“The Glyph interface just isn’t a gimmick,” Nothing founder and CEO Carl Pei informed the press as he revealed the Nothing Telephone 3 for the primary time, shortly earlier than asserting that its new iteration allows you to play Spin the Bottle on the again of the telephone.
It’s combined messaging, however in Nothing’s protection, you couldn’t accuse them of constructing that mistake elsewhere. The Telephone 3, we’re informed, is Nothing’s “first true flagship telephone,” a degree the corporate is eager to hammer house: flagship chip, flagship digital camera, flagship worth. The truth is, it’s so flagship that the corporate is even springing for a real US launch, its first since 2023’s Telephone 2, which Pei tells me solely is sensible for his or her “premium” telephones.
At $799, the Telephone 3 is priced to match the iPhone 16, Galaxy S25, and Pixel 9, as Nothing positions itself firmly outdoors its mid-range origins, and Pei says the corporate feels prepared “to compete with merchandise in that worth stage.” Preorders open Friday, July 4th, with common sale ranging from the fifteenth from Nothing’s personal webstore and Amazon within the US. Nothing says the telephone is totally appropriate with T-Cellular and AT&T, with “extra restricted 5G assist” on Verizon.
That is Nothing’s costliest telephone but, however on paper the specs ought to hold tempo with the worth. The Snapdragon 8S Gen 4 chip isn’t probably the most highly effective round proper now, however its efficiency ought to deal with all however probably the most demanding cellular video games, particularly paired with as much as 16GB of RAM. Storage begins at 256GB, and for a further $100, you may get 512GB.
The Nothing Telephone 3 makes use of a silicon-carbon battery, a comparatively new know-how that makes it simpler to suit huge batteries into small telephones. Right here, meaning a beneficiant 5,150mAh capability, mixed with a 65W wired charging pace and 15W wi-fi charging pace. The 6.67-inch OLED display is greater than twice as vivid because the Telephone 2’s, and the IP68 water- and dust-resistance ranking is a primary for Nothing too. All 4 of the cameras — three on the again, one on the entrance — are 50-megapixel, although it’ll be unimaginable to say whether or not they’re any good till we get to check the telephone out correctly. Nothing’s digital camera processing has lagged a little bit behind the competitors prior to now, so this’ll be the world to observe.
All that’s consistent with different flagship telephones, so what makes the Telephone 3 really feel like Nothing? That’s the place that new, gimmick-free Glyph design is available in. Whereas earlier Nothing telephones have featured an array of sunshine strips that may glow and flash in customized patterns for notifications and ringtones, right here, these have been swapped out for a small, round dot matrix LED show in a single nook of the again of the telephone.
The Glyph Matrix is instantly much less placing than the older telephones’ designs, and fewer distinctive too — Asus has included dot matrix shows on the again of its ROG gaming telephones for years. Pei informed me that the benefit is that customized notifications might be “way more rapid,” with simply recognizable pictures or emoji tied to particular apps and contacts slightly than summary animations that may be laborious to grok at a look.
Then there are the Glyph-focused video games, formally dubbed Glyph Toys, designed so as to add a contact of enjoyable that’s “severely missing within the house proper now.” The Telephone 3 launches with Spin the Bottle, Rock Paper Scissors, and extra purposeful fare like a stopwatch and battery indicator, which you’ll cycle between utilizing a haptic button hidden among the many many shapes on the semi-transparent rear. Pei suggests you possibly can use Spin the Bottle to assist determine the way to cut up the invoice at dinner, a type of jokes that performs effectively throughout a keynote speech however doesn’t make a lot sense while you actually give it some thought.
Pei insists that Nothing isn’t achieved iterating on the Glyph Matrix. He calls the “expandability” probably the most thrilling a part of the brand new design, citing Glyph Toys already developed primarily based on concepts from the corporate’s “group” of followers, like a magic eight ball. “I feel they may invent some novel use circumstances we haven’t even considered but,” Pei says.
The Telephone 3 additionally sees the return of the Important Key, a aspect button that debuted on the Telephone 3A and 3A Professional earlier this 12 months. It’s customizable, however by default launches Important House, an AI-powered app that shops and analyzes screenshots to present you reminders about occasions or journey plans. New to this telephone is the choice to transcribe and summarize assembly audio, together with a common search bar that may monitor down all the things from contacts to pictures and reply fundamental factual queries.
The Telephone 3 is a giant swing for Nothing. It’s the corporate’s first transfer into the flagship market, and its first effort to crack the US in two years, so maybe it’s no shock that the telephone’s new Glyph design is a bit more conservative than we’re used to. Nonetheless, Nothing enjoying it protected has produced a bolder and extra divisive telephone than any Samsung or Apple has put out in years — simply don’t name it a gimmick.
Images by Dominic Preston / The Verge.
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