Probably the most enjoyable a funds telephone could be

Till 2024, CMF, Nothing’s budget tech brand, has principally been a curiosity, producing plastic-y, distinctive earbuds and different equipment primarily focused on the areas Nothing’s present mid-range telephones and wireless earbuds do not attain. The CMF Phone 1 adjustments that.

Nothing’s new funds telephone brings customization and an attention-grabbing design to the funds smartphone area, in some ways reinventing what it means to be a “characteristic telephone.” The Cellphone 1 is not any Fairphone 5 by way of repairability, but it surely does have essentially the most persona of any telephone I’ve held, and on high of that, it is a strong Android gadget in its personal proper. Whether or not or not you are taken with its gimmick, the CMF Cellphone 1 exhibits the standard of Nothing’s first two telephones weren’t a fluke.

CMF Cellphone 1

Nothing’s first funds, the CMF Cellphone 1, is a strong Android telephone with a novel system for attaching and detaching equipment like a kickstand, lanyard, and pockets.

Execs

• Accent system is cool and helpful
• The perfect wanting funds telephone on the market
• Provides you every thing you want from an excellent smartphone

Cons

• Efficiency leaves one thing to be desired
• Digicam does poorly in low mild

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Worth, availability, and specs

The CMF Cellphone 1 was introduced on July twelfth, 2024, alongside a brand new pair of wi-fi earbuds and a smartwatch. The Cellphone 1 is attention-grabbing as a result of it is Nothing’s first funds smartphone at a beginning worth of $199, and a little bit of a departure from what made its extra premium Cellphone 1, Cellphone 2, and Cellphone 2(a) stand out. The Cellphone 1 continues to be design-forward (CMF stands for “colours, supplies, and end”), however the place Nothing’s early merchandise turned the technical particulars of how a telephone works right into a luxurious by means of a translucent again, the CMF Cellphone 1 seems to be like you could possibly have 3D printed a few of its parts and built-it your self.

That is as a result of Nothing has designed the gadget to be customizable, with a detachable again and an “Accent Level” with a round cowl you may unscrew along with your fingers. You may connect a wide range of equipment to the again of the Cellphone 1, together with a kickstand, lanyard, and pockets attachment, on high of fixing its again cowl from the default black, to a shiny orange, mild inexperienced, or navy blue.

Whatever the equipment you select, you may get a 6.67-inch AMOLED show with a easy 120Hz refresh price and a pair of,000 nits of peak brightness, a USB-C port, and an under-display fingerprint reader. Inside, the CMF Cellphone 1 has a MediaTek Dimensity 7300 5G chip, 8GB of RAM, and both 128GB or 256GB of storage for storing your entire apps and images. The one wrinkle to the CMF Cellphone 1 is that for those who dwell in the US or exterior the European and Asian markets Nothing is concentrating on, you may want to make use of the corporate’s beta program, which limits you to T-Cellular’s community if you wish to use 5G and 4G, or AT&T and Verizon for those who’re comfy with solely having the ability to use 4G. For the remainder of the Cellphone 1’s specs, take a look at the assessment the desk beneath.

What I preferred concerning the CMF Cellphone 1

The CMF Cellphone 1’s battery life lasts all day after which some

One of the essential options of a funds telephone is battery life. Once you’re budget-conscious, how your telephone works issues much more than the way it seems to be, and the way lengthy the battery lasts determines whether or not you can use it in any respect. Regardless of the CMF Cellphone 1’s worth, Nothing does not compromise on the battery.

The 5,000mAh battery within the Cellphone 1 provides you loads of wiggle room to make use of your telephone and never have to fret about charging it. I used to be in a position to get almost per week of standby time after a single cost of the Cellphone 1, and round three days with informal smartphone use. That may clearly fluctuate relying on what you are making an attempt to do in your telephone, however for those who’re totally on Wi-Fi many of the day (like I used to be) and are not spending hours taking part in demanding video games in your telephone, you need to have extra battery life than what to do with.

Nothing OS makes the correct quantity of tweaks

An excellent Android pores and skin could make an inexpensive telephone really feel premium even when its {hardware} is decidedly low-end, and the CMF Cellphone 1 is a superb instance of the precise approach of doing this. Nothing OS, Nothing’s pores and skin of Android is simply the correct mix of stylized streamlining and genuinely new software program. If the 2010s have been characterised by heavy-handed Android skins like TouchWiz or HTC Sense that made your smartphone prettier however more durable to make use of, Nothing OS strikes the precise stability.

Nothing has created customized icons for almost all of well-liked apps you would possibly need to carry on your property display screen, thrown in a few of its personal customized widgets, and added new residence display screen customization choices, like having the ability to enlarge a person app icon dramatically. Nothing OS additionally defaults to darkish mode, which means any app that helps the characteristic will likely be simple on the eyes as quickly as you boot up your Cellphone 1 for the primary time.

Exterior these fundamentals, Nothing OS additionally contains new apps, like a Climate app in Nothing’s signature dot matrix type, Nothing X, which helps you to handle the corporate’s Bluetooth equipment, and Recorder, which is Nothing’s reply to the Pixel Recorder app, simply with much more type. If it is essential to you that your telephone seems to be distinctive among the many sea of Apple and Samsung telephones, the CMF Cellphone 1 undoubtedly stands out.

The CMF Cellphone 1’s modularity is refreshing, and loads of enjoyable

An apparent draw of the CMF Cellphone is design, and the telephone has the DIY, engineer-y look it does as a result of it is meant to be taken aside. Not in a approach that makes it essentially extra repairable or longer-lasting, however much more appropriate with the equipment and customizations you’ll usually must make on the level of buy. I used to be optimistic about what the CMF Cellphone 1’s modularity would supply earlier than I received to make use of it, and truly getting my arms on the telephone hasn’t modified that. It is unbelievably cool that Nothing enables you to do that.

It is value noting that it is a lot simpler to connect equipment to the Accent Level than change the again cowl of the CMF Cellphone 1. Moreover eradicating the SIM card slot, 4 again screws, and the Accent Level cowl, you must use a regarding quantity of drive to pry off the again cowl — a lot drive that it damage my fingerst. On the one hand, this speaks to the sturdy construction of the CMF Phone 1. On the opposite, it instantly discouraged me from pondering that customizing the CMF Cellphone 1 was one thing I would do often. General, although, I believe the advantages of equipment outweigh the issue of customization — I used to be most taken with the magnetic pockets attachment — and the CMF Cellphone 1 has a characteristic mainly no different smartphones at the moment have.

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What I did not like concerning the CMF Cellphone 1

Low mild pictures is an actual blended bag

You do not pay lower than $500 for a smartphone and count on an incredible digital camera expertise, and that holds true for the CMF Cellphone 1. Whereas the gadget makes for a suitable daytime shooter, at evening, issues are much more hit and miss. My largest criticism is the large lack of element you get while you attempt to take any sort of photograph at evening or in the dead of night and not using a direct mild supply. The Cellphone 1’s effort to salvage images dramatically smooths faces and ditches high-quality strains as a way to ensure that individuals are recognizably individuals.

You will even be hard-pressed to seize any sort of movement that is recognizably movement with out some sort of blur. Taking images of a live performance in a room solely lit by stage lights and no matter streetlights have been seeping in from exterior, I did not really feel like something I captured was actually able to be shared on-line.

That is to not say that Nothing does not pack in software program options to attempt to make up for the digital camera’s shortcomings (there is a Portrait mode for added bokeh, and an Knowledgeable mode that provides you extra management over settings, for instance), they only cannot make up for the CMF Cellphone 1’s single 50-megapixel sensor. If you happen to’re confused by the again of the Cellphone 1, which seems to have two lenses, that appears partially intentional. Solely a kind of cutouts is a digital camera; the opposite is a sensor for taking higher portrait images. I wasn’t in a position to inform if it made a distinction whereas I examined the digital camera.

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Do not count on miracles from a funds smartphone chip

Whereas the MediaTek chip contained in the CMF Cellphone 1 is sweet sufficient for many day-to-day smartphone use (Slack, Gmail, Messages, Chrome, and Pocket for studying) it is lower than ideally suited if you wish to use your telephone to play video games. Diablo Immortal runs on the Cellphone 1, however under no circumstances with the identical smoothness or constancy that it does on the iPhone 16, Pixel 9, or Samsung Galaxy S24.

This is not a significant drawback within the grand scheme of issues, but it surely might have long-term impacts for those who plan on holding on to the CMF Cellphone 1 for longer than a number of years. If you happen to can already discover a distinction in efficiency while you first begin utilizing your telephone, there is not any telling how a lot it’s going to decelerate by the point you are able to improve it.

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Must you purchase the CMF Cellphone 1?

It is arduous to go improper if it is accessible in your service

The time period “characteristic telephone” was a approach of differentiating telephones that went past the texting and calling options that outlined early cellphones. A characteristic telephone might need entry to e mail, or an MP3 participant, or have a built-in radio. They did extra, and have been costlier, however did not attain the full-blown premium pc costs of recent smartphones. The CMF Cellphone 1’s “characteristic” is its accent system and skill to be personalized greater than the typical telephone, they usually’re value paying for in my guide. Even for those who by no means connect a kickstand to the Cellphone 1, you may most likely nonetheless be proud of the smartphone.

CMF Cellphone 1

The CMF Cellphone 1 is not the one reasonably priced smartphone that Nothing affords. Pocket-lint has reviewed the Nothing Phone 2a Plus, Nothing Phone 2a, and Nothing Phone 2, and are available away tremendously proud of what the {hardware} maker is placing out. For different funds and mid-range telephone choices, each Samsung and OnePlus have wonderful fashions to contemplate, too.