[nova.19_exe]

CMF Phone (1) Review

Background :

Well, after my boards ended in June 2024, I had been on the lookout for the perfect phone, and being the tech enthusiast of the family, I thought I need something unique! My requirements - clean UI (no bloats and ads), good performance, 120Hz (anything below that is a crime), and good cameras. Bonus if it's a compact phone!

With this in mind, I set out for the best phone out there, and my eyes fell on the Google Pixel 7A, which ticked all the boxes except for the 120Hz. But 35K for that thing, there were better alternatives to that. But yeah, it's a Google, so I waited for a while for the 7A to drop price as much as the 6A did. (side note - it didn't).. Okay then, moving on!

I moved on and kept going through the newest launches from brands like Samsung, OnePlus and whatnot! One fine day, Nothing announced the Nothing Phone (2A) which had me smitten! Literally watched all the reviews, read all the articles and for the price, it was bang for the buck! I even thought that the Glyph Interface might help reduce screen time!

When taken to the head office, the design was denied. Dad said it looked like a plastic toy phone from the '00s, Mom said it looked like a snake!
Hence that was popped onto the backseat and I started searching for more options, but in the back of my mind, I did want that a lot, but not now!

A few days later, Nothing announced that their sub-brand CMF is going to be launching a new phone which is going to be priced below the Phone (2A).

Okay CMF, let's see what you got! Went through all the leaks, the info and the launch event and I loved the CMF Phone (1)! My brother went ahead and booked the phone as a surprise for me on the first sale itself. Also, unboxing was a letdown, mostly because of the Open Box Delivery on Flipkart! I've been using it for the past 3-4 months now, and here's everything about it!

Here's the good parts :

- The display. 6.7 inch 120Hz OLED panel, bright, crisp display with good sharpness and bright enough for the outdoors! HDR support is also a plus, though I despise the HDR content on Instagram, that's a different story!

- The phone looks unique! I have it in Blue, it comes with a leather finish and man, does the leather finish feel good, feels premium! The build is plastic, but doesn't feel cheap in any way! The screws do take time for people to get adjusted to, makes people think they broke the phone!

- The cameras are really good, for the price! I even beat a cousin who has an iPhone 13 Pro Max while capturing the moon (he was really embarassed)! The Sony sensor does fumble once in a while but once it hooks up, it puts out really good photos! Video support upto 4K 30FPS. I even started a photography page on Instagram!

- The battery! 5000mAH battery!! It's a solid, solid battery! Lasts me 1 and 1/2 days, with mobile data and Bluetooth always on! But since I have college, I charge it in the morning around 7AM to 100% and plug it in around 9PM, with 20-30% still left in the tank! It supports 33W of fast charging but unfortunately, no charger in the box, so additional 800/- spent on that! But the phone support PD Charging & PPS Protocol so a big plus! 5W reverse wired charging, never used it but good to have!

- The performance! For daily use like scrolling reels, watching YT, reading Team-BHP (c'mon, that's a necessity), and calling people, the Mediatek Dimensity 7300 with the 6+128GB gets the job done without breaking a sweat! I even game on it, and no hiccups! Only time I had ever experienced heating was when I played BGMI on 90FPS, not even 2 minutes into the game, it heated like crazy! Better stick to 60FPS!

- The highlight of the show : the software, NothingOS 2.6 precisely! A really smooth, slick OS with really cool animations, a sick icon pack, and really neat software implementation! Software support is 2+3 years, and I have already gotten 3-4 updates that fixes a lot of the issues! I'm really holding on to the NothingOS 3.0 Stable Release, it's bringing a lotta cool stuff!

- The design.. It's unique, it's simple to my eyes, it's really well built! This phone was marketed as a modular phone, with accessories and removable back plates and whatnot! And I have seen so many people getting creative with their ones! I'm yet to do something special for this, but I can't wait!

- No issues with connectivity. I'm using Airtel and the connectivity has been really good!

And now the bad parts :

- Something I have noticed and this is something that I have read a lot about in the Nothing Discord Server and the Nothing Community forum, the phone takes a bit longer to charge and heats up during, compared to other 33W phones in the house, that don't support PD.. Don't know, but that's not a deal breaker for me!

- Lack of ultrawide camera! There are times that I did feel the need to have an ultrawide camera that would help take better pictures! Alas, that's a big miss by Nothing

- No NFC. Most people do use UPI in India, but I'm one of those who prefers contactless payments for the ease and convenience!

- Speakers are a bit of a letdown! Yes, they sound loud and all that. But the lack of an amplified speaker is felt! Plus this speaker, I found it to be lacking on the bass and the treble!

- This one seems silly, but ringtones.. I mean, literally all the ringtones on this are so bad! I thought I'd stick to a default one for a while before I change it up! But I had to change it right outta the box! Currently using this one!

- The fingerprint sensor is fast and quick, does seem to fumble up quite often! I had to setup face just for the convenience!

- IP52 rating! The modularity does bring up some problems, the IP rating. I've had to baby this phone in the rain, when I take Rapido bikes and all that!

- No gallery app! It uses Google Photos for the gallery, but Nothing has announced a Gallery app with its upcoming NothingOS 3.0 which is set to release in December or January!

- A stupid one, but a haptic motor would have been really nice! The default vibration seems like the ones you would get on 2017 Xiaomi phones, and not in a good way!

Closing Comments :

Overall, it's a pretty solid phone for under 20K. There have been some oh-no moments where the phone dropped to 13K, when I bought it for 15K! At 14K or less, the CMF Phone (1) makes a strong case for itself. If you’re looking for a no-nonsense, feature-packed smartphone with a clean UI, the CMF should be a strong contender. I’d also like to point out that in this price range, other phones like Motorola and Samsung are being sold as well with different sets of features. So make sure you check them all out, get your hands on if you can, test them out and then make a decision!

Big shoutout to my brother @FA14 for taking pictures!

Lock Screen





Home Screen



App Drawer





The Replaceable Back

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[Joe367]

I really like the design of this phone. It's not as flashy as other nothing phones, but still manages to stand out from the rest of the phones in this price category. I had bought one for my sister - this exact same color. She still charges it with her old Redmi powerbrick - which I don't think supports P.D fast charging. She said it charges the phone in about 1½ hours.
I went with cmf because of the software support. I had bought cmf buds pro before and I was surprised to see them pusing updates for a 2000 rupee earbuds to fix bugs and add new features. The community forum is quite active and they have done a good job taking care of issues and sticking to update promises with their nothing phones. The software is also quite clean with lot of meaningful ui improvements over stock Android - like lock screen customisation, ability to add widgets to lock screen and home screen.

The modular design however feels a bit gimmicky. I'm yet to see any third party accessories available that make use of the mounts or screws at the back of the device. Not even a single case is available that actually screws on to the device (except for the overpriced replacement panels sold by Nothing themselves)

[nova.19_exe]

Originally Posted by Joe367

I really like the design of this phone. It's not as flashy as other nothing phones, but still manages to stand out from the rest of the phones in this price category. I had bought one for my sister - this exact same color. She still charges it with her old Redmi powerbrick - which I don't think supports P.D fast charging. She said it charges the phone in about 1½ hours.
I went with cmf because of the software support. I had bought cmf buds pro before and I was surprised to see them pusing updates for a 2000 rupee earbuds to fix bugs and add new features. The community forum is quite active and they have done a good job taking care of issues and sticking to update promises with their nothing phones. The software is also quite clean with lot of meaningful ui improvements over stock Android - like lock screen customisation, ability to add widgets to lock screen and home screen.

The modular design however feels a bit gimmicky. I'm yet to see any third party accessories available that make use of the mounts or screws at the back of the device. Not even a single case is available that actually screws on to the device (except for the overpriced replacement panels sold by Nothing themselves)

Yep, I've had loads of people come up to me and ask if this is the phone with the removable back!! Love the attention it gets..

Yeah, I was charging with the same charging brick because the charger wasn't in stock, and it did take 1 ½ hour, so took a lot of pre-planning!

The software support is the icing on the cake, reason why I bought it! NothingOS 3.0 is going to bring a lot of cool features!

The modular design, yes. Haven't opened the back, haven't found a reason to!! And I haven't found any accessories! So yeah, waiting on it!!

[venukrithish]

I hate the silver ring around the camera. I hated it when it was on my redmi note 10 pro and I don't know why manufacturers do this sometime. Isn't the selfie cam supposed to blend in? Why is it standing out?
Anyways, congrats on your purchase. Nothing is a new brand and imo the best UI ryt now. I have a ph1 and I simply love the experience. And I love the glyphs as well which is better in ph1 and ph2.

[peddagunda]

I have to say that Nothing OS looks much different than any Android skin out there. Unique design for this phone too. I would say that this phone is very good value for money.

[nova.19_exe]

Originally Posted by venukrithish

I hate the silver ring around the camera. I hated it when it was on my redmi note 10 pro and I don't know why manufacturers do this sometime. Isn't the selfie cam supposed to blend in? Why is it standing out?
Anyways, congrats on your purchase. Nothing is a new brand and imo the best UI ryt now. I have a ph1 and I simply love the experience. And I love the glyphs as well which is better in ph1 and ph2.

Yeah, it's an eyesore, but atleast my camera lenses are safe, tbh. And I did manage to bump the ring (visible in one of the pictures) so had to slap on a case. But not using it anymore, I use my phone naked!

Thank you very much! Hands down the best UI right now! Satisfies the UI/UX Designer that I am, really neatly done! The Phone (1) is the OG, really good looking!

Originally Posted by peddagunda

I have to say that Nothing OS looks much different than any Android skin out there. Unique design for this phone too. I would say that this phone is very good value for money.

Yep, the most unique and the cleanest UI out there! No ads or bloatware whatsoever!!

Can agree, I find this phone to be really value for money, and a really underrated one, at that! I haven't seen many people use this phone much, out in public! But yeah, overall, solid package!!

[CentreOfGravity]

Nice review! Although I do feel you have borrowed many of my sentences as such from my Moto Edge 50 Pro review thread. But hey, I don't mind - I'm glad my thread could serve as a reference point

It's honestly very hard to find smartphones in the 10-15k segment which offer a clean UI, with Moto, Lava and Nothing being some exceptions. Lava don't have a good reputation in terms of reliability & serviceability, Moto lags behind in the updates situation, and that leaves us with Nothing (pardon the pun!). Youngsters like us love it for the minimalist and clean approach. I am a fan of Moto, but if Nothing has something exciting in the future, my next phone might as well be a Nothing. In the same breath, older people might not really brighten up to the idea of having lights at the back of their phone, and therefore, Nothing is a sort of a niche player. (God, that was way too much unintended pun in one post!)

Anyway, enjoy the phone buddy! It really is an interesting one

[vamsi.vadrevu]

I'm considering this for my father. Is the volume loud enough in calls and while browsing media?

[nova.19_exe]

Originally Posted by CentreOfGravity

Nice review! Although I do feel you have borrowed many of my sentences as such from my Moto Edge 50 Pro review thread. But hey, I don't mind - I'm glad my thread could serve as a reference point

It's honestly very hard to find smartphones in the 10-15k segment which offer a clean UI, with Moto, Lava and Nothing being some exceptions. Lava don't have a good reputation in terms of reliability & serviceability, Moto lags behind in the updates situation, and that leaves us with Nothing (pardon the pun!). Youngsters like us love it for the minimalist and clean approach. I am a fan of Moto, but if Nothing has something exciting in the future, my next phone might as well be a Nothing. In the same breath, older people might not really brighten up to the idea of having lights at the back of their phone, and therefore, Nothing is a sort of a niche player. (God, that was way too much unintended pun in one post!)

Anyway, enjoy the phone buddy! It really is an interesting one

I was using your thread as a reference point, while didn't have any intention to copy (kids, don't copy in exams), I think I may have slipped a little, fully my bad.. I just needed some pointers to write it up, kept feeling that I was missing something so I was going back and forth!

I do feel like Nothing is the only company that gives you the VFM factor, not that there aren't any other companies, but most of them have that one factor that makes you drop the phone from the list!

Originally Posted by vamsi.vadrevu

I'm considering this for my father. Is the volume loud enough in calls and while browsing media?

Depends on his usage! If he's using it to watch YouTube, and all that, then it does the job! But if he's a proper audiophile, then he may feel lacking! But for daily usage, it's more than enough!!

[nova.19_exe]

I thought this thread needs an update!

Something that I've noticed recently, the leather back seems to have started discoloring, from dark blue to light blue-ish. Maybe wear & tear and the fact that I use my phone bareback! (yes, i seem to have guts)

Though I have a transparent case, I got bored of it! I used it for a month probably and now it's lying in my drawer! I bought it as an impulsive hasty purchase, cause I saw a bit of disfiguration on my camera ring, refer to this picture.

I'm looking for some case that has the cool Porsches or BMWs on them, for a good price! Do let me know if you know where I can get those!

Another thing, the back seems to have some oily texture now. I'm looking for ways to clean it without damaging it, any advice would be appreciated!

Overall, loving the experience so far!