All of the options I wish to see

Carl Pei wasn’t happy with making historical past simply as soon as with OnePlus. In early 2021, he introduced the formation of a brand new firm known as Nothing. Whereas the very first Nothing Telephone confirmed promise, the Nothing Telephone 2 demonstrated a considerably extra refined effort, leaving me optimistic in regards to the firm’s future. Since then, we’ve seen the Nothing Telephone 2a and 2a Plus as properly. Though the Nothing Telephone 3 isn’t anticipated till 2025, we’re excited to see what’s subsequent from the corporate.

There are specific facets I hope to see addressed with the Nothing Telephone 3. Right here’s my wishlist, together with the restricted data accessible in regards to the gadget up to now.

The Nothing Telephone stays considerably of an enigma. Is it designed for energy customers, avid gamers, worth customers, or spec fanatics? It type of appeals to all of those teams, however solely partially. Whereas it undoubtedly delivers a robust efficiency, it additionally makes compromises in varied areas, together with construct supplies and the digital camera bundle. Judging by our readers’ pursuits and my very own, it appears that evidently the Nothing model presently appeals to people searching for uncooked energy and a particular look that stands out in a crowd. Sometimes, this type of consumer is keen to pay a premium for such an expertise, making an improve to a extra true flagship expertise a doubtlessly well-received transfer. This improve begins with enhancements in safety and sturdiness.

The Nothing Telephone 2 is rated at simply IP54; this can be a rarity within the smartphone world and is notably much less spectacular than the extra frequent IP68 ranking. For the Nothing Telephone 3, I wish to see the model tackle this limitation whereas additionally upgrading to newer glass expertise. The Gorilla Glass 5 on Nothing’s present flagship is beginning to present its age, particularly contemplating that Gorilla Glass Victus has turn into the brand new gold commonplace for top-tier telephones, with the unique Victus typically featured on entry-level flagships.

The most important criticism in regards to the unique Nothing Telephone was that it was underpowered, a priority that was partially addressed with the Nothing Telephone 2. Nonetheless, there’s nonetheless room for enchancment. Regardless of that includes a potent Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Plus SoC, the Nothing Telephone 2 seems to throttle its GPU extra aggressively than telephones with comparable specs. Whereas the very best Qualcomm chip won’t be needed, refining the consumer expertise to make sure efficiency matches that of telephones in the identical worth vary is essential. On the very least, together with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 within the Nothing Telephone 3 must be a precedence, particularly contemplating that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is predicted to set a brand new commonplace by then.

Not all energy customers prioritize having the greatest digital camera; some are extra into cellular gaming, emulators, and different geekier pursuits. Regardless, whereas the digital camera won’t be the deciding issue for energy customers, it stays an vital consideration. Regrettably, Nothing has been comparatively conservative with its digital camera setups. The Nothing Telephone 2 featured an almost similar mediocre digital camera suite to its predecessor, although it did improve its most important sensor to the IMX890. Whereas an improve, it wasn’t as substantial as one would possibly hope.

At the moment, the Nothing Telephone 2 performs adequately in good lighting situations, and even its low-light photographs are acceptable. Nonetheless, its colours are typically overly contrast-heavy, sometimes bleeding into different objects and surfaces. Moreover, it displays a noticeable shutter lag in comparison with different telephones just like the Pixel 7 Professional. Whereas the primary shooter typically does a passable job, the first concern lies with the Samsung JN1 used for its ultrawide digital camera. This sensor produces muddy textures and halo results, regardless of the corporate’s efforts to reinforce the expertise with software program updates. Even when Nothing decides to retain the IMX890, it ought to think about changing the JN1 with a extra trendy sensor.

One other vital concern is the selfie shooter. Whereas it performs adequately, its limitation to 1080p looks like a significant oversight in in the present day’s world of bloggers and TikTok customers. It’s hoped that the Nothing Telephone 3 will provide true 4K efficiency for video recording, addressing this obvious limitation.

Okay, this can be a comparatively minor level in comparison with all of the others, however I’d wish to see an improved sound expertise with the Nothing Telephone 3. The Nothing Telephone 2 has a considerably tinny sound high quality to it. Whereas many people use Bluetooth earbuds for cellular audio, having a set of fine inside audio system remains to be appreciated whenever you wish to rapidly present somebody one thing in your cellphone.

One other small level for these in america is the shortage of Verizon assist. This possible comes right down to Verizon’s strict certification processes moderately than a real lack of functionality. The truth is Verizon is not a CDMA provider, which was the primary concern. Now it’s typically potential to get unsupported telephones to work with Verizon, although their precise efficiency could range. If Nothing needs to hunt wider enchantment within the US market, including official Verizon assist can be a simple method to do it. Verizon can be no stranger to partnering with carriers for unique additions that play nicer with their community.

The Nothing Telephone 2 made vital strides on the software program entrance, remodeling the consumer expertise into one thing extra polished and refined. Nonetheless, there’s nonetheless room for enchancment, notably in the case of the Glyph, which, for my part, stays extra of a gimmick than a real game-changer.

With the addition of extra LED strips and modern Glyph options corresponding to Glyph Composer for personalised sounds and Important Glyph for prioritizing sure apps, the Nothing Telephone 2 showcased loads of developments. Nonetheless, many of those options felt like good extras with restricted sensible assist. For example, the function permitting the Glyph to gentle up when your Uber journey is nearing completion is cool, however the lack of assist for different companies like Lyft or supply apps diminishes its general utility.

To really elevate the Glyph’s standing, Nothing should entice third-party assist. Sadly, Nothing hasn’t had excellent luck right here. Its third-party dealings have both been very restricted, like within the case of Uber, or a bit ill-advised, like its collaboration with Sunbird for Nothing Chats. What holds Nothing again is that builders are sometimes leary to work on such units as they’ll solely assist the very small area of interest market of Nothing Telephone house owners. That’s not a simple drawback to beat with out throwing round cash. That’s one thing a more moderen firm actually can’t afford to do.

Even when Nothing manages to safe extra app assist for personalized notifications and Glyph utilization, it won’t be sufficient. The corporate must discover modern methods to make use of it first, which is a tall order. For instance, envision a situation the place Nothing creates a free common commonplace, enabling Nothing Telephone customers to make use of their gadget as a buzzer alternative in eating places or retail institutions. Collaborating with main retailers and chain eating places to implement such a function could possibly be a strategic transfer. That’s only one half-baked thought, however the level is the extra locations the Glyph can be utilized the extra it can show itself as a official function.

• Nothing Telephone — July 21, 2022
• Nothing Telephone 2 — July 17, 2023

Sure, the Nothing Telephone 3 will finally floor, it’s simply onerous to say when that may occur.

Traditionally the Nothing Telephone collection launches in July, however the Nothing Telephone 3 is in a singular place. Not like most firms, Nothing isn’t committing to the everyday yearly launch cycle for its flagship, at the very least not in 2024. Pei says that don’t wish to compete and as a substitute wish to do their very own factor, even going so far as to reference how Nintendo makes its personal manner as a substitute of following the everyday guidelines of the gaming trade.

This implies we gained’t see the Nothing Telephone 3 till someday in 2025.

What’s tougher to say is whether or not this implies early 2025 or the everyday July timeframe. The rumor mill has been silent on that entrance, although I think they could at the very least launch a bit sooner than normal with the intention to forestall too broad of a niche between mannequin releases. I really feel like a Might or June launch would possibly work out fairly properly, because it’s sufficient time that the Galaxy S25 launch hype will die down.

Nearly every little thing we all know in regards to the Nothing Telephone 3 predates Carl Pei’s announcement there gained’t be a brand new mannequin this 12 months. Again in April, a leaker named Dylan Roussel revealed two Nothing Telephone codenames: PacMan Professional and Tetris. The previous turned out to be the Nothing Telephone 2a Plus, due to this fact many speculated the latter could be the Nothing Telephone 3.

Past that, we additionally noticed a picture shared by Nothing again in Might that centered on an OS replace nevertheless it was quickly noticed that the gadget within the mockups had a fourth button and some different minor design adjustments. Whether or not this really finally ends up being the Telephone 3 or not is much less clear, particularly since there should still be a good period of time earlier than the cellphone is launched.

Actually, no. The Nothing Telephone 3 would possibly shock us and arrive in early 2025, or it could be later in the summertime. In different phrases, you could be higher off simply shopping for the Telephone 2, or the superb Telephone 2a Plus, now.

In case you simply need a good cellphone and aren’t offered on the Telephone 2’s present options? The Google Pixel 9 ($799 at Amazon) or Samsung Galaxy S24 ($859.99 at Amazon) are in all probability extra sensible choices with higher software program assist, higher cameras, and related (or typically even higher) efficiency.