Is this the best all-rounder phone by Nothing? Let’s find out
Unboxing and Design 📲
The phone comes with a type C-C cable along with a Sim ejector tool and a user manual and a soft TPU case. No charger in the box. The Unboxing experience was a delight and everything was perfectly in place (Unboxing link at the end)
I always loved white devices from nothing but the Pink variant stole the show over this time. The Pink hues along with the metallic element goes hand in hand to give it an elegant look along with the exposed screws which adds a bit of a contrast.
All the buttons are metallic with volume+power key at the right and essential key at the left preventing accidental presses although it’s a bit higher to reach. The phone is quite big and around 204 grams but feels well balanced
Display 🎨
The display of the phone is at par for the price. We get a 6.78 inch 1.5k Amoled display with 120Hz refresh rate and density of 441 per inch. The display is gorgeous to look at and the screen visibility is sufficient outdoors even in direct sunlight.
The front is protected with Corning Gorilla Glass 7i Glass. The selfie camera is placed right in the centre with an optical fingerprint sensor at the bottom. I would have liked it if it was placed a bit above for better accessibility since it’s kinda a big phone.
Cameras 📸
Coming to the camera performance, the primary camera performs well in most conditions, the daylight shots came out well with good dynamic range, and the colors look accurate. However it is sometimes inconsistent with the contrast but it can be fixed with an update.
The low light performance is good & night mode helps keep the noise low and the exposure is handled well.
The macros are handled by the main sensor and the results are pretty good so far. Again I found it to be inconsistent as sometimes it struggles with color accuracy and focus
Coming to the ultrawide, this is where costs were cut and the results are average. For the telephoto, this time Nothing has used the teleprism lens and results in excellent portrait shots. The background separation is good and the skin tones look natural.
You also get good quality zoom shots up to 70x but I find it unnecessary still you can get usable shots till 40x. The video output is great as well but the stability could’ve been better. The colors are accurate and you get 4k 30 fps on the main and periscope. The selfie camera performs well in most cases. Overall the camera performance is solid and is pretty versatile considering the price. (Photo sample link at the end)
Software 👾
The Nothing OS 4.1 is surprisingly smooth and well optimised. The animations are fluid and the integrations are solid. I like the improvements in the gallery app. It now allows object removal, some cool watermarks you could apply afterwards.
The Glyph bar feels less intrusive but still provides good utility with the notifications, timer, camera countdown. You also get a blinking red light indicator at the bottom which turns on while recording videos. Facebook and Instagram come pre-installed but you can uninstall it
There is a new widget called breathing break which I absolutely like which helps us get back to reality and I find myself using it quite often. Also, the depth effect wallpaper is now available on the lock screen. Overall the software is smooth, clean and purposeful.
Performance and battery ⚡
The SD 7s Gen 4 along with LPDDR4x Ram and UFS 3.1 performs well in day to day tasks. You can multitask, have long photography sessions, do a bit of gaming without breaking a sweat. If you’re a hardcore gamer you should consider other options. I did not notice any heating issues with the phone and the thermals are controlled well.
The battery life is surprisingly good for 5400 mah and easily lasts a day and a half with screen times up to 9-10 hours with moderate usage. It takes about a bit over an hour to fully charge.
Vedict ⚠️
Overall I can say the phone is indeed a well balanced package for the price. An interesting design, good display, versatile cameras, solid performance, clean software and utility tools. You do miss out on NFC for the indian market, the cameras could’ve been more consistent. That said being a mid range device it is expected for some corners to be cut and I don’t find it to be a deal breaker and I hope the camera performance and consistency improves with future updates. Overall for the price this is an solid all round option.
Thank you for reading!
Unboxing Shorts -
***Photo Samples -*
