Today Carl Pei, once the founder of OnePlus, held the presentation of the first smartphone of his new brand — Nothing Phone (1). His company managed to show it through bloggers and journalists long before the presentation, so it was boring to watch. But this does not make the smartphone any less interesting.

The main driver of sales remained the unusual backlight on the transparent “back” of the case. It did not have additional functions before the presentation. It also serves as a light accompaniment for notification sounds, can work as a backlight when recording videos, show the charge status, etc. It’s called the Glyph Interface. What was not at the presentation was a branded case, which was found on the website. And yes, it’s a simple, transparent polycarbonate case.

The smartphone comes in two colors — black and white. Its body is made of glass and metal, which Pei paid special attention to. The possibility of submersion in water was tactfully avoided, because the specifications only indicate protection against splashes (IP53). But Pei emphasized that the user will not feel plastic while working with the gadget (probably, he did not take into account the polycarbonate case).

But there is a more interesting moment. Of course, the front part of the smartphone is occupied by the display. It is flat, but the matrix used is flexible. In this way, it was possible to bend the lower part of the matrix with connectors inside the case and keep uniform frames on all sides of the display. Not a new trick for the industry, but a visually pleasing moment.

Of course, this is a 6.55-inch OLED display with a resolution of 2400×1080 pixels (402 ppi), a peak brightness of 1200 nits (supports HDR10+), an image refresh rate of up to 120 Hz, and a sensor polling rate of 240 Hz. The dimensions of the case with such a screen were 159.2×75.8×8.3 mm with a weight of 193.5 grams.

There is a small cutout for the camera in the left corner of the display. It is a 16-megapixel Sony IMX471 sensor with an aperture of ƒ/2.45. With its help, the smartphone can also scan the owner’s face. An additional security measure is a fingerprint sensor on the screen (its type is not specified, so it is most likely optical).

There are two more serious cameras at the back. The main wide-angle sensor is a Sony IMX766 with a resolution of 50 MP and ƒ/1.88. The maximum video recording size is 4K at 30 FPS with optical image stabilization. The second camera is an ultra-wide-angle Samsung JN1 with the same resolution, ƒ/2.2, and a capture angle of 114°. Separately, it can shoot macro from 4 cm.

Inside there is a 6-nanometer Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G+. Phone (1) has three memory combinations: 8/128, 8/256, and 12/256 GB (LPDDR5 and UFS 3.1). Of course, there is support for 5G, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, NFC, and five navigation standards. They also promise 3 years of operating system updates and 4 years of security patches. Separately, Pei added that the system has a widget with the user’s NFT collection (if they have one), and in the quick settings there will be an opportunity to change the settings of branded headphones.

The battery capacity is 4500 mAh. The smartphone supports 33-watt QC 4.0 standard charging, 15-watt Qi induction, and 5-watt reversible charging. But there won’t be any in the set.

Prices start at £399 and end at £499. The first limited sales will start on July 16 and 18, and starting from July 21, the smartphone will be available for order through the company’s website and in partner networks.