I Tried to Fix the Nothing Phone 3 Design

The Nothing Phone 3 has been getting called ugly, and honestly, I do not fully agree. I think the bigger issue is that Nothing changed the design language people actually liked. The glyphs are gone, replaced with a different look that feels less bold and more confused.

That said, when a phone gets roasted this hard, it feels like an open invitation to grab the tools and see if it can be improved.

Opening the Nothing Phone 3

Getting into this phone was not easy. At all.

We start with torque screws, then move on to hidden screws, and then somehow find even more hidden screws. Nothing clearly did not want anyone poking around inside this thing, which is ironic considering what is waiting underneath.

Once inside, it becomes obvious that Nothing still knows how to design hardware.

Some of the Cleanest Android Internals I Have Seen

Compared to these devices.

Nothing has some of the cleanest looking internals of any Android phone I have opened. The layout is neat, the components are well organized, and the overall aesthetic is genuinely impressive.

And this is where the confusion really sets in. Why hide this? If you are going to build internals that look this good, it feels like a missed opportunity to bury them under a back design that people are actively complaining about.

Making It Look Better

After opening it up and getting a good look at everything, I decided to give the phone a visual upgrade. In my opinion, the modified look is a massive improvement over what Nothing shipped.

It highlights what makes the phone interesting instead of trying to reinvent the wheel without the glyphs. This is the version of the Nothing Phone 3 that makes sense to me.

Final Thoughts

The Nothing Phone 3 is not a bad looking phone, but it could have been a great looking phone. After opening it up, I am genuinely confused why Nothing did not lean into the clean internal design instead of moving away from it.

I guess the glyphs went on vacation, but at least the internals showed up dressed nicely.

See you in the next article!