TL;DR The Nothing Phone 3 replaces Nothing’s signature Glyph Interface LED lights with a monochrome micro-LED display called Glyph Matrix.
Glyph Matrix supports customizable notifications, app interactions, games, camera countdowns, and live indicators.
The device features a dedicated Glyph Button to control these functions.
There’s also a red indicator on the back that lights up when video recording.
After weeks of teasing and hyping, Nothing has just launched the Nothing Phone 3. Not only does the phone sport the signature Nothing design language, it also takes it up a notch with an asymmetrical and quirky back panel. One of the big highlights on the back of the phone is that the Glyph Interface is gone, and in its place we have the new Glyph Matrix.
While the Glyph Interface was a series of LED lights on the back of previous Nothing phones, the Glyph Matrix is a straight-up monochrome micro-LED display comprising 489 individually firing LEDs.
Nothing says it is designed to reduce screen time, but I guess they don’t count this as a screen. Despite claiming that they “killed the Glyph Interface,” the company keeps using the term interchangeably to denote the Glyph Matrix, too, which is confusing.
As to what it can do, Glyph Matrix can show app-specific alerts, contact-based notifications, and real-time progress indicators. Users can assign custom icons to contacts, showing pixelated avatars when messages arrive. Further, the company is also promising a caller ID feature (coming this month through an OTA update), which will allow users to long-press the Glyph Button to show the contact name or number during calls.
Other Glyph Interface features include: Camera Countdown: A visual countdown when using the camera timer
Glyph Torch: Using the Glyph Matrix as a fill light
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