After months of rumors and teases, the Nothing Phone 3 has finally been unveiled at a Tuesday launch event in London. Nothing is calling the phone its "first true flagship" and with good reason; the Phone 3 has higher specs and other quirky new features (like the Glyph Matrix) that set it apart from its cheaper siblings. I got to spend some time using the phone at the launch and while it was only a quick look, I'm already quite impressed.
The Nothing Phone 3 will go on sale next week in the US from $799 for a model with 256GB of storage space and 12GB of RAM. In the UK and wider Europe, it will start from £799. There's also an upgraded model with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage from $899. That's not a bad price when other flagships like Google's Pixel 9 Pro and the Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus tend to start at $999 or more.
Here's what I like so far about the phone.
Nothing Phone 3 Glyph Matrix
Nothing's phones have always had quirky designs with see-through panels and the light-up Glyph interface but this time around the company has swapped the lights for a small dot-matrix display. The Glyph Matrix, as Nothing calls it, sits on the back of the phone and can display crucial info like battery level or incoming notifications but can also be used for more fun purposes. From a 'spin the bottle' tool to a Magic 8 Ball function, there are various 'Glyph Toys' on board, with developers being welcomed to create more.
Andrew Lanxon/CNET
I like the Glyph Matrix and CNET's Katie Collins described it as her favorite thing about the Nothing Phone 3. It's more usable than the lights on the previous Nothing Phone 2 as it actually tells you information, rather than just lighting up at random. Playing little mini games on a tiny screen on the back of your phone is still arguably something of a gimmick but in a world full of almost identical gray phones, it's nice to see something a bit quirky.
Ditto the transparent design, which has become something of a hallmark of Nothing's phones. This time around the 'inside' of the phone has been given more of a blocky, cubist style that sort of reminds me of the Bauhaus art movement. I'm here for it.
Nothing Phone 3: Snapdragon processor and triple camera array
Nothing hasn't skimped on the specs with its flagship. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8S Gen 4 processor should offer some potent performance for everyday use as well as more demanding gaming. I'm yet to put it to use but I expect it to handle graphically demanding games like Genshin Impact with aplomb.
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