CMF Phone 1 Analysis

In my opinion, Nothing has already had a wild impact on the smartphone market as a whole. Not only have they managed to earn their role as a disruptor for the first time, but they’ve done so with an honesty we’ve rarely seen since the early days of OnePlus. Founder Carl Pei believes in visual appeal, that visual design is truly an important part of how we interact with our phones, and Nothing’s Glyph has put them back on the tech map, along with competitive pricing.

Now they’re ready to put the competition to the test again with CMF, a new sub-brand that aims to be even cheaper without sacrificing extravagant design or quality. At the time of writing, the CMF Phone 1 is available for around £240, and the simple fact that it’s not eWaste to begin with is impressive in itself.

So what do you get for your £240? A MediaTek Dimensity 7300 5G chipset built on a 4nm process, paired with 8-16GB of RAM, a 6.67-inch AMOLED display with an adaptive 120Hz refresh rate that can reach 2,000 nits, and a reasonably wide camera lens. Still, it’s easy to argue that you get a lot for your money.

But things get even better, as the phone weighs just over 200 grams, giving it a solid weight, and the back is not plastic but faux leather, which is a great way to give a sense of quality without using much more expensive materials like titanium or even lightweight aluminum alloy. It also has Bluetooth 5.3, WIFI 6, 33W charging, and a 5,000mAh battery, as well as being “dust and splash resistant,” though without an actual IP certification. It even has a microSD, so you can easily expand it up to 2TB.

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The best part is that CMF is pitching this as a kind of cohesive accessory ecosystem, and I caution bored Android fans who are quick to dismiss anything other than an extra CPU core or optical zoom as a “gimmick.” It’s exactly what it is, but it adds a lot of personality to this budget phone. Instead of selling cases, the back is secured with small clear screws, and you get a matching screwdriver in the box. CMF then sells you the entire back in a variety of colors, and it’s with those screws that you can buy the distinctive MagSafe surface with strong magnets, a wallet, and more. It’s purely visual, no doubt, but CMF has a unique opportunity to offer much more practical benefits here, too, and MagSafe is actually pretty clever (even if the phone sadly lacks wireless charging).

Nothing made any concessions to CMF in any aspect, including software. CMF Phone 1 launches with Nothing OS 2.6the same version as the Nothing Phone models, now “more expensive”. Combined with the sensitive screen, it’s sometimes very difficult to tell that you’re using a phone that actually costs a fifth of the Samsung Galaxy Ultra or any other flagship. Everything is responsive, works well enough, and has the typical Nothing OS style.

There are times, however, when these commitments come into play. The vibration motor is pretty bad, and the same can be said for the single mono speaker. Make no mistake, there are aspects of the basic user experience where a £240 phone simply can’t maintain the illusion that it’s exactly the same as a much more expensive phone. It’s unrealistic. But wow, the CMF actually comes close in this regard.

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The camera system consists of a Sony IMX882 sensor as the main one. It has a 50-megapixel camera with an f/1.8 aperture and is accompanied by a relatively simple 2-megapixel depth sensor. Yes, you read that right. There’s no second camera, no ultra-wide-angle lens, no telephoto lens, and thankfully no cheap macro either. That’s surprisingly honest and in contrast to many budget phones from Chinese brands that have a habit of cramming macro lenses next to a cheap ultra-wide lens and then calling it a “triple-camera system.” The images are fine, but not noteworthy. They’re passable, but certainly not Pixel- or flagship-like. It’s what you’d expect from cheap phones in 2024, and that’s ultimately a compliment.

There’s nothing wrong with their first CMF phone, and with the Watch 2 Pro and the entire ecosystem of accessories, they’ve earned their role as game changers once again. There’s little to complain about, and overall it’s a win for the consumer.