Nothing CMF phone 1 review price and specifications in india

Nothing CMF Phone 1 has finally launched in India at 15999, and this is our full review with both pros and cons.

First things first, the design of this phone is truly outstanding. It takes customization to the hardware level.

you can change the back panel of this phone as easily as you change your phone cases. And not just that, you can even attach different accessories like a phone stand, a wallet, or a lanyard cable.

Changing these back panels or attaching these accessories requires a very special skill that i’m sure you guys are good at.

Now you can just pick the color and finish you like, slap it on, and you now have a completely different color phone. The black and light green have a plastic finish, while the orange and blue have a vegan leather finish. And you can even get creative by mixing and matching different colors to stand out.

This back panel costs 1499 rupees, and you get these four color options. And the accessories cost 799 rupees each. Now, the cost of the back panel is still okay, but the accessories are way overpriced.

Note: And if you’re wondering, you don’t get this screwdriver plus sim ejector tool with the phone. You get it with these additional back panels, but my advice is to use a proper regular screwdriver because this isn’t very comfortable to use and can also scratch the back panel.

I love this modularity in design, and I think it’s very exciting too.

When no one launched their first phone, transparency was their thing. And now, with the CMF phone, I think hardware customization will be their thing. And I really can’t wait to see what they’ll do next.

next. Maybe you’ll be able to design your phone from scratch or take repairability to the next level. I don’t really know, but let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves and get back to the rest of the phone. Now, for the rest of the phone, you’ll see that the camera module is placed modestly on the corner.

The frame is plastic. The power button is on the right side, volume rockers are on the left, and there’s a Type-C port at the bottom. The phone is IP52-rated, but you don’t get the headphone jack, which could be problematic for some.

If I talk about the in-hand feel, well, it’s different for different back covers. Vegan leather feels softer, while plastic is more grippy, although it’s as boxy as any other phone in this segment. It’s also quite thick and heavy compared to other phones, but it doesn’t feel uncomfortable at all. All in all, the design of this phone stands out, and it’s really exciting.

talk about the display now. On the front, it’s a pretty good AMOLED panel with a 120Hz refresh rate, and I didn’t face any visibility issues even in harsh sunlight as it gets plenty bright. But I did find the multimedia experience on this to be lacking. See, I was okay with not having HDR on Netflix, but not having stereo speakers in this budget in 2024 feels odd.

Although it does get very loud, the placement is such that you tend to block it while holding, so you have to be careful.

Apart from that, the in-display fingerprint scanner works well, but there’s no rain-touch-like feature, so you can’t use it with wet hands, and there’s no AOD as well.

Lastly, the bezels are slightly thicker than the Poco X6, and there’s this metal ring around the front camera that we usually see in Samsung phones to differentiate their budget phones from flagship ones, but I’m not sure of its purpose here. And yeah, the display is protected by Dragon Trail Pro. All in all, the display is pretty good for normal usage, but there’s a cost cut in terms of speakers.

talk about the software because that stands out big time. This is one of the rarest phones under $20,000 that doesn’t come with any bloatware or ads and doesn’t even try to trick you while setting up the phone. It just keeps things simple.

And that makes me wonder. It’s funny how keeping things simple is actually the best. And it’s not just the cleanest; it’s also quite feature-packed, as you get all the features that you get on other Nothing phones without any cutbacks, which is really nice. By the way, the phone is running on Nothing OS 2.6, based on Android 14, with 2 years of software updates and 3 years of security patches.

Plus, nothing is quite proactive in terms of updates. In fact, I have already received a couple of updates since I started using this device. In Nothing OS 2.6, you get a new gaming mode, which is good, as I did say in a video that every OS should offer some gaming features. Apart from that, a new pop-up view for multitasking, kind of like HyperOS, smart cleanup in storage settings, and more.

Plus, the app opening and closing animations are also there, in case you were wondering, because that’s the first thing brands remove from budget phones. For the software, let me put it this way:. If you’re looking for the best smartphone under $20,000 with the best software experience, I think this is the phone to get.

Talk about the performance; let me take you through it. The CMF phone 1 is powered by a Dimensity 7300 with 6GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 128GB of UFS 3.1 storage for the base variant. Before I get to the benchmarks, let me tell you that Dimensity 7300 is not an upgrade over Dimensity 7200. It’s, in fact, a rebranded 7050 with a slight grade in NPU. Smartphone processor naming is all over the place.

Antutu, CMF1 scores slightly better than Poco X6 and Narzo 70 Pro, but it doesn’t beat iQOO Z9. In Geekbench 2, it’s the same story. But in the Antutu Storage Test, CMF1 comes on top with better storage speeds.

speeds. In terms of gaming, the phone is stuck at 60 FPS in both BGMI and COD Mobile, which isn’t the best compared to what you get on the iQOO Z9, but the gameplay was pretty smooth. In Genshin, though, with 20 minutes of free roaming and some battles, the average FPS was around 38 FPS. COD Warzone was completely unplayable, even at the lowest settings, as the FPS was never stable.

Even though the gaming performance is not very good, you do get some additional gaming features such as performance mode, brightness lock, screen recording, and call and notification adjustment.

This phone is not meant for hardcore gaming, but that doesn’t mean that the games are completely unplayable. You can do some casual gaming on it. Apart from gaming, in day-to-day usage, the phone performs really well. I didn’t face any slowdowns or even app-crashing scenarios. There’s a slight lag while opening the camera app, but other than that, it’s all smooth. At 16K, this is easily one of the best-performing phones with a good software experience, but it’s not for gaming.

surprises in… cameras first of all, these are the camera specs. You get a 50-megapixel sony imx 882 as a primary sensor, along with a depth sensor and a 16-megapixel front camera. Do note that there’s no OIS. And you also don’t get an ultrawide camera.

camera. I’ll be honest, even before I started taking camera samples and testing cameras, I kind of made up my mind that the cameras on this phone were going to be bad. But, surprisingly, that wasn’t the case. In fact, the cameras on this one surprised me. In a good way. In both daytime and nighttime, the photos came out really nice. Some of it was camera work, and a lot of it was post-processing. Because when I compared these photos with the Narzo 70 Pro, many photos actually look better on CMF. But when I zoomed in, I could easily see the lack of details. But for a normal user, it won’t make much of a difference.

In the first photo, CMF captures natural colors, while in the next two shots, Realme’s photos are more realistic. and CMF boost a bit too much. I was particularly impressed by the nighttime photos because they came out really well. The outputs of both Realme and CMF were not too far from each other. Of course, Realme’s photos were better with more details and came out brighter, but CMF’s photos were not bad either. When it comes to human subjects, there are good details, be it in selfies or even portraits, but when compared to Realme Narzo, the colors are a bit too boosted. I think the camera still needs a couple of updates to fix it.

In terms of videos, you can record up to 4K 30 from the rear camera. The videos come out nice with good details, and the stability is also decent with EIS. See, the cameras on this phone are not the best, but they are not worse either. It’s

if I talk about the battery, CMF Phone 1 packs a 5000 mAh battery with 33W charging support, but sadly, you don’t get a charger in the box. But you can get an official CMF charger at the time of buying this phone for an additional 800 rupees. And that takes the phone from 20% to 100% in just one hour, which is pretty fast.

And that takes the phone from 20% to 100% in just one hour, which is pretty fast. And when it comes to the battery life, I was easily getting around 5 to 6 hours of SoT with medium to heavy usage, which is decent enough. The overnight battery drain was 1% with everything turned off and 7% with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and mobile data turned on.

front, I didn’t face any issues while taking calls or browsing the internet. In fact, I tested it with both Airtel and Jio, and it was all good. Wi-Fi reception was also pretty good, so no problems there as well. And if I talk about the specs, you get 9 5G bands, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.3, and a hybrid SIM slot.

There’s no NFC and no headphone jack, which a lot of people care about in this segment.

Now, the big question is: should you buy this phone? At 16,800 with charger included, this phone brings a lot to the table. It has a very unique, customizable design that no other phone offers. The absolute best software experience has pretty good performance, a great display, satisfactory battery life, and decent cameras. Of course, the lack of stereo speakers and OIS is an issue, along with the missing headphone jack, and the accessories are also quite costly, but other than that, the CMF Phone 1 ticks all the boxes and is in fact a pretty good option. Okay, so if you’re looking for the overall best smartphone in the 15K to 20K segment with the best software experience, I think you can very well go with the CMF Phone 1.

General
In The Box	Handset, C-C Charging Cable, Sim Tray Ejector, Safety Information and Warranty Card
Model Number	A015
Model Name	Phone 1
Color	Black
Browse Type	Smartphones
SIM Type	Dual Sim
Hybrid Sim Slot	Yes
Touchscreen	Yes
OTG Compatible	Yes
Quick Charging	Yes

Display Features
Display Size	16.94 cm (6.67 inch)
Resolution	2400 x 1080 Pixels
Resolution Type	Full HD+
GPU	ARM Mali-G615 MC2
Display Type	AMOLED Rigid LTPS
HD Game Support	Yes
Refresh Rate	120Hz
Other Display Features	–

Os & Processor Features
Operating System	Android 14
Processor Brand	Mediatek
Processor Type	Dimensity 7300 5G
Processor Core	Octa Core
Primary Clock Speed	2.5 GHz
Secondary Clock Speed	2 GHz
Tertiary Clock Speed	2 GHz

Memory & Storage Features
Internal Storage	128 GB
RAM	6 GB
Expandable Storage	2 TB
Supported Memory Card Type	MicroSD
Memory Card Slot Type	Hybrid Slot

Camera Features
Primary Camera Available	Yes
Primary Camera	50MP + 2MP
Primary Camera Features	Dual Camera Setup: 50MP Main Camera (IMX882, f/1.79 Aperture, 1/1.953 inch Sensor Size, EIS, Autofocus) + 2MP Camera (SC202CS, f/2.4 Aperture, 1/5.1 inch Sensor Size), Features: Night Mode, Live Photo, Portrait Mode (1X, 2X), Action Mode, HDR Video, Slo-Motion, Lenticular, Advanced HDR, Beauty, 50MP Ultra HD, Expert Mode, Timelapse, Panorama, Natural Mode/Vivid Mode
Secondary Camera Available	Yes
Secondary Camera	16MP Front Camera
Secondary Camera Features	Front Camera Setup: 16MP (f/2.45 Aperture, 1/3.1 inch Sensor Size, GC16B3C, EIS), Feature: Night Mode, Live Photo, Portrait Mode, HDR Video, Lenticular, Advanced HDR, Beauty, Timelapse
Flash	Yes
HD Recording	Yes
Full HD Recording	Yes
Video Recording	Yes
Video Recording Resolution	Rear Camera: 4K (at 30 fps), 1080p (at 30 fps, 60 fps, or 120 fps)
Digital Zoom	10X
Frame Rate	120 fps, 60 fps, 30 fps
Image Editor	Yes
Dual-Camera Lens	Primary Camera

Other Details
Smartphone	Yes
SIM Size	Nano Sim
Mobile Tracker	Yes
User Interface	Nothing OS 2.6
Removable Battery	No
MMS	Yes
SMS	Yes
Voice Input	Yes
Graphics PPI	395 PPI
Predictive Text Input	Yes
SIM Access	Dual Standby
Sensors	E-Compass, Gyroscope, Accelerometer, Ambient Light Sensor, Proximity Sensor, and In-Display Fingerprint Sensor
Upgradable Operating System	2 Years of Android Updates, 3 Years of Security Updates
Series	CMF Phone
GPS Type	GPS (L1), GLONASS (G1), BEIDOU (B1I), GALILEO (E1), and QZSS (L1)

Multimedia Features
Audio Formats	Playback (MP3, AAC, AAC+, WMA, AMR-NB, AMR-WB, WAV, FLAC, APE, OGG, MID, M4A, IMY, AC3, EAC3, EAC3-JOC, AC4), Recording (WAV, AAC, AMR)
Video Formats	Playback (MKV, MOV, MP4, H.265 (HEVC), AVI, WMV, TS, 3GP, FLV, WEBM), Recording (MP4) Image Supported Formats: Playback (JPEG, PNG, BMP, GIF, WEB, HEIF, HEIC, DNG), Output (JPEG, DNG)