Carl Pei LED -Electronic Manufacturer Oneplus From being a nasty brand for technology enthusiasts offering accessible phones to one that produces multiple lines of devices, including flagships that challenge Samsung and Apple. He manages a similar game book with NothingA five-year-old, undertaken supported hardware that has just launched its most ambitious device, the phone (3), earlier this month. The phone, with a price of $ 799, aims to compete with Samsung and Apple devices.
While OnePlus focused on providing value-currency specifications and experience in their early days, nothing focused on projecting and software as a differentiator to excel from other phones. The starting produces striking devices with a transparent design that calls the attention.
As my former Techcrunch colleague Brian Heater said, nothing Phone (1) was cooland The phone (2) was a robust medium -sized device while maintaining the novelty. The phone (3), keeping the transparent project atmosphere, Calls for Mixed Emotions toward its design.
The phone has many asymmetrical elements on the back, including the strange arranged camera module. If you look at the feedback on the internet, some people liked it because it is not like other phones, while some hated it. If you can bypass the asymmetric layout, you may like the device.
Nothing also took away the Glyph LED arrangement, which was outstanding in previous nothing -phones. This arrangement made devices highlight even more when they lit up to indicate an incoming call or message. Over the years, the company has made it more customizable, allowing you to assign different templates for different contacts. It even created an SDK for developers who didn’t take away.
With a phone (3) the LED arrangement is replaced with a glyph matrix, a round-shaped second screen in the upper right corner to show more information. It can display basic information like time and battery level when you press the button on the back.
The company also included Mini programs like Spin the Bottle, Cronometer, and Rock, Paper and Scissors. This is a more fun twin that you may be used to show your phone.
A second screen in a device is not a new concept, and it does not solve the problem having to turn the phone to read the message. You can assign emoji to contact, but it just tells you that you have received a message from that contact, but don’t tell you what it is. So you need to turn on your phone anyway. Is the matrix cool? Ia. Is it useful? Not much yet.
The company invites developers to build tools for it, which could improve things if there is adoption.
Hardware and camera
The company uses Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 processor, built on a 4-nanometer architecture, which is a step below the elite Snapdragon 8 used in the Galaxy S25, OnePlus 13 and Xiaomi 15 Ultra. However, in your daily use, it would not matter much.
The device also includes a 6.67-inch AMOLED screen with a 1.5K resolution that is protected by Gorilla glass 7i Instead of a stronger gorilla glass victus. The screen is bright and has spicy colors. While supporting HDR for YouTube, nothing said that Netflix did not bleach its devices to operate an HDR content.
The phone (3) has three 50 megapixel cameras for different purposes. The main camera has a 1/1.3-inch sensor, which is 20% larger than a phone (2), at AF/1.68 aperture; The Periscope Telephoto lens offers 3x optical zoom, 6x in-sensor, and 60x digital zoom with AI Super Res Zoom; And the ultra-wide lens provides a 114-degree field of view. There is also a 50-megapixel Selfie camera with f/2.2 opening.
Although nothing claims that this phone is its “true flagship”, highest devices like iPhones and Samsung Galaxy phones have reached particular camera quality with years of work. No phone (3) takes good photos, but color accuracy needs work to match other flag phones. Moreover, if the lighting was not ideal, the phone produced crushed shades and superbly bounces in dark or bright areas of images.
The phone has a 5150MAH battery for international versions, which is enough to last a day from moderate to heavy use. You can load the device with a 65W wired load and 15W wireless load.
Ai rights
Nothing debuted a customizable device key called the essential key with the Nothing Phone 3A and 3A Pro. This key delivery to the new flagship and opens the nothing space app that allows you to save screenshots with notes. But strangely, you can’t only keep notes.
The company also debuts an essential search, which doubles as an online and website search for AI.
You can search for files and events by typing keywords, or can you also ask a question like “Who won Wimbledon in 2024?” And then tap the AI button for surface network results with Google’s gemini models. This is similar to Apple that integrates Chatgpt with Siri to look for the network for some questions.
Image Credits: Techcrunch Screenshot
The phone also receives a meeting -transcriptioner that records your meeting and also summarizes key points. You can trigger this by holding the essential key and patching the phone. You can double press the essential key to record a voice fragment with a transcription. However, users do not have a way of accessing these recordings and transcripts out of the NO NOF -phone, unless they explicitly export them.
In chat with Techcrunch, CEO Pei said that a smartphone is the best way to distribute AI and the company wants to make AI functions useful for users.
“We need to be really focused on building things [AI features] that is useful [for end users] And not just call our phones “nothing AI -phones” with some having some image -generation and call it a day, “he said.”[We are thinking about] As we can really exploit this new technology to help people. The idea is not to compete with people or take their jobs. How do we help people get better and also more creative? ”
While this ambition is good, nothing that also includes AI-powered carpet generation, is in step with other operators.
Nothing is positioned
Nothing provides the phone through its website and Amazon in the United States. In Canada, it partners with Best Buy.
At $ 799, the device directly competes with the Samsung Galaxy S25, Google Pixel 9, and the iPhone 16. Because it is not offered by wireless carrying packages, the phone is still targeting people to buy unlocked phones and look for alternatives to Samsung, Apple and Google.
In India, the company’s largest market, it is a different story, as the phone starts at ₹ 79.999. Although the company offers discounts and exchanges, the prices are equal to or over the iPhone 16 and the Galaxy 25, depending on the seller. Initial feedback on social media suggested that customers find the price high that could impact the company’s sales.
Nothing has taken it itself to challenge Samsung and Apple from the world, but nowadays, instead of direct competition, the phone is a good, cheaper alternative to those devices.
