The Nothing phone (1) is easily one of the most hyped phone releases of the year, but what do we actually know about it?
Well, as it turns out, we know a lot more than you may think, as the design and processor have been officially confirmed, and the remaining details have either been leaked or heavily rumored.
So, what else is there left to know? Let’s take a look at everything we’ve gathered on the Nothing phone (1) so far, including the expected release date, pricing, design, specs and more.
Nothing phone (1) price and release date
The price and a potential release date has been leaked accidentally by a product listing on Amazon Germany. You can sign up to Nothing’s official pre-order invite system right now (opens in new tab).
It looks like you’ll be able to purchase the Nothing phone (1) in either black or white, and in two specs:
- 8GB RAM + 128GB storage: €469.99 (roughly $480 / £407)
- 12GB RAM + 256GB storage: €549.99 (roughly $570 / £475)
And as you can also see on these screenshots, which have been snapped quickly by a lucky redditor (opens in new tab) before the listings were taken down, you can look forward to a release date of October 26.
That puts it in a little bit of clear air between the iPhone 14 and the Google Pixel 7, but will that work in the phone’s favour or will it be caught in a bit of a flagship sandwich that ultimately hurts sales?
Nothing phone (1) design
The biggest question about the Nothing phone (1) has been about what it will look like? We were looking forward to seeing a device that continued Nothing’s transparent approach and brought something new to the table, and that is what the company has absolutely delivered.
Your key talking point is of course going to be those 900 LEDs on the back, which Nothing calls its Glyph interface. You got a little bit of a hint about this back in the Nothing March event, and now we know what those symbols mean.
At first, I was a little nervous that these were just going to be some decorative lights for the back of the phone, but they do have some practical functionality, as MKBHD found out. For example, the line at the bottom fills up gradually as your phone charges, they all flash and pulse in time with ringtones and they make for quite a bright camera flash.
Beyond this, the phone is still a familiar slab in the hand with the familiar flourish of the dot matrix print signature branding on the aluminum band that wraps around the side.
Nothing phone (1) display
You caught a small glimpse of the phone (1)’s display, but thanks to some leaks, we do have some details on what to expect from the screen.
It looks as if you can expect a 6.5-inch AMOLED panel with 120Hz refresh rate, HDR10+ a 1080 x 2400-pixel resolution and 20:9 aspect ratio, which is pretty much bang on what you’d expect from a mid-range price Android smartphone.
Nothing phone (1) specs
What will the phone (1) run? That’s been the question on the lips of everybody, trying to figure out whether this will pack some flagship specs or if Nothing is going for a different tact.
Turns out the latter is the answer, as Input Mag (opens in new tab) exyclusively reported that this will pack a mid-range Snapdragon 778G+ chipset. The + part means that you’re getting the performance and power consumption of this chip, alongside the additions of wireless charging and reverse wireless charging (ideal for those phone (1) and ear (1) bundles).
So, why did Nothing go with a slower chipset? Carl Pei explained that the reason behind this decision comes down to performance, power consumption and cost. The company believes this offers a better balance of sheer horsepower and power efficiency, to do the day-to-day tasks fast enough, while preserving more battery life.
As you can see in Dave2D’s video, the benchmark scores are remarkably average when compared to the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 systems, but from my experiences with phones at similar levels, these signify you’ve got more than enough under the hood for the standard day to day and some gaming.
Alongside this, the Amazon product listings showed up to 12GB RAM and 256GB of storage, which is expected in a phone at this cost.
Nothing phone (1) cameras
So we know there will be a dual camera system on the Nothing phone (1), as images of the back give that away. But what will the hardware be?
Tipster Yogesh Brar has seemingly confirmed that these two cameras will be a 50MP main snapper and a 16MP ultra wide, along with a 16MP selfie shooter on the front.
Nothing Phone (1)- 6.5″ FHD+ OLED, 120Hz- Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G+ SoC- 8/12GB RAM- 128/256GB storage- Rear Cam: 50MP (Sony) + 16MP (UW)- Front Cam: 16MP- Android 12, Nothing OS- 4,500mAh battery, 45W charging, 15W wireless- Stereo speakers, HDR10+, side mounted FPJune 30, 2022
Whether these will produce good pictures is something we’ll have to find out with some hands-on time, but with the choice of a Sony sensor, the sensor’s size and the rumored f/1.8 aperture, this has the capability to be a good camera.
Outlook
The Nothing phone (1) is certainly an interesting phone, to say the least.
Looking at the leaks and rumors, the huge amounts of excitement this phone has received seems a little confusing. But that’s the magic of the one man hype machine known as Carl Pei.
But all of that aside, it looks as if we’re set to get a strong mid-range phone with a fascinating design. Keep it locked on Laptop Mag for any new rumors and leaks, and we will reserve any judgments of the phone (1) until we’ve gone hands-on.
