We’ve been leaking and gossiping about Nothing Phone (1) for weeks, and it’s finally official. Phone with LED on the backCarl Pei bets to breathe new life into the smartphone world. A new brand, a new operating system, and a promising first-generation.

We’ve already had a first contact with this phone, so you First impressions of Nothing Phone (1). We’ll also go over its features and specs so you can have some appetizers before we dig deeper.

Nothing Phone data sheet (1)

Transparent and with a LED party

LEDs. We’re all here for LEDs. The Nothing Phone (1) differential factor is its back, which has both clear glass and an LED system. Before talking about these, it is useful to know this. Nothing Phone (1) not showing bare motherboard itemsbut specially designed skins and screws to make this terminal highly aesthetic.

Construction materials aluminum and glass and yes, it’s nailed to an iPhone 12/13 judging from the side. But the biggest downside we’ve seen with the design is that the back is very easily filled with fingerprints, so this curious transparent back doesn’t really show up.

It’s symmetrical on the front, something we’re not used to seeing on Android terminals. The pocket is quite large, although it doesn’t look like it in the photos., almost 16 centimeters high. It is relatively light and weighs just over 193 grams. It’s not the most comfortable phone to have, as the back is slippery, but it’s far from a problem.

Go straight to the point. The Nothing Phone (1) is packed with LEDs (over 900) on the back, with five main functions:

• call indicator
• notification indicator
• Phone charge level indicator
• Reverse wireless charging function indicator
• Light support in photography

Nothing names this design glyph (The Spanish translation would be something akin to ‘hieroglyph’) and lets us know we’ve been notified when it’s upside down. Actually, there is a function that allows mute the phone face down and only the LEDs will work.

Lights sync with soundsWe have both personalized ringtones and notification sounds by , and Nothing. We also have the option to add any audio file we have to the internal memory of the phone and have the leds sync with it.

The summary of all this is very clear: The first phone to achieve this in years. keep your voice active, both notifications and calls. Charging sounds, notifications, haptic response of the phone… Everything is designed to provide a great user experience, something we will look into in analysis.

Big promise in a complete hardware and software

On a hardware level, the Nothing Phone (1) is a mid-range that comes well loaded. It has a 6.55-inch display with AMOLED technology and a refresh rate moving at 60 or 120 Hz (it’s not LTPO and therefore not adaptive). The resolution can play Full HD+ and HDR10+ content. Although in the analysis we will talk about the panel in depth, but We guess it already lacks a bit of shine (typically only 500 nits and peaks of 1,200 nits are not easy to reach)

The processor is Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G+ customized by Nothing to better fit the phone. Our version is the one with 8 + 256 GB memory., with LPDDR5X and UFS 3.1 technologies, respectively. It’s early to talk about autonomy, although the 4,500mAh with 33W fast charging is enough to get through the day without too much trouble.

But the star in the user experience with Nothing is Nothing OS 1 based on Android 12, not raw power. We can tell you this. we are very happy with what we tried. It’s the closest thing to a Google Pixel without any bloatware and with some very minor customizations.

Don’t expect to find anything similar to early versions of OxygenOS. Not much customizationIt is a very clean ROM with the presence of Material You and its own fonts to define its own design language.

Two cameras, no more needed

If manufacturers like Apple and Google have shown anything in photography in recent years, it’s that less can be more. The Nothing Phone (1) has only two cameras, a Sony IMX766 main sensor (the same one that mounts terminals like OPPO Find X5 Pro or Xiaomi 12) and a Samsung JN1 for ultra-wide angle. both 50 megapixel sensors.

While we liked very little of what we saw, it’s too early to draw conclusions. All we can tell you about Nothing Phone (1) is this: processing is good, very good. It’s not tied to the highest range of mobiles (nor is it as-is), but it shouldn’t be too hard to rank among the top 3 mobiles in its price range.

There are certain features such as using phone LEDs as backup lighta pretty complete pro mod and a red indicator to let us know we’re recording on the phone itself.

The Nothing Phone (1) promises

When cell phones are being cloned, Nothing Phone (1) manages to attract attention. There’s a lot to talk about and a lot to prove and my feelings after these first impressions once again having the option of purchasing a software and user experience focused mobile phone. Yes, it’s great to have an LED disco in the back, but it’s not the hardware that matters, it’s how it integrates with the sounds, the vibration, and the user interaction with the system.

Even phones with clean ROM are not as close to Pixel as this Phone (1); this is a real joy for those who value a clean system. still intermediate With the limitations this entails, but Nothing Phone (1) is an alternative to closely follow.