Nothing just launched the CMF Phone 1. CMF is Nothing’s sub-brand. The CMF Phone 1 is sold for under $200. This affordable Android smartphone caught my eye with its modular look. In this hands-on, I will share my initial thoughts about the CMF Phone 1.
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The Nothing CMF Phone 1 in a nutshell
The Nothing CMF Phone 1 will be available in the USA from July 8, 2024. It is only sold on Amazon and not on the manufacturer’s official store. It will arrive in two configurations, but only the 8/128 GB, priced at $199, will be available in the US. How do I make of these handsets? I suppose they can be considered to be slightly inferior to the Nothing Phone (2a) (review).
After all, CMF is a sub-brand of Nothing. It targets mainly emerging markets such as India and Southeast Asia. The concept is to sell affordable products with a strong emphasis on design. Nothing doesn’t communicate much about this concerning CMF in other parts of the world, but you are still able to pick up CMF products. Nothing also seems to be taking more responsibility for its sub-brand, which also includes a smartwatch and wireless headphones.
Design and screen
Design is the main selling point of the CMF Phone 1. The back features an interchangeable panel and a tiny knob where you can attach a variety of accessories.
Pros:
Unique design.
Cool modular or “interchangeable” concept.
Flat screen with fairly thin bezels.
120 Hz and good brightness.
Cons:
IPX2 certification only
No Gorilla Glass for the screen.
Expensive accessories and covers considering the smartphone’s price.
The DIY aspect of changing the back plate and attaching accessories gives a playful aspect to the CMF Phone 1. / © nextpit
The CMF Phone 1 doesn’t look like other Nothing smartphones. There’s no transparent back. Instead, the back is actually a panel that can be removed via the four small visible screws. Overall, Nothing offers the handset in four colors: black, green, blue, and orange. Of course, additional panels must be purchased separately. They cost $35 a pop, which I think is a bit steep.
The black and green colors are made of matte plastic which is very pleasant to the touch. The orange and blue variants arrive in faux leather. Even if this is a bit of a departure from Nothing’s classic design, it still remains within range of the manufacturer’s spirit. The design has a very industrial look, with visible screws, and the metalized camera module providing the impression of it having just come off the factory press.
At the bottom right, there’s a little knob. You can unscrew it and use it as a way to release the back panel. This knob is known as the “Accessory Point”, serving as an attachment for accessories.
Nothing sells them separately for $20 a pop. There’s a lanyard, a stand to hold the smartphone, and a card holder to compensate for the absence of NFC.
I think the idea is simply brilliant. You can mix-and-match colors or combine two accessories at the same time (not all of them). In short, it gives a new dimension to the smartphone as an object. It’s not just an impersonal brick of glass and plastic. It’s a customizable brick, with bits that snap on, snap off, and are interchangeable.
It’s clever, appealing to my collector’s habit of snapping up all the accessories and cases. Not only that, it also appeals to my “Lego” side, with the idea of “building” your smartphone.
I’m thinking whether Nothing could take the concept even further with a modular design à la Fairphone. If you can more or less easily remove the back of the smartphone, why not make battery replacement equally easy?
Apart from that, the smartphone is IPX2 certified for water resistance. This means you can’t dunk it and the IPX2 certification applies with and without the plate at the back.
As for the display, a 6.67-inch AMOLED screen offers visual clarity with 1800 x 2400 pixel resolution. The refresh rate stands at 120 Hz, with typical brightness of 500 to 700 nits, rising to 2,000 nits peak brightness. The screen is flat and the bezels are fairly slim, although the chin is a little too prominent for my taste.
The CMF Phone 1 runs Nothing OS 2.6 and has a fairly limited update policy. / © nextpit
Interface and OS
The CMF Phone 1 introduces Nothing OS 2.6, a skin based on Android 14. There are no major new features compared to Nothing OS 2.5. However, Nothing’s skin offers a very good balance between stock Android and a few functions and customization elements. As for the update policy, it’s bang average.
Pros:
Clean, bloatware-free interface.
Nothing widgets are visually appealing.
Cons:
The CMF Phone 1’s screen edges aren’t too thick for a smartphone under $300. / © nextpit
There’s not much to say about Nothing OS 2.6. You can read my Nothing OS 2.5 review and my guide to the best features of Nothing OS 2.5 to find out more.
The CMF Phone 1 will receive 2 major Android updates and three years of security updates. Even for a mid-range smartphone, that’s pretty average. Basically, it’s the bare minimum a manufacturer should provide.
The major plus point of Nothing OS is the absence of bloatware and the interface implements all Android functions while offering a few customization options from Nothing.
Performance and SoC
The Nothing CMF Phone 1 features a MediaTek Dimensity 7300 SoC underneath the hood. The smartphone is also equipped with 8 GB of RAM and 128 or 256 GB of storage, depending on the version. The initial benchmark results proved to be rather disconcerting.
Pros:
Less powerful than the Nothing Phone (2a).
Cons:
Good temperature control and stability.
The metallic buttons and screws contrast with the bright colours and matte coating of the CMF Phone 1. / © nextpit
In theory, the CMF Phone 1’s Dimensity 7300 should outperform the Nothing Phone’s Dimensity 7200 Pro (2a). Both chips were manufactured using the 4 nm process. However, the Dimensity 7300, or more precisely its main core, has a lower clock speed than the Dimensity 7200.
In terms of performance, I’ve run my first benchmarks on the CMF Phone 1, which showed it to be significantly less powerful than the Nothing Phone (2a).
By itself, this makes sense. The Nothing Phone (2a) was almost $100 more expensive at launch. Nothing surely wants to maintain a distinction between its main range and its CMF sub-range.
In any case, the CMF Phone 1 proved just as effective as the Phone (2a) in terms of temperature control and stability. All that remains is to see how it performs in practical use once my full review is complete.
Nothing CMF Phone 1(Dimensity 7300)
Nothing Phone (2a)(Dimensity 7200 Pro)
3D Mark Wild Life
3,115
4,129
3D Mark Wild LifeStress Test
Best loop: 3,118Worst loop: 3,099
Best loop: 4,131Worst loop: 4,085
3D Mark Wild LifeExtreme Stress Test
Best loop: 853Worst loop: 848
Best loop: 1,153Worst loop: 1,148
Geekbench 6
Single: 1,041Multi: 2,915
Single: 1,148Multi: 2,589
Photo and video quality
A single camera lens is all you get with the CMF Phone 1. The smartphone features a 50 MP sensor at the back. The second lens behind is simply a depth sensor for portrait mode. The selfie camera sports a 16 MP resolution.
Pros:
Awaiting the full review.
Cons:
Awaiting the full review.
The CMF Phone 1 only has a single 50MP camera lens. / © nextpit
I didn’t have time to take enough photos with the CMF Phone 1 for this review. However, armed with a single 50 MP lens at the back, shooting possibilities remain pretty limited.
There is no flexibility borne by the ultra-wide angle lens and having a purely digital zoom up to 10x magnification will hamper your efforts to get creative. The 16 MP selfie camera seems pretty standard, too. Nothing has gone to great lengths with its depth sensor for portrait mode and 2x zoom.
Personally, I can understand the move to go for the essentials, especially in this price range. However, more versatile camera smartphones can be found for less than $300.
As for video, the CMF Phone 1 can record up to 4K at 30 FPS with its main lens.
Battery and recharging
The Nothing CMF Phone 1 features a 5,000 mAh battery. It accepts wired recharging up to 33 watts. Wireless charging is not included nor is there a charger in the box.
Pros:
Large battery capacity.
Standard 33-watt charging.
Cons:
The CMF Phone 1 charges at 33W and does not support wireless charging. / © nextpit
A 5,000 mAh battery is pretty standard in an Android smartphone costing less than $300. 33-watt charging is also quite common for a manufacturer with no proprietary fast charging protocol.
I haven’t carried out any battery life tests with the CMF Phone 1 yet as I’ll tell you more in my full review. For reference, the Nothing Phone (2a), with a very similar SoC and battery, lasted over 17 hours in our PC Mark benchmark. It remains to be seen whether the CMF Phone 1 will match this excellent score.
Technical specifications
Technical specifications
Device
Nothing CMF Phone 1
Image
Screen
6.67-inch AMOLED
1080 × 2400 p
120 Hz refresh rate
SoC
MediaTek Dimensity 7300 5G
Memory
6 / 8 GB RAM
128 / 256 GB storage
Expandable storage via microSD (max. 2 TB)
OS
Nothing OS 2.6 based on Android 14
2 Android updates
3-year security update
Photo module
Main lens: 50 MP, f/1.8
Depth sensor
Selfie
16 MP
Battery
5000 mAh
Wired charging 33 W
No wireless charging
Charger included
Connectivity
5G | Wi-Fi 6 | Bluetooth 5.3No NFC
IP certification
IPX2
Dimensions and weight
164 × 82 × 8 mm, 202 g
Conclusion: My first opinion
Would I advise you to pre-order the CMF Phone 1 at $199?
The fanboy in me, totally seduced by the atypical design, wants to say yes. However, the tech “journalist” who didn’t have time to carry out a full review before the press embargo was lifted tells you to wait for the review by the end of the week.
In any case, Nothing knows how to get people talking. I’ve rarely been so enthusiastic about reviewing a sub-$300 smartphone. It’s clear Nothing is taking more and more responsibility for its CMF range as well.
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CMF stands for “Colour, Material, Finish”. The idea behind the CMF Phone 1 is to use its hyper-worked design to stand out from the sea of Redmi and Galaxy A smartphones that all look alike. Perhaps the idea is also to make people forget its technical shortcomings with a bit of window dressing.
I’ll let you know in a few days.
What do you think of the Nothing CMF Phone 1 after this hands-on? Do you intend to pre-order the smartphone?
Nothing CMF Phone 1
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