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[Music]
This is the Nothing Phone 3, the brand’s
very first flagship phone release. And
one thing’s for sure, you’d either love
it
or hate it to your core.
>> There’s no in between, you know, besides
the home and No, no, no. Wow, man.
>> But let’s set aside any of your
impressions for now because beyond the
looks, how is the performance? How do
the cameras perform? What about battery
life? We’re going to answer all that in
this full review. So, without further
ado, I’m your host CJ. Let’s get right
into the video.
Right off the bat, let’s talk about the
looks. While nothing is known for its
quirky designs, like integrating a mix
of both industrial and transparent look
into pretty much all of their devices,
what they did with the phone 3 is quite
intriguing, I would say. For the most
part, it carries nothing’s DNA with that
transparent back panel and geometrical
pattern splashed everywhere. However,
you would notice a major design change
here, and that’s the absence of the
iconic glyph interface. those strips of
LED lights at the rear from previous
Nothing Phones
gone and now replaced by the so-called
glyph matrix, which is that little guy
right there. The glyph matrix is
essentially a secondary screen.
Although, as the name implies, this mini
screen is housed in a circular panel and
features a dot matrix array to display
graphics and images. When you think
about it, the glyph matrix is actually
thematic to nothing’s design language,
and that’s cool. Interestingly, it gets
accompanied with a capacitive button
just a couple of inches below the glyph
matrix. A single tap lets you cycle
through the glyph toys, and long press
lets you interact with it. You can
actually play spin the bottle on this
thing and rock paper scissors. It’s fun
definitely, especially for someone like
me who naturally leaves my phone facing
down on the table. However, there isn’t
much real utility that you can get out
of this aside from the custom
notification icons or the viewfinder, I
guess. But beyond those, it’s basically
just an aesthetic flare telling you that
this phone is a nothing phone. Period.
On the bright side, you now have a new
toy to fidget with whenever you’re bored
or whatever. But enough of the glyph
matrix. Let’s talk about the elephant in
the room. Taking a good look at the
Nothing Phone 3’s design, I’ve got mixed
feelings with it. As much as I want to
appreciate the aesthetics and all, that
asymmetrical camera layout bugs the heck
out of me. It’s not bad, per se, I
understand the intention. It’s just a
very interesting design choice to place
the periscope lens way off the edge and
misaligned with the other two lenses.
Everything else aside from that, though,
the phone looks nice and wellcrafted.
I’ll give it that. Well, that’s just my
take, so to each their own. Moving on to
build quality, it gets flagship grade
materials, a glass back with coining
Gorilla Glass placed on both the front
and back panels, and a smudger resistant
flat aluminum frame. The phone is also
IP68 rated for dust and water
resistance. For IO’s, just like the
previous iterations, you get the power
button on the right side accompanied
with the essential key. The volume
rocker is on the left, while the USBC
port is on the bottom as usual, along
with a speaker grill, a microphone slit,
and the SIM card tray. Up top, there’s
the second speaker grill and another
microphone. And by the way, that little
red square on the back actually lights
up and blink when you’re recording a
video. Flip the phone over, you’re
greeted by a 6.67 in flexible AMOLED
display running at a smooth 120 Hz
refresh rate. Peak brightness maxes out
at 4500 nits and it gets Gorilla Glass
7i on top. Mind you, this glass is
mostly used in mid-range devices and the
main difference is that it’s not quite
on par with the likes of the Victus line
that’s used on other flagships. Weirdly
enough, the Nothing Phone 3 is marketed
as a flagship phone. Yet, there’s no
LTPO here. The average user may not
notice it unless they look at the spec
sheet, but it just means it misses out
on some power efficiency that the LTPO
panels offer. Despite that, the Phone 3
provides stunning visuals with sharp
detail, vivid colors, and good contrast
with deeper blacks. It has even bezels
all around, although it’s not as thin
for some reason that it almost looks
like a Galaxy A56.
Still, I’ll take the even bezels any
day. For audio, it features dual stereo
speakers that output a nice sound stage
with clear highs and mids and seemingly
decent punchy bass. Security-wise, the
phone gets an underdis fingerprint
sensor. It’s an optical one rather than
an ultrasonic, but yeah, the unlocking
experience is still fast in my opinion.
Now, on to camera performance. As the
first flagship, I have high expectations
for the Nothing Phone 3. It features a
triple rear setup led by a trio of 50
megapixel sensors for primary camera
with OIS, an ultrawide, and a periscope
telephoto lens also with OIS. While up
front is yet another 50 megapixel sensor
for selfies. As far as the image quality
is concerned, the Nothing Phone 3 did
not disappoint. Images coming out from
the device offer flagship level quality
with sharp visuals, good color
reproduction, and good dynamic range.
Ultra wide shots are nice, too. However,
the periscope telephoto with three times
optical zoom makes the colors a bit
unnatural with softer detail, even in
bright environments. Speaking of, one
thing I noticed though is that most of
the shots are brighter than usual, and
the phone tends to wash out the black so
often. But if ever that happens, a
simple exposure adjustment will do. As
for video capture, the Phone 3 also does
a great job. Details are sharp, though
colors tend to be warmer at times. It
doesn’t quite match the new iPhones in
terms of quality, but it’s good enough
for your casual snaps, especially with
the amount of flexibility this phone
brings.
Moving on to performance, this is where
things go a little. Inside the Nothing
Phone 3 is the Snapdragon 8S Gen 4.
Sure, it’s the latest one from Qualcomm,
and yes, it’s technically a flagship
level chipset, but it’s hard not to ask,
why isn’t it using the cuttingedge
Snapdragon 8 Elite instead? To make
matters worse, the Poco F7 exists using
the same Snapdragon 8S Gen 4, and yet
it’s priced at nearly half the cost of
the Nothing Phone 3. I must say, it’s
not just about the flagship chip. I
understand that there are other factors
at play like R&D, hardware, and so on
that influence the final price, but for
a first nothing flagship, I would have
preferred it to have the latest and
greatest chipset available. But that’s
just my take. Setting that thought
aside, the average user will barely see
any difference. The Snapdragon 8S Gen 4
in its own right is a pretty capable
chipset overall. In fact, our benchmark
results back that up. And we’re flashing
the scores on your screen right now.
[Music]
With that in mind, the phone handles
everyday tasks with ease. Navigation
feels smooth and it can easily run all
your casual games while performing
surprisingly well with more graphically
demanding titles. Playing with maxed out
graphics is definitely possible,
although I prefer keeping it on medium
settings to avoid overworking the chip
and to save on some power consumption.
It does heat up after prolonged use, but
it’s usually not alarmingly hot, mainly
thanks to a fairly lightweight and
optimized software, which we’ll talk
about next. The Nothing Phone 3 runs on
the Nothing OS 3.5 based on Android 15
out of the box. As you’d expect out of a
Nothing device, the UI looks nice and
clean, free of any bloatware, except for
the first party apps, of course. It
almost feels like stock Android, but
with a little bit of nothing flare, like
those dot matrix text and graphics on
the widgets, the monochrome icons, and
of course, the addition of essential
space. As someone who tends to take note
of every possible thing I come up to, I
appreciate this feature, especially with
the handy button on the side, which is
the essential key. It’s basically a
supercharged notes app that curates your
images, screenshots, reminders, and even
voice notes in a more userfriendly way.
Essentially, a thought organizer of
sorts. Going back to the glyph matrix,
there’s also a dedicated settings menu
where you can create custom
notifications. This is also where you’ll
find the glyph toys for a quick
overview. Perhaps one of the best things
about the Nothing Phone 3 is its promise
to get 5 years of major OS upgrades and
7 years of security patches. That’s a
step up from previous Nothing Phones
that have shorter update windows.
Another strength of the Nothing Phone 3
lies in its battery life. While the
phone gets a slightly larger 5,150
milliamp unit, it can easily last you an
entire day of use. perhaps thanks to our
more optimized software. If you’re
interested in our PC Mark battery life
test, here’s the result we got. As for
charging, the Phone 3 supports 65 watt
of wired and 15 watt of wireless
charging. These aren’t the fastest
charging tech in the market, but they’ll
do just fine. Sadly, no bypass charging
here, so keep that in mind.
Connectivitywise, the phone features
dual nano SIM along with eSIM support,
5G, NFC, Wi-Fi 7, and Bluetooth 6. Now,
we’ve come to the last part of this
review, the price. The Nothing Phone 3
starts at 44,999
pesos for the 12 GB plus 256 GB config,
while the larger 512 GB version goes for
50,999
pesos. At that price, it sounds like a
flagship for sure. While there are some
clear cutbacks like having no LTPO OLED
display or not opting to use a true
flagship chip like the Snapdragon 8
Elite, those who get the Nothing Phone 3
are surely in for a good flagship
experience at the very least. After all,
it still has a nice screen, superb
cameras, a sleek and clean software
experience with longer updates, and
solid battery life. All working together
to deliver one of the better, if not the
best, flagship experiences available at
a significantly lower cost as compared
to the big guns like Apple or Samsung.
But what do you guys think of the
Nothing Phone 3? Will you get this
anytime soon? We’d love to hear your
thoughts in the comment section below.
If you find this video helpful and
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check out yog.com for the latest tech
news and reviews. Once again, this has
been CJ, and I’ll see you guys in the
next video. Bye. See you later.
[Music]
⚠️ This transcription is auto-generated from YouTube captions. Some text may not be 100% accurate.
Alright, team. We’ve got something truly polarizing on our test bench this week.
The Nothing Phone 3 has finally landed, and let’s just say it’s already sparking some… passionate debates in the office. Is it a stroke of genius or a step too far? We unboxed it, and the first reactions were priceless. One editor called it ‘the future,’ while another just stared at it, utterly confused.
That’s the magic of Nothing’s design philosophy. It forces you to pick a side. But here’s the real question we set out to answer: once you get past the initial shock (or awe), is this actually a good daily driver for someone in the Philippines? We didn’t just admire it from afar.
We took it out into the Manila heat, tested its camera against our chaotic cityscapes, and pushed its battery through a typical workday packed with meetings, commutes, and doomscrolling. In this video, we explore everything from that massive, controversial design change to how it handles Grab orders and video calls.
Does removing its most iconic feature make it better, or does it lose its soul? Watch as we test the Phone 3’s real-world chops to see if its performance can finally back up all the hype and conversation it generates.
What You’ll See in This Video
- The biggest shocker? The iconic Glyph Interface LED strips are completely gone, replaced by something called a Glyph Matrix—a circular secondary screen with a dot-matrix display.
- We put the new camera system through its paces in classic Philippine lighting, from bright midday sun to dimly lit restaurants, to see if it can finally compete.
- Battery life is crucial for on-the-go Filipinos. We ran our standard stress test to see if it can last from a morning commute to a late-night gaming session.
- Performance is flagship-level on paper, but how does it handle the everyday app-switching and multitasking we all do? No spoilers, but we have thoughts.
- That unique capacitive button below the Glyph Matrix isn’t just for show. You can actually play games like spin the bottle on it. Yes, really.
Did Nothing make a bold upgrade or a misstep with the Phone 3? To see our final verdict, the full camera samples, and just how fun that Glyph Matrix can be, you gotta watch the full review on our YouTube channel!
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Is the Nothing Phone 3 officially available in the Philippines?
A: Nothing hasn’t announced official Philippine availability yet for the Phone 3. It’s often a staggered global release, so we’re keeping our eyes peeled for any local distributor announcements.
Q: How much will the Nothing Phone 3 cost if it arrives here?
A: Based on its global flagship positioning, we can expect it to be in the premium segment, likely starting in the range of PHP 50,000 and above, but final local pricing will depend on taxes and distributor mark-up.
Q: Is the battery life good for heavy use?
A: We tested it with a mix of mobile data, video streaming, and social media to simulate a heavy user’s day. You’ll have to watch the video to see if it made it to bedtime without a panic search for a power bank.
Q: Can you still use the Glyph features for notifications?
A: Yes, but in a completely new way! The Glyph Matrix repurposes that small circular screen for alerts, widgets, and even interactive mini-games. It’s a different approach that we explore in detail in the video.
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