I value one that gets me through my everyday routines instinctively and seamlessly. To me, a phone has to complement my lifestyle, making it more convenient and comfortable to do everyday tasks
First off, what struck me the most about the Nothing Phone 1 is its aesthetics. Sleek, and stylish with an open-back concept, it looks futuristic and modern. It has a Glyph Interface, which is a new way of communicating to help minimise screen time. 900 LEDs are used to create distinctive light patterns that display information such as charging status, app notifications, and caller IDs. To ensure that you never miss anything crucial, just pair each of your important contacts with a ringtone, and each with a different Glyph pattern. For quieter focus, the Flip to Glyph feature triggers silent, light-only notifications.
This has tremendously improved my productivity in terms of how I work, as I can prioritise who to answer when I am in deep focus mode, without missing any important messages.
Secondly, let’s talk about the Nothing Phone’s 1 OS. The Nothing OS delivers only the best of Android. What I enjoyed was that the Nothing ecosystem made it such that there was no need for separate apps. For example, you could unlock your doors, and turn on the air-con, as long as they are within the ecosystem, with just your phone! They are also working on a lot more third-party integrations, so do stay tuned for that. This is what is instinctive to me, where I can just use one device to control the tech in my everyday life.
What’s cool is that the phone learns my behaviour, and tweaks its settings to best suit my everyday needs. For example, my most-used apps load extremely quickly, whilst the rest are frozen to save battery.
With advanced dual cameras, photos taken are brought up a notch. The Nothing Phone’s 1 dual camera has two advanced 50 MP sensors, with the main camera powered by the flagship Sony IMX766. My photos came out realistic and incredibly detailed. Here are some examples I tested for day and night shots!
I’ve also learnt a cool trick – Set the Glyph Interface to its maximum brightness to use its soft light to illuminate up-close objects. It is a portable ring light that doesn’t have a sharp flash.
The 6.55″ OLED display on the Nothing Phone 1 uses HDR10+, which means each scene will have richer colours and stronger contrasts. Responsive interactions are ensured with an adaptive 120Hz refresh rate, which is also reassuringly power-efficient. The graphics performance of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G+ chipset is outstanding. For engaging, immersive gaming, Game Mode precisely syncs sound with graphics and minimises notifications. It had no lag when I played some of my favourite mobile games, like PUBG Mobile. I got to get around 18 hours of use with every charge and reach half power with just a 30 min charge.
Overall, it helped me increase my productivity, whilst making me feel good given how it looks. So many of my friends have complimented me on how good it looks. Additionally, the OS system was intuitive, and I feel its camera is of better quality compared to phones in the same range. Sustainability is what drives companies these days, and the Nothing phone 1 is playing its part too. I love how it is made of a 100% recycled aluminium frame (also making it light and robust), and over 50% of the phone’s plastic components are made with bio-based or post-consumer recycled materials.
The Nothing Phone 1 is available in both white and black at M1, Challenger, Lazada, Limited EDT & Zym with three models to choose from:
8GB/128GB ($769 SGD), 8GB/256GB ($869 SGD), and the 12GB/256GB ($949 SGD).
