I'm Testing the Nothing Phone 3 and There's One Surprise Feature I Love So Far

CNET

08-07-2025

I've been testing the Nothing Phone 3 since it was unveiled at an event in London last week. I still like the quirky design, with its transparent back and the Glyph Matrix rear display. It's too early for a full verdict on its processor performance or battery life, but there is one stand-out feature I've noticed that I particularly wanted to highlight. The camera's macro mode.
Putting the Nothing Phone 3's macro mode to work.
Andrew Lanxon/CNET
It's a niche feature to focus on, especially as Nothing calls this phone its "first true flagship" thanks to its overall more elite spec list. That spec list also means this phone starts at $799 (£799), putting it squarely in line with higher-end phones like the Pixel 9 and painfully close to the iPhone 16. So it certainly needs an ace card to catch the eye and for me so far, it's the macro mode. Let me explain why.
Enlarge Image
This macro photo from the Nothing Phone 3 is exactly as shot. I'm impressed. Click the image to see the full version and marvel at those details.
Andrew Lanxon/CNET
Here's a shot I took of a bee enjoying a flower on a sunny day in Edinburgh. The phone has achieved a superb close focus here, but it's also maintained pin-sharp details on the insect's head and the pollen clinging to its legs with a natural fall-off in focus towards the background. The colors are vibrant, yet natural in their tone and the exposure is evenly balanced, with even the sun-drenched yellow petals retaining highlight detail.
I've been a professional photographer for many years and also maintain a photography YouTube channel where I frequently shoot macro photography using thousands of dollars of specialist photographic equipment. I'd be happy to have taken this image from any of my usual kit and yet I snagged this using just the Nothing Phone 3's standard camera in its macro mode -- no extra lens attachments or lights needed.
It's not the only phone to have a macro function, though. Most phones do -- including the iPhone 16 Pro, which uses its ultrawide lens to achieve close focus.
The iPhone 16 Pro's macro attempt, taken in HEIF and converted to JPEG.
Andrew Lanxon/CNET
But here's the same scene, shot with the iPhone. It's close, sure, with the wide-angle lens giving a different sense of scale to the bee and the flower, but it's much more what I've come to expect from phone macro modes. I don't like the crunchy, over-sharpened details or how it's tried -- and failed -- to achieve background blur. I shot this using the "natural" look in the Photographic Styles but the colors look anything but natural, with desaturated greens and muted yellows.
An iPhone 16 Pro macro shot taken in ProRaw and slightly adjusted in Lightroom. It looks more natural, but still much less impressive than the Nothing Phone 3.
Andrew Lanxon/CNET
A ProRaw version -- edited in Lightroom -- looks much better, but I didn't have to do any extra work to make the Nothing Phone 3's macro mode look great. Sure, maybe taking great photos of insects is a niche reason to like a phone, but it's the biggest thing I've noticed so far that's really stood out as a way that this phone separates itself from the pack.
But here's what else I've seen in my early testing so far.
Nothing Phone 3 Glyph Matrix
Nothing's phones have always had quirky designs with see-through panels and the light-up Glyph interface but this time around the company has swapped the lights for a small dot-matrix display. The Glyph Matrix, as Nothing calls it, sits on the back of the phone and can display crucial info like battery level or incoming notifications but can also be used for more fun purposes. From a "spin the bottle" tool to a Magic 8 Ball function, there are various "Glyph Toys" on board, with developers being encouraged to create more.
Andrew Lanxon/CNET
I like the Glyph Matrix and CNET's Katie Collins described it as her favorite thing about the Nothing Phone 3. It's more usable than the lights on the previous Nothing Phone 2 as it actually gives you information, rather than just lighting up at random. Playing little mini games on a tiny screen on the back of your phone is still arguably something of a gimmick but in a world full of almost identical gray phones, it's nice to see something a bit quirky.
Ditto the transparent design, which has become something of a hallmark of Nothing's phones. This time around, the "inside" of the phone has been given more of a blocky, cubist style that sort of reminds me of the Bauhaus art movement. I'm here for it.
Nothing Phone 3: Snapdragon processor and triple camera array
Nothing hasn't skimped on the specs with its flagship. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8S Gen 4 processor should offer some potent performance for everyday use as well as more demanding gaming. It seems potent enough for everyday use in my testing so far, with PUBG playing well on its max setting. I'm yet to unleash our full suite of benchmarks on it yet so I'll leave the full conclusion on its performance against its rivals for the full review.
The Nothing Phone 3 has a 6.67-inch display.
Andrew Lanxon/CNET
The rear of the phone is home to a triple-camera array with the standard lineup of main lens, ultrawide and telephoto zoom. All three cameras have 50 megapixels of resolution, which is the same resolution as the standard and ultrawide cameras found on the Nothing Phone 2. The company promises significant improvements in image processing, though, which should hopefully result in better-looking shots. The macro function has already impressed, but I've found the cameras more broadly to be at least capable of capturing solid everyday shots. I'll leave the full verdict for when I've done much deeper testing.
Another 50-megapixel camera is located on the front display for self-taken photos and video calls, which is a big step up from the 32-megapixel camera on the Nothing Phone 2.
An evening scene taken on the Nothing Phone 3's main camera. I like the colors and the gentle out of focus foreground flowers.
Andrew Lanxon/CNET
This street performer -- and the crowds watching -- look nice and sharp.
Andrew Lanxon/CNET
I'm looking forward to seeing how these cameras perform; camera performance is one of the key ways top-end phones like the iPhone 16 Pro and Galaxy S25 Ultra differentiate themselves and if Nothing truly wants to compete in the elite arena, it needs to offer stellar imaging skills in all conditions, not just for taking close up photos of bees. One thing that has me excited is the inclusion of various color profiles, along with numerous more available to download. I loved the filmic vibes I got from the Nothing Phone 3A in Barcelona earlier this year and being able to create similar looks in Samsung's phones was a boon for me as a photographer. I'm keen to see how Nothing's compares as I continue testing.
Nothing Phone 3 other specs and features
Beyond the fancy Glyph Matrix and the cameras, the phone has a solid lineup of specs. The 6.67-inch display has a high resolution, the 5,150-mAh Silicon-carbon battery promises a full day of use while the 65W fast charging will take it from empty to half full in just 19 minutes. It's also IP68 rated for water- and dust-resistance so taking calls in the rain should be no problem.
Andrew Lanxon/CNET
It also comes with various AI tools sprinkled throughout, including Nothing's Essential Space that it launched with the Phone 3A earlier this year. The Essential Space is basically a repository for your voice notes and screen shots you take throughout the day that strives to give you some order to your mind clutter. I sort of think of it like a journalling tool. Nothing is building AI deeper into Essential Space, as well as providing more functionality over the coming months so I'm keen to see how useful this tool becomes.
The phone launches with Android 15 on board, although Nothing says the phone will be updated to Android 16 later this year. The phone will receive four years of software updates and seven years of total security updates meaning this phone should still be safe to use in 2032 -- although there's still a lot you can do to make your phone last this long.
Watch this: Nothing Headphone (1) Unboxing
00:41
Nothing Phone 3: Is it any good?
I've only spent a short time using the phone and I'm already impressed by the macro mode and I'm quite charmed by the Glyph Matrix, whether or not it turns out to be a gimmick. If Nothing really wants to play in the elite leagues then it needs to offer top-end performance from the processor and the cameras in general. I'll be testing the phone rigorously over the coming days to really understand what this phone is like to live with.
But if it performs as well as Nothing boasts then it might be a solid option at a price that's more reasonable than most of its flagship rivals.