Hands-on: Nothing Phone (3) is the start of a new chapter, but it's not a 'true flagship'

The Nothing Phone (3) is, undoubtedly, the best phone the company has put out to date, but despite the messaging that this is a “true flagship,” it’s not. That said, I think I like this new chapter for the Nothing Phone.

With few exceptions, I’ve been a pretty big fan of Nothing’s smartphones to date. But I’ve also been itching to use a Nothing Phone that has the same horsepower as a higher-end device. That’s why the Nothing Phone (3) has been a highly-anticipated release for me this year and, now, I’ve finally had the chance to check it out in person.

To get started, let’s talk about that wild new design.

The Nothing Phone (3)’s look is unusual, to say the least. The triple camera array just looks scattered at random, and the lack of Glyph lights on the back takes away just a little bit of Nothing’s established aesthetic. That said, the design is growing on me, and looks way better in person than it does in renders. The white color is the one to get, definitely, but the black looks rather nice in the right lighting.

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The hardware itself is thicker and heavier than I expected, especially from a device marketed with a 5,150 mAh battery. It’s a hair lighter than the Pixel 9 Pro XL, but it feels way heavier to me for whatever reason. That heft is not a bad thing, at least to me, but I’m sure there will be mixed feelings from some.

While the design is going to dominate the conversation around Phone (3), I think there’s a lot more to be interested in here.

Nothing is showing growth in this device in a lot of ways. The company is learning from past mistakes, with the biggest example being Glyph Matrix. The previous Glyph lights were cool, but they felt like the gimmick because they just weren’t useful enough. Nothing says that 8 out of 10 of its users left the feature turned on, but that’s not a particularly compelling figure given that Glyph is turned on by default. But with the new Glyph Matrix, you get a lot more utility by the very nature of it being a display. The dots aren’t dense enough to show detailed images, but you can communicate things like the time and battery status pretty easily, and that just feels like the beginning. Glyph “Toys” feel ripe for improvement over time, and I think we’re going to see a lot more from that compared to what the Glyph Interface ever saw.

Nothing’s software also continues to improve. “Flip to Record” in Essential Space seems actually useful, while the new Smart Search feature is already perhaps my favorite feature on the device, but more on that later this week.

I think Nothing has something special here, but it comes with a huge asterisk.

Nothing is marketing Phone (3) as a “true flagship,” and I think that’s a big mistake.

This device is not a “true flagship.” Put simply, it has a lesser chipset, a lesser display, a smaller battery, and a shorter software lifespan compared to nearly every actual flagship it wants to sell against. That’s fine, especially given the $799 starting price, but Nothing needs to just own up to that.

OnePlus used to call this category a “flagship killer.” Google just calls it a “Pixel.” Not everything needs to measure up to the all-out flagships of the world, but it creates unrealistic expectations to call this a “true flagship” when, really, it’s not. The fundamentals are there and they’re really good, so just focus on that instead of titles that, ultimately, no one really cares about.

That said, I’m very excited to start using Nothing Phone (3), and I have a good feeling about it.

Nothing Phone (3) pre-orders will open later this week on July 4, while the device will start shipping on July 15, including in the US. Stay tuned for our full review, coming soon.

What do you think?

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