Nothing’s cmf phone 1 isn’t that repairable

Nothing announced their affordable midrange fighter, which comes with some cool accessories and a pretty simple design. The cmf phone 1 isn’t bringing much to the game; there is no OIS camera, nor NFC or wireless charging. However, the phone does feature a somewhat different design, with easily removable covers that you need to unscrew to change, as well as some accessories to make your phone more usable.

What I like about Nothing’s idea is the ecosystem for users with modest needs. Buyers of the CMF Phone 1 can also get a decent smartwatch and some cool-looking earbuds (which is something Nothing is known for). What Nothing is doing is something I longed for HMD to do: provide a true ecosystem of products that complement their Nokia phones. HMD failed greatly in this regard, but they have a chance to fix that now with their own brand.

Back to the topic. Nothing also made a phone that should be easily fixed by users, but PBK did a disassembly video which proves otherwise. The phone isn’t that easy to repair. Upon removing the back cover, there is a plastic cover which clearly states that if you remove it, you’ll lose your warranty. HMD did a much better job with the Nokia G22, G42, or HMD Pulse phones, where you can change parts without losing the warranty. Also, you should preserve that IP52 proofing after your disassembly.

The foil isn’t the only problem. Nothing also covered some screws with tape so that the company could tell if someone has been opening the phone. But they didn’t stop there. They even hid a screw below the bottom knob, which is used for some accessories. Additionally, while the battery is secured with a tape that should offer easy removal, it can’t be removed that easily.

However, the PBK video did show that Nothing used a lot of heat dissipation shields and thermal paste, which should keep the Mediatek Dimensity 7300 5G processor cool. Also, the CMF Phone 1 has an aluminium shell, which makes it sturdy, along with all the screws that hold the pieces together.

PBK noticed some problems with the assembly of a connector, which pressed a piece of rubber gasket inside the connector, making the phone he disassembled not work. This suggests that even Nothing has room for improvement, and quality checks are one of them.

PBK gave this phone a repairability score of 6.5 out of 10 because of the reasons mentioned above. But PBK did end the video by saying that this is a good phone build for the price and it has good cooling.

I think that HMD actually managed to make a better product in terms of repairability. Now we just need to wait and see if a model similar to the CMF Phone 1 is as easy to repair.

Enjoy the great video done by PBK.