Nothing
Does anyone remember thenothing phone?”
The oddly named “Nothing” is a new smartphone company from OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei and its first phone, the Nothing Phone 1, launched about half a year ago in Europe, India and China for 469 euros (about US$ 500). Nothing now will let you buy this phone in the United States for $300. The company is calling this “beta testing,” but it doesn’t sound like you’re testing anything other than market interest. The “beta test” label means that buying the phone comes with caveats that make it a bad deal.
First, a quick recap: the Nothing Phone 1 is a $300 mid-ranger with a Snapdragon 778G+, a 6.55-inch OLED display, 2400×1080 120Hz, a 4500mAh battery, and a bunch of other specs that fit the bill. firmly in the “meh” category. The device doesn’t have a clear sales pitch as to why it’s a good smartphone, with just a few stripes of light on the rear panel to set it apart from the crowd. The company hopes the wacky rear panel will blow you away.
So about this beta test – at $300 you’re not really buying a US-spec phone. Instead, Nothing will send you the Europe/India/China production model, hoping everything works out. You will miss key frequency bands on all carriers; therefore, depending on your location, you may experience signal issues. The phone’s FAQ says that 5G is not supported by AT&T or Verizon, and is only partially supported by T-Mobile with a band. You’re also wasting LTE bands on each carrier. Voice over LTE and Wi-Fi won’t work on AT&T, CDMA won’t work on Verizon, and you’ll need to call Verizon and beg the company to add your phone to their IMEI database so it can be activated.
And there is no guarantee. The FAQ notes that there is a 14-day return policy and “there is no after-sales service after that time”. The phone ships in five to seven business days to all 50 states. You will also receive a Nothing Phone NFT.
The only test you can do on the phone is with the accompanying beta version of Android 13, although you can easily test this in the official Nothing Phone sales regions. Of course, a beta OS runs the risk of your phone not working properly. A beta version of Android won’t make it past Google Game Integrity API (it is used to be called “SafetyNet Attestation”), so higher security applications are likely to throw error messages and exit. These are usually banking apps, touch and pay, some gamesand DRM-enabled media apps like Netflix and YouTube.
Even with the discount, paying to “test” a half-broken product is a very hard sell. If you’re just looking for a decent phone at a low price, the Pixel 6a is typically priced at $449 and is often for sale for $300 or $350. (The $350 deal is happening right now.) Not only is it much faster than the Nothing phone, it also comes with some cool features like Federal Communications Commission certification, the ability to connect to the cellular system, a production operating system that can run apps, and a warranty of the product if something is broken. There’s even an LED flash if you’re really into back panel lights.
Nothing says that the “Nothing Beta Membership program will run until June 30”, which likely means the phone will no longer be for sale by then. That’s also when the Nothing Phone 1 will be about a year old. The company says the US “is going to be an important market for us,” so perhaps the next model will be properly sold here. It would be nice to have a new smartphone competition in the US, but not like this.
Comments
Post a Comment