Nothing Phone 3 First Impressions

The Phone 3 is the first flagship smartphone from Nothing, a brand that's now almost five years old. The company revolutionised the entire design philosophy, starting with the TWS category with the Nothing Ear 1 and soon bringing the same DNA to smartphones. The good news is that the Phone 3 closely follows a similar philosophy, boasting decent firepower under the hood and getting some nice tricks up its sleeve. At a starting price of Rs. 79,999, the Nothing Phone 3 challenges brands like Samsung and Apple. But should you consider Nothing's all-new flagship smartphone? Here are my thoughts.

Glyph Interface

Before jumping to the overall design, I have to talk about the Phone 3's all-new Glyph Interface that enhances the overall look and the feel-good factor. To put some context, we are living through times when the phone's rear design is unfortunately boring, and there's hardly anything exciting enough, which leads us to put a case on it. Some people put it on for protection, but when there's nothing to see there except a logo or branding and the camera module, then you might use it with a case. Enters Nothing with its unique transparent design philosophy, which not only makes devices look exciting but also brings the focus back to design. The Phone 3's all-new Glyph Interface is a bold move in that direction.

The Glyph Matrix on the back panel is making its debut on the Phone 3

The Glyph Matrix is the most notable feature of the Phone 3's rear. The 489 individually firing LEDs make the monochrome display actually useful. You can get caller ID, app notifications, battery status, and more key info at a glance. All of this while carrying forward Nothing's signature dot-matrix style. There's also a Glyph Button that makes it super easy to switch between different Glyph elements. The company has also added some elements it calls "toys," including the Glyph Mirror, Spin the Bottle, Stopwatch, Solar Clock, Magic 8 Ball, and more. I will be testing all of these features during my review, so stay tuned.

The Phone 3 sports a triple rear setup

Initial Thoughts

Nothing has gone all out this time around with its camera placement, and that's one of the reasons it stands out from the rest. However, it's a bit of mixed feelings initially. Camera alignment on the Phone 3 is something you may not have seen yet, and additionally, the dot LED matrix on the top right corner. The transparent design looks as striking as it has been so far. The sides are curved, and the phone offers a great one-handed usage feel. The smartphone is rated IP68 for dust and water resistance. For additional protection, Nothing has also added Corning Gorilla Glass 7i at the front and Gorilla Glass Victus at the back. From a distance, you can tell this is a Nothing product.

It packs a 50-megapixel selfie shooter

The 6.67-inch AMOLED display offers a 460PPI pixel density and a peak brightness of 4500nits. It also gets a 120Hz refresh rate and supports 2160Hz PWM dimming. Under the hood, it features the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8S Gen 4 and will be available in two configurations: 12GB + 256GB and 16GB + 512GB. I will share my thoughts on the display and performance in my review, which will be released next week.

The Phone 3 comes with 5 years of major OS updates and 7 years of security patches

Out of the box, the smartphone runs Android 15 with Nothing OS running on top. At the launch, the company announced that the Phone 3 will receive Nothing OS 4.0, based on Android 16, soon. On the camera front, the Phone 3 gets all flagship-grade and gets tons of upgrades compared to the Nothing Phone 2. It features four 50-megapixel camera units, with three located at the back and one at the front. During the launch, I couldn't spend too much time using the camera, so I will discuss the camera quality in detail in my review. Essential Space is also available on the Phone 3 and now comes with Essential Search, a new way to interact with the phone. The company has promised that the Essential Space will get more personalised features later this year.

The battery department also gets a big boost compared to the Nothing Phone 2. It packs a 5500mAh battery with 65W fast charging and 15W wireless charging support. Notably, Nothing is shipping a 5150mAh battery in other markets.

The Phone 3 sports a 92.89% screen-to-body ratio and supports HDR10+ and 4500nits of peak brightness

Overall, the Nothing Phone 3 packs all the bells and whistles of a flagship smartphone and with a starting price tag of Rs. 79,999, it does feel like one, too. There's no doubt that the Phone 3 feels like the most complete smartphone from Nothing so far, but is it that good to beat all the competition in the same price bracket? Well, that's one thing I can only answer after I get to spend some time with the Phone 3.

Stay tuned for our in-depth review of the Phone 3.

Disclosure: Nothing sponsored the correspondent's flights and hotel for the event in London.