Hands-On with the CMF by Nothing Phone 1

The CMF Phone 1 marks the first smartphone release from Nothing’s sub-brand, CMF. Positioned in the affordable segment of the market, it is priced around $250.

Out of the box, the CMF Phone 1 shares a similar aesthetic to the Nothing Phone series — unique, funky, and playful in its colors and tones. It features a simple and youthful polycarbonate body with a signature monochromatic user interface.

Design and Build

Our review unit is in black, but the back cover of the CMF Phone 1 is user-replaceable. The replacement kit includes a screwdriver, SIM ejector, three companion screws, and a matching SIM tray. The back cover can be changed in about 3 to 5 minutes. We also have replaceable covers in orange, dark blue, and sky blue. The textured back panel offers a good grip and resists smudges and fingerprints. Despite being made entirely of plastic, the phone feels well-made and polished.

Display and Ports

The phone sports a 6.67-inch FHD+ AMOLED display with a resolution of 1080 x 2400 pixels and a 120Hz refresh rate. The type of glass protection is yet to be confirmed. The right side of the phone features a silver plastic power button, while the left side houses the volume rocker. The top has a lone noise-canceling mic, and the bottom includes a USB Type-C port, primary mic, speaker grill, and SIM card slot.

Performance

Powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 7300 chipset, the CMF Phone 1 includes 8GB of RAM (with an additional 2GB RAM extension) and 256GB of internal storage. There is no microSD card slot, but the 256GB should suffice for most users. Running on Nothing OS 2.6.0 based on Android 14, the phone maintains the brand’s monochromatic user interface. The chipset performs well, scoring 648,563 points in Antutu benchmarks.

Benchmark results:

• Antutu Benchmark v10: 648,563
• Antutu Storage:
• Read: 1,042MB/s
• Write: 933MB/s
• Random: 712MB/s (Read), 475MB/s (Write)
• PCMark Work 3.0 Performance: 12,450
• Geekbench 6.3 CPU: 1,046 (Single core), 2,986 (Multi-core)
• Geekbench 6.3 GPU: 2,505 (OpenCL), 2,499 (Vulkan)

Battery Life

The phone has a 5,000mAh Li-Ion battery with a 33W charger. In our video loop test, it lasted 30 hours and 14 minutes. In the PCMark 3.0 Battery test, it scored 16 hours and 8 minutes, with tests conducted at 50% brightness, zero volume, and in airplane mode.

Camera

The main camera features a 50MP sensor with an f/1.8 aperture, delivering fairly good photos with slight oversaturation. Some shots exhibit depth miscalculations, causing unintended blurring due to a software glitch that should be fixed in future updates. The camera can record videos up to 4K at 30fps or 1080p at 60fps, with recorded videos being well-stabilized but slightly over-saturated.

Connectivity

The CMF Phone 1 supports WiFi 6E, Bluetooth 5.4, GPS, and 5G from the dual nano SIM card slots.

We will continue our testing process before publishing a full review, so stay tuned for more details!

CMF by Nothing Phone 1 Specifications:

• 6.67-inch FHD+ AMOLED display @ 1080×2400 pixels
• 120Hz refresh rate
• MediaTek Dimensity 7300 (MT6878)
• 4x ARM Cortex-A78 @ 2.5GHz, 4x ARM Cortex-A55 @ 2.0GHz
• ARM Mali-G615 MC2
• 8GB LPDDR4x RAM (+2GB RAM Extension)
• 256GB UFS 3.1 internal storage
• 50MP f/1.8 main camera, 26mm
• 5G, Dual nano SIM
• WiFi 6E
• Bluetooth 5.4
• GPS, BeiDou, Glonass, Galileo, QZSS, NavIC
• 5,000mAh Li-Ion battery
• NOTHING OS 2.6.0 (based on Android 14)