Nothing Phone 3 Review: Cliché Broken?

The Nothing Phone 3 stands out as a newcomer in the flagship lineup with its distinctive style. How does the brand fare with this model?

Is the Nothing Phone 3 the brand’s first flagship model? After examining the Nothing Phone 3a, it’s now time for its successor: Phone 3. The first important difference we notice is the price. While the Nothing 3a is more of a budget model, the Nothing Phone 3 at €849 including VAT reaches for the higher segment as the brand’s most expensive model. Do its qualities justify this price?

The Nothing Phone 3 is available in white or black and costs €849 including VAT.

Future Perspective

The Nothing Phone 3 not only looks futuristic with its industrial housing but is also designed for longevity.

The new model in the series scores well on the energy labeling with an A-score. Thanks to this high score, the Nothing 3 can currently be purchased with eco-vouchers, which is a nice bonus. Furthermore, the Nothing 3 receives an IP rating of 68. This is the highest IP grade that can be achieved for maximum dust and water resistance.

Nothing clearly prioritizes sustainability with the Phone 3. This longevity is also guaranteed internally. The phone comes with five years of OS updates and seven years of security updates. It’s clear that the Nothing Phone 3 is designed to last. This sets a positive tone from the start.

Display

When we take a closer look at the display, it seems to meet expectations at first glance. The Nothing Phone 3’s Amoled display (6.67 inch) has a resolution of 1,260 x 2,800 pixels and a refresh rate of 120 Hz, making it easily readable in sunlight.

We measured a peak brightness of 915 nits, which is on the lower side for this segment. However, this lower value doesn’t significantly affect readability in the sun. The Nothing 3a, which costs €349 including VAT, actually achieves a similar peak brightness of 895 nits.

Nothing extends its minimalist black and white theme for icons and widgets to the Phone 3. Although this sometimes makes it challenging to find the right application at first, we appreciate this clean design.

Performance

CPU

Nothing integrates a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 in the Phone 3. This processor promises to deliver strong performance, which we also notice during our test. The device performs very smoothly for everyday tasks, without any hiccups. The Nothing Phone 3 can’t quite match the OnePlus 13R, which has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 on board. The newer mid-range chip in the Nothing 3 doesn’t outperform the older Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.

Compared to its price peers, this smartphone doesn’t score badly. Its predecessor, the Nothing 3a, has to make do with less (Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s), but that’s justifiable for a budget model.

GPU

Besides the powerful CPU, the GPU promises adequate performance. The Adreno 825 allows for graphically intensive workloads. In our comparison, the Nothing 3 still lags behind the OnePlus 13R but performs well compared to its price peers.

Although the processor promises good performance, which we also experience, the comparison shows that the Nothing 3 doesn’t stand out. For business applications, the Nothing 3 lags behind in the comparative test, occasionally in a neck-and-neck race with the Oppo Reno 13 Pro for third place. The Nothing 3a also didn’t have business DNA in it.

Robust Battery

The Nothing Phone 3 is equipped with a 5150 mAh battery. When we put the battery under constant load, the phone performs very well. In its category, it places itself well among the leaders. In practice, we notice that with moderate use, the battery life can last up to two days. According to its energy label, the battery can handle 1400 cycles, which is a considerable number.

In terms of battery life, Nothing already impressed us with the Phone 3a, which even performs slightly better than the flagship model.

Charging could be Faster

The Nothing 3’s battery lasts a long time but needs time to recharge. The phone charges from 0 to 50 percent in 23 minutes and takes 44 minutes to reach 80 percent. We find this on the slow side for a high-end model. In our comparison, the Xiaomi 14T Pro excels with a charging time of 25 minutes to reach 80 percent.

The phone doesn’t come with a charger. However, the Nothing 3 supports wireless charging at 15 watts, and fast charging up to 65 watts.

Cameras

The Nothing Phone 3 is equipped with three cameras on the back. Nothing left room for an extra feature: the Glyph Matrix. We’ll tell you more about that in a moment. The main camera consists of a 50 MP sensor (f/1.7) and delivers clear images with beautiful color reproduction. The 50 MP zoom camera (f/2.7) also impresses us. Optical zoom is possible up to 3x without loss of quality.

The ultra-wide-angle camera (50 MP, f/2.2) falls short in some areas. We notice an HDR halo around objects in certain photos, and the edges lack sharpness. What did pleasantly surprise us is the macro lens. The color reproduction is maintained, and the photos look very sharp.

There’s also a 50 MP camera (f/2.2) attached to the front. This works well for video calls and delivers bright colors for a front camera. For video quality, we can count on 4k at 60fps.

Glyph Matrix

To explain the ‘fourth camera’, that’s the Glyph Matrix. The predecessor, the Nothing Phone 3a, only had LED lighting on the back. That lighting unfortunately disappears with the Nothing 3.

The Glyph Matrix can display time, battery status, or incoming messages. We find these useful extras. The brand also adds Glyph Toys, which allows you to play games like ‘rock, paper, scissors’. We haven’t yet experienced the added value of this ourselves. Not a fan? Then you can enable or disable the Glyph interface as you wish.

Nothing around your Ears

Have you completely fallen for Nothing’s distinctive style? The brand has developed an accessory that blends beautifully with the smartphone: the Headphone 1 (€299 including VAT). It’s as if you have a Nothing smartphone around your ears. That said, the Headphone 1, Nothing’s first headphone, performs as desired.

Just like the Phone 3, you also enjoy a long battery life with the Headset 1, up to 80 hours in ANC mode and 35 hours of playback with maximum noise cancellation. Nothing advertises a charging time of five minutes for five hours of listening pleasure. During our test period, we didn’t need to charge the headphones.The headphone controls work smoothly, and the ear cups fit comfortably around your ears.

Cliché Broken?

Nothing extends its distinctive style to the Phone 3, which would be its first (almost) flagship model. There’s a lot of choice within this model’s price range. With the Phone 3, Nothing is trying to secure a place alongside other flagship models from well-known brands. The device certainly stands out in terms of appearance, but in terms of performance, it can’t always beat other brands.

The battery performs excellently, though you need a bit of patience during charging. The combination of a hefty price tag and a relatively new brand means that Nothing has to prove itself alongside the well-known heavyweights.

Nothing Phone 3 – €849 incl. VAT. – five years of Android updates, seven years of security updates and two years warranty – eco-label A