Nothing Phone (3) will excel where no Samsung, Google or Apple has impressed

Nothing’s phones are most known for their Glyph interface and how it reduces the need to interact with your phone. The gorgeous UI also helps sell the idea of a truly minimalistic phone. These phones are meant for users who want to break away from the loop of endlessly checking the various apps on their phone.With the release of the Nothing Phone (2) the Glyph interface was taken to the next level. Tons of customization options allowed users to truly make their phone unique to them. The patterned LED lights on the back of the phone could be made to flash and fade in any number of ways to alert the user to something important.

This made it so that people wouldn’t need to constantly check their phones for urgent notifications. And in case you did turn on the screen the monochrome — and beautifully simplistic in my opinion — UI helped deter users from tapping on a colorfully inviting icon.

And now we get to the bit that was shared by Carl Pei. We’ve already seen Galaxy AI, Gemini and Apple Intelligence. All three have received mixed reviews and many have opted to not use their new AI assistants altogether. Nothing, on the other hand, wants to take this concept to what I envisioned when I first heard about modern AI models making it to smartphones.
In the video we see a very conversational AI assistant that doesn’t act like your typical LLM (Large Language Model). It isn’t repeatedly asking how it can serve you and it doesn’t shy away from expressing some emotion. In fact it even assigned itself a name that’s intended to then be used for the rest of time unless you want to change it.

Nothing also gave this assistant a way to show itself to the user which it did by presenting itself as a pair of very simple eyes looking around. Its “face” was present in multiple menus to show that it was always there to listen. The way you communicate with it is also pretty simple: you tap and hold a finger on the screen when you’re speaking. This means less chances of either the user or the AI interrupting each other mid sentence.

Lastly, and most importantly, Nothing described how this AI would work in theory. Thankfully it looks like Nothing isn’t content with a simple talking assistant that can sometimes write you an email or draw you a picture. The AI assistant that Nothing wants on its phones will literally make it so that you don’t need to install apps.

Nothing wants its AI to serve as a layer between you and the platforms for whom you would usually download an app. This, in theory, would mean a phone where everything of importance would be presented to you up front in a concise manner and everything else will take a backseat. The AI would eventually become a truly unique “individual” of sorts that understands your needs and wants and handles them for you in a way that minimizes phone use.

So how does this work in practice? I can think of a few ways Nothing could go about implementing this.

Let’s say you wake up in the morning and you’re running late for the office. In theory you could dart around the room getting your outfit ready while also talking to your phone. Your assistant will let you know if any important texts, calls or emails need to be attended to.

When you get in your car the phone will connect to your infotainment system and the AI would automatically play your morning commute playlist. While you’re driving it could place an order for your coffee before you get to the drive-through. Then it could write and send out responses to less important emails as you’re sipping your cappuccino.

During the day it will keep handling notifications in the background while you focus on work and will alert you if anything worth your time pops up. On the drive home from work it could give you brief summaries of everything that happened when you were working. As you pull into your driveway it could then place an order for takeout.

The list goes on and on. Nothing could really set the bar for how AI is supposed to behave like. Instead of promoting circle to search or a writing assistant the company can instead promote a true digital friend.

However, just because Nothing may win the AI race doesn’t mean its next phone will automatically beat the competition. A lot of users are unsold on the idea of AI on their phones and Nothing would have to convince them that its AI actually does help reduce phone usage.In addition the Nothing Phone (3) needs to catch up specs wise in some key areas. The cameras — and the software that handles them — needs to be improved. If the phone uses a more modern chipset than is tradition for Nothing’s previous offerings then that would be a major plus too.

Lastly, software support needs to be improved drastically. Nothing probably takes a smaller profit margin than Samsung and Apple (hence the lower prices for their phones) but three or four years of support is abysmal nowadays.

If Nothing plays its cards right not only will it sway more potential customers it would also make one of the best phones of the year.