Nothing has not focused as much on the design philosophy as on ringing in some zest to otherwise dreary or identically designed product categories, and this includes Nothing CMF smartphone.
Since its founding in 2022, the up-and-coming consumer technology firm has come a long way—from semi-transparent smartphones to earphones that very cleverly underline design elements with color accents. That continues with its next line of products under the CMF sub-brand. A good example is the CMF Phone 1.
The Nothing CMF Smartphone Phone 1 has ample design customization options with its smartphone, offering removable back panels and attachable accessories that let customers truly customize the fit and finish to their heart’s desire. But does the substance live up to the style? Let’s take a closer look:
Table of Contents
Nothing CMF Smartphone Design
The design of the CMF Phone 1 is an important feature of the device, just like every other Nothing branded device. Although most Nothing-branded cellphones have transparent backs, this model will sport an opaque rear panel with a much simpler look that phone owners have been used to seeing with other Nothing-branded phones, such as the Phone 2a.
It features a rotating, removable dial/wheel, four exposed screws around the edges of the backplate, and dual cameras placed on top of a raised bump in the upper-left corner to give the CMF Phone 1 its characteristic industrial look.These design elements are not only beautiful in their own right but offer their owners countless ways to personalize this product through attachable back panels with varying colors and textures, lanyard cables, phone stands, and attachable pouches.
This review model was matte in texture and black-colored. It gave quite a robust impression. I instantly fitted the same shade, vegan leather-textured dark blue back cover, which came out of the box along with a wheel and screws, and another with the SIM tray.
I have, however, fitted the new back plate using the black screws and wheel, which really does make this phone look quite exceptional. It is this degree of personalization and customization that allows the CMF Phone 1 to stand out. Things get interesting when a unique little screwdriver is thrown in, with the rear panels and accessories being sold separately.
Unique Wheel
The one that is probably most practical is the one that does so through a wheel attached to the smartphone. On the other hand, this bag makes the smartphone quite bulky for pockets and doesn’t feel very secure because of its weak lid. The metal connector and lanyard cord fasten to the smartphone, then attach to the rest of the accessory with a color-coded wheel, impressively well-built pieces.
Whether or not to wear a lanyard with your smartphone is a question of taste.
Some things that have to be pointed out are the fact that accessories are only in orange, which is generally a brand-associated color with CMF. Also, when using the screwdriver to change the back panel, the plastic area around the screw holds dents quite easily.
Even though it is all-plastic, the unit feels strong and durable overall. The matte plastic frame design and textured back panel give extra grip for long periods of use, even if your palms are a little damp. But the smartphone is heavy, and its attractiveness is somewhat marred by the big bezels around the screen.
Nothing CFM Smartphone Display
The CMF Phone 1 has a sleek plastic housing and a flat screen at the top that seamlessly merges with the side frame. The 6.67-inch AMOLED display is large enough and delivers fairly decent picture quality on the whole. An overall richness of color reflected by the slightly warmer tone of the panel probably is the reason it results in a clear and crisp image but lacks some vitality.
Nonetheless, it still works well enough for all daily working purposes, social media, and movie watching. Also, there is still sufficient brightness outdoors; pictures turn clear from every angle. The refresh rate of 120 Hz adds to the experience even more to be quite seamless.
Camera of Nothing CMF Smartphone
The CMF Phone 1 comes with a 50-megapixel main sensor, aided by a 2MP depth sensor. At this price, the rear camera does respectably. The sensor produces clear daylight images and does a good job of capturing the details in the foreground. The sensor retains color accuracy but loses detail in low light or at night, softening some regions of the photos.
Although this is a budget smartphone, edge recognition in portrait shots is very good. Balancing the limitations of the sensor, brightening, and smoothing facial details are nice under artificial lighting. Furthermore, portrait photographs have a slightly warmer tone compared to regular ones.The 16MP front-facing camera can capture quite some good selfies throughout the day; however, owing to the inconsistent focusing in low light, these images appear a bit blurry and uninteresting.
Video recording performance on the smartphone is quite good. While it captures 1080p films at up to 60 frames per second and 4K videos at 30 frames per second, HDR recording options are available only when shooting at 30 fps in 1080p resolution. On the front, HDR recording is available, and it can capture at up to 60 fps in 1080p. It does show the camera’s imaging capacity in the picture quality overall. However, I did feel that its mic created a lot of background noise while recording.
Software and performance
The Phone 1 offers quite good performance for its budget courtesy of its MediaTek Dimensity 7300 5G chipset, which one doesn’t usually find on phones priced below Rs 20,000. This smartphone can easily handle social media scrolling, web browsing, and light gaming.
It also works quite decently with heavy graphical games like Real Racing 3. Nothing has added its RAM Booster technology that gives an additional 8GB of RAM to the smartphone’s 8GB of RAM for better performance when doing resource-intensive tasks. Nothing, however, has kept the smartphone at bay in relation to heat, so that it never gets too hot.
Battery Life
The CMF Phone 1 runs on a 5,000mAh battery that delivers great battery life. You can expect the CMF Phone 1 to easily last a whole day with enough juice left in it to last another half day at least. While it doesn’t come with a charger, the smartphone supports fast charging at 33W. I was able to test it using the available 33W CMF by Nothing charger, and it charged to 55% in 15 minutes.
Conclusion
Tying in with that, the variety of design customizations possible on the CMF Phone 1 makes it one of those rare phones that will let customers mix and match for a customized look. It has succeeded where nothing has done so without sacrificing the basics.
It represents good value for money, with good performance, long battery life, and photo features that are social media-friendly.To that extent, the $199 CMF Phone 1 hits the mark as a budget smartphone with an intuitive UI and hassle-free performance. Even considering that the display could have been better, this remains a very good value smartphone.
1 thought on “Nothing CMF Smartphone: Price and Design”