introduction
The Nokia G60 5G was launched a few months later than the Nothing Phone 1 in 2022. in September. Although the Nothing Phone 1 was originally priced much higher, you can get a lower-spec variant for a similar price to the Nokia G60 5G. On paper, the Nothing Phone 1 seems to have a clear advantage over the Nokia G60 5G, but specs are only half the story.
In my previous review of the Nokia G60 5G, I found it to be a solid mid-range model that really punches above its weight. It even outperforms the more powerful Nokia X30 5G in certain areas that might hurt buyers.
But with the release of the more affordable Nothing Phone 1, HMD Global needs to rethink its pricing strategy, the last piece of the puzzle that was left out.
Nothing Phone 1 vs Nokia G60 5G
You have to hold the device to know how it really feels in your hand. Although the Nokia G60 5G weighs the same, it’s slightly taller, but looks more compact, with chamfered edges for added comfort. While the G60 5G is more eco-friendly, it surprisingly feels a lot better than HMD Global’s previous mid-range offerings.
The Nothing Phone 1 has a good build, but it just seems too hollow for me. That said, the aluminum frame and Gorilla Glass 5 protection on the front and back is more than what the G60 5G has to offer with its plastic frame and Gorilla Glass 5 protection on the front. However, as I said before, you really need to feel both of these devices in your hand, and I have to say that the G60 5G feels more comfortable in the hand than the Nothing Phone 1, and would probably take more drops than the other.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and in the mobile world, the screen is often the center of attraction. The Nothing Phone 1 leads the way here, offering an OLED display with 1 billion colors and HDR10+, with an average brightness of 500 nits and a 120Hz refresh rate. This is truly the icing on the cake as not many offer such a package at this price! The G60 5G settles for a more classic IPS LCD display, but also offers a 120Hz refresh rate.
With both displays having very similar pixel densities, it will be interesting to see how they fare side-by-side, as when comparing the Nokia G60 5G against Puredisplay-matched devices, the G60 5G performed surprisingly well for having more. crisp output and respectable dynamic range.
In terms of computing power, both of these devices run on a 6nm chipset, although the Nothing Phone 1 has the more powerful SD778 platform instead of the SD695 G60 5G. With both of these devices running almost Android, the overall experience is the same – smooth transitions, quick app launches, and better stability.
The focus of my review is always the imaging capabilities. No one offers a dual 50MP setup for the main and ultra-wide offering with a primary sensor equipped with OIS. The G60, on the other hand, has a 50MP primary sensor without OIS, a 5MP ultra-wide and a 2MP depth camera to round out the camera setup. Again, this seems to be another clear win for the None, but like my previous experience with the G60 5G, daylight performance is really good with better color reproduction and good dynamic range. It performs slightly worse than the X30 5G in low light, and while the 5MP ultra-wide might seem rudimentary compared to the 50MP sensor from Nothing, the Fusion algorithm might just blow your mind. It will also be a real proof if there are no more differences in OZO audio recording.
There are a few other specs on these devices to consider, such as stereo output from the Nothing, expandable storage from the G60 5G, and if you want a wireless charging device, only the Nothing offers them here.
Above are some examples of the main camera during the day and how the night mode works. Both devices perform well in daytime in terms of detail and dynamic range, but the Nokia G60 has better color reproduction. Thanks to NightMode 2.0, the Nokia G60’s low-light performance is commendable, but the Nothing Phone 1 does just fine. Areas where the Nokia lacks are ultra-wide blur, which is generally much softer, but that’s to be expected from a 5MP sensor. The same fate befalls low light thanks to the G60’s ultra-wide sensor. More examples and pixel-level comparisons will be coming soon on my Twitter feed in collaboration with From Nokiapur.
That being said, while the Nothing Phone 1 has a lot to offer on paper, they don’t quite translate in real life, at least not yet. As I shared in my previous Nothing Phone 1 review, 4K recording is choppy, 1080p HDR recording lacks stability, and this seems to reduce its performance to what the G60 5G can offer. But there’s nothing a good software patch can’t fix. Hopefully Android 13 will fix most of these issues.
Catch my live comparison here :
Final thoughts
The Nothing Phone 1 is there to remind manufacturers that the sky’s the limit when it comes to hardware and pricing. With a smaller setup than HMD Global, the Nothing Phone 1 made more noise than any Nokia phone to date. Aggressive pricing without compromising on hardware and even build quality makes the Nothing Phone 1 a pretty good choice.
HMD Global seems to be on the right track with the Nokia X30 5G and Nokia G60 5G, and I hope they continue to work on improving it with the upcoming Android 13 update. I expect the G60 5G’s imaging capabilities to be improved in certain areas, such as reduced noise and sharper images, a better Dark Vision mode that actually justifies its existence, stabilized 1080P 60 FPS recording, less noise and more detail. from ultra-wide fusion capture and won’t kill the introduction of SpeedWarp or UltraSteady video recording on the G60 5G because it used the identical processor to the X30 5G.
It will be interesting to see how the Nothing Phone 1 fares against its big brother, the Nokia X30 5G, which is coming soon.
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