Nothing phone (1) long-term review

Introduction

The Nothing Phone (1) was definitely one of the buzzing beasts of the last year, but was the hype justified, or is it, in the end, just a Nothingburger? Is there something to it, or is it just nothing out of the ordinary? We’ll stop now, but these puns really do write themselves. And that might be part of the reason Nothing chose to call itself that. It does not mean anything, everyone is crying. And yet, it’s instantly memorable, and if you’re a startup, you definitely want to opt for a memorable experience on “it makes perfect sense” any day of the week.

That’s how we ended up with a company that definitely does something, even if it’s called Nothing. Its first smartphone was always inevitable, and it’s also intriguing on its own. He’s a mid-ranger like many others, but he’s also a mid-ranger contrary to any other on the market yet, with its huge emphasis on design – whether in iPhone inspiration, or the unique rear look it brings to the table, and associated Glyph LEDs. It’s not just the back, though – it’s the only mid-range Android with truly symmetrical screen bezels.

What we have here, then, is a device plugged into the moon and back, with specs that aren’t out of the ordinary (sorry, couldn’t help myself), and with a design that’s both strongly inspired by something and unique, which seems like the biggest contradiction possible, and yet it isn’t. It’s been a while since we’ve embarked on a long-term review, being so curious about the cliche “what it’s like to live”, considering all of these factors.

If you are also curious about how much of the hype is based on fluff and how much is actually based on the actual qualities of this phone; if you want to know all about what it’s like to use at the start of 2023, we have a few pages ahead for you. Without spoiling anything, we will say one thing: it was certainly not a boring experience, because the Nothing Phone (1) is not a device to simply slip into the background and stay there unnoticed, featureless.