With the third technology of its smartphone collection, Nothing made the weird transfer to launch the cheaper ‘a’ line first, unveiling . Now, it’s time for its newest flagship. The Nothing Telephone 3, beginning at $799 (with a $899 possibility with 16GB of RAM) goes up in opposition to giants just like the Google and — a aggressive slice of the smartphone world. As soon as once more, although, there’s nothing out there that fairly resembles a Nothing, as the corporate makes an attempt to steadiness distinctive design with flagship (and a few not-quite-flagship) parts.
The large change this time round is that Nothing is swapping the flashing lights of its Glyph Interface for a tiny dot-matrix show on the rear of the system and is asking it the Glyph Matrix.
It’s the shiny design lynchpin of Nothing’s Telephone 3. The matrix is fabricated from 489 LEDs, and presents extra utility than a light-weight present. Nothing says it is an evolution of the flashing lights of the Glyph Interface into one thing extra sensible. With that goal, there’s a Glyph button that sits underneath the glass again. One other good thing about this shift, Adam Bates, is that eradicating the Glyph lights freed up more room inside the telephone.
As an alternative of getting the lights on the again flash in patterns to point when sure contacts are calling, the Telephone 3’s new tiny display screen can show monochromatic pictures as an alternative. At first, these shall be preset shapes, however finally, you’ll have the ability to customise your individual animation (or static dot-matrix picture — it’s unclear) for every of your contacts. Forward of launch, Nothing shared a that lets folks take pictures and switch them into Glyph patterns, but it surely’s like a really, very small Gameboy digital camera (however worse). The one I took kinda appears to be like like my head? I suppose? No less than there’s a distinction, and offers a glimpse of what customers may have the ability to present on the matrix display screen
Alongside Glyph-style notifications, the matrix will have the ability to show easy widgets, comparable to climate and battery ranges. It may be a stopwatch, and even a low-res mirror (extra on that later). It will also be used as a visible countdown when utilizing a timer with the digital camera, too. And there’ll even be video games, like rock-paper-scissors and er, spin the bottle. Fortunately, Nothing didn’t make the assembled media check this at its huge international launch. You’ll have the ability to make your individual Glyphs via an SDK being launched by Nothing. It’ll be attention-grabbing to see how troublesome it’s to program your individual glyphs. You recognize what I would like, already? A .
My first impression is that it’s slightly extra restrained than the sunshine present of the Glyph Interface on earlier telephones. Moreover, a dot-matrix design actually aligns with the period of design inspirations that Nothing is drawing from. You’ll be able to frivolously work together with the matrix via the Glyph button, which is intriguingly constructed underneath the rear cowl of the Nothing Telephone 3. It’s a single button, so studying the quirks of a long-press and a short-press, particularly when there’s no tactile response, takes a little bit of time.
Flanked by different keen photographers, YouTubers and media, I took slightly an excessive amount of time making the Glyph mirror work. Weirdly, you’ll be able to’t use it as a selfie information with the first cameras, or not less than I didn’t determine the best way to throughout my hands-on.
Elsewhere, the design is impressed by the strains and shapes of the New York Metropolis subway map, whereas the see-through again of the Telephone 3 has a three-column design that divides the element curves, digital camera modules and glyph matrix.
The Telephone 3 is Nothing’s thinnest telephone but and is eighteen p.c thinner than the Telephone 2. The brand new Nothing flagship additionally lacks the chonky digital camera unit that’s on the Telephone 3a Professional. It is because, this time, Nothing has the price range to take action: the Telephone 3 prices $350 extra, so it will probably use smaller (even custom-made) parts to shrink the footprint.
As an alternative, the three-camera format jogs my memory a whole lot of the most recent Galaxy S24 Extremely, with solely barely protruding digital camera lenses. It’s not flush, however maybe I’m asking for an excessive amount of — the one modern smartphone with a wholly flat digital camera unit is the Pixel 9a.
Regardless of its slimmer profile, the system nonetheless contains a periscope zoom on a 50-megapixel sensor. It goes as much as 3x optical zoom, 6x digital zoom and a 60x AI Tremendous Res Zoom. (Sure, all of us blame Google and Samsung for this nonsense.) This can even function a macro digital camera, permitting for clearer close-up pictures.
The principle digital camera can also be 50MP, with an f/1.68 aperture (Nothing says it’s 70 p.c quicker at seize than the Telephone 2) and even features a lossless 1.5x zoom. There’s additionally an ultrawide digital camera with a 114-degree discipline of view and, you may need guessed, a 50MP sensor. Even the front-facing digital camera is 50MP. Anticipate the standard Android array of taking pictures options throughout the digital camera system, together with Auto Tone, Portrait Optimizer, Night time Mode Macro Mode and Motion Mode. There are additionally a number of taking pictures presets to browse on your favourite taking pictures aesthetic, which I loved enjoying with on a demo unit.
I’m hopeful that the Telephone 3 shall be a succesful sufficient smartphone digital camera. Taking some early pictures, throughout a busy hands-on session on the launch occasion, the digital camera app appeared quicker than previous Nothing gadgets and low-light processing appeared fairly near the likes of Google’s Pixel.
Imaging has usually been the weakest a part of Nothing’s telephone technique, however every iteration it will get higher. It’s one thing I’m trying ahead to placing to the check. Nothing has added an LED gentle that flashes crimson to point video recording. This could nonetheless be disabled in settings, but it surely’s a pleasant contact that faucets into the crimson splashes you’ll see all through Nothing’s {hardware} and software program.
The Telephone 3 additionally packs the corporate’s brightest show but, reaching as much as 1600 nits at its most brightness settings, peaking at 4,500 nits with suitable HDR content material, The 6.67-inch display screen has the next 1.5K decision than the Telephone 2. There’s additionally IP68-rated safety in opposition to mud and water.
Rounding out the spec sheet, the telephone has a Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 processor, marking the most important compromise this yr. Nothing instructed me that the Telephone 3 wasn’t chasing specs like telephones that price a number of hundred {dollars} extra. Nonetheless, the Galaxy S25 has the extra highly effective Snapdragon 8 Elite, and it’s additionally $800.
The excellent news is that the Telephone 3 shouldn’t be perceptibly sluggish or laggy — the corporate says it’s 5 occasions quicker than the Telephone 3a. Nothing added there must be a 60 p.c enchancment on AI efficiency in comparison with the Telephone 2. I’m intrigued to see how battery life fares, however not too anxious. The OnePlus 13 Professional had the identical processor and carried out very nicely in our battery rundown check.
The 5,150mAh silicon-carbon battery will be charged to 50 p.c in 20 minutes with a suitable 65W charger, and as much as one hundred pc in underneath an hour. It’s one of many first telephones to reach within the West with a silicon-carbon cell, including additional intrigue to how nicely the battery life will carry out. There’s additionally 15W wi-fi charging, which Nothing appears to be retaining unique to its most premium telephones.
The Telephone 3 runs Android 15 out of the field, however with Nothing’s spin on issues, that includes {custom} icons and native apps. That features Important Area, which works with a {hardware} button launcher first launched on the 3a. Whereas there have been rumors that Nothing may fold the function right into a subscription, it’ll be free for the foreseeable future. Nonetheless, Sensible Collections, which was meant to collate screenshots and different information continues to be being labored on and received’t be obtainable at launch.
The main target, software-wise, could be the new Glyph Matrix, however you’ll be able to anticipate a few of the typical AI-assisted options like pure language search that Nothing calls Important search. Will probably be in a position to faucet into all the pieces on the Nothing Telephone 3. Nothing’s cheaper 3a gadgets leaned into software program too, however with the Telephone 3 there’s extra significance on the specs. The query is: Is that this flagship sufficient?
The Telephone 3 is priced at $799 with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. An $899 mannequin can even launch with 16GB of RAM and 512GB storage. Each black and white variations shall be obtainable to pre-order on July 4, with gross sales beginning July 15 by itself retailer at . The corporate plans to launch its personal drops in choose bodily areas on July 10.
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