CMF Phone 1 review: Reliable budget phone with fancy modular design

Within a short span of one year, Nothing Inc's subsidiary CMF (Color, Material and Finish), has made great strides in the consumer electronics market. It began with budget earbuds, a watch, and an accessory. It has received a good response in emerging markets such as price-conscious India.

Now, the London-based company has introduced the company's first handset CMF Phone 1. It comes with unique design language to catch the attention of the consumer, but does it have reliable hardware inside to deliver a good user experience? Let's check it out.

Design, build quality and display

Like the Nothing Phone series, CMF Phone 1 has eye-catching design elements. One of the notable aspects of the device is that it comes with a removable back panel and the owners can swap it with at least four different coloured panels--black, orange, light green and blue.

Black and light green coloured variants come with textured panels. Whereas the orange and blue cover panels come in vegan leather. They are said to be made of synthetic material. They mimic the leather-like attributes in terms of its look, feel and finish.

CMF Phone 1 series.

The retail box comes with a dual-purpose SIM ejector. On one side, it features a long metallic pin to remove the SIM tray and on the other side, it features a flat screwdriver to remove the four screws to replace the back panel of the phone.

Another interesting thing about the device is the rotating knob at the bottom left corner. Weeks before the launch, the company teased this particular side of the phone. Many believed that the knob can be used to control the volume or focus of the camera. Some even commented that it can be programmable to perform other tasks such as adjusting focus or zooming-in and out of the subject's face on the camera's viewfinder. But, as it turns out, the knob is just a place to attach accessories.

CMF Phone 1 series.

The knob is removable and it's main functionality is securely attaching the kickstand, a cardholder wallet (four cards) and a lanyard to the Phone 1.

The Phone 1 comes with an IP52 rating, meaning it can withstand dust and water splashes.

On the front, it sports a beautiful 6.7-inch super AMOLED LTPS screen. It supports up to 2,000 peak brightness, and variable refresh rate(60-120Hz). It has a uniform bezel around the edge with a tiny front camera at the top. The chin at the base is slightly thick, but it does not affect the viewing experience.

CMF Phone 1 series.

The big display is great for watching movies during a long commute or at home. Even outdoors too, the screen is bright enough to view messages or read news on web pages without having to squint your eyes.

Considering its price, the in-display fingerprint sensor is really good. It manages to register the fingerprint impression and unlock it instantly.

Performance

CMF Phone 1 houses a 4nm MediaTek Dimensity 7300 octa-core processor with Mali-G615 MC2 GPU, 6GB/8GB RAM, and 128GB/256GB storage options.

Our review unit comes with 8GB RAM + 128GB storage. The device runs smoothly in terms of day-to-day tasks without any noticeable lag-ness. It also supports a lot of gaming titles available on the Google Play Store. But, the device is not made of extreme graphics-rich gaming titles.

CMF Phone 1 series.

However, Android 14-based NothingOS 2.5 has a super clean interface, almost as good as vanilla Android on Pixel phones. For people who like to customise the UI on CMF Phone 1, they can use the generative AI-based theme creator feature. Also, I love the curved widgets with a visually appealing dot font theme.

There is also Nothing's Icon Pack with a Monochrome theme. It ensures there is less distraction and not being colourful. This makes owners use the phone for intended use only and reduces screen time.

CMF Phone 1 series.

The device will get a minimum of two years of Android OS updates and an additional year of security software support.

It comes packed with a massive 5,000mAh battery. Under normal usage, the device can easily run for more than a day under normal usage.

The device supports a 33W charger. It can charge up the phone from zero to 50 per cent in under 30 minutes. And, it will take a little over an hour to hit the 100 per cent mark.

However, it should be noted that the customer has to buy the charger separately. The retail box comes with just the phone and Type-C-to-Type-C data cable.

Photography

CMF Phone 1's camera sample.

It features a dual camera module-- main 50MP wide camera (with Sony IMX882 sensor, f/1.8 aperture, PDAF: Phase detection autofocus) + 2 MP (f/2.4) depth sensor with LED flash on the back.

CMF Phone 1's camera sample.

It takes really good pictures in the daylight. The subject's colour, particularly if it is of flowers, come off vibrant. They look pretty worthy to be shared on the social media platforms.

CMF Phone 1's camera sample.

Even at close-up macro shots, the device does a fine job of capturing minute details of the subject.

CMF Phone 1's camera sample.

CMF Phone 1's camera sample.

But, the night mode on CMF Phone 1 is kind of disappointing. . As you can see in the sample photos, they are not sharp. They don't seem to look so bad on the compact screen of the phone, but when you look at the same picture on the big screen of a computer, one can notice blurred objects in the scene.

To get a proper photo at night, one should have a steady hand and a bit of patience. And, the resultant photos are decent, on par with rival brands under the Rs 17,000 price segment.

CMF Phone 1's camera sample.

With portrait mode on, the Phone 1 fares well in capturing sharp photos of the subject and perfectly delivering a blurred bokeh effect in the background.

CMF Phone 1's camera sample.

Also, the device supports 2X optical zoom. The photos look good with less loss of quality. It also supports digital zoom up to 10X.

CMF Phone 1's camera sample.

On the front, it boasts a 16MP front camera for selfies and video calling. It takes decent selfies in all light conditions.

CMF Phone 1's camera sample.

The CMF Phone 1 can record videos up to 4K at 30 frames per second and full HD (1080p) at 30 and 60 fps.

Final thoughts

The modular design language of the device makes it stand out among the rival brands. Performance in terms of regular day-to-day activities including consuming multimedia content, messaging and calls, it does without any issues.

As far as photography is concerned, it does a decent job; on par with rival brands in its class. and, battery life is excellent. It can last more than a day with normal usage.

CMF Phone 1 series.

Considering its price and capabilities, CMF Phone 1 is a good value-for-money budget phone. It is a good option for salaried class and senior citizens for multimedia consumption and regular usage.

It is available in two configurations-- 6GB RAM + 128GB storage and 8GB RAM + 128GB storage-- for Rs 15,999 and Rs 17,999, respectively.

The company is offering a Phone 1 case for Rs 1,499. Other accessories--phone lanyards, kickstands and card cases- are priced at Rs 799 each.

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