Is this new “flagship killer” Nothing special, or something special?
Once upon a time, a rebellious company by the name of OnePlus sought to challenge the likes of Samsung, Apple and Sony to prove that you can get flagship performance without the flagship price tag. However, in the words of The Dark Knight’s Harvey Dent, “You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.”
With OnePlus phones now sporting price tags to rival those of iPhones, who will champion those who want to stick it to the man and tread the path less travelled when it comes to inexpensive and experimental smartphones? Ironically, it’s OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei who has come to the rescue, with a new brand invoking the ethos of the early days of OnePlus.
It is called Nothing. The name might well be familiar, as we reviewed its first product, the Ear (1) wireless earbuds, back in 2021. Its first Android smartphone, the Phone (1), retains the naming convention and aesthetics of the company’s earphones, but can it deliver a quality AV performance at a genuinely competitive price?
The Phone (1) starts at just £399, for which you can expect a Snapdragon 778G+ processor – arguably Qualcomm’s best Snapdragon processor for mid-range phones – equipped with 5G and admirable performance to keep the phone running smoothly. The base model comes with 8GB RAM and 128GB of storage, while 8GB / 256GB and 12GB / 256GB models are also available.
The Nothing is an extremely competitively priced phone, then – but is it competitive enough? The Award-winning Sony Xperia 10 IV undercuts it by a fair amount, and its proven five-star AV performance certainly gives the Nothing a run for its money.
Unique design
The Phone (1) looks and feels much more expensive than its price may suggest. Upon first glance, you would be forgiven for confusing it for an iPhone 12, with its flat aluminium rails and dual vertical-stacked cameras on the back. That’s where the similarities end, though – with both the iPhone and any other phone we have seen before – as the Nothing’s unique design might be its biggest selling point.
The device’s aesthetics certainly turn heads, and if you want a phone that doubles as a conversation piece, the Nothing might be right up your alley. The back features a transparent glass panel that lets you take a peek at some of the internal components of the phone, as well as housing the Glyph interface. This is the most stand-out feature of the phone – a series of LED light strips that can act as a notification light
