Nothing CMF Phone 1 Price, Specs, Features and Best Deals

Nothing launched the CMF Phone 1 as the first member of the subbrand “CMF” on July 12, 2024. The Nothing CMF Phone 1 smartphone offers a balanced blend of style, functionality, and affordability with extensive hardware customization options. It features a 6.67 inches AMOLED display, dual rear camera (50 MP +2 MP), under-display fingerprint scanner, 5000 mAh battery, and is powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 7300 chipset.

Design

The Nothing CMF Phone 1 is a distinctive device that sets itself apart with a design that emphasizes both functionality and customization. The front of the phone features a sleek glass finish, giving it a polished and premium look.

However, what truly makes the Nothing CMF Phone 1 unique is its back panel, which is engineered for modularity and personalization. The back panel can be unscrewed and swapped with different colored panels, offering four color options: black, light green, blue, and orange.

This is not just a superficial case swap; the removable back casing is an integral part of the phone’s design, allowing users to change the look of the device itself rather than merely covering it up. The back panel design also features an industrial aesthetic, highlighted by four visible stainless steel screws that secure the panel in place.

These screws, along with a fifth, wheel-like screw located at the bottom right corner, can be unscrewed to remove the panel and replace it with another, adding to the phone’s customizable nature. A flathead screwdriver is provided with any replacement case to facilitate this process.

Furthermore, on the back of the CMF Phone 1 is the circular element near the rear of the back panel, which at first glance looks like a potentiometer. However, this feature is actually called the “Accessory Point,” and it isn’t electronically connected to anything.

Instead, the round plastic cover can be popped out to reveal an attachment point for additional accessories, offering another layer of functionality and customization to the user. The phone also features a matte plastic coating on the black color option, providing a nice tactile experience, along with a faux leather texture that adds a touch of sophistication.

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The mechanical design of the CMF Phone 1 is further emphasized by the exposed screws and the removable dial or wheel, which contribute to its rugged and industrial feel. However, the battery is non-removable. There are some protective layers on top of the battery pack and a warning label that you should not attempt battery disassembly unless you are “authorized.”

The dual-camera setup is housed in a pill-shaped elevated bump in the top left corner of the back panel, maintaining a clean and symmetrical appearance. Beneath the camera setup, there’s a subtle CMF branding, which adds to the minimalist aesthetic of the device.

On the functional side, the Nothing CMF Phone 1 comes with a single bottom-firing loudspeaker, offering adequate sound output for casual media consumption. However, the device lacks a 3.5mm audio jack and other features like an IR blaster, which might be a consideration for some users. The SIM tray is a hybrid design, meaning users have to choose between a second nano-SIM card or a microSD card, adding a level of flexibility depending on the user’s needs.

You may also be interested in the Nothing Phone (2) and the Nothing Phone (2a).

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Display

The Nothing CMF Phone 1 is equipped with a 6.67-inch AMOLED panel that delivers a resolution of 1800 x 2400 pixels, resulting in a sharp and vibrant visual experience with a pixel density of approximately 395 ppi. This display size contributes to an ~85.1% screen-to-body ratio, offering an immersive viewing experience with minimal bezels.

The screen supports a maximum refresh rate of 120Hz, providing smooth scrolling and fluid animations, which is especially beneficial for gaming and other high-motion content. Users can choose between the 120Hz mode for the smoothest experience or switch to 60Hz to conserve battery life, though the display notably lacks a 90Hz mode, a popular middle ground in modern smartphones. The touch sampling rate is equally impressive at 240Hz, ensuring that the screen is highly responsive to touch inputs, which enhances the overall user experience, particularly in fast-paced games and applications.

In terms of brightness, the CMF Phone 1’s display is highly capable. The manufacturer claims the Super AMOLED panel can reach a peak brightness of up to 2,000 nits, making it one of the brightest screens in its category. This exceptional brightness ensures that the display remains clearly visible even under direct sunlight, providing a comfortable viewing experience in all lighting conditions. The typical brightness level ranges between 500 and 700 nits, which is more than adequate for most indoor and outdoor scenarios.

Additionally, the CMF Phone 1’s display is further enhanced by its support for advanced HDR standards, including HDR10, HDR10+, and HLG. This array of HDR decoder support ensures that the phone can deliver a superior viewing experience with enhanced contrast, deeper blacks, and more vivid colors when watching HDR content.

The display is also protected by Dragontail Pro Glass, a robust material that is claimed to offer strength equivalent to that of Gorilla Glass 5. This protection is crucial for preventing scratches and minor impacts, helping to maintain the display’s clarity and integrity over time.

In addition to its brightness and durability, the CMF Phone 1’s display supports 8-bit color, allowing it to render a wide range of colors with good accuracy. The inclusion of 960 Hz PWM dimming further enhances the viewing experience by reducing flicker at lower brightness levels, which can be easier on the eyes during prolonged use. The Always-on Display feature is another practical addition, providing users with quick access to time, notifications, and other key information without fully waking the phone.

Camera

The Nothing CMF Phone 1 offers a rich photography experience, with a dual camera setup on the rear and a single front camera.

The main rear camera is a 50 MP Sony IMX882 sensor with an f/1.8 aperture, a large 1/1.95″ sensor size, and 0.8µm pixel size, making it well-suited for capturing detailed and vibrant images, especially in well-lit conditions.

It also features PDAF which ensures quick and accurate focusing, which is crucial for capturing sharp photos even in dynamic environments. Although it lacks the OIS or advanced autofocus, the PDAF helps provide vivid picture quality. This camera is capable of recording video at 2160p (4K) at 30fps, offering high-resolution video with good detail and clarity.

Additionally, this affordable phone sports a 2 MP depth sensor using the SmartSens SC202, with an f/2.4 aperture and a 1/5.1″ sensor size. While modest in resolution, this depth sensor plays a key role in enhancing portrait shots by providing accurate depth information, enabling the camera to create a more natural bokeh effect, which blurs the background while keeping the subject in sharp focus.

On the front, the Nothing CMF Phone 1 features a 16 MP GalaxyCore GC16B3 sensor with an f/2.0 aperture and a 1/3.1″ sensor size, which is designed to capture sharp and well-exposed selfies. This front camera supports 1080p video recording at 30fps, ensuring that users can record smooth and clear video footage for vlogs, video calls, or social media.

Both the front and rear cameras of the CMF Phone 1 come equipped with a “True Lens Engine,” which includes several advanced features to enhance image quality. Ultra XDR enhances dynamic range, ensuring that both shadows and highlights are well-represented in photos.

AI Vivid Mode boosts color saturation and contrast for more vibrant images, while Night Mode improves low-light performance by reducing noise and enhancing detail in darker scenes. The Portrait Optimizer ensures that portraits are well-lit and the subject’s skin tones are natural, and Motion Capture helps in freezing fast-moving subjects, reducing blur, and maintaining sharpness.

More so, the rear camera setup also offers additional features such as LED flash, panorama, and HDR, further extending its versatility.

Hardware and Software

The Nothing CMF Phone 1 is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 7300 chipset, a modern SoC that builds upon the foundations of the older Dimensity 7050, but with significant improvements. The most notable upgrade is the 4nm manufacturing process, which enhances power efficiency by up to 25% compared to its 6nm predecessor.

This efficiency boost is crucial for extending battery life and ensuring smoother performance under heavy usage. The octa-core CPU configuration consists of four high-performance Cortex-A78 cores clocked at 2.5 GHz and four energy-efficient Cortex-A55 cores at 2.0 GHz, providing a balanced mix of power and efficiency for various tasks. The Mali-G615 MC2 GPU handles the graphics, ensuring that the device can run games and handle multimedia content with ease.

In terms of memory and storage, the CMF Phone 1 offers several configurations: 128GB of internal storage paired with either 6GB or 8GB of RAM, and a more spacious 256GB model with 8GB of RAM. These options cater to different user needs, whether it’s for basic usage or more demanding applications. Additionally, the phone supports microSDXC, allowing users to expand their storage further, which is a valuable feature for those who require more space for media and apps.

The device runs on Nothing OS 2.6, a custom skin on top of Android 14. This operating system is designed to offer a clean, bloatware-free user interface, akin to what is found on higher-end Nothing smartphones. The OS promises a streamlined and smooth user experience, with regular updates ensuring the latest features and security enhancements. Nothing has committed to providing two years of major Android updates and three years of security patches for the CMF Phone 1, which adds to its long-term value.

The battery capacity of the CMF Phone 1 is a robust 5000 mAh, ensuring that the device can easily last through a full day of usage. The Nothing phone supports 33W wired charging, which allows for quick top-ups, although it lacks wireless charging capabilities. Additionally, the phone offers 5W reverse wired charging, useful for charging other devices in a pinch.

Despite some of its advanced features, the Nothing CMF Phone 1 omits a near-field communication (NFC) sensor, meaning users won’t be able to use the Android phone for contactless payments. However, it supports a comprehensive set of connectivity options, including Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6, dual-band, Bluetooth 5.3, and 5G, ensuring fast and reliable connections in various environments. The under-display fingerprint sensor is another highlight, offering quick and reliable authentication, and adding to the device’s user-friendly experience.

Nothing CMF Phone 1 Price and Availability

Nothing CMF Phone 1 price starts at around $239.99 at leading retailers. The model offering 8GB RAM and 128GB ROM retails for 209.00 GBP and 239.00 EUR on Amazon stores in the United Kingdom and Germany. Nothing CMF Phone 1 price in Nigeria starts at around 499,000 Naira for the model with 8GB RAM and 256GB ROM.