It took 8 phone models (across the Nothing and CMF brands) to get to the Phone (3), and now I can finally say with confidence that Nothing is genuinely building a phone that feels ‘fun’. No, I didn’t think the Glyph Interface was a gimmick (although the one on the Phone (2) didn’t feel substantially better than the predecessor), but I definitely knew it wasn’t Nothing’s magnum opus. To me, it was just a placeholder for something better… and the Glyph Matrix on the Phone (3) feels like we’re finally getting there.
Carl Pei debuted the Nothing Phone (3) today, and while most blogs will talk about the phone itself, or the new Glyph Matrix while mourning the death of the Glyph Interface, I’m here making a bold prediction. I’m putting my money on two things – Firstly, the Glyph Matrix WILL eventually become a bigger element on later phones. And secondly, the pixelated dot-matrix display’s unique appeal will spawn a ‘marketplace’ or a community of its own, sort of like how Apple birthed the very idea of a smartphone ‘app store’.
Designer: Nothing
What I Love – The Glyph 2.0, The Physical Button, The Recording Light
The Glyph Matrix (I believe I was probably the first to use that term exactly a month ago) really feels like the Glyph Interface matured and grew character. It feels more sentient, capable of communicating, and has much more depth than those seemingly arbitrary blinking lights that either danced to music/tunes or presented a rudimentary timer of sorts. The Matrix is literally another dimension, from a single 1-dimensional row of lights, you’ve now got a 2D grid, capable of actually displaying information. Why is that important? Because it supports Nothing’s philosophy of ‘fun’.
ASUS did it with the ROG Phone, and Nothing’s doing it with their Phone (3) too. The idea is to make the back more appealing than the front (at least in a way that feels more unique and fun). The Glyph Matrix does that. It really does feel like a show-stealer, like the free toy with a box of cereal – arguably secondary in product priority but more in emotional priority. I don’t spend minutes staring at the back of my iPhone, there’s nothing to be gained from it – but the Nothing Phone (3) actually compels you to interact with the back panel. It’s a distraction from the distraction that is your phone’s primary screen and all the app notifications. To me, that’s a major win.
What really clinches it for the Phone (3) is that the Matrix doesn’t make you a spectator. It has a dedicated button that lets you interact with it, something that adds meaning and value. It isn’t an ambient display anymore – it’s something with ‘user control’, something that you’ll actually grow fond of.
This pairs with that red square in the middle of the camera setup. On previous versions, it merely sat there as an opaque block, punctuating the visual monotony with a small speck of color. Now, finally, the red square gets purpose, as it glows when you’re recording video. Is it a major jump in design or tech capabilities? No. Is it meaningful? Yes. And that’s what I love.
What I Don’t Love – The Off-Set Camera Layout, Wireless Charging Confusion, The Price
I won’t dwell on it much, but anyone plagued by the lack of symmetry will look at that camera layout and grimace in pain. The periscope lens sits significantly off-center compared to the other lenses – something that’s exacerbated by the fact that the Nothing team actually mentioned that the phone’s elements on the back actually follow a grid, with parts lining up if you place older and newer models side by side. It’s an issue I raised with the Phone 3a Pro too, but then again, the alignment factor is more subjective than an objective reality.
What really did surprise, however, was that the complete redesign also ditched the wireless charging coil on the outside – a crucial visual element that pretty much gave you a visual overview of where to place your wireless charger, while also being a graphical distinction between the flagship and A-series phone. Now, the Phone (3) ditches that coil design completely. Yes, there still IS wireless charging, but it’s more of a guessing game now. It makes no sense.
Pair that with the Phone (3)’s starting $799 price, and it does feel odd. Is the Phone (3) a true flagship? Only time (and reviews) will tell, but the brand built itself on accessibility and community. To now go to the same community and ask them to shell out the exact same amount of money as an iPhone 16 feels, well, insulting. The only consolation is that now you also have a cheaper A-series and a CMF Phone 2 to choose from. Maybe that’s why Nothing left the Phone (3) announcement for later, just so that the audience still has a phone that’s ‘achievable’.
What I Predict – The Glyph ‘Marketplace’, A Future Nothing Tablet
Onto the predictions – and I have three broad ones. Firstly, and I stake the least amount of my reputation on this, but Nothing will probably drop the prices on the Phone (3) if it doesn’t sell too well. This is the first time the company is selling in the US, and entering a new market with such a high price feels almost prohibitive. Besides, this rejects Nothing’s biggest market – India, with a price that is higher than the average amount the regular Indian pays for a phone. Secondly (and I’m giving these predictions more credence), the Glyph Matrix is here to stay. It will only grow bigger in size and in adoption. It currently has a 25mm x 25mm footprint, but just like foldable phones had tiny secondary screens that only grew bigger as time went by, the Glyph Matrix will grow bigger. In size, for sure, since it’s only as valuable as the information it displays, and the need to display more/better information will drive up the size of this tiny display.
Nothing is also releasing the Glyph Matrix’s SDK for developers to make their own ‘toys’ (interesting that they didn’t call it a widget). There’s really no reason why this won’t grow with time, as more and more developers flock to create custom interactions and tools for this new display. The Phone (3) ships with a few toys to begin with, the more fun ones being a compass, a solar clock, a spin-the-bottle game, a game of rock-paper-scissors, and a camera mirror (beyond the usual battery indicator, timer, clock). It’s only a matter of time before the Glyph Matrix has a veritable marketplace of toys to choose from, both from indie developers as well as probably brands (I’m thinking a Google Maps toy, a Pokémon Go toy, etc.) It can, and WILL happen.
The third and final prediction is a bit of a long shot, but this feels like a stepping stone for a Nothing tablet. I have no evidence to back this information up, but I predicted the Glyph Interface’s spiritual successor last year (with the ticker tape on the hinge of the Nothing Fold (1) concept). Let’s just say, it seemed a little obvious that a row of LEDs would eventually become a grid of LEDs that displayed actual information. If the Glyph Interface could evolve, why not the phone itself? Carl Pei hasn’t ruled out the idea of a Nothing Laptop, but it seems much more achievable for the company to build a tablet first, extending both its hardware as well as the NothingOS software (rather than building a laptop-friendly OS). Will I be right? Only time can tell – but for now, here’s what I’m putting my money on. All or Nothing!
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