I use a Pixel phone as my daily driver, but I wage a constant war against AI features Google is convinced I need. I don’t find Gemini a useful addition to my daily life, and the benefits are tainted by the impact of AI on the environment and jobs.
That being said, I’ve recognized that many people, including other writers at AP, find that AI is a valuable tool. But until Nothing came along, I didn’t think I would ever join their ranks.
Nothing’s Phone 3 has sparked animated discussion over its asymmetrical cameras, Glyph Matrix, price, and fresh interpretation of the term “flagship phone.”
However, the Phone 3’s AI features have generated relatively little coverage. This is because they feel like the most boring part of the phone, and that’s the best thing about them.
The Phone 3 was delayed to incorporate stronger AI features
Nothing approached AI with care and consideration for the customer
The Phone 3 was originally intended for release in 2024, but Nothing delayed the release to develop its AI capabilities. As someone who was cheerfully enjoying Nothing’s silence around AI, I found the announcement disheartening.
AI spoiled my Pixel experience. Would it also spoil the fun and exciting lineup of devices Nothing had built its brand on?
However, there were clear indicators Nothing wasn’t frantically trying to play catch-up with Google. Carl Pei, founder and CEO of Nothing, repeatedly stated his scepticism of the hype around AI in smartphones.
In January 2025, his number one prediction for the year was that consumers would get sick of hearing about new AI features in their phones.
This delayed approach to integrating AI in its phones, and the founder’s belief that AI should solve a consumer problem, not “change the world” or “revolutionize smartphones,” led to two features: Essential Space and Essential Search.
They’re not the only AI features on the Phone 3, but they show that Nothing is on the side of the consumer when it comes to AI
Nothing’s AI features solve existing problems
AI features can help, but only when approached carefully
Many AI products feel like solutions to problems that don’t exist. Google introduced AI into its weather app so it would tell you whether you needed a coat or not. A fantastic idea, were it not for the existing invention of windows.
Gemini’s ability to interpret videos is inferior to just watching it, and the Pixel Studio’s ability to generate poor-quality AI images is a feature nobody asked for.
It’s all there to generate the atmosphere of innovation that tech stocks thrive on, but it’s the consumer that loses out when we buy devices with broken or half-finished software.
The Nothing Phone 3 launches with a swathe of AI features, but two stand out as its flagship tools.
The first, Essential Space, has been around since the Phone 3a. Here you can store screenshots, notes, and reminders like all your favorite recording and note-taking apps rolled into one. The AI then analyzes them and gives you helpful reminders and summaries.
For example, you can take screenshots of upcoming concert dates, then Essential Space will send you reminders to buy tickets closer to the date.
Whether it needs a dedicated hardware button is another story, but Essential Space itself is a simple, powerful, and useful AI tool.
Essential Search is a supercharged version of the search bar on every Android phone. It can find contacts, photos, apps, widgets, calendar events, files, and settings. It can also answer any question with AI-powered natural language responses.
It’s similar to my Pixel phone’s search bar, but Nothing’s integration of AI is more subtle than Google’s ham-fisted approach with Gemini.
However, I’m less convinced about the other AI features of the Phone 3. AI-generated wallpapers are a fun gimmick at best, and I trust an AI-powered news bulletin to give me an accurate summary of the news about as much as a five-year-old.
Still, that’s fine. Every phone I’ve owned has sported a few features I didn’t like or use, and unlike Google, Nothing doesn’t force them on you.
The Phone 3 is designed to solve problems
The Glyph Matrix has captured the lion’s share of the attention around the Phone 3 for good reason.
Replacing the iconic Glyph Matrix was a bold move by Nothing, and Carl Pei’s suggestions that you can use it to choose who pays for drinks lent it an air of gimmick rather than a useful feature.
Yet it also sports a countdown feature for photos, a battery life indicator, a compass, and most useful of all, a clock. You can check the time on the Phone 3 without becoming distracted by Instagram notifications.
Like the Glyph Matrix, it’s easy to dismiss the AI features of the Phone 3 as gimmicks. Yet I think Nothing’s restrained approach to AI has shown me that AI can find a home in our phones.
It won’t revolutionize our devices, change how we view the world, or, as OpenAI hilariously states in its mission statement, “empower humanity to maximally flourish in the universe.”
However, it can remind us of concert dates and summarize a voice memo. Perhaps that’s all we need it for.
