There is no “beta test” of the phone in the US aimed at people with more money than sense

Does anyone rememberNothing phone? “

The awkwardly named Nothing is a new smartphone company from OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei, and its first phone, the Nothing Phone 1, launched about half a year ago in Europe, India and China for €469 (about $500). Nothing will allow you now buy this phone In the US for $300. The company calls this “beta testing,” but it doesn’t look like you’re testing for anything other than market interest. The “beta test” tag means that buying the phone comes with caveats that make it a pretty terrible deal.

First, a quick recap: The Nothing Phone 1 is a $300 midrange phone with a Snapdragon 778G+, a 6.55-inch, 2400 x 1080 120Hz OLED display, a 4,500mAh battery, and a bunch of other specs that fall firmly into the “meh.” The device doesn’t have a clear sales pitch for why it’s such a good smartphone, with just a few light strips on the back panel to separate it from the crowd. The company hopes that the wacky backboard will blow you away.

So about that beta test — for $300, you’re not buying a US-spec phone. Alternatively, nothing will send you a production model in Europe / India / China, hoping that everything will work out. You will be missing major frequency bands on each carrier, so depending on your location, you may have signal trouble. The phone’s FAQ states that 5G is not supported on AT&T or Verizon at all, and is only partially supported on T-Mobile with one band. You’re also missing LTE bands on every carrier. Voice over LTE and Wi-Fi won’t work on AT&T, CDMA won’t work on Verizon, and you’ll need to contact Verizon and beg the company to add your phone to their IMEI database so it can be activated.

There is no guarantee. The FAQ states that there is a 14-day return policy, hence “no after-sales service after this period”. The phone ships in five to seven business days to all 50 states. You’ll also get a nothing-for-phone NFT.

The only part of the testing you might do on the phone is the Android 13 beta that comes with it, though you can easily test this at Nothing Phone’s official selling areas. Of course, beta OS comes with the risk that your phone may not work properly. The Android beta will not outpace the Google version Play Integrity API (This is amazing It used to be called “SafetyNet Attestation”), so high security applications are likely to throw error messages and close. These are usually banking, tap and pay apps, some gamesand media applications coveted by DRM such as Netflix and YouTube.

Even with a discount, paying to “test” a half-broken product is a really hard sell. If you’re just looking for a decent phone for a low price, the Pixel 6a is usually $449, and it is Often for sale For $300 or $350. (A $350 deal in progress Immediately.) Besides being much faster than the Nothing phone, it also comes with some nice features like FCC certification, the ability to connect to the cellular system, a production operating system that can run apps, and a product warranty if something breaks. There’s even an LED flash if you’re really into the back panel lights.

None says that “None Beta Membership Program will run until June 30th,” which likely means the phone won’t be on sale by then. That’s also when Nothing Phone 1 is about a year old. The company says the US is “set to be an important market for us,” so perhaps the next model will sell right here. It would be nice if we had a new smartphone competition in the US, but not like this.