Price: £399 from fave.co/3QACqYw
It's hard to imagine that any company releasing its first smartphone could generate the hype that Nothing has for the Phone (1), but hype can be a doubleedged sword.
The trickle of teasers certainly built excitement and anticipation, and the 100,000+ people who signed up to the waiting list to buy the phone prove it converted into sales, but has it put impossible pressure on a device that is, ultimately, just a phone?
Perhaps, but it helps that Nothing has nailed the phone part. The Phone (1) may not be life-changing, or the radical break from industry norms that founder Carl Pei would like you to think it is, but this is a well-specified, affordable phone that offers excellent value for money.
But from a company that promised to up-end the smartphone as we know it, is being 'very good' enough?
DESIGN
Let's start with what is special about the Nothing Phone (1). While this might look like a traditional enough phone from the front - aside from a meticulously symmetrical bezel - once you flip it around you see something a little different.
For one, there's the semi-transparent design. Whether you opt for a white or black version, the phone is coated in glass (so is, regrettably, a magnet for smudges and fingerprints) but underneath that has a multi-layered and textured design intended to hint at the components underneath.
Despite the promise of transparency you can't see any chips or circuitry here, but instead there's a central circle marking the phone's wireless charging coil, a winding strip for a connector, and visible screws that hint at the phone's construction. Once you get over the transparency, the phone hits you all over again with the Glyph Interface. That's the
