Nothing Phone (3): 3 things about Nothing's latest flagship smartphone that I'm excited for

Nothing has unveiled its latest flagship smartphone, the Nothing Phone (3).

We've always been a little ambivalent about the young brand's attempts at making budget wireless earbuds, but we have some affection for how it handles smartphones.

The Nothing Phone (1) is an admirable performer, and I've personally got two Nothing phones stashed in my backpack for taking pictures of various test products.

That flagship range of smartphones could do with some improvement, though, and that's just what Nothing teased with its big unveiling at the start of July.

Wholesale upgrades have been promised, but there are some major tweaks that I think could take the Nothing Phone (3) to the next level.

A faster, smoother experience

Powered by Snapdragon's 8s Gen 4 mobile platform, Nothing's latest flagbearer comes burdened with the promise of a faster, smoother user performance from its implementation of Nothing OS 3.5, with the British brand boasting a 36 per cent faster CPU and an 88 per cent faster GPU compared with the old model.

That's encouraging stuff, as one of the things I've occasionally struggled with has been the occasional lag or imprecision of my second-gen handset. Only sometimes, the Nothing (2) can feel a tad sluggish or unresponsive, especially if you're used to the lightning-fast reaction times of Apple's latest iPhone roster.

I'm also hoping that improvements to the mobile platform will result in fewer bugs. At key moments, the second-gen model can completely crash when operating certain apps or using the camera – rectifying those issues would make my photography sessions even more of a breeze.

Even better cameras

Whether it's the Nothing Phone (1) or the Phone (2), I much prefer snapping product pics with the former pair than with my iPhone 15 – they're clearer, richer and are more adept at giving pictures a sense of depth and scale. Seriously, I love those cameras.

The fact that those cameras are being upgraded this time around, then, is exciting news. The new flagship boasts a 50-megapixel lens alongside a 50MP ultra-wide lens and a 50MP telephoto lens, improvements that tease more dynamic and authentic reproductions, even in low light.

For someone who spends much of his time snapping on-hand pictures of oft-tricky products, that's an exciting prospect.

I also like the fact that there's a small square red dot on the back of the device that lights up when you start recording with one of the main rear cameras.

Speaking of lights...

Glyphs are back, baby!

I mean this completely unironically: I love the Nothing glyphs. Ok, I don't use them particularly often, but there's a fun novelty of having the back of your phone light up in a variety of configurations depending on the function being performed or the alert being received. I like products to be fun, and glyphs are certainly fun, if nothing else.

Nothing has had a rethink of how it's implementing glyphs into the Nothing Phone (3), debuting a new glyph matrix design housed in a screen mounted on the phone's backside to the right of the camera array.

That new matrix lets users customise their glyph with a range of functionalities, a little like modding your favourite video game, later down the line. For now, there's a healthy array including a 'spin the bottle' feature, a stopwatch, a timer and a spirit-level bubble type thing.

I really like the idea of these new 'Glyph Toys'. Having a handy little window wherein you can quickly access a notification or function reminds me of the days of Blackberry, wherein you could see who had messaged you depending on the colour of the light the phone displayed next to its camera. I think my girlfriend was light purple...

Spin the bottle is a bit of a gimmick, but a back-mounted stopwatch or battery indicator? I can definitely see the appeal when you just want a handy tool accessible at a glance.

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