Home News Nothing Phone 1 (8/128) Unboxing and Initial Impression: Something out of Nothing?

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Nothing Phone 1 (8/128) Unboxing and Initial Impression: Something out of Nothing?

January 23, 2023

Introduction

These days, the midrange category is saturated with so many devices that buyers are spoilt by choices. A good number of them have realized the importance of providing a good hardware and a balanced software experience with appropriate pricing to snatch the interest.

HMD Global, home of Nokia products is in the same path currently where the focus is shifted to midrange device for now. While I had done a rather extensive review of the recent Nokia X30 5G and Nokia G60 5G and concluded that both devices are among the finest made by HMD Global till date, it is always necessary to see how it fares to the competition.

Nothing, a brand created by Carl Pei has created some ripples in the mobile world. While Nothing may project themselves as a new company, in actuality, this is a company that is spearheaded by someone who has enough experience in the mobile world, especially when it comes to creating flagship killer devices.

In fact, thanks to Nokiapurist who shared some details, that, in the early days, Carl Pei had a brief stint at Nokia before ascending elsewhere, which is a pretty interesting fact.

Nothing Phone(1)

The Nothing phone was launched in July 2022 , initially offering two variants, the 8/256GB and 12/256GB variant which was priced at about USD550 and the 8/128GB was recently introduced at USD345.

At a price of USD345, the Nothing Phone 1 has positioned itself to be in a comfortable zone that would be sure to generate more interest on the device as the rest of the hardware remains the same as the pricier variant. This makes the device only marginally expensive than the Nokia G60 5G and significantly cheaper than the 8GB/25GGB variant of the Nokia X30 5G.

The Nothing Phone 1 packs a punch when it comes to hardware offerings, with an I Phone like chasis offering OLED display with 120Hz refresh rate supporting HDR10+, a potent SD778G+ platform and a dual 50MP camera sensor over the rear.

In the arts of theatricality, Carl Pei has generated significant attention for the device with the Glyph Interface over the rear. While it is all new, shiny, and has the “cool” factor in, it remains to be seen if it adds any value added benefits to the phone or a mere pony trick as it the front of the phone shows more information than the rear at any given time.

My interest is in how the camera performs and in my initial testing, the setup is promising but requires further polishing. The overall feel and performance of the device is remarkable , given the massive price cut recently.

So, this is my simple unboxing and initial impression of the Nothing Phone 1 (8/128GB), and , it will be interesting to see how it fares against the Nokia G60 5G and the Nokia X30 5G which will be coming out shortly!