Nothing’s successful devices create high expectations and the assumption that they offer more for less money. With CMF, you have to temper those expectations. The first phone is good overall – but it’s unrealistic to expect a device starting at around $250 to produce top-notch images or handle demanding games quickly and smoothly.

The CMF Phone has a few competitors in this price range, some of which offer faster charging and more features that it lacks. If you’re willing to shell out an extra $80 — a not insignificant amount — you could opt for the Nothing’s Phone 2a instead.

The CMF Phone has a very good screen, a strong battery, solid build quality and feels sturdy and stable. It could be a good option as a first or second phone for kids or teens, for those who don’t need NFC or eSIM. They might also appreciate the gimmick of the swappable back and accessories more.

Nothing is launching its first phone – again. This time, however, it’s a new product from CMF, the British company’s budget-focused and relatively new sub-brand. CMF does away with many of the standout features that have distinguished previous Nothing products.

Let’s rewind for some context: Nothing was founded by Carl Pei, one of the co-founders of OnePlus. The first product this new company launched was a pair of Bluetooth headphones, followed by a smartphone whose most notable features were a transparent body and a backlight that displayed notifications with different blinking patterns. Nothing’s products were relatively affordable, and the company even launched a budget smartphone. But that wasn’t enough, so last September they launched CMF as a sub-brand that launched with Bluetooth headphones, a smartwatch, and a fast charger.

Now the first mobile phone from this relatively new brand is coming onto the market, bearing the company’s typical name CMF Phone 1. Nothing’s devices brought a number of innovations and gimmicks and made a good impression overall – they were very powerful at competitive prices. But can the company repeat this success with an even cheaper brand and a device for around $250? We tested the new smartphone.

Design and construction: old gimmick out, new gimmick in

One of the key features of previous Nothing devices was the transparent back with LED lights that displayed various notifications. The first CMF device has none of that – the back is opaque and has no lighting other than a torch/flash attached to the camera lenses.

There is one gimmick, however: you can replace the back of the device. The plastic back panel is attached to the phone’s casing with four screws. If you buy a back panel in a different color, it comes with a SIM tray removal pin that also functions as a screwdriver to remove and replace the old back panel (note: the battery must not be removed).

This gimmick has garnered some enthusiastic responses, and Nothing has even released a file for designing accessories using 3D printers, allowing users to develop and share their own ideas. But how does this work in practice? It’s OK, although I might not be the target audience for this feature. The included screwdriver isn’t particularly convenient, but the screws are generally easy to remove, and to CMF’s credit they chose screws with a standard head, so any other screwdriver will do.

After removing the screws, you will also need to remove the SIM tray before you can pull out the back panel and replace it with another one. This is fairly quick and if you don’t repeat it too often, it’s a good idea. However, the screws are small and you need to be careful not to lose them when replacing them. It might be easier to use a colored protector that protects the device, adds color and design, and doesn’t require any screwing.

The gimmick doesn’t end there: In the bottom right corner of the back of the device is an “accessory point” – a small circle with a screw hole for attaching external accessories. CMF offers a foldable stand to stabilize the phone while watching videos, a strap for hanging the phone around your neck, and a card case for storing cards like credit cards, ID cards, or employee cards. These accessories seem a bit more practical, and it will be interesting to see what additional accessories users make. The stand, for example, is relatively small and easy to set up and take down, but can easily get lost.

One problem: The device doesn’t come with these accessories—you have to buy them separately. Each new back panel costs about $40.

In case you’re wondering, yes, the phone does have a front: a 6.67-inch display with a thin black frame and a selfie camera that takes up minimal space at the top. On the right side is the power button, on the left the volume buttons and a SIM tray at the bottom that also has space for a microSD card – a feature rarely found on today’s smartphones. However, you won’t find a headphone jack here.

The fingerprint reader is located under the screen and had some issues during initial setup but worked well during normal use. The device is thin, tall, weighing about 200 grams and does not feel heavy.

In terms of protection, the device meets the IP52 standard, meaning it can handle rain and some dust, but should be protected from water. Build quality feels solid, but the back is plastic and there’s no mention of Gorilla Glass protection for the screen, so caution is advised.

The CMF phone comes with a Mediatek Dimensity 7300 processor, 8GB of RAM and 128GB or 256GB of storage. You can reduce the storage in favor of more memory and, as mentioned, expand the storage with an external card.

For normal, basic use, the device runs smoothly, thanks in part to Nothing’s streamlined UI, which I’ll discuss in more detail later. However, for more complex tasks, especially those with demanding graphics, performance is less smooth. You can run demanding games on the smartphone and it doesn’t even heat up, but loading times for the game and its menus are slow. This is understandable – it’s not a flagship device, and the price is significantly lower than more powerful phones.

To achieve such a low price, some features and capabilities had to be sacrificed. CMF’s first phone lacks eSIM, a feature found on some rivals in this price range, and there’s also no NFC, meaning you can’t use the phone for contactless payments. The device also only has one speaker on the bottom, which delivers decent sound but isn’t loud, and it’s a bit odd to watch a movie with the sound only coming from one side.

The screen is impressive, though. CMF says the maximum brightness is 2,000 nits, and it keeps the picture clear even in direct sunlight—not from every angle, but it’s easy to find a comfortable angle. Even in the shade, it displays vibrant colors in photos, videos, and games.

The whole thing is powered by a 5,000mAh battery that can only be charged wired at 33 watts. The battery will easily last a day and a half, and possibly longer depending on usage. There’s no charger included, just a cable, and charging from 15% to 50% took about 30 minutes with a 25 watt charger, but with a fast charger it dropped to 20 minutes. A full charge with a 25 watt charger took about an hour and 20 minutes, while with a fast charger it was completed in about an hour.

Software and interface: easy and fast

The CMF Phone runs Android 14 with the Nothing OS 2.6 interface. If you’ve used a Nothing device before, you won’t notice any major changes here. The design is unique and close to stock Android: there are no apps preinstalled without your consent – not even Facebook, TikTok or Spotify. There are almost no proprietary apps from the manufacturer – just a calculator, a camera app, call recording and an app for controlling Nothing’s headphones. Want to view your photos? Use Google Photos. Need to browse folders on your device? Google Files is there.

When you first start it up, you can choose between Nothing’s distinctive design, which uses mostly black and white colors with old dot-matrix style fonts, or a more standard Android style – this choice can be changed later.

There is no navigation bar with quick access buttons to the home screen or back. Navigation is done via gestures, which are quick, smooth and quite pleasant.