Nothing Phone 3 review: Eccentric, quirky, and unlike anything else

I’ve been using the Nothing Phone 3, on and off, since it launched at the beginning of July, but over the past week or so it has become my primary phone. I previously switched between it and a selection of Samsung phones, but I can say with certainty that whenever my SIM goes back into the Phone 3, it feels like no other modern Android phone.

This can be a good and a bad thing. Not everyone wants to make a statement, and many just prefer a safe, “normal-looking” phone. I’m not here to change your mind on that. I’m here to tell you whether, if you are looking for something daring, the Nothing Phone 3 will set your pulse racing and cause your adrenaline levels to spike.

Because if it doesn’t, it puts the Phone 3 in a very awkward position indeed.

Specs, price, and availability

The Nothing Phone 3 is available now in the U.S., the U.K., and throughout the rest of the world. It costs $799 or £799 for the 12GB/256GB version, or $899/£899 for the top 16GB/512GB model. It can be purchased directly through Nothing’s own online store, and in the U.S., it’s a “full” release rather than the messy “U.S. Beta Program” system for the Phone 3a and other previous releases.

Divisive looks

But it looks like nothing else

Beauty is subjective, so I feel secure in saying how much I like the look of the Nothing Phone 3. Contrary to what you may have seen online about the Phone 3, not everything has to be symmetrical, provided there’s still a degree of logic to the way it looks. Start your journey by looking at the top right of the phone. Then follow the circles across, then down, and back in the opposite direction, letting your eyes wander down the meandering road, which makes its way to the bottom of the device.

I love this almost hidden visual cohesion, and how it allows my mind to make sense of what, at first glance, is a bit of a mess. It doesn’t look like any other phone, and that’s a good thing. The 9mm thick aluminum chassis is smooth and leads into the Gorilla Glass Victus rear panel with a neat curve, making the 218 gram phone comfortable to hold.

It’s slippery, though, and I always felt it needed a firm grip to lessen the chance of a fall. Place it on a surface with the screen facing up, and the camera modules will scrape against it. If it’s an abrasive surface, expect scratches over time. A case may be a good idea for the Nothing Phone 3. The IP68 dust and water resistance rating is welcome, but expected at this price. I smile when I look at the Nothing Phone 3, and have never done that with a Galaxy S25, or even design-led phones like the HMD Skyline.

Software as unique as the design

Fully customizable too

The Nothing Phone 3 has one of the most unique-looking Android interfaces out there, but you get the choice of whether to use it or not, right when you set up the phone. My advice is to try Nothing’s monochrome, pixel-art-style theme anyway, as you can always change it back if you don’t like it.

The one thing to note is it changes all app icons to the Nothing theme, which is monochrome, and it can take a while to familiarize yourself with them again, slowing down use at first. It can be worth it, though, and when you pick the right wallpaper, the Phone 3 has a modern, unique style of its own.

Nothing’s Smart app library is something else you have to get used to. It organizes your apps into categories instead of a list when you swipe up on the screen, and it resembles Apple’s App Library in iOS. It is fairly smart, but I think it looks messy, and it often requires an extra, unnecessary step to get to the app you want if it’s not one used often.

Nothing OS 3.5 is built over Android 15, and the phone will be supported with five years of major OS updates and seven years of security updates. Android 16 with Nothing OS 4 is expected before the end of 2025. Like the design, the software is delightfully Nothing, and together they give the phone a presence and style all of its own.

There’s AI to try

But it’s not intrusive

Nothing’s use of AI is well judged. Google Gemini is called up with a long press of the power key, there’s Circle to Search, an AI-powered device search, and Nothing’s own Essential Space. This is a place to store voice notes and screenshots, where it will organize everything for you as it fills up, and help you seek out key facts when you need them.

There’s a clear and obvious use case here, and as Essential Space relies on your inputs to operate, it doesn’t bother you with pointless messages and reminders, unlike Samsung’s Daily Brief. It’s ideal for people who already use screenshots as reminders, as it’s a simple press of the dedicated Essential Space side button to store a screenshot. Long-press the same button, and it records a voice note.

Using a hardware button for Essential Space is both a blessing and a curse. It makes the feature quick and simple to use, but the button’s placement means I accidentally press it frequently and end up storing screenshots of my home screen. You’ll probably get used to it over time, but it’s pretty annoying at first.

The Glyph Matrix and all the sounds of a Nothing phone

I miss the Glyph Lights

The old Glyph Lights, which dominate the back of phones like the Nothing Phone 3a Pro, have been replaced by the Glyph Matrix, a small circular screen on the back of the phone, set in the top right corner. It shows the time, notifications if you set them up, and a stopwatch. A mini-game of spin the bottle has also been included, which is a bit weird.

Like the software, it’s entirely customizable, allowing you to use it or not, as you prefer. I’ve set it up so it shows the time and notifications, and leave my phone face down most of the time. It stops me from being distracted, but also ensures I don’t miss anything important.

This is because the Nothing Phone 3 is one of the few phones where I leave the ringtone sound on. I love the futuristic sound effects and ringtones on a Nothing Phone. I never mistake it for anything else and make a point to set them up.

However, my workflow changed slightly with the Phone 3, as it has generative sound effects which are assigned to contacts and apps by the software. It’s been fun to notice slight differences in notifications over time, and like many other features in Nothing OS, you can revert to the Classic system and customize sounds yourself.

The Phone 3’s Glyph Matrix may look a bit more modern, but it’s not as noticeable as the Glyph Lights when the phone is ringing, and it does disappear a little in the visual overload that is the back of the Phone 3. I am fairly sure I’ll never use the mini-games or the stopwatch, leaving me with the thought that it’ll just become a rear-facing clock and nothing more.

A truly unique character

Everything about it is Nothing

By combining design, software, sounds, Glyph Matrix, and an unusual use of AI into one device, the Nothing Phone 3 offers an experience like no other. There’s a sensible dullness to a Samsung phone and corporate-level playfulness to a Pixel phone, but there’s a slightly deranged madness to the Nothing Phone 3 you won’t find anywhere else.

It’s not going to be for everyone. It’s not always for me. Nothing does a great job of avoiding obnoxiousness and balancing unique design with usability. While some people will prefer the highly efficient, ordered, and beautifully refined world of One UI 8, others will embrace the off-kilter, fun-filled, and achingly trendy life of Nothing OS. There is no right choice, but I love that there is one.

But has it all made my pulse race? The Phone 3 should have done so by now, given that its specification and “non-Nothingness” aren’t particularly noteworthy, as we’ll discuss next. The answer is, yes, it has, but not to the fever-level it really needs. The Glyph Matrix is a bit of a damp squib compared to the dazzling Glyph Lights, but at least the design is suitably out-there, and the software isn’t a dreary vehicle for pointless AI features like some devices.

There’s a reason I’ve enjoyed popping my SIM back into the Nothing Phone 3: it evokes a genuine emotional response, which is a rare thing in modern smartphones.

A fun camera

But not one for enthusiasts

I hope I’ve explained how the Nothing Phone 3 succeeds in upping your pulse and giving you a bit of an adrenaline hit when you use it every day. But there’s a reason I’ve gone through all of this before getting to the camera, performance, and battery life. That’s because the actual specs aren’t mind-blowing, and it’s important to understand the Phone 3 is a Nothing-level flagship, and not a flagship flagship.

There’s nothing wrong with the camera specs, but it’s not doing anything out of the ordinary, and so pulses remain rather steady when using it. However, there’s a degree of fun to it which makes you want to use it, at least in the short term. Tap the bottom of the screen to access a series of “Presets” (that means filters to you and me), including a black and white look, a retro look, and a soft focus mode.

When selected, the Preset stays applied to the camera, and they’re fun to experiment with. The black and white in particular looks great, with its auto switch to 2x zoom and special frame around your shots. None are going to change the way you take photos, and you may not use them forever, but I enjoyed playing around with them, and because they work well, I expect people will love sharing the results on social media.

There’s a pleasing amount of color and contrast consistency through the available cameras and modes, the 3x optical telephoto shows plenty of detail, the 2x and 6x in-sensor zoom modes are surprisingly usable, and Nothing’s Gallery app has a robust editing mode. It’s not really a camera for the hardcore enthusiast, but it’s more than good enough for some casual photo-taking fun. At the same time, the filters and zoom modes make it versatile enough to get creative before sharing the results online.

Specs make for a great everyday phone

But few will call it a flagship

There’s nothing wrong with the Phone 3’s internal specification, provided you’re not expecting it to compete with the Galaxy S25 Ultra and other $1,000-plus phones. The 6.67-inch screen does suffer from issues with reflections, and it can’t get close to the wonderful legibility of the Galaxy S25 Ultra, or the Apple iPhone 16 either. The 2800 x 1260 resolution is sufficient, as is the 800 nits typical brightness, but nothing more.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8S Gen 4 is powerful, and it has run the software and played games like Asphalt Legends: Unite without any problem. The phone does get a bit warm under pressure, though, such as short bursts of high-end gaming and extended GPS navigation, but it’s nothing I wouldn’t expect.

Running the 20-minute Solar Bay Stress Test in the 3DMark benchmarking app exposes deeper issues, though. The test saw the battery deplete by a massive 18%, and the top of the phone got very warm to the touch, confirmed by a far higher than usual 53 degrees centigrade maximum temperature. Although it didn’t overheat, the fact that it works so hard under these conditions underscores that this is not a high-performance gaming phone. A 30-minute YouTube video takes 4% of the battery, so efficiency during normal tasks isn’t a concern.

During my general use, the 5,150mAh battery has lasted between four and six hours on a single charge, which matches most other phones I’ve used over the past 12 months. It means the Phone 3 doesn’t stand out, but doesn’t fare badly either. It’s recharged using a USB-C cable at a maximum of 65W, or wirelessly at 15W. Using an Anker Power Station charger, it takes just over an hour to reach 100%, and 50% comes up in around 20 minutes.

Should you buy the Nothing Phone 3?

To “get” the Nothing Phone 3, you’ve got to embrace the design. If you’re not sure about it, the relationship just isn’t going to work. It’s unique, looks great in white, and the customizable software matches the individual look. The Glyph Matrix is a bit silly, and I don’t find it as helpful or as fun as the Glyph Lights on the Phone 2 or the Phone 3a Pro, but it unquestionably makes the phone special.

However, whatever Nothing says, it’s not a flagship phone in the traditional sense. The performance, while fine day-to-day, isn’t robust enough for hardcore gaming, and the battery life is decent but never outstanding. The camera can be fun, but it’s never going to satisfy keen enthusiasts. However, if you like the design and the software, there’s a good chance none of this will be a dealbreaker, because there’s simply nothing else like it.

It’s the unconventional choice, but when brilliant phones like the OnePlus 13 and Google Pixel 9 (soon to be the Pixel 10) are around the same price, you’ve got to look for that raised heart rate around the design, Matrix, and software as proof the Phone 3 is the one to buy. If you feel it, you’ll be really pleased with your choice. Me? I like the Nothing Phone 3 a great deal, but stop short of recommending it over a fantastic all-rounder like the OnePlus 13.