Latest news with #Phone3
GSM Arena
3 hours ago
- GSM Arena
Nothing is rumored to be working on a new type of smartphone
Vlad, 22 July 2025 Nothing has recently launched the Phone (3), billed as its first proper flagship device, but the company is now rumored to be exploring new avenues. Namely, it's said to be adding 'Lite' or 'T' branded models to its lineup, as "Pro models are just not cutting it", according to an Indian leaker over on X. We're not sure which Pro models those are - the only recent Nothing handset with that branding is the Phone (3a) Pro, a mid-ranger that's better-specced than the non-Pro Phone (3a). Looks like Nothing could be adding 'Lite' or 'T' branded phones to their lineup.. Pro models are just not cutting it.. — Yogesh Brar (@heyitsyogesh) July 22, 2025 Unfortunately, the source of this claim doesn't go into any more detail about these Nothing Lite or T phones, so we can't be sure what line the suffix would be applied to. A Nothing Phone (3) Lite? That's one thing. A Nothing Phone (3a) Lite? That's quite another. If there's actually any kernel of truth to this, then we'll undoubtedly hear more about Nothing's moves in the near future, so stay tuned for that. In the meantime, why not read our Nothing Phone (3) review? Nothing Phone (3) 5G Nothing Phone (3a) Pro 256GB 12GB RAM £ 394.00 Nothing Phone (3a)
India Today
16 hours ago
- India Today
Nothing Phone 3 review: A different take
What makes a phone good? There is no one answer to this question, although it is safe to say that all good phones have certain key characteristics. They all offer smooth performance in day-to-day use. They all provide good battery life, a capable set of cameras, a display that is adequately bright, and build quality that justifies their price. Beyond this, there are no easy answers to this question of what makes a phone good. Different companies have different takes on it. Nothing too has a different take and we see that in the Phone 3. As it aims to compete with the likes of Samsung Galaxy, Google Pixel, the mighty iPhone, as well as everything in between offered by OnePlus, Vivo and and Xiaomi, the Phone 3 is using a different approach. It is a phone that is hatke. And this different approach is its biggest strength as well as its biggest doesn't want to follow the rules. This is very much evident in its hardware. The approach here by Nothing is more Google-like, or Apple-like, instead of what other Android companies do. So, even though the Phone 3 costs Rs 79,999, it is not part of the specs race. For the price, the Phone 3 packs somewhat modest hardware. This is most visible in the chipset, which is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 4. Most Android phones in this range nowadays are opting for the Snapdragon 8 Elite, or something of the hardware too is a notch below in terms of specs compared to what Korean and Chinese Android makers tend to do. But not that significantly. Overall, I would say that the Nothing Phone 3 has competent hardware and specs and not outrightly flagship-grade the way the term is understood in the Android world. But specs don't make a phone. At least that is what some companies, including Nothing, believe. And I do too. The experience that a phone offers defines whether it is good or not. It is this experience part on which Nothing has focussed on with the Phone 3. Does it succeed? In a way but it might not be enough in the price-conscious Indian and awe with designBeginning with the Phone 1, Nothing has tried to create a unique design language for its devices. This language is all about transparent back panels, glyph lights, techno-retro design with geometric markings and etchings under the back cover, minimalistic shell and focus on black and white with just a dab of colour. The Phone 3 follows the same design language. Unlike other Android phones, this one has a personality, which will either appeal to your senses, or it won't. And that is by design. Nothing wants you to feel something with its design, that something can be loved or it can be hated. But you must feel is also likely the idea behind the asymmetric placement of camera lenses. It shocks the senses with its edginess. Personally, I like the Phone 3 design. In reality and in hands, the phone looks better. I also like the design because in a sea of boring and similar-looking phones, this one loudly stands out. Of late, we have started seeing some brands copy the Nothing design language and it seems that with the Phone 3, Nothing is telling these brands that 'hey, do you have courage to copy this.' While the camera module is asymmetric, the rest of the phone has plenty of symmetry. The lines running across, and the etchings, on the back panel are clean and precise. The small round button, which allows users to cycle through the display options in Glyph Matrix is cleverly hidden. The tiny red square that glows when video recording is taking place is a nifty and aesthetically brilliant Phone 3 is also built well. It is positioned as a premium phone and it looks the part. The aluminium frame made of brushed metal is slick without being glossy or looking cheap. The Gorilla glass layers on both front and back feel solid. At 218 grams, the Phone 3 is not light. But its weight is distributed rather evenly, which in hand makes it feel lighter than it even as this is undoubtedly a Nothing phone, it is missing one design element that has so far been part of Nothing identity — the glyph lights. Instead of those lights, which would light up in a pattern to indicate the type of notification, Phone 3 has a round screen — size of a coat button — near the camera module. This screen uses tiny LEDs, 489 to be precise, to display information. This information can be time or battery status, it can be some custom notification, and it can even be the spinning bottle game. It is fun to use, and in case of clock or battery status, rather informative. But how useful and fun you find it will depend on your particular use case. On the front, the phone has a 6.67-inch OLED display. This is an excellent display, although on high-end nowadays there is not much difference in display quality in phones. This is also an extremely bright display and while it is cloud-and-rain season in Delhi nowadays, on some occasions when the sun was out in full force, I used the Phone 3 under direct sunlight. The legibility of the display remained excellent display is paired with a very good set of stereo speakers. These get extremely loud and while I have heard more impactful and meatier sound from phones — the iPhone Pro, for example — the Phone 3 speakers do a good enough job. Even at high volume they remain clear and sound output is mostly software, good enough performanceJust like what it has tried to do with design, Nothing also has its different take on software. Largely I like it. But some of the features I find too niche, including Essential Space. The software — Nothing OS 3.5 — in the Phone 3, uses custom Nothing skin, which is clean and functional. Unlike other phones, which are full of bloatware, on the Phone 3 you get everything necessary and no junk. The software is built on top of Android 15, with Android 16 update expected towards the end of the use, I found the Nothing software fairly close to the default Android that Google puts in its Pixel phones. And just like how I find the Pixel software clean, functional and fast, I found the software in the Phone 3. For Nothing fans, the device also comes with a mono-chrome icon pack, which looks cool but can be confusing to new users. The phone offers plenty of customisation options without overdoing them. This too is something that I like. One of the key features of the Nothing Phone 3 is the Essential Space, which can also be controlled through a special — and shiny — Essential Key placed on the right side of the phone. The Space is the place where you can collect your screenshots, or voice memos, and then let AI deal with them. For example, voice memos can be transcribed using AI. Similarly, screenshots can be bunched together in collection, can be annotated or can be saved with a text or voice context. I found Essential Space to be a niche feature and didn't find it particularly handy or necessary. But it is the kind of feature that depends on the use case. Those who compulsively take notes on their phone will find it unique feature is Essential Search, which is a universal search. It is handy because it lets you search the entire phone, including photos and contacts and settings and everything else in between, offline or online, all from the same search bar. The Phone 3, irrespective of whatever people might say about its chipset, is a fast phone. As I used the device, I found its animations smooth whether I was scrolling through its interface or if I was juggling open apps. The Phone 3 handles various workloads — running social media apps, opening and reading PDFs, web-browsing across tens of open tabs in Chrome, editing photos etc — with grace and also runs games smoothly. I played BGMI on it and the gameplay was smooth, largely also thanks to its 120Hz screen. Having said that, this is not a phone for sustained gaming because it can heat up fairly noticeably. Not alarmingly but noticeably. Just to put some numbers on the performance of the phone, I ran a few benchmarks. Take a look at two of them: Antutu and Geekbench. The Indian variant of the Phone 3 uses a 5500mAh battery. The battery life is good but I wish it was slightly more. Once charged fully, the phone lasts around 15-17 hours when used with a 5G connection and Wi-Fi. Charging is fast but not super-fast like what some phones offer nowadays. It takes around 1 hour to charge fully when paired with a reasonably — read 65W — fast charger. Again, just to put some numbers on the battery life of the Phone 3, I ran PC Mark battery test on it. Here are the results: Capable camerasWhat good is a phone if it can't click decent photos! Indeed. Thankfully the Phone 3 can click photos that are more than decent, even if it doesn't match the output from some of its more camera-centric Nothing Phone 3 has three rear cameras, all using a 50-megapixel image sensor. On the front there is another 50-megapixel camera. Except the ultra-wide camera, which I found too soft at edges and rather lacklustre in low light, all other cameras perform capably. The main camera in particular is quite good, and more so when the light is good. It captures brilliant and deep colours, and it clicks photos that have been exposed well-enough to retain and highlight details. The zoom cameras too are quite good, particularly the 3X camera. Going up to 6X softens photos a little but they still remain quite particular, I like the way Phone 3 cameras handle colours. The main camera seems to have good dynamic range, and that shows in the colours it captures. To understand and see examples click on the image samples below and check out the photos in bigger phone 3 also has a very capable macro mode. Although, the way it has been implemented, it demands patience because it has a very narrow field of view, and that makes controlling the areas that are in focus a little tricky. But when it works, it works amazingly well. The Phone 3 records 4K videos, which are fairly standard and middling. I have seen better footage coming from cameras in this price range, and in some instances worse. This photo, which has been slightly edited to highlight details, shows that the Phone 3 can click fantastic macro photos. Overall, I feel the Phone 3 offers a set of capable cameras that will delight you with the photos they click in good low. In low light, you will find it lacking somewhat. Having said that I did feel that occasionally the camera can be slow relative to what I have seen in phones in this price range. This is something I mostly noticed while using macro mode, or while using the phone in low 3: Is it worth buying?I believe Nothing is onto something with the Phone 3. But just like Google Pixel is not a phone for everyone, I believe that the Phone 3 too is not a phone for everyone. It is primarily a phone with a personality and it is meant for those who want their device to have the kind of oomph and edginess that no other device terms of its capabilities and experience it offers, there are better phones than the Phone 3. Its asking price is on the higher side relative to what it offers. But then you don't buy Jordans because they help you run faster. And you don't get a Muji t-shirt because it has the bestest fabric. And you definitely don't buy a Nintendo because that is the best gaming experience on the planet. No, sometimes we get products because we vibe with them. We get them because they are a feeling.I believe Nothing as a brand wants to create products that invoke a feeling. The Phone 3 is an attempt in that direction. It is a good enough phone on its own, but when combined with the feeling that it can invoke it becomes unique. The problem, however, with this approach is that Nothing is not there yet. And the feeling is not yet strong enough for most people, not even among the Nothing fans. That puts the Phone 3 in a tough spot. I like this phone and I see what Nothing is trying to do. But I also feel that at a price of Rs 79,999, there are better phones for most people. The only exception to this would be buyers who are smitten by Nothing approach to aesthetics and brand experience.- Ends
The Verge
3 days ago
- The Verge
Nothing Phone 3 review: flagship-ish
Nothing says that the Phone 3 is its 'first true flagship phone,' and it has put its money where its mouth is. The phone is getting a full US launch, and at $799, it costs exactly the same as a Pixel 9, Galaxy S25, or iPhone 16. That makes reviewing the Phone 3 refreshingly simple, because there are only two real questions that matter: is this as good as those three? And will it be as good as what we're expecting from the new Pixel and iPhone models that are right around the corner? The answer is going to come down to how much you like its unique look. The bad news for Nothing is that the Phone 3's design is more divisive than any out there, even among Nothing's biggest fans. 6 Verge Score The Phone 3 is the first Nothing phone to ditch the Glyph interface, an abstract pattern of LED dots and strips that became Nothing's design trademark when the Phone 1 launched in 2022. In its place is something smaller and subtler: a circular dot matrix display dubbed the Glyph Matrix. The Glyph Matrix can display pictures and icons, so instead of trying to remember which light show you programmed for phone calls from your mom, you can set an emoji to represent her (you could even use a photo, but these are just as illegible as the old lights when rendered on the dot matrix). You can use Nothing's preselected designs or generate your own from an image, but if you want to use a specific emoji or app icon, then you'll need to get a hold of the image file yourself to convert it. This all needs to be enabled manually, contact by contact, app by app, so it's a fair bit of work to set up. The Glyph Matrix can also do sensible things like display the time or remaining battery, stranger things like run a solar clock or frame a selfie using the rear camera, and downright weird stuff like play rock, paper, scissors or spin the bottle. Practical or not, these are collectively dubbed Glyph Toys, and you can cycle through them using a hidden haptic button on the phone's rear. You can set the clocks or battery indicator to run perpetually as a form of always-on display, too, which is a boring use case but the best part of it for me. The end result is a system that's a little more practical than it used to be — though it doesn't do a whole lot to dispel accusations that it's a gimmick — but feels less unique, following in the wake of several years of Asus ROG phones that have similar second screens. It also leaves the rest of the phone's rear oddly bare. Lots has been written already about the phone's asymmetric camera placement, but it's the barren white space that bothers me more. Nothing's design language is all about details and doohickeys that draw the eye and hint at the hardware underneath. But here, there's a cramped cluster of cameras and other details at the phone's top, and at the bottom there's a whole lot of, well, nothing. I love the look of the company's other hardware, but the Phone 3 is its first design dud — too busy at the top and too empty everywhere else. Nothing's distinct design language runs through the software. Nothing OS 3.5, based on Android 15, is minimalist and monochrome, with plenty of customizability — right down to details like the layout of the quick settings menu. The grayscale looks great, though it's a little unhelpful when you're trying to find an app icon in a rush, but you can always switch to Android's standard colorful icons if you prefer. A new AI-powered global search bar helps, too, pulling up apps, contacts, settings, and more. The other big AI features are found in the returning Essential Space, triggered by a dedicated hardware key to save screenshots and voice notes, which the AI will analyze to give you reminders about events or tasks, with a new option to add events to Google Calendar. It can also summarize audio recordings, though you're limited to 300 minutes a month, with no option to buy more, and you only get a summary, not a full transcript. But there's more to being a flagship than just looking the part. Nothing angered some fans by boasting about the Phone 3's 'flagship' Snapdragon 8S Gen 4 chipset, which is also found in the $399 Poco F7. And sure, this is a chip for the lower end of the flagship space, less powerful than the Snapdragon 8 Elite you'll find in the Galaxy S25. But Google's Pixel line has delivered less pure power ever since the company switched to in-house Tensor chips, and the 8S Gen 4 is competitive with that. It hasn't lagged or stuttered over my couple weeks with the phone, photo processing is fast enough, and it handles gaming comfortably. Some specs are strong: 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage are great for the base model, delivering double the space of rivals. The 5,150mAh battery is larger than the alternatives and lasts the day comfortably, while 65W wired charging is the fastest of the lot. The bright 120Hz OLED display doesn't stand apart from the competition outside of being bigger at 6.67 inches. Nothing's earlier cameras were competent, but that doesn't cut it for a flagship. Nothing upgraded the Phone 3's hardware with a triple rear camera that uses 50-megapixel sensors across the board — including the selfie camera — outpacing all its rivals on resolution. It says it's made software tweaks, too, prioritizing richer shadows and natural highlights. The main camera works well in good light through dusk. Some shots have the flat sheen of excessive HDR effects, removing the contrast and detail, though Nothing's post-processing is more restrained than some. Results drop off once it gets dark, though, and the camera overexposes highlights and crushes blacks in the process. The telephoto is the best feature this camera has going for it, partly because the iPhone 16 and Pixel 9 don't have one. The color tuning differs from the main lens, being flatter and colder, but it takes photos with an attractive, natural bokeh effect, especially in macro mode. Overall, the cameras lag a little behind the competition, but this telephoto might be a tempting reason to consider it — though with the Pixel 10 rumored to jump to three cameras, that advantage might disappear. Back to the big question: should you buy this over other flagships? The Phone 3 comes with more storage, a bigger battery, and faster charging. It's likely to beat the upcoming Pixel and iPhone models on those fronts. But neither the chipset nor the cameras keep up, and there's a risk that those gaps grow over the next few months. Still, none of those other flagships look like this. Depending on your taste, that may be a point in their favor. I don't love the Phone 3's design. But it's distinctive, and the Glyph Matrix could be powerful if you take the time to customize it. If that appeals, then the Nothing Phone 3 is a unique flagship. Just make sure you're happy with putting form over function. Photos by Dominic Preston / The Verge
The Guardian
3 days ago
- The Guardian
Nothing Phone 3 review: a quirky, slick Android alternative
The Phone 3 is London-based Nothing's latest attempt to get people to ditch Samsung or Apple phones for something a bit different, a little quirky and more fun. The Guardian's journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more. As the firm's first high-end Android in several years, it has most of what you'd expect a flagship phone to have. But where it tries to set itself apart is with slick, dot-matrix-inspired software and a design on the back that includes a small, unique LED screen. Costing from £799 (€799/$799/A$1,509) the Phone 3 is double the price of the company's great mid-range efforts, making it a direct challenger to the Samsung Galaxy S25, Google's Pixel 9 and the iPhone 16. Nothing first introduced its semi-transparent design with earbuds and then followed up with the Phone 1 in 2022, which added 'glyph' LEDs on the back that flashed in fancy patterns for notifications. For the Phone 3 those glyph lights have morphed into a small round matrix of LEDs in the top right of its back displaying icons, animations and patterns. It is used for more than simple notifications and can now display various gimmicky 'toys' such as a magic eight ball, a stopwatch or, cringingly, a spin the bottle game that can be triggered by a touch-sensitive button the back. More useful is the ability to show the time, the volume, charge status or a persistent icon for a notification or app of your choice. The rest of the back of the device divides opinion with a quirky arrangement of shapes and elements. Those who crave symmetry will hate it. The front screen is, at least, a regular 6.7in OLED display with slim bezels and a smooth 120Hz refresh rate. It is crisp, colourful and bright, though a little subject to glare on very sunny days. Screen: 6.7in 120Hz QHD+ OLED (460ppi) Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 RAM: 12 or 16GB Storage: 256 or 512GB Operating system: Nothing OS 3.5 (Android 15) Camera: 50MP main, 50MP 3x tele and 50MP ultrawide, 50MP selfie Connectivity: 5G, eSIM, wifi 7, NFC, Bluetooth 6 and GNSS Water resistance: IP68 Dimensions: 160.6 x 75.6 x 9mm Weight: 218g The Phone 3 has Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 chip, which is a step down from the latest top Snapdragon 8 Elite processor used in most flagship Android competitors. Its slightly weaker performance isn't noticeable in day-to-day usage and it simply flies along. It can even handle games pretty well, though those seeking the absolute best performance should look elsewhere as the phone got uncomfortably hot with demanding graphics tests. The battery life is a solid, though not class-leading, 40 hours between charges with plenty of 5G usage. Most people will need to charge it every other day, or less if used more sparingly. That matches the two-year-old Phone 2 and is a little behind similar rivals. The battery fully charges in about 55 minutes using a 65W or greater USB-C power adaptor (not included), hitting 50% in just 19 minutes. The phone also has 15W wireless charging. The phone ships with Nothing's take on last year's Android 15, which is highly stylised with a dot-matrix look and is easily customisable. A more regular Android style is available for those who need colour to identify their apps. Otherwise the software is slick and clutter-free, with all the usual services from Google available, plus a few Nothing apps such as the weather or voice recorder. The Essential Space app, first launched with the Phone 3a Pro, now includes the ability to voice-record while face down with an animation on the glyph screen and transcription using a cloud service. Essential Search is an AI-powered search of content across your phone and data, plus the ability to answer simple queries. Nothing is promising an upgrade to Android 16 in the third quarter of 2025 and will provide five years of Android version updates and a total of seven years of security updates. That's a couple of years short of the best from Google and Samsung. Also note that media apps such as Netflix currently do not support HDR content playback on the Phone 3 due to certification restricting it to SDR video. The Nothing has three 50-megapixel cameras on the back and a 50MP selfie camera on the front. The main camera is the best of the bunch, shooting detailed and solid images, while the 3x optical zoom camera is almost as good, maintaining great detail and sharpness in bright scenes. The in-sensor zoom to 6x is OK, as is the digital zoom to 10x in good light, but the image degrades as you magnify further. The ultrawide camera is the weakest of the three, producing photos that look great in full view but lack detail when zoomed in and with obvious warping around the edges of the frame. Outdoors in bright light they capture great photos, but switching between the three cameras can result in different colour balances and tones, which isn't ideal. They can also be oddly grey when shooting indoors, with inconsistent tone, sometimes shooting great photos but at other times coming out dull with repeated shots. The selfie camera is pretty good and captures a lot of detail. The 3x telephoto camera has a macro mode for closeup shots from about 10cm away, which is always fun. Overall, the Phone 3's camera can be good but inconsistency keeps it from being as great as rivals at this price. The battery will maintain at least 80% of its original capacity for at least 1,400 full charge cycles. The phone is generally repairable in the UK. The device is made of recycled aluminium, copper, plastic, steel, tin and other materials accounting for 17.6% of the weight. It has a carbon footprint of 53.2kg CO2 equivalent. The company publishes sustainability reports. The Nothing Phone 3 costs from £799 (€799/$799/A$1,509) with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. For comparison, the Phone 3a Pro costs £394, the Google Pixel 9 Pro costs £999, the Samsung Galaxy S25+ costs £999, the Samsung S25 Edge costs £1,099 and the OnePlus 13 costs £899. The Phone 3 is a good but not great Android from Nothing. It is more interesting than rivals, but you have to actively want something different for it to make sense as you can easily get better-performing and longer-lasting handsets at about this price. Nothing's software is a strong point. It's slick, customisable and well optimised. Seven years of security updates is good, even if isn't launching on the latest Android version and you only get five years of upgrades. The glyph screen on the back is certainly novel, and the back's semi-transparent design is eye-catching, even if it divides opinion. It is well made if a little on the heavy side, while the phone's performance and battery life are solid if unremarkable. The inconsistent camera shows there's still work to be done from Nothing, while its Essential Space AI tools show some merit, even if they're a little basic at the moment. If you want a something a bit quirky-looking then the Nothing Phone 3 is it. Pros: great software, eye-catching back design with dot-matrix screen, solid performance, 3x telephoto camera, good screen, solid fingerprint scanner, fast charging, sub-£1,000, seven years of security updates. Cons: camera is inconsistent and can't match the best, battery life could be better, AI features still a work in progress, not the latest version of Android and only five years of upgrades, lack of symmetry not to everyone's taste.
Phone Arena
4 days ago
- Phone Arena
Nothing downgraded the Phone (3) display to make it look better at low brightness
Nothing has downgraded the PWM rate of the Phone (3), which the company says should benefit the display's performance. Initially, the Nothing Phone (3) had a 2,160Hz PWM rate, but a software update changed it to 960Hz. In a statement sent to Android Central, Nothing says the change is in effect only when the display operates at lower brightness. The Phone (3) display is still technically capable of supporting a 2,160Hz PWM rate, though the company hasn't confirmed at what brightness level the change kicks in. — Nothing spokesperson, 18 July, 2025 Nothing hasn't explained in detail why the change was necessary, but apparently it'll be part of the final retail is one of those things that, if you know about it, there's a good reason, but if you've never heard of it, you're not alone. The abbreviation stands for pulse-width modulation, which plays a key role in how OLED displays control brightness. What PWM does is to rapidly turn pixels on and off, tricking your eyes into thinking the display is dimmer. For the vast majority of people, PWM is an innocuous technology, but others aren't as lucky. Most often, the negative effects of the lower flicker rates are limited to eye strain. However, more PWM-sensitive people can experience more severe symptoms, like headaches, nausea, and to those negative effects, a high PWM rate is considered not only something special by some users, but also necessary. The issue can be so severe that there's a whole subreddit dedicated to PWM sensitivity. Nothing isn't the only smartphone brand that's paying attention to the PWM rate, though. Rumor has it that the Pixel 10 series might have a higher PWM rate. Other brands, like Honor, are stepping up in that regard with phones like the Magic 6 Pro, which supports a 4,320Hz PWM dimming rate when brightness drops below 30%. I think Nothing should be more transparent about the change, and maybe even give the option to prioritize the PWM rate instead of the image quality. Accessibility is very important, especially when we're talking about devices as essential as smartphones. For many people, a little worse image quality is a good trade-off for being able to use a smartphone without negative effects.
