Nothing Phone 3 review: a quirky, slick Android alternative | Smartphones

Telephone 3 is the latest attempt by nothing in London to get people to be a little quirky and more fun for something else.

The first high end of the company Android In several years it will have the most what you would expect from a flagship phone. But where it tries to withdraw from the slick, with a dot matrix-inspired software and a design on the back, which contains a small, unique LED screen.

Costs of £ 799 (799 €/799 $/A $ 1.509) The phone 3 is twice as high as the company's price of the company Large middle classTo make it a direct challenger for the Samsung Galaxy S25Present Google's pixel 9 and the iPhone 16.

Nothing first introduced its semi-transparent design with earphones and then followed the Telephone 1 in 2022Which added “Glyphe” LEDs on the back, which flashed in unusual patterns for notifications. For telephone 3, these glyph lights have turned into a small round matrix of LEDs at the top right of the back of the back with symbols, animations and patterns.

It is used for more than just simple notifications and can now show different toys such as A Magic eight balla stopwatch or, magically a Turn the bottle Play that can be triggered by a touch -sensitive button on the back. The ability to display the time, the volume, load status or a persistent symbol for a notification or app of your choice is more useful.

The rest of the back of the device divides the opinion with a quirky arrangement of shapes and elements. Those who long for symmetry will hate it.

The front screen is at least a regular 6.7 -Coled -OLED display with slim bezels and a smooth refresh rate of 120 Hz. It is crispy, colorful and bright, although it is a little subject to blind on very sunny days.

Specifications

• Screen: 6.7in 120 Hz QHD+ OLED (460 ppi)

• Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8S Gen 4

• R.A.M: 12 or 16 GB

• Storage: 256 or 512 GB

• Operating system: Nothing OS 3.5 (Android 15)

• Camera: 50MP Haupt, 50 MP 3x Tele and 50 MP Ultrawide, 50 MP Selfie

• Connectivity: 5G, ESIM, WIFI 7, NFC, Bluetooth 6 and GNSS

• Water resistance: IP68

• Dimensions: 160.6 x 75.6 x 9 mm

• Weight: 218g

Snappy, but hot

Telephone 3 has the Snapdragon 8S Gen 4 Chip from Qualcomm. The somewhat weaker performance is not strange when using daily and simply flies with it. It can even deal with games pretty well, although those who are looking for absolutely best performance should look elsewhere, because the phone with demanding graphic tests was uncomfortably hot.

The battery life is 40 hours between the fees with a lot of 5G use. Most people have to charge it every other day or less if they are used more economically. That fits that Two -year -old phone 2 And is a little behind similar competitors.

The battery loads in about 55 minutes with a USB-C current adapter (not included) of 65 W or more and reached 50% in just 19 minutes. The phone also has 15 W wireless charging.

Nothing OS 3.5

The phone is transmitted with Android 15 of the last year with nothing that is strongly stylized with a DOT matrix look and is easy to customize. A more regular Android style is available for those who need color to identify your apps.

Otherwise, the software is chic and confusing, with all the usual services of Google and some non-apps such as the weather or language recorder. The essential Space app, which was first started with which Telephone 3a ProNow contains the ability to maintain an animation on the glyphic screen and transcription with an animation on the glyph screen and a transcription with a cloud service. The essential search is a AI-operated search for content on your phone and data as well as the possibility to answer easy queries.

Nothing promises an upgrade to Android 16 in the third quarter of 2025 and will offer five years from Android version updates and a total of seven years of security. These are a few years before Google and Samsung's best. Also note that media apps like Netflix are currently not supporting HDR content on the phone 3, since the certification limits them to SDR videos.

camera

The nothing has three 50 megapixel cameras on the back and a 50 megapixel selfie camera on the front. The main camera is the best of the group that takes on detailed and solid images, while the 3x optical zoom camera is almost as good and maintains great details and sharpness in bright scenes. The in-sensor zoom up to 6x is okay, as is the digital zoom up to 10 times in good light, but the image worsens if you further enlarge. The UltraWide camera is the weakest of the three and produces photos that look great in full view, but there is no detailed one if they zoom in and with obvious forgetting on the edges of the frame.

You grasp great photos outdoors in the bright light, but the change between the three cameras can lead to different color balance sheets and tones, which is not ideal. They can also be strange gray when they shoot inside, with inconsistent tone, sometimes great photos, but dull with repeated shots at other times.

The selfie camera is pretty good and captures many details. The 3x telephone camera has a macrom mode for close -ups from about 10 cm away, which is always fun.

Overall, the camera of the phone 3 can be good, but inconsistency prevent it from being as great as competitors at this price.

sustainability

The battery leads at least 80% of its original capacity for at least 1,400 full charging cycles. The phone is generally repairable in Great Britain.

The device consists of recycled aluminum, copper, plastic, steel, tin and other materials that make up 17.6% of the weight. It has a CO2 footprint of 53.2 kg CO2 equivalent. Published the company Sustainability reports.

Price

The not telephone 3 costs from costs £ 799 (799 €/$ 799/A $ 1.509) with 12 GB RAM and 256 GB memory.

For comparison Telephone 3a Pro Cost £ 394The Google Pixel 9 Pro Cost £ 999The Samsung Galaxy S25+ costs £ 999The Samsung S25 edge Cost £ 1.099 and the OnePlus 13 Cost £ 899.

Verdict

Telephone 3 is a good but not big Android for nothing. It is more interesting than competitors, but you have to actively want something else so that it makes sense because you can easily get better and longer -lasting hoods at this price.

The software of nothing is a strong point. It is smooth, customizable and easy to optimize. Seven years of security updates are good, even if it is not started in the latest Android version and you only get upgrades for five years. The glyph screen on the back is certainly new, and the semi -transparent design of the back is striking, even if it shares the opinion. It is well done if it is a little heavy, while the performance and the battery life of the phone are solid when they are inconspicuous.

The inconsistent camera shows that from nothing, while your essential space -KI tools show certain earnings, even if you are a little simple at the moment.

If you want to look a little quirky, then that's nothing phone 3 es.

Professionals: Great software, a striking baking design with a DOT matrix screen, solid performance, 3x telecamera, good canvas, solid fingerprint scanners, fast charging, under £ 1,000, seven years of safety updates.

Disadvantages: The camera is inconsistent and cannot match the best battery life. The battery life could be better. The AI functions are still in the works, not the latest version of Android and only five years of upgrades, lack of symmetry for the taste of everyone.