The Telephone 1 is the primary smartphone from the British know-how startup Nothing, led by the OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei, who arrange on his personal with the purpose of bringing again a little bit of curiosity and pleasure to the more and more samey world of shopper electronics.
However the agency’s follow-up to the funky Ear 1 earbuds is not any flashy top-spec telephone. Priced at £399 (A$749), it seems to be to compete instantly with extra inexpensive fashions corresponding to Samsung’s mid-range A-series and Google’s Pixel 6a. It does so whereas providing one thing distinctive: a collection of white LED strips strewn throughout a clear glass again to create patterns of sunshine that Nothing calls “glyphs”.
Completely different gentle patterns present who is looking, which app is notifying you and even various kinds of notification from the identical app with out having to see the display screen. You possibly can set one sample for a piece electronic mail or one for a private electronic mail in Gmail, for example, however, sadly, you'll be able to’t differentiate between messages from totally different contacts, solely calls.
The glyphs and clear again add a little bit of curiosity to an in any other case pretty understated design. The recycled aluminium sides and flat OLED display screen look remarkably just like an Apple telephone, main multiple particular person to ask if I used to be holding an iPhone 13. Nonetheless, the construct high quality is excellent, and the total HD 6.55in display screen is great for the cash: massive, brilliant, crisp and super-smooth, due to a 120Hz refresh price.
Specs
Display screen: 6.55in 120Hz FHD+ OLED (402ppi)
Processor: Snapdragon 778G Plus
RAM: 8 or 12GB
Storage: 128 or 256GB
Working system:Android 12 with Nothing OS
Digicam: 50MP foremost and ultrawide, 16MP selfie
Connectivity: 5G, eSIM, wifi 6E, NFC, Bluetooth 5.2 and GNSS
Water resistance: IP53 (splash-resistant)
Dimensions: 159.2 x 75.8 x 8.3mm
Weight: 193.5g
A quick, mid-range chip
The telephone has a mid-range Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G Plus chip, which is completely succesful in day-to-day utilization, with the interface and apps feeling fairly snappy.
Nevertheless, it falls wanting the uncooked efficiency of top-class chips, which is most noticeable when processing pictures and its sluggish switching between lenses within the digital camera after taking images. Solely these mid-range telephones with top-spec chips corresponding to Apple’s iPhone SE or Google’s Pixel 6a will carry out markedly higher for the value.
The battery life is nice, lasting about 38 hours between fees together with two hours on 5G, placing it on a par with most high gadgets. You'll in all probability should cost it as soon as a day.
Sustainability
Nothing charges the battery for at the very least 800 full cost cycles whereas sustaining at the very least 80% of its authentic capability. The Telephone 1 is usually repairable within the UK and the battery is replaceable by Nothing.
The Telephone 1 is manufactured from 100% recycled aluminium with greater than 50% of its plastic elements comprised of bio-based or recycled supplies. The corporate plans to publish an environmental affect report for the telephone, which it says has a carbon footprint of 58.5Kg CO2 equal.
Nothing OS
The Telephone 1 ships with a stripped-back model of Android 12 referred to as Nothing OS. It gives all of the options you'll anticipate however with out the bloat of duplicated apps, principally counting on these supplied by Google, which is an efficient factor.
The interface is sprinkled with a contact of dot-matrix nostalgia in its widgets, typeface and logos, plus some customized wallpapers and a voice recorder app with a novel record-player-like interface. It's enticing with out being too radical.
The corporate will supply three years of main Android updates and a complete of 4 years of safety fixes each two months. That’s respectable however a 12 months wanting that supplied by Google and Samsung’s competing gadgets, and properly behind Fairphone and Apple’s six- to seven-year help.
Nothing OS was smooth and secure however I encountered just a few small bugs, a few of which have been mounted inside the testing interval, so I've little doubt these remaining issues can be sorted out. When restoring the telephone from a cloud backup of my information, autorotation between portrait and panorama didn't work, and neither did the Glyph gentle exhibiting Google Assistant exercise. Organising the telephone with out restoring my information mounted the issues.
Digicam
The Telephone 1 has a refreshingly easy lens lineup on the again, with solely two 50-megapixel cameras – one regular and one ultrawide – forgoing extra garbage macro or monochrome cameras frequent on mid-range telephones for advertising functions.
Each cameras are good for the cash. The primary digital camera produces the most effective pictures which have usually good color stability and element. Pictures can lack a bit of sharpness and wonderful element when considered at full dimension, and it may be a bit of tough to get a pointy shot in low gentle. The ultrawide produces pictures with cooler tones and softer element however remains to be respectable. The digital camera can often oversaturate elements of a picture, corresponding to purple flowers dropping all definition and nearly glowing.
The telephone has no telephoto digital camera however the digital zoom produced usable pictures at 2x, turning into stuffed with artefacts after about 5x magnification. The glyphs may be lit as much as create a fill gentle at evening as a substitute of utilizing the flash, which is novel however produces a blue hue to the pictures. The selfie digital camera is equally good, producing detailed images in good gentle.
Video recording was stable for the cash however solely as much as 4K at 30 frames a second, not 60 as is more and more frequent.
Total, the Telephone 1 is able to producing actually good pictures, and beats many mid-range rivals, however received’t bother the most effective.
Worth
The Nothing Telephone 1 prices £399 (A$749) with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, £449 (A$799) with 8GB and 256GB, or £499 (A$849) with 12GB and 256GB, and is accessible in black or white relying on the mannequin.
For comparability, the Google Pixel 6a prices £399, the Samsung Galaxy A53 prices £399, the Fairphone 4 prices £499, and the Apple iPhone SE prices £419.
Verdict
The Telephone 1 is a remarkably well-executed first try at a smartphone from Nothing.
Its design is distinctive on the again and easy elsewhere. You won't just like the iPhone-like look however the recycled aluminium sides actually really feel extra premium than the aggressive mid-range worth would possibly counsel.
The glyph lights on the again are actually novel and attention-grabbing however remembering which sample is which is tough, and I sometimes keep away from placing telephones face down to forestall scratches. It's good to see one thing totally different and enjoyable, although.
Regardless of an odd bug as a consequence of be mounted, the Android software program is pleasingly bloat-free, which helps the telephone really feel snappy in use. The battery life is fairly good, too. 4 years of promised software program updates is nice however not the most effective, and depends on Nothing succeeding in fulfilling its dedication, which isn't assured for any new entrant.
It has very stiff competitors from rivals corresponding to Google’s glorious Pixel 6a, however in contrast with quite a lot of boring mid-range telephones, the £399 Nothing Telephone 1 stands out.
Professionals: novel again design, glyph lights are one thing totally different, good display screen, respectable efficiency, stable battery life, recycled aluminium, bloat-free Android 12, competitively priced.
Cons: no optical zoom, solely 4 years of safety updates, solely splash-resistant, Nothing a little bit of an unknown amount.
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