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00:00Hey, what's up, MKBHD here, and yes, this is the Nothing phone, the first phone from
00:07the startup that gave us the Nothing Ear 1 earbuds in 2021, a big step into establishing
00:13their own ecosystem that they're building.
00:15And it looks familiar, but also very different.
00:20So we live in an age right now where so many of the top phones, the most popular phones
00:24are designed to appeal to the masses.
00:27That's the point of them.
00:28And so they all end up kind of looking basically the same, all very similar, you know, big
00:33screen up on the front, a couple of cameras on the back, a couple pale colors, nothing
00:37too crazy, just a glass slab.
00:39So if a startup were to come along and make another average phone, it would probably fit
00:44in pretty nice, but there wouldn't really be any reason to switch to it, to buy that
00:49one.
00:50So what Nothing has done is they've made a pretty unique looking phone that also happens
00:54to have a bunch of cool features surrounding that unique look.
00:59I think it's pretty sick.
01:00Now this phone isn't out yet, FYI, it's coming around July 12th.
01:03So definitely get subscribed to make sure you see the full review of the entire phone
01:07and everything about it when it does come out.
01:10But until then, what I am allowed to show you now is the back of the phone.
01:14So the Ear 1 earbuds that came from them last year played off of this transparency theme,
01:19not fully transparent, but definitely with some clear plastic bits that look cool and
01:24then reveal some shielding inside that's strategically placed and painted to look sweet.
01:29That's kind of the look this phone also has going on too, but the way that really stands
01:33out is with these lights on the back.
01:36So the phone has what I would basically call the ultimate notification LED.
01:41So the notification LED on the back of the phone has been a dying breed lately.
01:44You don't see them very much, but when you do, which is rare, it's so nice to just have
01:49like a subtle little glowing LED that just tells you what's going on.
01:52You can tell if you have a new phone call or text message or a new tweet.
01:57And this is a sort of a exaggerated all out version of that.
02:01So there are just over 900 LEDs making up a pattern across the whole back of this phone,
02:07around the dual cameras, around the wireless charging pad in the middle, and then some
02:11stripes up into the corner and then down by the charging port at the bottom.
02:16And they do a great job frosting over them.
02:18So the glow really cleanly appears as just a solid continuous light bar.
02:24So they call it the glyph interface and it has a bunch of real functionality.
02:28So first of all, it does light up and pulse for your notifications.
02:32It will also light up and glow when you're wireless charging or reverse wireless charging,
02:37which is neat.
02:38But there's also a feature where when you plug into USB-C to charge, it lights up that
02:43bottom bar and then acts as a progress bar indicator.
02:46And of course you wouldn't want that to stay lit up all the time.
02:49So it turns off, but anytime you want to check on it, all you got to do is just wiggle the
02:53phone a little bit and it lights up again so you can see how far you've gotten.
02:57That is dope.
02:58The entire glyph interface can light up at once as a fill light for the cameras.
03:04These are pretty bright LEDs.
03:06Normally some lights on the back of a phone, I wouldn't say make much of a difference,
03:10but for some sort of closeup subjects or in darker rooms, this can actually make a difference
03:15versus the normal flash that's also on the back of the phone.
03:18Plus there is a blinking red light on the back here, which is a recording indicator
03:22for when you're recording videos.
03:23And then nothing has built an entire user interface into the settings that let you control
03:27exactly how the lights work, when they turn on and what they light up for.
03:31So the most impressive part to me for sure is there are 10 built-in ringtones and you
03:37might not use ringtones that much, but these are cool.
03:39They each have a light pattern that lights up to perfectly match the ringtone.
03:45And so then you can pair ringtones with certain contacts.
03:48So when you see a certain light pattern, even when the phone is muted, you know who's calling
03:52you just by looking at it.
03:54And on launch, you'll be able to have different light patterns for notifications from different
03:58apps too.
04:18I imagine they can add more stuff like this through software updates over time, but that
04:22is a really interesting, actually new feature in a smartphone.
04:27We don't see that very often.
04:28So that's pretty cool.
04:29Now, whether it'll be enough to actually get people to buy the phone or whether it impresses
04:33people who would usually put a case on their phone anyway, that we'll have to wait until
04:38launch to see, but I think it looks pretty sick.
04:41Honestly, it looks like a movie prop in my hand in certain environments.
04:45Plus I'm sure there's a clear case coming from nothing.
04:47I think now that there's like renders floating out there, the most common description I've
04:50seen of the look of this phone is like, oh, it just looks like an iPhone 12 with a transparent
04:55back.
04:57Sure.
04:58You know, with the dual cameras and the general shape, you could reduce it to that if you
05:01want to, but also that's pretty cool actually, but, but actually for what it's worth, a clear
05:07backed iPhone 12 would look like this, which is a little bit different.
05:11So love it or hate it, nothing's phone looks kind of different.
05:15So no matter what happens with the rest of the phone mission accomplished there, I guess
05:19the question we're left with at this point is, does this work?
05:23Like is this a different enough looking to actually work?
05:28Are people going to buy it?
05:29Are they going to want to actually switch to this slightly different looking phone over
05:32this safe bet?
05:34And I guess the answer really is, it's a real strategy.
05:38Like look at these three phones.
05:39There's a Naruto phone, a league of legends phone, a Dragon Ball Z phone, all super unique
05:47deep collaborations with custom packaging, custom designs, wallpapers, icon packs.
05:53The whole thing, they go the extra mile.
05:55So this strategy of standing out with a cool features or sweet design is very intentionally
06:02to steal away a small amount of the most loyal customers.
06:05It's literally a customer acquisition cost.
06:08And maybe if the first run is successful enough, then they can make a slightly more broadly
06:12appealing, slightly better phone overall that sells more.
06:16And if that one works, then they can make an even more broadly appealing phone that
06:19sells even more and then even more broadly appealing and even more until you've made
06:24a very broadly appealing phone that sells the most, but that feels like it abandoned
06:30your original fan base.
06:32Sound familiar?
06:33Either way, this phone is definitely super different.
06:36I think the lights are pretty cool, but we'll have to see how it goes.
06:39So I'm going to keep an eye on.
06:40Thanks for watching.
06:41I'll catch you guys in the next one.
06:42Peace.