A midrange smartphone is a delicate balancing act between packing in the best possible hardware and lowering the price tag to a manageable level. Lean one way, and it floats over to flagship-level pricing. Lean the other way, and you’ll end up with an overpriced budget phone. Once in a blue moon, however, there comes a midrange phone that offers the most impressive specs for the most attractive price. Behold one such phone: the CMF Phone 1.
Design: Simply outstanding
Apropos to Nothing’s branding, the CMF Phone 1 stands out with a unique design atypical of other smartphones in the same price range. Whereas most other midrange phones offer quirky design gimmicks or just use boilerplate layouts, this one has a gorgeous matte panel that you can swap out easily.
The simplicity speaks volumes. It’s elegant. If it weren’t for the two rear cameras, it’s easy to mistake the phone for a flagship. It’s also easy to forget that the panel is made of plastic.
As for swapping out, you can easily switch the rear panel with a flathead screwdriver and CMF’s palette of options including Light Green, Orange, and Blue.
Plus, it also has a corner dial you can twist off. Unfortunately, this doesn’t connect to any features inside the phone. Instead, you can screw in additional accessories including a lanyard, a wallet, and a stand.
Overall, the phone’s minimalism and modularity are astounding. The only way to make it better is to make the dial have some sort of function inside the phone.
Performance: Midrange at its finest
As a midrange device, the CMF Phone 1 shouldn’t be anything to write home about. But it just does.
Underneath, the smartphone carries the Snapdragon 7300. It’s a step below the Snapdragon 8 series, but it hovers very closely because it uses 4nm architecture, resulting in better performance. It’s also paired with 8GB + 2GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage.
After a few days of using the phone as a daily driver, I can say that the CMF Phone 1 is a capable device especially if you’re just using it for day-to-day activities such as going on social media and editing photos or videos.
However, it can also handle bouts of moderately intensive gaming, too. I expected hiccups, but the phone played Zenless Zone Zero remarkably well on medium settings and at 60fps framerate. While there were still a few stutters in scenes with heavy particle effects, the phone’s ability to keep up with the modern standards of mobile gaming is impressive.
Heat was not an issue either. Though the screen did heat up to some degree, it was never unbearable after an hour of straight gaming. The rear panel also insulates the back well.
Camera: A decent shooter
With only two lenses at the back, the camera department might be where the CMF Phone 1made some concessions. It comes with a 50-megapixel Sony IMX882 main sensor and a 2-megapixel depth lens for portraits.
The duo is still capable, though. Daytime shots are well lit and offer good color accuracy with enough vibrancy. Subjects are also laid over a comfortable amount of bokeh without looking too artificial. However, there is a slight lack of clarity whenever photos are zoomed in.
Here’s a big plus, too: The phone doesn’t struggle too much under low-light conditions. Though there is some noticeable difficulty with getting good shots, great-looking ones are still achievable. Contrast and lighting are similarly decent especially for a midrange phone.
Lastly, selfie shots are decent, taken with a 16-megapixel shooter. There is some upscaling, but it doesn’t make selfies look like plastic dolls. That’s a plus.
Software: Living with Nothing’s DNA
Exterior design isn’t the only selling point that this smartphone takes from Nothing. It has Android 14 baked with Nothing OS installed.
The software thrives with Nothing’s dot matrix design. It just feels like a cohesive design that wants to make life easier for you, the smartphone user. Besides the design, it also comes with the ability to add actually useful widgets to the home screen including weather and a screentime monitor.
Out of the box, there’s scarcely anything more than cracking open the Nothing OS, even if you take away the design and the widgets. And it’s all for one good reason: no bloatware. There’s barely a single piece of unnecessary software on this thing. It’s so refreshing, especially for the midrange market.
Ecosystem: Complete the set
Besides the new phone, CMF by Nothing also launched the Buds Pro 2 and the Watch Pro 2. And yes, they all go together. Both come with Fast Pair, making it a breeze to connect to the Phone 1. (Obviously, don’t do it in a public place, unless you want dozens of strangers just connecting to your new accessory.)
Let’s look at the Buds Pro 2 first. The main attraction is, of course, the unique case. Rather than just a simple case, there’s a programmable button/dial. Through the Nothing X app, you can set what pressing the button or turning the dial will do. Personally, I still prefer having gestures incorporated into the earbuds themselves, but a controllable case is a nifty and unique solution in its own right.
The next accessory is the Watch Pro 2. Much like the phone and the earbuds, the smartwatch is simple but attractive. The one crown is a nice touch. Plus, inside, the watch still has the same minimalistic design from Nothing. It goes beyond the standard design all too common in the smartwatch market.
Overall, there are definitely better options for earbuds and a smartwatch. However, if you’re looking for a couple that pairs well with the Phone 1, then CMF by Nothing’s other offerings are a worthy choice.
Battery: Maybe not all day, every day
The CMF Phone 1 has a 5000mAh battery. After a day of regular use, the phone scrapes by through the day with just a tiny bit of change left. If you’re looking at a standard day out and about, a single charge should be enough. However, if you’re looking to extend (or use more intensive apps), you might want to have a powerbank ready.
Now, if you want to do some gaming on your downtime, the phone can suck out a lot of battery. Just an hour on ZZZ already sapped 20 percent of a full charge.
Charging was a breeze, at least. With a fairly decent charge, you can fill up an empty battery in just an hour.
Is this your GadgetMatch?
The CMF Phone 1 costs PhP 15,490. Meanwhile, the Buds Pro 2 costs PhP 3,790, and the Watch Pro 2 costs PhP 4,390.
Even bundled altogether, the price tags of all three devices just feel criminal. A midrange smartphone this good shouldn’t cost this little, but it does. The two accessories are also bang for your buck.
