I'm a Nothing Phone fan — but here's why the Phone 3 is a non-starter for me

Tom's Guide

2 days ago

One of my favorite things about using one of the best Android phones over an iPhone is that you can still root for an underdog. Sure, a Samsung or Pixel phone will always come with better specs but with a lesser-known brand you're more likely to get a unique feature that reminds you why you didn't just give in and get one of the best iPhones like everyone else.
After Google ditched its more collaborative Nexus phones for the in-house-designed Pixel, I, like many other Android users, was left twisting in the wind for a bit. I eventually moved to OnePlus phones, which promise flagship-level specs for less. Things were good for a while there, until the company integrated Oppo's ColorOS with its own OxygenOS, at which point it felt like the magic was gone.
I did consider just getting a Pixel for a brief moment since, for me, nothing (no pun intended) tops stock Android. Then I came across a new startup founded by OnePlus' co-founder, Carl Pei. This seemed like a return to the Nexus days, but with a twist. While Nothing's devices feel like they're running near-stock Android, Nothing OS takes things to a new level. It's fast, responsive and well thought out, so I've never felt the need to install a third-party launcher.
I've now had my Nothing Phone 2 for almost two years, and while it has certainly served me well, I've been eagerly waiting to see what the company does next. Well, this week, I found out that the rumors and leaked renders of the Nothing Phone 3 were real. Though I was more than ready to hand over my hard-earned cash for Nothing's latest device, one big omission with its new design is holding me back.
What immediately set the original Nothing phone and then its follow-up apart from the crowd was the distinct Glyph Interface on the back. Along with the company's trademark transparent designs, these strips of LED light serve as a constant reminder that in a sea of all too similar looking smartphones, Nothing is actually thinking differently.
As the company has evolved, so too has the Glyph Interface on the back of its phones. Phone 1 debuted these one-of-a-kind lights and Phone 2 improved upon them by adding more lighting zones and giving you greater control over them. Even when Nothing decided to court the budget phone market with the Phone (2a) and then later with the Phone (3a) and Phone (3a) Pro, the Glyph Interface came along for the ride, albeit in a smaller and simpler way.
While many people thought the next logical step would be to add RGB lighting to the Glyph Interface, Nothing clearly likes subverting expectations. I thought we might see more lighting zones, more customization options or something else entirely with the Phone 3. As it turns out, I was right. Just not in the way that I had hoped for.
Instead of improving upon the company's now iconic Glyph Interface, it decided to ditch it entirely with the Nothing Phone 3. The only regular light that remains is actually a new one: a small red square underneath the phone's cameras which lets others know that you're currently recording a video. Instead, the Glyph Interface has been replaced with the new Glyph Matrix.
The Phone 1 and Phone 2's light strips were featured prominently throughout the back of each device, but the Glyph Matrix is relegated to the top right corner. This tiny dot-matrix display does have a few tricks up its sleeve. It can show you the time, how much battery life you have left, and a number of other practical and entertaining widgets which Nothing is calling Glyph Toys.
I have to admit, at first, I thought a dot-matrix style display on the back of my phone would be a cool feature to have. That was until I learned that this new addition would mean giving up what has become my favorite hardware feature of the Nothing Phone 2, one that I use every single day.
I'm sure if you were out in public and someone caught a glimpse of the Phone 3's Glyph Matrix doing its thing, they'd be intrigued. From acting as a selfie mirror to flagging your notifications, there's already quite a lot it can do. Likewise, you can also play games on it with others or even with the phone itself.
For instance, there's a Glyph Toy for Spin the Bottle that completely foregoes the potential for broken glass, along with a Magic 8 Ball one that can give you quick, albeit vague, answers to all your burning questions. Then there's Rock-Paper-Scissors where you and the Phone 3 go head to head in the zero-sum game.
That's not all though, as Nothing has opened up its new Glyph Matrix to developers so that they can create their own custom Glyph Toys. While the Phone 2's Glyph Interface did have third-party support, it was only with the device's Glyph Progress feature which used one of the light bars to let you know when your Uber or food delivery from Zomato were arriving.
I could easily see both seasoned and new developers alike creating some really cool Glyph Toys down the line. However, with what's available now, the Phone 3's Glyph Matrix feels more like a gimmick than a true replacement for Nothing's Glyph Interface.
When I decided to buy the Phone 2, I thought that its Glyph Interface was a gimmick too. There's no party trick quite like turning on the lights on the back of your phone or even having them sync to the music you're playing using Nothing's Music Visualization feature. As I got acquainted with my Phone 2 though, its light strips quickly became more than a gimmick and turned into an essential feature I rely on daily.
Besides seeing the progress of your rideshare or your food delivery, you can also use the Phone 2's Glyph Progress feature with Google Calendar, though this integration did come quite a few months after the phone's release. As someone who works remotely and is constantly jumping from one video call to the next, this light that gets smaller as my next meeting approaches has really come in handy. I still get regular notifications from Google 10 minutes before each of my meetings, but seeing the light slowly get smaller on the back of my phone is less obtrusive and definitely a bit more fun.
Using your phone's camera flash as a flashlight is something we've all grown accustomed to over the years, but through its Glyph Interface, Nothing gives you another way to quickly light up a dark room. You can still use the phone's flash to light your way, but you also get the option to use its Glyphs as a torch too. And yes, I do mean torch: Nothing is based in the UK, so we have to use the correct terminology.
What I like about the Glyph torch is that it's a softer, less glaring light that I can quickly enable without blinding myself or others. As I'm a night owl by nature, I often find myself working late or doing other things around my house well after everyone else is asleep. Even with the best smart lights installed throughout my home, turning them off and on at night can be disruptive. This is why I've grown accustomed to using my Phone 2's Glyph torch to light up the kitchen or even the garage in a pinch.
Before there was Music Visualization on the Phone 2, there was Glyph Composer. If you're the type that still uses ringtones instead of leaving your phone on vibrate at all times like I do, then you can have the Phone 2's Glyph Interface light up along with your ringtone. There are pre-set animations for the pre-installed ringtones, but with Glyph Composer, you can also make your own custom ones.
Even though I don't personally use ringtones, I absolutely love Glyph Composer. Not only is it a great way to kill time while making your own music using a number of different sound packs, it's also the perfect way to distract an upset toddler as I've learned from experience. I don't let my son use or play with my phone normally but every now and then, I either show him the lights on the back of my phone as I try my best to play something close to a song, or if he's being really good, I let him have a go at it.
In fact, while waiting to buy a SIM card during my recent trip to Taiwan for Computex 2025, I got incredibly bored in line. There was a little one a few people ahead of me and when I saw her getting fussy, I took out Glyph Composer and played for a bit. In a minute or so, she was giggling and soon enough I was up next at the sales counter.
Is the Phone 3's polarizing design enough to make me abandon Nothing entirely? Absolutely not. However, my next phone upgrade is now more up in the air than I thought it would be just a few weeks ago.
I get that Carl Pei and Nothing are trying to do something new with the Phone 3, but I don't understand why they dropped the Glyph Interface entirely in favor of the new Glyph Matrix. The smaller Glyph lights on the company's cheaper a-series phones show that you can still do quite a lot with only a few strips of light. If you look at the back of the Phone 3, there's still plenty of empty space where a smaller but just as capable Glyph Interface could have fit nicely. Besides the touch capacitive button on the center-right that you use to control its Glyph Toys or swap between them, the middle and entire bottom half of the phone's back is completely empty. I understand why the Glyph Matrix is in the top right corner for practical reasons, but given the device's unconventional camera array, I think things could have been shifted around to incorporate both this new dot-matrix display and some familiar Glyph lights.
In addition to the lack of Nothing's iconic Glyph Interface, there's another elephant in the room with the Phone 3: its price. I expected to spend more for a phone that's inching closer to flagship territory, but like with the Nintendo Switch 2, the Phone 3 is priced a bit too high in my opinion. With a starting price of $799, you're at entry-level flagship pricing alongside phones like the Samsung Galaxy S25 and Google Pixel 9. However, the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 chipset that Nothing picked for the Phone 3 is less capable than the top-grade silicon used in these other phones.
Waiting for a sale will take some of the sting out of the Phone 3's price, but if I'm paying more than I did for my Phone 2, I shouldn't be swapping a very useful feature for one that has yet to appear as more than a gimmick. Who knows, maybe we'll see a Phone 3 Pro with the best of both worlds that has the new Glyph Matrix and Nothing's Glyph Interface on the back. If not though, I might just hold out even longer to see what the company has in store for the Phone 4a or maybe even the Phone 4a Pro.
I haven't lost hope in Nothing yet but ditching the Glyph Interface for the new Glyph Matrix is a decision that hasn't won me over so far. Only time will tell, though and until then, I'll be proudly rocking my Nothing Phone 2 until its last Android update.