Judging from early teasers, you might have expected that Nothing phone (1) to have a completely “out there” design, but it seems that talk of a transparent back was overblown, and the first official image of the phone shows that although there are transparent elements, most of the components are still hidden is.
You can see some screws and the wireless charging coil, but that’s about it. What’s possibly more interesting are the white stripes, which look like they could glow. In practice, this either looks good or garish like so many gaming phones – we have to wait and see.
The Nothing Phone (1) then certainly looks different enough to stand out from the crowd, but we can’t help feeling that this was a missed opportunity. There are so many components in a smartphone and showing off more of them could have made for a really interesting design, full of details to see.
What we actually get will still stand out, though, so let’s not get too downcast.
Other details featured in this image include a dual-lens camera – which aren’t many these days – and a white finish, although it’s unclear if other colors will be offered.
We should know on July 12, because that’s when the company is there full reveal of the Nothing Phone (1)although we’ll likely learn a lot more about the phone before that, as the company is dripping info on it.
Analysis: The dual-lens camera could be a real highlight
You may have looked at this dual-lens camera with disappointment. After all, even many affordable phones now have quad-lens snaps, and while the Nothing Phone (1) isn’t expected to be a high-end handset, it will probably have at least a medium price.
But many cheap phones opt for quantity over quality, offering fully disposable macro and depth sensors alongside their normally useful cameras.
With only two lenses, Nothing could have possibly increased the quality they offer. It also looks like these lenses are reasonably sized, which is a good sign – although it’s hard to tell.
We’d guess they’re likely to be wide-angle and ultra-wide-angle cameras, as that’s the norm when a phone is only going to have two lenses, so we’re optimistic they could be better examples of this than in many similarly priced phones.
