Everything To Know About The Nothing Phone 3 – The Most Innovative Phone In Ages
Call us cynical, but whereas iPhones, Samsung, Google, Sony and other phones were once so distinctive, now we’re drowning in a sea of thin, large rectangles whose lens configuration is the only notable feature.
Enter Nothing – the London-based company that a former OnePlus exec began in 2021 to disrupt the market. Their previous phones have been interesting mid-range alternatives – for example, the Phone 2 was £579. But with their new Phone 3 at £799, they’ve made a big, bold decision to compete with the flagship phones of the world. The Nothing Phone 3 certainly stands out from the pack. But do their competitors need to be nervous? Let’s take a closer look.
Design and display
CEO Carl Pei has promise to “make tech fun again” and he’s starting with the Nothing Phone’s design. The tri-column exterior mirrors the phone’s internal logic – although we’ll have to trust them on that. The OLED screen is 6.67 inches with Corning Gorilla Glass protection, and it’s the first Nothing phone with 1P68 water and dust resistance. The screen is twice as bright as the Phone 2’s display, which is good news for using the phone out and about. The new Glyph Matrix display is especially interesting. Found on the rear of the phone, it acts as an LED screen for when you’re at work, for example. It’s only just bigger than a camera lens, but big enough to tell you key information, like the time, battery charge left, or custom notifications when the special people in your life text.
Camera
The camera hasn’t been the first reason people buy Nothing phones, but at a hefty price tag that matches other flagship phones, we expect it’s had a serious upgrade. The hardware looks good. There are four 50MP cameras: three in the rear, and a selfie one at the front that upgraded from the 32MP it had previously. The main lens has a 1.3: sensor and optical image stabilisation, while the telephoto lens has a 3x optical zoom and AI-enhanced digital zoom. Meanwhile the ultra-wide lens boasts a 114-degree field of view.
The Nothing Gallery app offers a number of digital editing tools, with presets that have been created in collaboration with professional photographers. It all sounds promising, but as the phone has only just been revealed, it needs hands-on testing to know how well the camera function performs.
Battery life
The innovation continues with the Phone 3’s battery. It has a 5,150mAh battery, which is substantial as it is. Even better, it’s made from silicon-carbon. Not many phones use this emergent material yet, so expect it to last longer than competitor phones. There’s excellent spec on the other charging aspects too: it offers 65W wired charging (a big jump from the Phone 2’s 45W), and 15W wireless charging. This all means it’s super speedy – it can go from 0% to 50% battery in 19 minutes.
Tech and AI features
There’s a good amount of AI used to make the phone a seamless part of its customers’ lives. Essential Search is an AI-powered search function that can help with contacts, photo searches, and even answer basic factual questions. Essential Key is a side button that you can customise according to what’s important to you. By default, it opens up Essential Space, which aims to bring together things you need for planning and organising, like reminders about events, travel plans, audio transcriptions and summaries. As mentioned, we think The Glyph Matrix is already useful to minimise screentime, plus Nothing is allowing developers to have a go at plugging in new services – so expect more reasons to need it soon.
The chip powering it all is the Snapdragon 8S Gen 4 processor, which isn’t market-leading, but in all, the company promise that compared to Phone 2, it will mean 36% to 60% faster processing.
Price and availability
The Nothing 3 phone costs £799 and comes with storage of256GB (and 12GB RAM) – or 512GB (with 16GB RAM) for £899. The phone goes on sale on July 15th.
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