nothing
Does anyone remember the phone? “
There’s no new smartphone company from OnePlus founder Carl Pei, and its first phone, the Nothing Phone 1, launched about half a year ago in Europe, India and China for €469 (about $500). Nothing will now make you buy this phone in the US for $300. The company calls it “beta testing,” but it doesn’t look like you’re testing anything beyond market interest. The “beta test” tag means that buying the phone comes with caveats that make it a bad deal.
First, a quick recap: The Nothing Phone 1 is a $300 mid-range phone with a Snapdragon 778G+, a 6.55-inch, 2400 x 1080 120Hz OLED display, a 4,500mAh battery, and a bunch of other stuff. Under it hard “meh”. The device doesn’t have a clear sales pitch on why it’s such a great smartphone, with just a few light stripes on the back panel to set it apart from the crowd. The company hopes that the crazy schedule will surprise you.
So about the beta test – for $300, you’re not buying an American phone with certain specs. Alternatively, nothing will send you a production model in Europe / India / China, hoping that everything will work out. You will lose major frequency bands on each carrier, so depending on your location, you may experience signal issues. The phone’s FAQ states that 5G is not supported by AT&T or Verizon and is only partially supported by T-Mobile with the band. You’re also losing LTE bands on all carriers. Voice over LTE and Wi-Fi won’t work on AT&T, CDMA won’t work on Verizon, and you’ll need to contact Verizon and beg the company to add your phone to their IMEI database so it can be activated.
There is no guarantee. The FAQ states there is a 14-day return policy, so “no after-sales service after that time”. The phone ships in five to seven business days to all 50 states. You will also get NFT NFT on your phone.
The only piece of testing you can do on the phone is the Android 13 beta that comes with it, though you can easily try it out in official Nothing Phone sales areas. Of course, beta OS comes with the risk of your phone not working properly. Android beta won’t override the Google Game Integrity API version (this one cool used to be called “SafetyNet Attestation”), so high security apps are likely to throw error messages and lock up. These are usually banking, click and pay apps, some games, and media apps coveted by DRM like Netflix and YouTube.
Even at a discount, paying to “test” a half-broken product is a very hard sell. If you’re just looking for a decent phone for a low price, the Pixel 6a is usually priced at $449 and often retails for $300 or $350. (A $350 deal that runs right away.) Not only is it a lot faster than Nothing Phone, but it also comes with some nice features like FCC certification, the ability to connect to a cellular network, a production OS that can run apps, and a product warranty just in case. a malfunction occurs. There’s even an LED flash if you’re really into the back panel lights.
Nothing says “No trial membership program will launch until June 30th,” which likely means the phone won’t go on sale until then. It’s also when Nothing Phone 1 is about a year old. The company says the US is “poised to be an important market for us,” so perhaps the next model will be sold here. It would be nice if we had a new smartphone competition in the US, but not like this.