Nothing Phone (3)

The most distinctive phone you can buy — a genuinely premium metal-and-glass build wrapped in Nothing's polarising new modular look, though the protection glass is only mid-tier.

• The matte metal frame feels far more premium than any other Nothing Phone and the glass back is refreshingly grippy in the hand.— 9to5Google impressions
• The Phone 3 design looks like nothing seen before — camera sensors, buttons and a revamped Glyph Matrix scattered across the back panel.— Android Authority
• It's glad to see Nothing dial up the weirdness with its first true flagship — the linear Glyph lights are gone but the modular look remains.— The Tech Chap
• The front glass is only Gorilla Glass 7i (mid-range) and the EU card shows it scratches at level 5 — weaker than the level-6 of typical flagship glass.— JerryRigEverything
• Build quality feels robust with a premium metal frame and balanced weight distribution; Nothing uses 100% recycled tin/aluminium and 80% recycled steel.— nothing.community 28-day
• The design is so unprotected-feeling that reviewers were scared to go without a case.— Android Authority

A bright, fluid 6.67-inch AMOLED that's excellent in practice, even if the 4,500-nit headline figure is HDR-only and it lacks full LTPO.

• The 2800×1260 30–120Hz AMOLED cranks to a claimed 4,500-nit peak (1,600 nits full-screen outdoors), great for outdoor visibility.— Stuff
• Despite being FHD+, the display is excellent both indoors and in bright summer daylight, with a delightful tap-origin light-up animation.— 9to5Google impressions
• Independent measurement found real-world brightness around 700 nits SDR and ~1,550–1,600 nits HDR despite the 4,500-nit HDR headline.— Linus Tech Tips
• It switches only between 60 and 120Hz rather than true LTPO, so static content drains more battery — a downside at this price.— P9LG6w2DEbE comparison
• The screen is crisp and vibrant and holds up really well both indoors and in direct sunlight.— 4vqv16tyJ_Y long-term

A well-equipped quad 50MP system with a 3x periscope and strong video specs, but image quality is solid-not-spectacular and still trails the Pixel 9.

• It runs a quad 50MP setup — f/1.68 main, f/2.2 114° ultrawide, f/2.68 3x periscope and a 50MP selfie.— A1ddxS09DdA camera test
• The main camera captures solid binned 12.5MP photos in good lighting; 4K bitrate is a bit low but overall video quality looks excellent.— GSMArena
• It's a shame the camera doesn't stack up against the Pixel 9 series — solid but not class-leading.— Ars Technica
• It's not the best camera on the market, but it's consistent, quick to launch and takes great everyday pictures — and produces amazing results edited in Lightroom.— 4vqv16tyJ_Y long-term
• Unlike its cheaper siblings, all four cameras shoot 4K60 (and 4K60 HDR), plus 4K60 selfie video and 240fps slow-mo — a genuine video step up.— jYq_YGyZrIM camera test
• Low-light processing in early hands-on seemed pretty close to Google's Pixel, and the camera app is faster than past Nothing devices.— Engadget

The Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 is fast and butter-smooth in daily use and gaming, but it's flagship-lite — the most-repeated criticism at a $799 flagship price — and it runs warm under sustained load.

• It runs a 4nm Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 — on paper underwhelming for a flagship, but in practice everything is absolutely butter.— Austin Evans
• 8s Gen 4 is not the 8 Elite — at $799 the manufacturer arguably should have offered the flagship chip.— -cEvap9aFHU long-term
• Geekbench scores well — better than 86–96% of devices on the market depending on the test — and it beats Google's Tensor G5 in multi-core and every 3DMark graphics benchmark.— vsC7ziJdpiI 6-month
• Gaming is strong — BGMI holds a stable 120fps and Genshin runs at 60fps on max settings — but Genshin pushes the surface past 45°C.— tC3o7bB28Oo gaming test
• It doesn't do a particularly good job of cooling the chip under sustained load.— GSMArena
• With 16GB RAM (on the $899 model) it keeps everything open and launches apps faster than an iPhone 16 in lab tests.— Fn31kexGibY benchmark

A reliable all-day 5,150mAh silicon-carbon cell (5,500mAh in India) with fast 65W wired plus 15W wireless and reverse charging — strong in tests, though one heavy user found it disappointing.

• The 5,150mAh silicon-carbon cell easily lasts all day — a typical day dips only into the upper-60s/low-70s%, one of the most reliable batteries in recent phones.— vsC7ziJdpiI 6-month
• Battery beat any Pixel tested and even the Galaxy S25 Ultra — heavy 5G days still ended as high as 45%.— 9to5Google impressions
• In an extreme drain test it ran 9h34m of screen-on time before dying — impressive even though it was first to die against 6,000mAh+ rivals, with a cool 53°C peak.— KemeU4hv98E drain test
• 65W wired charging takes it 1–50% in about 19–20 minutes; there's also 15W wireless and reverse wireless charging (India gets a larger 5,500mAh cell).— jYq_YGyZrIM charge test
• Despite the largest battery in any Nothing phone, one long-term reviewer calls it the worst battery life he's experienced on a Nothing Phone.— 0JM0qqaCwTI long-term
• The new silicon-carbon battery doesn't pack as big a capacity boost as expected from the technology.— MrMobile

Nothing OS is the phone's defining strength — clean, distinctive and best-in-class outside a Pixel — backed by an exceptional 5-year/7-year support promise, with Essential Space the standout AI.

• Nothing OS is one of the best ways to experience Android — reviewers' favourite part of the phone.— Mrwhosetheboss
• It's promised 5 years of major Android updates and 7 years of security patches — a class-leading commitment.— Austin Evans
• After a week of meetings, Essential Space replaced juggling half a dozen note apps — a genuinely useful AI feature.— LdU0Fm0bBvk long-term
• Nothing OS 4.0 (Android 16) might be one of the best experiences outside of the Pixel, getting the fundamentals absolutely right.— 9to5Google impressions
• Real bugs persist — a dual-SIM recognition issue causing missed calls, and the easily-triggered Essential Key recording everything on an accidental touch.— Reddit r/Android

The signature new feature: a back-mounted dot-matrix mini-screen replacing the Glyph LEDs. Inventive and occasionally delightful, but reviewers split on whether it's genuinely useful.

• The Glyph Matrix is a small circular mini-LED screen that can show notifications, person-specific alerts, timers, party games like Spin the Bottle and a pixelated selfie viewfinder.— The Tech Chap
• A capacitive button on the back cycles and engages Glyph 'toys' — time, battery, level, stopwatch, solar clock and notifications.— MrMobile
• The best feature of the Glyph Matrix is arguably something earlier second-screen phones already did better.— Mrwhosetheboss
• After 40+ days the Glyph is still useful in some ways, but 90% of the time it's simply forgotten.— 20nmxgcWd38 long-term
• It would be far more useful if the Glyph button were remappable in software (to launch the camera or an app) rather than locked to accidental screenshots.— lGNhNd844YY long-term

At $799 it goes head-to-head with the Pixel 9, Galaxy S25 and iPhone 16 — winning on design, software and support, losing on chip and camera, and frequently discounted.

• At $799 (16GB option $899) it costs exactly the same as a Pixel 9, Galaxy S25 or iPhone 16.— The Verge
• It's a fantastic, one of the most eye-catching devices on the market — and has already scored a major discount at Best Buy.— Android Central
• This phone should battle the best Android phones and iPhones rather than the best cheap phones — early signs are good.— Trusted Reviews
• The second you charge $799 you compete directly with Samsung's Galaxy S25 and Apple's iPhone 16 — companies with practically unlimited budgets.— Mrwhosetheboss
• It still feels like a flagship while cutting costs to undercut the competition a little, and gets 5 years of updates.— 4KbrxIpQgkM long-term
• If you like the design and the vibe it's giving off, this could be your next phone and you won't be disappointed.— MrMobile