news

한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina

What kind of mobile phone can you buy for 1,800 yuan in 2024? If you pursue performance, then Redmi K70E may be a good choice. After all, it has a Dimensity 8300 Ultra processor at a price of 1,799 yuan, which is not a problem for daily audio and video entertainment. But if you value durability more, there are too many choices such as OPPO A3, Honor X50, vivo Y200, etc.

However, these phones are indeed very impressive, with great performance, protection, and images, but the only thing that did not surprise Xiao Lei was the design. Not long ago, Nothing, known as the "first-tier manufacturer in the mobile phone industry", released its first mobile phone to enter the 1,000 yuan market.Although CMF Phone 1 does not inherit the excellent light strip element of Nothing, its design highlights are also refreshing.

(Image source: CMF Phone)

CMF Phone 1 sold 100,000 units within 3 hours of its launch, while Nothing Phone (2a) took 24 hours to achieve this result. In order to find out what magic this CMF Phone 1 has that makes it the new top phone in the industry, Xiao Lei also participated in the rush to buy it on the first day of its launch. Now, after a few days of transportation, this CMF Phone 1 has finally arrived in our hands. As for how it performs, let's experience it together.

Cheap materials concealed by sophisticated design

When Xiao Lei got the packaging box of CMF Phone 1, he was shocked by its cheap feeling.

Although we cannot expect a mobile phone priced at less than 1,500 yuan to have any luxurious design on the box, by 2024, there are indeed few mobile phone brands that will choose such a cheap sticker process on the box.When you open the box, the only accessories you'll find are a SIM card pin, a data cable, and an instruction manual, without even a phone case.That’s right, CMF Phone1 does not come with a charger, which is a bad thing caused by Apple.

(Photo source: Lei Technology)

Xiaolei has always believed that it is very important to equip a thousand-yuan phone with a phone case. After all, users who choose a thousand-yuan phone often have a low budget and are unlikely to buy additional phone accessories to protect their phones. Of course, the more realistic reason is that most thousand-yuan phones are not popular models, and there may not be many third-party phone cases to choose from.

(Photo source: Lei Technology)

The biggest feature of CMF Phone 1 is the "industrial style" design on the back. Four huge screws are exposed nakedly. In this era of pursuing exquisite style, it is indeed quite distinctive. The whole machine has a uniform fine matte texture from the back to the frame, but unfortunately,CMF Phone 1 is made of all plastic, you can also call it "polycarbonate".

(Photo source: Lei Technology)

Since the CMF Phone 1 supports a detachable back cover, we can use the card pin included in the box to remove the back cover and replace different accessories. Currently, the official accessories include phone holders, card holders, lanyards, etc. Nothing also said that users can freely use 3D printing to design their own accessories. But Xiao Lei did not choose to purchase accessories, so there is no exclusive card pin for the detachable back cover, which is a bit regrettable.

(Photo source: Lei Technology)

Back to the front, CMF Phone 1 chose a 6.67-inch OLED display panel that supports a 120Hz refresh rate and a peak brightness of 2000 nits.Nothing did not do any narrowing processing for it, so the black border on the front of CMF Phone 1 is quite large, and the chin is particularly prominent.In 2024, displays with "unequal widths" on all four sides will indeed be very rare.

(Photo source: Lei Technology)

However, thanks to Google's setting of the HDR standard since last year, the CMF Phone 1 equipped with a native system has also followed this trend to support global Ultra HDR, such as the display strategy of taken photos, gallery, and HDR content display of video websites.

Although the CMF Phone 1 is made of plastic, it weighs 197g and is 77mm wide, so it doesn’t feel very good to hold. However, the optical fingerprint sensor under the screen of the CMF Phone 1 is not too low, which makes the unlocking experience quite good.

(Photo source: Lei Technology)

To be honest, CMF Phone 1 does have some bright spots in design, such as the light modular design and the knob at the bottom of the phone, but the materials used for the body are really cheap. Even with the fine frosting, it is difficult to cover up the problem of plastic. More importantly, even with a full plastic body, it weighs nearly 200g, which has no advantages at all. But considering that the price of this phone is less than 1,500 yuan, Xiao Lei believes that at this price, the bright spots in design can still cover up the defects in materials.

CMF Phone, good looking but not practical

As one of the most innovative brands in the mobile phone industry, Nothing’s design is undoubtedly outstanding, but the hardware configuration of the flagship model of Nothing’s main brand can only be described as “average”. How does the CMF Phone 1, which is positioned at the lower end, perform in use? This is what Xiao Lei wants to know.

In terms of core hardware, CMF Phone 1 is equipped with MediaTek Dimensity 7300 processor, with up to 8GB of memory + 256GB of storage. The one in Lei's hand is the standard version with 8GB + 128GB. Except for the tight storage space, the overall difference should not be big.

After actual testing,CMF Phone 1 AnTuTu score is 645485 points, Geekbench 6 single-core score is 1028 points, and multi-core score is 2890 points.Although models in this price range don’t care too much about performance, this score can only be said to be very average. Judging from the rankings, it is probably between the Snapdragon 782G and the Dimensity 8200.

(Photo source: Lei Technology)

In terms of game performance, CMF Phone 1 performs well in some lightweight games, such as "Honor of Kings".Although the maximum frame rate is only 60, there is almost no frame drop throughout the whole process.Even in 4V4 and 5V5 team battles, there was no obvious fluctuation. However, Genshin Impact put a lot of pressure on CMF Phone 1. It frequently dropped frames when running maps, and it was even worse during battles.

The only advantage is that the temperature control of CMF Phone 1 is very strict. In the actual test of "Genshin Impact", even with frequent frame drops, the body temperature did not change much, and even did not feel warm. Xiao Lei believes that Nothing's strategy should be to sacrifice performance to ensure battery life.

(Photo source: Lei Technology)

Since we are talking about battery life, we have to mention the battery solution of CMF Phone 1. In terms of hardware, CMF Phone 1 uses a large-capacity battery of 5000 mAh.But it only provides 33W wired fast charging,It also does not support wireless charging, which results in a very long charging time. In a light experience, CMF Phone 1 consumed about 2% of its battery after playing "Honor of Kings" for 30 minutes, and lost 4% of its battery after running "Genshin Impact" for 10 minutes. It can only be said that without a reasonable optimization strategy, even a large battery cannot sustain it.

In addition, CMF Phone 1 not only lacks wireless charging, it does not even support NFC, which means it cannot be used to make payments for car keys, wallets, transportation, etc. However, NothingOS itself is a full set of Google software, which cannot work properly in mainland China.

Since we are talking about Google, we have to mention NothingOS 2.6 on CMF Phone 1. In fact, you can regard NothingOS 2.6 as a slightly modified Google native system. The animations, motion effects, and system logic are basically the same as the native system. The biggest differences are in two parts. One is the Nothing customized English font, which will be presented in pixel fonts in some interfaces, which is quite textured with the appearance design; the other is Nothing's various customized plug-ins, users can create many interesting customized interfaces.

(Photo source: Lei Technology)

Of course, if you want to experience the full functionality, you may need to maintain the "magic connection". For example, the AI ​​wallpaper generation function provided in NothingOS 2.6 requires cloud computing intervention in the random generation mode, and it will become invalid once the connection is disconnected. Or, the CMF Phone 1 camera supports AI algorithm suggestions, which also requires the use of cloud AI to participate in the calculation.

Speaking of taking photos,The imaging solution of CMF Phone 1 is a 50-megapixel main camera + a 2-megapixel depth-of-field lens, with an aperture of F1.8 and does not support OIS optical image stabilization.The AI ​​imaging mentioned above is an algorithm intervention in the "Vivid" mode of CMF Phone 1. It can recognize the current scene in real time and give optimization suggestions.

(Photo source: Lei Technology)

In actual experience, the photography effect of CMF Phone 1 can only be said to be very average. The main lens has a focal length of 26mm, and also provides a double digital crop focal length of 52mm. However, the optical quality of the lens is relatively ordinary, and the purple fringing phenomenon is obvious at the edges in high light ratio scenes.

(Photo source: Lei Technology)

If you just want to take some casual photos, this lens can meet most of your shooting needs.

(Photo source: Lei Technology)

Overall, CMF Phone 1 is inferior to domestic brands of the same price for most ordinary consumers. After all, its hardware level is average and software optimization needs to rely on Google. It seems that it is not easy for ordinary consumers to maintain cloud connection. But for users with strong hands-on ability, CMF Phone 1 can bring an extremely simple user experience. There are no advertisements in its system, and there are no unnecessary services and pre-installed software.

Beautiful "little waste", why is CMF Phone so popular?

CMF Phone 1 is indeed an eye-catching mobile phone. Whether it is the "industrial style" exposed screw design or the "light modularization" solution that supports multiple accessories, it is a very bold attempt in the current mobile phone market. But objectively speaking, the hardware deficiencies make it difficult for this phone to make users feel "comfortable" in daily life. The relatively ordinary performance of the Dimensity 7300 and the conservative performance release of NothingOS make it occasionally freeze when running programs.

But why is CMF Phone 1 still selling so well?

In fact, in the international market that CMF Phone 1 mainly targets, its competitors in the same segment are not much better than it. Take Samsung Galaxy A55 as an example. Its performance, imaging, and storage solutions are almost the same as CMF, but its pricing is much higher.What's more, Nothing's biggest advantage lies in its design, which is indeed a plus point in the price range of one thousand yuan.

(Photo source: Lei Technology)

Let's briefly summarize the advantages and disadvantages of CMF Phone 1:

advantage:

1. The design is eye-catching and supports modular modification

2. NothingOS 2.6 system is pure and ad-free

shortcoming:

1. The weight and thickness of the whole machine are not well controlled, and the grip feels bad

2. NFC is missing

The reason why CMF Phone 1 was able to achieve 100,000 orders in 3 hours is that Nothing has a very precise direction for the product positioning of mobile phones. For example, it reduced the dust and water resistance, high-end performance and telephoto imaging of this phone as much as possible, which are not in obvious demand among the audience, and invested more costs in the design and accessories that competitors would not care about, thus arousing enough discussion.

So is the CMF Phone 1 worth buying? If you can buy it at the original price (about 1,500 yuan), then it is still worth buying as a "toy" to try out; but if you need to pay a premium to buy it, or consider it as your main phone, then it is not suitable.

In the first half of 2024, the technology circle is surging.
Big models are being put into practice at an accelerated pace, with AI applications emerging in an endless stream, including AI mobile phones, AI PCs, AI home appliances, AI search, and AI e-commerce.
Vision Pro is now available in China, setting off a new wave of XR spatial computing;
HarmonyOS NEXT is officially released, and the mobile OS ecosystem has changed;
Automobiles have fully entered the "second half", and intelligence has become a top priority;
Competition in e-commerce is increasingly fierce, with low prices and even lower services;
The wave of going overseas is surging, and Chinese brands are embarking on the journey of globalization;

In the hottest month of July, Lei Technology's mid-year review is launched, summarizing the brands, technologies and products worth recording in the first half of 2024 in the technology industry, recording the past and looking forward to the future. Please pay attention.