Nothing Phone 3 doesn’t win on value, but it won me over anyway

The Nothing Phone 3 is quirky and weird. It has riled up the Nothing lovers and haters alike. Social media forums indicate that a lot of people don’t like that camera layout, price, or have polarizing views on the Glyph Matrix. I might be on the less popular end for both. I liked the Nothing Phone 3’s odd design choices when I first saw it in person at the London launch event. I was taken aback by the price, sure. But I wanted to give it a try nonetheless.

I’ve now used the Nothing Phone 3 for a few days, and I like how it feels in my hand. I don’t mind the weird camera setup and quite love the rest of the design. I haven’t noticed its processor, for better or worse, and every time I flip it around, I pause for a second to look at that strange back layout. The Glyph Interface has been more fun than before, and the blinking red dot is a nice addition. It’s all part of the quirky design.

But you don’t buy a phone for its quirks. Most people look for the best value proposition in their new phone, and the Nothing Phone 3 isn’t for most people. It doesn’t have the “flagship” chipset, and I wouldn’t rate its cameras the best in the segment. But the Nothing Phone 3 has grown on me. At $799, it isn’t a good value proposition, but it won me over anyway.

I love Nothing OS for its widgets and clean but customizable design. It isn’t the barebones Pixel-level clean or filled with customizations like Xiaomi’s HyperOS. Nothing OS is a mix of both of their best parts. And it is now more important than ever with the Phone 3’s polarizing design. I love the ability to add Quick Settings as one-tap widgets. For example, I have a QR code scanner for payments and a Wi-Fi toggle, which turns a three-step task into a single tap.

I’ve grown used to the Nothing Phone 3 because there’s not much to complain about in the software or the in-hand feel. I don’t play mobile games, so I’m not concerned about the processor. And more so because I haven’t had any stutters or lags in day-to-day usage that might trigger me to look for a more capable phone. Add to it, the Essential Key (with Essential Space) is a nice way to quickly save story ideas when I’m reading something on Chrome. (The Essential Search’s speed needs improvement, though.)

The 6.67-inch AMOLED screen is big and immersive and comfortably legible in most environments, but you can get a brighter display at the same price, depending on where you live. In my usage, the Nothing Phone 3 has lasted me a full day with ease. Notably, I have the 5,500mAh battery variant, as opposed to the 5,150mAh cell you’d find on US or UK units. I got up to eight and a half hours of SoT with social media hopping, intensive Reel-watching, WhatsApp messaging, using Slack for work, and snapping a few photos.

The problem is that the Nothing Phone 3a Pro offers a similar experience at a more affordable price. Essential Space, all-day battery, big screen, no-lag performance – it’s all up for grabs under $500.

For $799, you get the fun of the Glyph Matrix, the best cameras Nothing has put on a phone, and longer software support.

The Nothing Phone 3 features some strange design choices that play around the edges of uniformity. The periscope telephoto camera sits close to the edge, away from the rest of the layout; the Glyph Matrix screen looks oddly placed when it’s not in use. And yet, there is a sense of uniformity in the rest of the phone’s design. The Nothing Phone 3 has a certain whimsical vibe to it that I love.

I’ve said in the past how Glyph Lights were in-your-face and caught me off guard in certain instances in public. The Glyph Matrix, on the other hand, has been more functional and fun for me. It’s like the notification light from Android phones of the past, only charged up to put the “fun” in “function.” I love the customizability it offers with the combination of 489 LEDs and a physical button to control it.

For instance, I’ve set it up to notify me of calls from three contacts (with three separate icons) I never want to miss a call from. So, when I’m in the middle of typing a story, I can glance over at the small screen and decide whether to attend the call or not. Is it possible to do so with the phone placed on a table and the screen facing you? Absolutely. Always-on display can do that. But I tend to keep my phone upside down because I don’t want to be bothered by every notification. With the Glyph Matrix, I can choose what gets my attention more selectively and add a personalized touch to it.

Apart from the notifications, the Glyph Matrix can show a digital clock, help you take a selfie by mirroring your face in black-and-white pixels, offer a stopwatch, battery indicator, camera countdown timer, and indicate volume levels. There are also fun games like Spin the Bottle, Magic 8 Ball, and Rock-Paper-Scissors, which are party tricks for the most part.

I’m looking forward to what third-party developers and the community build for Glyph Matrix. It’s at a nascent stage right now, like the Dynamic Island was when it first launched with the iPhone 14 Pro series. I’d love for food delivery apps to show me the ETA of my order.

As for the optics, I wasn’t expecting much from the Phone 3’s cameras because my review unit had very bad shutter lag. Nothing fixed it with an update, and the 50MP triple camera array now delivers impressive results. It isn’t the best in the segment and struggles in low light, but at the same time, it shoots photos with nice colors, plenty of detail, and good exposure. I traveled with it to London, and the 3x optical zoom came in handy. The ultrawide and selfie cameras, alongside Nothing’s camera filters round up the experience pretty well.

I didn’t expect the Nothing Phone 3 to grow on me. I still consider it expensive at $799, but I’ve enjoyed using it and see potential in the Glyph Matrix. It isn’t a value-for-money contender but the new Nothing phone delivers top-notch software, fun design quirks, five years of OS upgrades alongside seven years of security updates, all-day battery life, and a satisfactory camera performance. You can get a more capable flagship phone with longer software support but it won’t be this fun to use.

The Nothing Phone 3 is now available in the US without the need for a beta program and should work with all the major carriers.