After months of hype, rumours, and leaks, Nothing has officially launched its first smartphone, the Phone 1. Even though it has just been launched, the Phone 1 has been making headlines for a very long time now. The LED studded semi-transparent back, wireless charging support, the Glyph UI, and more of its features have been the talk of the town for months. And now that Nothing has finally taken the wraps off the Phone 1, the tech world can finally make up its mind whether the phone is worth the buzz.
Nothing is Thinking Different
Ever since the launch of the Phone 1, comparisons have started flooding in. The specs and numbers battle has truly begun and the tech boxing ring is filled with phones, all claiming they can take the Nothing Phone 1 out. But Nothing has made it clear time and time again that it is not focussing on specs and numbers. It is one of the first things Carl Pei, the founder of Nothing, said in his presentation while launching the device, and it is what its “Return to Instinct” tagline also highlights.
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While the Android world, especially the mid-segment, might be focussing on just comparing numbers and specs, Nothing claims it is prioritising experience over specs. This philosophy might be unheard of in the mid-segment of the Android world, but to call it unprecedented would be a little far-fetched. In fact, there is a brand that has been following the very same philosophy for over 15 years. And that brand is Apple.
Taking a page or two out of the iPhone Bible
Apple has been a one-of-its-kind tech brand. While Android has stuck to the ‘bigger is better’ ideology — the displays, the megapixel count, the number of cameras, the RAM, the battery, the battery charging speed et al, Apple has been churning out phones with specs that would barely be comparable to a mid-segment Android device. This has often put the brand under some serious scrutiny. But time and again, Apple has proved that an iPhone does not need to have bigger numbers to deliver better performance. Whether it's the cameras, the display, or the RAM on the device (which is still not officially revealed). Even without all the number fluff around, the iPhone series has managed to not only stay relevant but has also remained the most popular smartphone lineup ever.
For us, it has been a mystery why no other brand has followed this well-proven theory that Apple uses to create iPhones. Nothing is looking to change that.
Nothing is seemingly following a very Apple-istic approach with the launch of the Phone 1.
The brand has stressed on the fact that they will not be another smartphone brick in the wall by playing the numbers and specs game in the market. Instead, they have chosen to pick a page or two out of the iPhone Bible with the Phone 1.
Shades of iPhone in Phone 1
Nothing is following the iPhone ideology in more ways than not just talking about the specs with the Phone 1. The phone comes with decent specs actually. It has a 6.55-inch flexible OLED display with Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection, HDR10+ support, and 120Hz refresh rate. The phone is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 778+ chipset, which is paired with 12GB RAM and 256GB storage in its top variant. There are two 50-megapixel cameras on the back where the main sensor has both optical image stabilisation (OIS) and electronic image stabilisation (EIS) and a 16-megapixel selfie snapper at the front. The phone is backed by a 4,500mAh battery with support for 33W fast charging and both wireless and reverse wireless charging. All of this comes together with Android 12, which is topped with Nothing’s in-house UI, NothingOS. Nothing also promises three years of Android updates and four years of security updates on the phone.
All of this together does not make up a bad-looking spec sheet. Just like Apple. If you really look at the specs of the iPhones launched over the years, they may not have seemed top of the line as compared to their Android counterparts, but they do not seem incompetent either.
What makes all these specs sing in harmony is the experience that an iPhone delivers which many claim is as good as it gets.
It's about experience, not specs
But the fact that Nothing is not putting the spotlight on specs is a very Apple move. Instead, the brand has been talking about features and experiences that make the device stand out from the usual Android crowd. The semi-transparent design that gives a glimpse of what is inside, the 900 LED-laden back that lights up in sync with ringtones and different notifications in what Nothing calls a Glyph UI pattern, and features like wireless charging, reverse charging, and even some sort of IP rating on the phone, make the phone very experience forward.
While launching Nothing, Carl Pei also took out time to explain how even holding the phone is an experience. The phone is all glass and where it isn’t glass, i.e, the sides, it has aluminium, giving it a premium feel. He also talked about the bezels of the display being absolutely proportionate. This is where the flexible OLED display comes into the picture. Because they have used a flexible panel, Nothing has managed to make the chin of the phone the same size as the rest of the bezels around the display, something which is very rare to see in the Android world. Again, this stress on design and experience is very Apple.
The brand has also time and again highlighted how they have used eco-friendly materials, recycled metal, and plastic to make the phone, which is a sentiment only Apple has been consistently vocal about.
Does Android finally have its iPhone?
The lack of ultra-fast charging speed or the decision to just keep two cameras on the back is also very Apple in a way, especially in the mid-segment where a number of cameras and charging speed have become the next big race. What's more, just like the iPhone, which comes with the same megapixel count on all its camera sensors on the back, both cameras on the Phone 1 are 50-megapixel each.
All of this is evidence enough that Nothing has taken a bit of inspiration from Apple when it comes to making phones. We think this approach may be the factor that helps Phone 1 stand out from the spec-chasing crowd. This is why, like Apple, it is also charging a slight price premium when you consider the specs it comes with. This premium seems to be for the design and the experience, rather than the spec sheet.
There is also no charger in the Nothing Phone 1 box. Need we say more?