⚪️ A budget phone that nails the essentials ⚪️
📦 Unboxing & Design
I totally loved the packaging design, made me say “wow!”, it’s so different!
But maybe the unboxing experience was a little bit confusing because it changed. And I opened the box upside-down:
Then, I liked the design, but it feels like a “Lite Design”, so empty! Still, I like this clear Nothing design in a budget phone, you just need to get used to it .
It also includes a cover! Unexpected, really appreciated!
💡 Glyph: small but smart
When I was setting the phone, the onboarding Glyph screen appeared , and I was really surprised, didn’t excepted it!
A dot. Just a dot. At first I thought why so small and and at the bottom where you can’t see it? But actually it’s a very smart move: notifications for you, not a light show for others. *coff* *coff* Guilty! 🖐🏼😂
This subtle detail it’s very powerful and despite everything, you can still see the light pattern, or customizable ringtone. With just a dot. That’s incredible. Nothing always makes things with meaning.
🤔 Why a Lite if CMF exists?
“Probably the most underrated Nothing Phone. People won’t understand”
– Palmix
Same software, same cameras, same low budget. But actually, it’s different for three reasons in my opinion:
CMF it’s a playful smartphone, colorful, you can interact with the hardware by adding external gadgets or even printing them and also entirely made of plastic. Totally different from Nothing’s clean minimal vibes with transparent glass in the back.
With Nothing we have the Glyph interface, basically it’s the brand’s essence, something that helps us know when a notification has come.
🔧 Performance & Hardware
Ok, a MediaTek 7300 Pro, but no panic! Actually, it has a good optimization with the OS and with the 5000mAh battery. For small multitasking like google maps, music, social media, or whatever lighter app, it’s perfect.
Sometimes it has some little lags, or maybe an app just takes longer than it should to open, but it’s something that I noticed because I come from Phone 3 and 3a Pro, but for the target of this phone, it’s not a problem.
👀 What makes it different…
Besides how it looks… You can actually add more storage! This thing has a slot for a micro SD card that can take up to 2 TB. I was totally surprised!
It’s like since 2017 that phones stopped letting you add memory. I always think of my family members who are constantly complaining that their phones are full of photos! But they also don’t wanna pay extra for a model with more storage, which they’d probably fill up anyway.
Simply speechless 😯
📸 Photos & Videos**: great with light**
For €250, the photos are really great, as long as there’s enough light. Look at this for example, it looks like Phone 3 shot!
Yep, in low-light environments, it’s a little bit different. You must stay super still, but even then, the photos might come out a bit blurry.
It depends, it doesn’t happen every time. Anyway, nothing crazy for this price, totally the opposite!
Macro mode is ok, I mean, if you are not used to shoot macro photos, because it’s not something extremely exciting, but at least, we have it!
Remember that “x2” is a crop, not the real zoom, but we have a 8MP camera for wide photos and a 2MP macro camera. I think we have here the essential for a low budget!
I really liked the portrait mode! It works really great!
Talking about the video quality, we have up to 4K 30fps, perfectly enough for the target!
Good quality for selfie camera, 16MP, but again, not ideal in low-light environments.
📱 Display
The quality and size of the screen are like the Phone (3a) Pro, we have an incredible AMOLED and colorful display with 6.77″ screen size.
But with this Panda Glass-1681, my recommendation is to put on a screen protector in case you remove the default one. That’s because it scratches easily!
🔋 A day in real life
I spent a day with my grandmother (the woman in the photos) in Madrid, starting with 100% battery, and using Google maps, using some apps for exposition, Instagram, X, I made 80 photos and videos, booked the dinner, and a bit of music to go home. I ended with 60% battery! Maybe I could use it more, but at least, I would had a 45%. Very happy about this optimization!
🎮 Casual Gaming
I played Diablo Immortal at 60 fps and medium-low graphics. Works fine. I found some small lags in the animations of the fights. But If you play sometimes, or you are not an demanding gamer, it’s perfect.
👥 Who should buy it?
Students or low budget users who want start getting into Nothing world but still prefer this kind of design.
Not very demanding users, so it’s good if you do a small multitasking like socials, google maps, lighter apps, or light video edits.
YouTube lovers, here you have a big screen and great colors. The only compromise is the audio, it’s not stereo, but honestly, sound is fine.
People who have already some Nothing earbuds and want to conclude the ecosystem but don’t want spend so much and maybe don’t want the colorful CMF Phone design, but instead the Nothing transparent sci-fi, style.
✅ Conclusions
It’s difficult to highlight what I didn’t like. Because for this price, you have much more.
Is it perfect? No. Is it the phone for everyone? Not really.
For 249€ (249£), those “limitations” disappear. They’re no longer compromises, they’re expectations set correctly. Want extreme gaming? Spend twice. Want the best cameras? Same story. But if you want a phone that does all the essentials, and does them well, lasts all day, and keeps the feel of a different kind of phone, this would be my first choice.
Think of this Lite as a 3a in terms of materials, with a less powerful processor and a pared‑down camera.
If your budget is around 250€, it’s a very good option: it runs a different kind of Android, has excellent customer support and technical service, plus a nice, active community. I’d say you’ve found your phone.
I want to thank the Nothing team and @Deepanshu_Saini_ for this incredible opportunity to test it before launch!
I’ll read you in the comments! 👇🏻
