3) isn’t equipped with any better cooling system than (3a) models which explains why it overheats when running full force in hot environment (such as places with hot weather, such as India for example). I don’t know whether should I improve the cooling, maybe at the expense of the device thickness. Oh well, moving on…
- Display: 6.67-inch, AMOLED, LTPO (originally LTPS), 1-120Hz (not possible with LTPS panels), up to 4,500 nits (same as the original), at least 2160Hz PWM and same touch response (like the original). You nit-picked the fact that the original (3) uses LTPS instead of LTPO, making it less efficient and less capable of variable refresh rate; Community Edition would solve it for you. The rest of the display are clearly flagship-level, so no detrimental changes at all.
- Camera: At least retain the camera from the original, but boosted with the ISP and extra smarts from 8 Elite, which should also help fix the weak algorithm of the launch software that made the original (3)'s otherwise decent-for-flagships camera inconsistent. (Not to mention the intervening software updates that may arrive between the original launch and the Community Edition here)
+ If you don’t like how small the original’s telephoto was and/or needed macro altogether… oh wait, why not try both? Meaning the same sensor size as the original (so either OV50H or LYT-818) paired with sensors with capabilities based on (3a) Pro but retains their resolution: autofocus version of the original’s ultrawide (to make it capable of macro shots like the original’s telephoto is) and maybe use (3a) Pro’s periscope, with no extra sacrifices made in the process.
+ Increasing the physical size of telephoto could possibly increase the thickness though. Ditto lens.
- Battery: At least 5,150 mAh globally, at least 5,500 mAh on India. We didn’t think even the well-above-average battery capacity of the original was enough, not even when it’s proven by the reviewers that the phone has long battery life worthy of current flagships. Also, the same 65W wired, 15W wireless and some reverse charging as the original, which isn’t bad, not gonna lie!
+ If the battery stays single-cell, the max is 5,250 mAh globally, barely more than 5,150 mAh. This is sadly due to the regulatory creeps around the battery transport (which limits to 20Wh per cell). India can get away with upwards to 6,000 mAh though.
- Gorilla Glass Victus (at least the first generation) at least in the front, since you wanted flagships to be durable as fine. (I could’ve sweared, but the server rules wouldn’t let me)
- At least USB 3.0. Another nit-pick I noticed. You would be fine if you’re not transferring much files through USB 2.0, but guess I have to cover this criticism then….
- Launches with Nothing Phone 4.x based on Android 16, and at least 5+7 years’ worth of software support - launching with Android 16 will extend the promised software updates and support by an extra year at MINIMUM, and long support like these are requisite for the flagships at this point.
- Retails:
+ Advertising: Again, community-made, like all other Community Editions.
+ MSRP: 799$/799£/799€ for 12/256GB, 899$/899£/899€ for 16/512GB, possibly 999$/999£/999€ for 16GB/1TB if it exists. If you really think the original (3) was genuinely bad value as did so many of us thought… that’s on you.
+ Limited to 1,000 units per version, for 2,000 or 3,000 units in total. This is a limited release after all, only made slightly less limited by the fact that multiple storage versions are part of this kind of Community Edition.
If you refuse to acknowledge the original Phone (3) as the true flagship Nothing team pegged it as as a bunch of reviews everywhere did, then this Community Edition is THE true flagship the Nothing team promised us before the original’s reveal. The entire Nothing team - Carl Pei included - needs to see this concept as soon as possible.
