A tiny, playful dot-matrix display screen within the firm’s most costly telephone but

With the third technology of its smartphone collection, Nothing made the bizarre transfer to launch the cheaper ‘a’ line first, unveiling . Now, it’s time for its newest flagship. The Nothing Telephone 3, beginning at $799 (with a $899 possibility with 16GB of RAM) goes up towards giants just like the Google and — a aggressive slice of the smartphone world. As soon as once more, although, there’s nothing available in the market that fairly resembles a Nothing, as the corporate makes an attempt to steadiness distinctive design with flagship (and a few not-quite-flagship) elements.

The massive change this time round is that Nothing is swapping the flashing lights of its Glyph Interface for a tiny dot-matrix show on the rear of the gadget and is asking it the Glyph Matrix.

It’s the shiny design lynchpin of Nothing’s Telephone 3. The matrix is manufactured from 489 LEDs, and provides extra utility than a lightweight present. Nothing says it is an evolution of the flashing lights of the Glyph Interface into one thing extra sensible. With that purpose, there’s a Glyph button that sits underneath the glass again. One other good thing about this shift, Adam Bates, is that eradicating the Glyph lights freed up more room throughout the telephone.

As an alternative of getting the lights on the again flash in patterns to point when sure contacts are calling, the Telephone 3’s new tiny display screen can show monochromatic photos as a substitute. At first, these might be preset shapes, however finally, you’ll be capable of customise your individual animation (or static dot-matrix picture — it’s unclear) for every of your contacts. Forward of launch, Nothing shared a that lets individuals take images and switch them into Glyph patterns, however it’s like a really, very small Gameboy digicam (however worse). The one I took kinda appears to be like like my head? I suppose? A minimum of there’s a distinction, and offers a glimpse of what customers may be capable of present on the matrix display screen

Alongside Glyph-style notifications, the matrix will be capable of show easy widgets, reminiscent of climate and battery ranges. It may be a stopwatch, and even a low-res mirror (extra on that later). It will also be used as a visible countdown when utilizing a timer with the digicam, too. And there’ll even be video games, like rock-paper-scissors and er, spin the bottle. Fortunately, Nothing didn’t make the assembled media take a look at this at its massive world launch. You’ll be capable of make your individual Glyphs via an SDK being launched by Nothing. It’ll be fascinating to see how tough it’s to program your individual glyphs. You recognize what I would like, already? A .

My first impression is that it’s a bit extra restrained than the sunshine present of the Glyph Interface on earlier telephones. Moreover, a dot-matrix design actually aligns with the period of design inspirations that Nothing is drawing from. You’ll be able to flippantly work together with the matrix via the Glyph button, which is intriguingly constructed underneath the rear cowl of the Nothing Telephone 3. It’s a single button, so studying the quirks of a long-press and a short-press, particularly when there’s no tactile response, takes a little bit of time.

Flanked by different keen photographers, YouTubers and media, I took a bit an excessive amount of time making the Glyph mirror work. Weirdly, you’ll be able to’t use it as a selfie information with the first cameras, or a minimum of I didn’t determine how one can throughout my hands-on.

Elsewhere, the design is impressed by the strains and shapes of the New York Metropolis subway map, whereas the see-through again of the Telephone 3 has a three-column design that divides the part curves, digicam modules and glyph matrix.

The Telephone 3 is Nothing’s thinnest telephone but and is eighteen % thinner than the Telephone 2. The brand new Nothing flagship additionally lacks the chonky digicam unit that’s on the Telephone 3a Professional. It is because, this time, Nothing has the finances to take action: the Telephone 3 prices $350 extra, so it may possibly use smaller (even custom-made) elements to shrink the footprint.

As an alternative, the three-camera structure jogs my memory lots of the most recent Galaxy S24 Extremely, with solely barely protruding digicam lenses. It’s not flush, however maybe I’m asking for an excessive amount of — the one modern smartphone with a completely flat digicam unit is the Pixel 9a.

Regardless of its slimmer profile, the gadget nonetheless contains a periscope zoom on a 50-megapixel sensor. It goes as much as 3x optical zoom, 6x digital zoom and a 60x AI Tremendous Res Zoom. (Sure, all of us blame Google and Samsung for this nonsense.) This may even function a macro digicam, permitting for clearer close-up photographs.

The primary digicam can be 50MP, with an f/1.68 aperture (Nothing says it’s 70 % sooner at seize than the Telephone 2) and even features a lossless 1.5x zoom. There’s additionally an ultrawide digicam with a 114-degree subject of view and, you may need guessed, a 50MP sensor. Even the front-facing digicam is 50MP. Anticipate the same old Android array of capturing options throughout the digicam system, together with Auto Tone, Portrait Optimizer, Evening Mode Macro Mode and Motion Mode. There are additionally a number of capturing presets to browse in your favourite capturing aesthetic, which I loved enjoying with on a demo unit.

I’m hopeful that the Telephone 3 might be a succesful sufficient smartphone digicam. Taking some early photographs, throughout a busy hands-on session on the launch occasion, the digicam app appeared sooner than previous Nothing units and low-light processing appeared fairly near the likes of Google’s Pixel.

Imaging has usually been the weakest a part of Nothing’s telephone technique, however every iteration it will get higher. It’s one thing I’m wanting ahead to placing to the take a look at. Nothing has added an LED mild that flashes crimson to point video recording. This will nonetheless be disabled in settings, however it’s a pleasant contact that faucets into the crimson splashes you’ll see all through Nothing’s {hardware} and software program.

The Telephone 3 additionally packs the corporate’s brightest show but, reaching as much as 1600 nits at its most brightness settings, peaking at 4,500 nits with appropriate HDR content material, The 6.67-inch display screen has the next 1.5K decision than the Telephone 2. There’s additionally IP68-rated safety towards mud and water.

Rounding out the spec sheet, the telephone has a Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 processor, marking the largest compromise this yr. Nothing advised me that the Telephone 3 wasn’t chasing specs like telephones that price a number of hundred {dollars} extra. Nevertheless, the Galaxy S25 has the extra highly effective Snapdragon 8 Elite, and it’s additionally $800.

The excellent news is that the Telephone 3 shouldn’t be perceptibly sluggish or laggy — the corporate says it’s 5 instances sooner than the Telephone 3a. Nothing added there ought to be a 60 % enchancment on AI efficiency in comparison with the Telephone 2. I’m intrigued to see how battery life fares, however not too fearful. The OnePlus 13 Professional had the identical processor and carried out very properly in our battery rundown take a look at.

The 5,150mAh silicon-carbon battery could be charged to 50 % in 20 minutes with a appropriate 65W charger, and as much as 100% in underneath an hour. It’s one of many first telephones to reach within the West with a silicon-carbon cell, including additional intrigue to how properly the battery life will carry out. There’s additionally 15W wi-fi charging, which Nothing appears to be conserving unique to its most premium telephones.

The Telephone 3 runs Android 15 out of the field, however with Nothing’s spin on issues, that includes {custom} icons and native apps. That features Important House, which works with a {hardware} button launcher first launched on the 3a. Whereas there have been rumors that Nothing may fold the function right into a subscription, it’ll be free for the foreseeable future. Nevertheless, Sensible Collections, which was meant to collate screenshots and different recordsdata remains to be being labored on and gained’t be obtainable at launch.

The main focus, software-wise, will be the new Glyph Matrix, however you’ll be able to count on a number of the typical AI-assisted options like pure language search that Nothing calls Important search. Will probably be in a position to faucet into every thing on the Nothing Telephone 3. Nothing’s cheaper 3a units leaned into software program too, however with the Telephone 3 there’s extra significance on the specs. The query is: Is that this flagship sufficient?

The Telephone 3 is priced at $799 with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. An $899 mannequin may even launch with 16GB of RAM and 512GB storage. Each black and white variations might be obtainable to pre-order on July 4, with gross sales beginning July 15 by itself retailer at . The corporate plans to launch its personal drops in choose bodily areas on July 10.

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