The Nothing Phone 1 is finally heading to the US, sort of
Nothing has stuck to markets in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia for its first-ever smartphone,skipping US shores at launch. The company blames the complexities in the US market for that, but founder Carl Pei offered a glimmer of hope for Americans last December after he told CNBC that Nothing wasin talks with US carriersabout releasing a new smartphone in the country, referring to theNothing Phone 1. The company is finally bringing the Phone 1 to the United States, but not in the way you might think. Nothing has tweeted that the handset is coming to the US via an exclusive beta membership.
The release is part of the firm’sNothing OS 1.5 beta program, with the goal of testing the waters in certain markets through feedback collected from testers. This means that the phone’s arrival in the country by no means represents a full-on launch. Instead, the Phone 1 will be available to a few beta members, though Nothing didn’t specify how many it will accept into the program.
If you sign up for it, you’ll receive a black Phone 1 running Nothing OS 1.5 based onAndroid 13. Inside, it will have 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. A Nothing Community Black Dot is also in tow as part of the perks for beta testers.
However, you’ll need to shell out $299 to be accepted. For that price, you’ll finally be able to get your hands on a potential contender for thebest cheap Android phones, if you don’t mind running into issues with your network carrier in the country. Nothing cautions that the models arriving in the US “may not work with all US carriers” since they are similar variants sold globally.
The Phone 1 will pick up both LTE and 5G support from T-Mobile, while AT&T and Verizon subscribers will only enjoy 4G access. Verizon’s customers are out of luck, as support will be extremely limited, as perThe Verge.
The beta membership program is set to conclude on June 30. There’s no word, however, on whether the Phone 1 will be widely available to purchase in the country afterward. That said, now is your chance to grab one of the most interesting Android phones of last year, albeit not in a formal capacity.
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