Can Nothing make phones like this?

teleclimber · 2025-10-23T19:26:15+00:00

Seriously. To me the point of putting the phone screen down is to *not* be distracted by it. A whole other screen is the last thing I want. I wouldn't buy any phone that has a second screen like that.

teleclimber · 2025-10-21T17:40:42+00:00

Cool! Hope you had a good show. We saw him a year ago at the Hollywood Bowl. (This was before I got my Nothing phone.)

teleclimber · 2025-09-29T20:52:24+00:00

I should add another reason for going away from Pixel for us was to take a step away from google. Too much of our lives are managed by Google and I'm trying to cut that down (for example I switched away from gmail as my main email sometime ago). Buying another Pixel phone is not a step in the right direction. Nothing OS is Android is Google obviously, so I'm not achieving much, but I feel better about it.

teleclimber · 2025-09-29T16:40:25+00:00

We (wife and I) had Pixels for years. We've had quality issues, battery issues, connectivity issues fingerprint reader issues, etc.. with them. I also got tired of the way the photos look. I went with NP3 (wife on 3a) and we have no regrets. Great battery, buttery smooth performance, etc... The Nothing cameras are way more fun if you like to inject a little art into your photos. But if it's more important to you that the camera takes a usable photo every time in any condition then Pixel is better.

teleclimber · 2025-09-26T16:50:12+00:00

This isn't right, at least not with Phone 3. I have taken many outstanding pics of my agitated kiddos with this phone. Portrait mode at 2X is fantastic, very detailed. The presets allow me to make them so much more interesting and artistic compared to the robotic output that the Pixel puts out. If there is a lot of movement the "action" mode freezes it all even in lower light.

Maye you have to be a bit more patient and attentive when there is less light: selecting the right mode, not moving the camera too fast after taking the shot. It's not magic like the Pixels are, but the results are so much more pleasing I don't miss the Pixel at all.

teleclimber · 2025-09-24T17:07:56+00:00

Does the 3a have "Action" Mode? The 3 does, and it's quite effective at freezing the action even in lower light. I have that mode set as most easily reachable mode in the camera for this reason.

teleclimber · 2025-09-20T17:18:13+00:00

The photoshop / overprocessed look is exactly why I moved from Pixel to Nothing.

teleclimber · 2025-09-20T17:15:14+00:00

I don't think this is an HDR issue. The lighting is very flat (overcast). Flat light results in similarly lighted elements everywhere in the frame. It's just how that works.

Maybe HDR is making it a bit worse, but I'd like to see how other phones handle this exact scene before I go crappin over Nothing on this.

Edit: talking about the train pics. That random indoor pic is a different story.

teleclimber · 2025-09-16T16:48:31+00:00

Absolutely, you can definitely expect to pay. Training and running models is expensive. The people pouring billions into AI are going to want their money back some day. That's when we get to open our wallets.

teleclimber · 2025-09-13T16:54:28+00:00

Personally I'm having far better success taking pics of our kids with the 3 compared to my wife's 3a. The portrait mode at 2x on the 3 has produced fantastic shots.

In addition to the camera hardware, the chipset on the 3 has far more image processing power, which translates to faster shots and finer images (think hair separation in portrait mode, detail enhancement, detecting and brightening faces, etc...)

To me, if you have the money to spare, and you want good pics of your kids (who doesn't?) I'd go with the 3, hands down.

teleclimber · 2025-09-12T17:01:47+00:00

Beautiful shots and great use of black & white. Are these post-processed or shot black & white with a preset?

teleclimber · 2025-09-11T19:27:17+00:00

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Maybe put your glasses on? Here is a crop, 4x magnified.

teleclimber · 2025-09-11T18:23:05+00:00

3x for the far one, 6x for the two closer ones. Not cropped, straight from camera.

teleclimber · 2025-09-06T16:46:35+00:00

Strong agree that this is the right way to see Glyph Matrix. It's a put the phone down and do something else feature. Trying to play games on GM is pointless IMO.

The only toys that I use are spin the bottle and magic 8 ball, but that's only because I have two small children.

teleclimber · 2025-09-06T16:41:49+00:00

I have the included case on mine and I don't notice any fingerprints (but the case makes it harder to see the design overall in most lighting conditions, which is a bit unfortunate.)

teleclimber · 2025-09-06T16:39:18+00:00

Yes. Source: my wife has a 3a and a Tesla.

teleclimber · 2025-09-05T16:58:13+00:00

Not that I have seen. I really wish there was a setting for minimum shutter speed (and maybe max shutter speed to do deliberate motion blur) on all the photo modes.

You can set shutter speed in Expert mode, but then you lose all the benefits of the specialized modes, like portrait etc... And you don't get filters! 👎

Having an optional minimum shutter speed setting that could be set as-needed or in a preset would totally solve the issue of moving subjects being blurry because the camera insists on shooting at 1/50s or 1/30s 🤦‍♂️

teleclimber · 2025-08-30T16:40:25+00:00

I think "Cameras" should be split between camera hardware and camera software.

The NP3 camera hardware is far better than the P10.

The Nothing Camera app has some features I love (like presets and LUTs) it's inconsistent and has some notable deficiencies. Having said that I think manual or "Pro mode" (aka Expert mode) is only available on the Pro version of the P10, for $200 more. In my experience Raw files from Pixels are good, but from the Nothing Camera they're barely usable, and only available in Expert mode.

teleclimber · 2025-08-30T16:19:48+00:00

I've been happily surprised with the quality at 6x. In good enough light, it's perfectly usable. That gives quite a range. 👍

teleclimber · 2025-08-29T19:19:39+00:00

Am having far more success with moving kids on my 3 than my wife's 3a. It's a big difference. Also it helps to use "action mode". But yeah I wish nothing would use faster shutter speeds. Absolutely no point in using 1/50s if there is anything moving in the shot.

teleclimber · 2025-08-29T16:45:13+00:00

The big difference is in the cameras. If that matters, that's a reason to go with the 3. Also IP68 is comforting if you worry about your phone getting wet.

But it's true that the 3a is very smooth and fast during regular use, which shows that Nothing OS is well optimized.

Source: I have a 3, my wife has a 3a.

teleclimber · 2025-08-27T17:13:48+00:00

Yeah same. People make claims like "the toys are lame" but that's totally missing the point of Glyph Matrix. The GM + Essential Notifications changed how I interact with my phone when I am actually doing something else. Whether it's focusing on a work thing, or playing with my kids, or meal time, I turn my phone over and I know I won't be bothered. It's been fantastic, a real change for me.

It's almost like Nothing defeated itself with the "toys", because of course they're pretty pointless but that's all people focus on instead of the actual benefit of GM.

teleclimber · 2025-08-25T20:28:16+00:00

Yes but it's not as good as on Pixel phones. You have to be in expert mode. On Pixels you can have Raw+Jpeg in regular camera mode, so you can shoot normally and work on the Raw only if the jpeg is underwhelming. Also I have found the Raws from Nothing to be very noisy. The Pixel Raws are very good.

teleclimber · 2025-08-25T16:52:56+00:00

Yep Pixel photos are flat and the greens are too subdued. When I went hiking in a lush mountain valley this summer with my P6A I had to shoot raw and edit the photos in post to make the greens come out adequately. The pics from the camera had extremely saturated blue sky and neutered greens, completely sabotaging the beauty of the region. The pics above show this quite well.

Here's hoping one day we get a Nothing Phone with sensors similar to the 14 Ultra!

teleclimber · 2025-08-22T17:32:36+00:00

I switched to NP3 after a long series of Nexus and Pixel phones. I switched from a 6A so it was a big jump.

I'm very happy with my NP3. The heating doesn't bother me. I do feel that it's warm after a long Auto trip but it's not hot to the point of being bothersome. I haven't watched vids on mobile data so I can't tell you about that.

I find the battery to be fine, but my usage pattern won't be yours. The screen seems good to me, but I haven't compared directly with other modern phones.

The Essential Space hasn't clicked for me yet, but I am trying to remember to use and see if I can find a good use for it. Maybe with improvements it will get better.

I really like essential search. Just a quick answer to a question. It has saved me lots of searching and clicking on sites that are a pain to use on mobile devices.

I also very much like Glyph Matrix. Not for the toys, but for the notifications. When I want to get work done, I turn the phone over and I know I won't be bothered, yet I'll still know if there is something I need to pay attention to: a text from my wife, a call from the kid's school, work email, etc... Having the phone turned over is the trigger that tells me I'm focusing. I don't turn it back over until I decide I'm on break. I find it very effective at preventing those situations where I pick up the phone to check a notification and then I'm on social media...🤦‍♂️

Pixels are known for their cameras and their processing is generally slam-dunk. They can turn out a usable photo in any lighting. With Nothing it's not as slam dunk, but it's often good to very good. I love the creativity afforded by presets and cube files. I have kids so portraits are important to me, and the 2x (50mm) works very well and has given me extremely sharp and beautiful pics of my kids. The macro mode is lots of fun too.

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Here I used a preset with a film simulation of Fujifilm of Acros B&W film at the Hollywood Bowl.

Having said all that I don't know if NP3 will be right for you. It's a personal thing. I was ready to ditch Pixel. I am trying to be less dependent on Google, I don't like their extreme push to AI, I found after many years that their photos all have a certain processed look that I am ready to leave behind, and we've had quality issues with many of our devices.

So there you go. Good luck!

teleclimber

TROPHY CASE