**NOTE: This is not a buyer’s guide but my personal experience with the product. You won’t find specification mentions or images as there are already thousands of them but only personal preferences and observation.
**
So, where do I start?
UNBOXING:
The unboxing experience was pretty similar to other nothing products, but this this time you get a huge square box which has more surface area than the other smaller ones from the Phone 2a I believe. I feel this was done to accommodate the case inside the Box. ‘Flagship level’ sustainability, I guess. woo-hoo!
To have the entire top half of the back design on the box, ruined the surprise for me. Especially when I’m holding it in hand. For a device that is ever so peculiar with its back design as its major selling point, I feel betrayed when the ‘fun’ is being spoiled right on the get-go.
After opening the box, the disappointment fades away. The CMF of the box’s interior is always done right by nothing with the textures and beautiful layout. Everything is where it’s supposed to be and you don’t need to search for anything as you are unboxing. It all unfolds itself.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS:
It feels premium in hand. Way better than the Phone (2) for me. But, very similar to the Phone (1) which is good. I am not a fan of the pillowed glass back from the Phone (2). It makes the phone feel cheap and ‘toy-like’. Comfortable to hold? Yeah, to an extent. But apart from that, it does feel it solves nothing and is just ’There". Now, back to the Phone (3). I felt really slippery, which is a sign of an amazing smooth finish.
This immediately made me want to fit the case on. Upon doing so, I felt the grip improve and feeling confident in my hands. The Phone is slightly on the heavier & denser side. I daily drive the CMF Phone (2) pro. I cannot expect much from the chunky boy here. But it does justice.
DESIGN APPRICIATION & FEEDBACK:
1st strip:
It has got the diagonally mis-aligned camera. Along with different tons of grey.
This looks like it has been to provide housing for the front facing microphone on the top and provide housing for the periscope lens.
Visually it compensates with the lack of accessorial elements along the strip.
2nd strip:
This is where things get interesting.
You have a perfectly aligned camera flash emphasized with the semicircle right below it enclosed around a circle maintaining harmony with the glyph matrix to the right.
Below the flash we have got the main sensor.
To the left bottom corner of the main sensor’s camera housing, it’s seen that the red square has taken an unusual occupancy compared to the previous designs.
I feel like it has been done to decrease visual emphasis on the glyph matrix. Red being the color of highest wavelength it makes sense that on a grey smart phone if placed near the glyph matrix, it would be distracting when having a quick glance.
Across the strip we have got a clean slate to compensate the chaos happening at the top.
3rd strip:
Right on the top we have the glyph matrix is what they call it.
This is a hub for all sorts of secondary information.
Music visualization, notifications, call information, media playing, timer display (start stop) and so much more.
We see a not so distracting 90-degree tilted hemisphere to compensate the clean slates of the 1st and 2nd strip Which is cut right at the middle. This also houses the NFC coil.
My Criticism on the design:
The top section of the phone seems like these is a lot going on where the middle/lower section are seriously lacking details. Apart from the partition of the slits.
Adding interesting textures with subtle sharp height differences like in the Phone (1) which plays with light and shadows would have been an eye candy and increased the overall aesthetic appeal of the Phone (3).
- The disk like aesthetic if was an actual moving part like a vinyl while music was playing from the phone (3). It would have been really cool/ intuitive and fun!
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OPERATING SYSTEM:
With NothingOS, you know what you are getting into. It is smooth, snappy, visually aesthetic, monochromatic, rich, informative, utilitarian & actually functional. At times there were micro-stutters while switching between applications (WhatsApp & Discord) and messaging.
As a light gamer who plays brawl stars, I did notice the Phone to become warm after 20 minutes and hot near the camera segment. This was disappointing for me because of the fact that my Phone 2 pro does not get as warm. I believe there might be something to do with the tuning of the SoC.
For a day-to-day user’s perspective, the phone feels nothing like a ‘true flagship’ as advertised compared to other phones from other competitive brands. It feels like a solid upper mid-range phone that are available in the 36,000/- 46,000/- price bracket.
BATTERY:
Just as any other phone in the market, nothing exceptional. Nowhere close to the tech giant’s ‘true flagships’ but, significantly better than your average midrange device. For a very average use, I do not have battery anxiety. But, if I have to game for an hour or two, then it becomes a concern. For a phone with 5Years of OS support, Battery health is ought to take a hit after two and a half years.
CAMERA:
I do not and almost never expect anything out the ordinary from a smartphone’s camera. I only take pictures to share information and am not a smartphone photographer of any sort. Although I do use a dedicated camera for my hobby. With the right composition, any photo can look truly stunning. Camera has not been a strong suite for Nothing. But this time around they have done a good job with the post processing. It still does take time between shots.
As per the camera User Interface, it’s neat. But the red symbols in the drop-down settings menu feels really light and not really ‘informative’ in the first glance. Consistency in operating system is maintained across the Phones. The periscope zoom is good to a point, but after that it starts to break pretty bad.
The photos captured is always subjective and will always vary based on firmware and external conditions and skill, what matters is the user experience, and this was mine when it comes to the camera.
VERDICT:
A beautiful phone. But it feels like an experiment. The user experience feels like A prototype rushed out of a laboratory. I’m not going to talk about the glyph matrix at all. It’s extremely subjective and not for everyone at all. The glyph interface felt like the part of the design, this does not. This feels like it’s there for a purpose, but the purpose is still unknown.
For the camera, it’s a solid camera setup for a student, family member. If any person who believes that the 8sgen4 is a ‘true flagship’ setup. they are very much likely to also believe that these are the ‘best camera setup’ there is out there. An all-rounder stable device trying to meet expectations set by the company’s false advertising.
Highly Worthy to stay on display to be admired but, not in your pocket. There are better Phones for the price that are way more capable and worthy of the ‘true flagship’ title.
Great effort by the Team. What was presented to us was beautiful, but the way it was presented was really bad and downplayed the product. In the context of selling emotions instead of products, this made it under the cut unlike the Phone (1) and the Phone (2a).
Would I buy it for the software and design despite its flaws?
Totally.
