Reviews

Nothing Phone (3) review: Is it really a flagship phone?

Sometimes yes, sometimes no

Published

August 15, 2025

Luigi Leonardo

Calling a new smartphone “the first true flagship” comes with a lot of responsibility. For a fashion-oriented brand like Nothing, the task seems… steeper. Can Carl Pei’s relatively new venture create a smartphone worthy of the flagship segment? The Nothing Phone (3) takes a stab at it, and it’s a pretty respectable effort.

A peek at the innards

Nothing built a foundation on its unique design. Compared to several smartphones these days, a Nothing Phone can turn heads and spark conversations. The Nothing Phone (3) is no different.

To be fair, the brand’s third iteration feels more subdued than the past. The recognizable Glyph Lights are gone. The sides look more and more like an iPhone. The more curvaceous stylings are also gone.

That said, the Phone (3) still looks like a spectacular smartphone. The subtler paneling, which is supposed to mimic the insides of a smartphone, stands out. Though the lack of symmetry is notable, the three rear cameras (and the large LED flash) are highlights. It also helps that Nothing added more durability by encasing the rear in Gorilla Glass Victus.

Of course, the main event is still the new Glyph Matrix, a dot-matrix screen with 489 micro-LED dots. Right in the middle of the rear panel is a capacitive touch screen button to activate the Matrix.

The aluminum sides are sturdy. On the right side is the power button and the ostentatious Essential Key (more on that later). The left side houses the traditional volume rocker. Both the top and the bottom sides have speakers. Meanwhile, the bottom comes with a USB-C port and a dual SIM slot.

Personally, I love the cohesion of the design. The subtlety works to its advantage with a lot of elements meshing together in one smartphone.

Is the processor a problem?

When the Nothing Phone (3) was first revealed, the biggest eyebrow raiser was the processor. For a self-proclaimed flagship, the smartphone only has a Snapdragon 8s Gen 4. Typically, this processor is not what you’d expect from the flagship segment. But do we actually need a flagship processor?

Under the hood, the Phone (3) starts with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage. For this review, I had the larger 16GB RAM + 512GB storage variant. Personally, this is more than enough for me.

On a more practical perspective, the processor can handle just about anything I threw at it. Importantly, it can play Zenless Zone Zero at maximum settings — including the beefier 60fps mode. There were some hiccups and stutters during fights with heavy particle effects, but the game was largely playable. A quick tinkering with lower settings fixes this problem. Regardless, from the practical “can this thing play games” perspective, yes, you have a smartphone that can handle heavier loads.

It’s getting hot in here

Now, the problem isn’t so much the performance as it is the heat. The Phone (3) does not have any unique cooling system. After only a few minutes in the ZZZ loading screen, the phone’s rear — specifically, the area underneath the cameras — was heating up.

Take note: At the time of my review, Nothing and other third-party case manufacturers aren’t selling cases for the Phone (3) yet. I had to endure the heat from a naked phone or one protected by the flimsy jelly case from the box. It wasn’t pleasant.

Thankfully, the phone doesn’t heat up outside of gaming. If you’re not that much of a gamer, you probably won’t even notice that the phone has a heating problem.

Only steady hands for the camera

If you peer closely into one of the phone’s lenses, you’ll find a mechanism that looks deeper than most cameras today. On paper, you will find three 50-megapixel (wide + ultrawide + periscope telephoto) rear cameras. Just from reading that, you should be able to expect jaw-dropping performance.

Even just from a few samples, you’ll see that the Phone (3)’s cameras are no joke. Though they tend to favor warmer hues, the colors don’t look washed out.

For the most part, highlights and shadows are balanced. Occasionally, the contrast freaks out, but it doesn’t happen regularly enough to be a problem.

The zoom is also amazing. The periscope lens features up to 6x optical zoom (and up to 60x digital zoom afterwards). At 6x optical zoom, photos still retain a lot of definition, except when zoomed in. At 60x digital zoom, the AI does almost all of the heavy lifting. There isn’t much to note at that zoom, but it’s good to have it as an option.

See that ship way out there?

How about now?

Macro shots are also pretty good. By default, zooms in macro mode are at 3x, so you don’t have to get too up close and personal with potentially hurtful bugs when taking shots of them.

Now, my biggest issue with the camera is how much you need steady hands. The default camera mode often comes up with blurry shots even if it’s just of a mildly fidgety cat. The AI also regularly gets confused with moving subjects that it “autocorrects” and chooses shots where my eyes are closed.

Glyph Toys: gimmick or feature?

This time around, Nothing introduced the new Glyph Matrix. Whereas the previous generations of the Nothing Phone allowed users to customize light patterns, the Matrix allows for more freedom in the form of Glyph Toys. You can also use it as a notification dot.

Right now, there are only nine available Toys. The first three are simple status indicators for when the phone is facing down: Digital Clock, Battery, and Solar Path.

The next three are more for practicality: Stopwatch, Leveler, and Glyph Mirror. Because there’s often input lag when using the Matrix, a Stopwatch is practically useless. Also, I can’t imagine using the Leveler anywhere. Of these three, only Glyph Mirror seems useful. It’s a lo-fi dot-matrix mirror built for lining up rear-facing selfie shots.

This is how the Glyph Mirror looks

The last three are more playful: Bottle (or Spin the Bottle), Rock Paper Scissors, and Magic 8-Ball. While these are pretty cute, I don’t see myself using these for anything other than showing off the Phone (3) for friends.

In concept, the Glyph Toys are neat. In practice, the feature falls more into the realm of novelty. But, with enough updates, it has the potential to be really useful for a general audience.

The useless Essential Key

More than the Glyph Toys, the Phone (3)’s biggest misfire is the Essential Key. Introduced first with the Phone (3a), this button is meant to access, as the name says, the Essential Space feature. It’s basically the Bixby button but less useful, if you can imagine such a thing.

Rather than a simple voice assistant, Essential Space is a note-taking app that takes screenshots whenever the button is pressed. You can then add notes, save the image for later, or plot it on your calendar. It’s meant for users who love researching on their phone for recipes and shopping items.

These cases are too specific for general users. Personally, my biggest use case for taking screenshots is when I see a meme I want to share with friends. Notetaking isn’t that useful for me.

Now, if the app was just extemporaneous, we wouldn’t really have a problem. However, the Essential Key is inconveniently located less than an inch away from the power button. When I want to open or close my phone, there’s a very substantial chance that I accidentally press the Essential Key instead. It’s frankly annoying.

Even worse, there is currently no way to officially remap the Essential Key.

A big, big battery

Drawbacks aside, the Phone (3) does have an impressive battery. From casual use (browsing, none to light gaming), a full battery lasted approximately 18 hours with 30 percent of juice left to spare. Heavier usage wasn’t a big issue, either. I never had battery anxiety while using this phone. In fact, I started leaving my powerbank at home.

If you play on mobile regularly, a single hour (specifically on ZZZ) can sap around 20 percent of battery. However, as I mentioned when reviewing the phone’s performance, this isn’t a phone you’d take on long gaming sessions anyway.

Charging is a breeze. The battery can go from empty to full in a little over an hour. That’s what you’d expect from a modern smartphone, so good job, Nothing.

Is the Nothing Phone (3) your GadgetMatch?

This is a tough one. Objectively, the Nothing Phone (3) is a well-rounded smartphone with a healthy smattering of experiments. Sure, the experiments don’t all work out, but you have to applaud a phone that wants to try something new.

However, the veneer starts buckling under the weight of Nothing’s promise of a “true flagship”. Because of its lesser processor and lackluster gimmicks, it’s hard to justify its flagship price. The Phone (3) starts at US$ 799. That’s pretty hefty for a new phone. At the very least, most of my issues with the phone — shortage of useful Glyph Toys, flimsy battery, and un-remappable Essential Key — can easily be fixed with an OTA update. That leaves only the slightly lower processor and the lack of a cooling system as the only unavoidable cons.

That aside, if you’re upgrading from an older phone, the Nothing Phone (3) is a solid choice and a worthy Swipe Right.

Related Topics:Nothing Nothing Phone (3)

Laptops

30 days later with the ASUS ExpertBook Ultra: Like seeing an ex

Felt exactly as I remembered.

Published

August 10, 2026

Rodneil Quiteles

I genuinely thought that was it.

The review was done. The feature was out. ASUS had already collected the laptop. In my head, the campaign was over.

Then, out of nowhere, they sent it back.

Between the original review period and this unexpected encore, I ended up living with the ExpertBook Ultra for close to 30 days.

I wasn’t expecting to spend more time with it, but I certainly wasn’t going to complain. If anything, I just hoped they wouldn’t ask for it back again anytime soon.

Picking it back up felt familiar.

Like seeing an ex.

The butterflies came back almost immediately. So did everything I remembered about it.

It also got me thinking.

Maybe the best follow-up to a review isn’t spending another week with a laptop. Maybe it’s asking yourself one simple question:

How much did you actually miss it after it was gone?

That question was surprisingly easy to answer.

It still feels impossibly light

The first thing I noticed wasn’t the display. It wasn’t the keyboard either.

It was the weight.

That became painfully obvious on days when I absolutely had to bring my laptop around. The 0.99kg starting weight really does make a difference when you’re bouncing between cafés, meetings, and wherever else work decides to take you.

So when the ExpertBook Ultra came back, it slipped right back into the same routine. Same cafés. Dinner after. Then back home where work usually followed me all the way to bed.

Most definitely inside the Bravo Tote V2. I upgraded my bag too lol.

The thing I noticed almost immediately wasn’t that it was light. I already knew that. It was how quickly everything came back.

Like we never parted.

The ASUS ExpertBook Ultra is still everything I want my MacBook Pro to look and feel like.

I still have a weird relationship with the Nano Ceramic finish

I know this sounds ridiculous, but I still catch myself running my hand across the lid before opening the laptop.

It’s just become part of the ritual.

Pick it up. Marvel at how light it is. Run my hand across the 9H Nano Ceramic finish. Then get to work.

One of the things I wondered after ASUS took the laptop back was whether I’d still care about the finish once the honeymoon phase had worn off. It felt like one of those features that would naturally lose its magic over time.

Apparently not. If anything, the time apart made me appreciate it even more. And as I continued to use it, these words came to mind: “I wish we never parted. I wish you stayed. And I wish you never go away.”

I forgot how much I liked working on it

One thing that didn’t change while the ExpertBook Ultra was away was the kind of work I do.

The breadth and depth of it certainly didn’t magically change. I still spent my days coordinating projects, replying to emails, juggling deadlines, and letting ChatGPT help me process unresolved feelings and questionable timing in between writing articles.

That also meant I wasn’t really the target audience for some of the ExpertBook Ultra’s AI for Work features. I appreciated having tools like MyExpert, AI ExpertMeet, and Copilot+ within reach, but my workflow rarely called for them. Most days, I was simply too busy doing the work instead of exploring new ways to do it.

Although, I will say I did a lot more coordination work than the emotionally charged reviews and features I usually enjoy writing.

I also started editing a reel before eventually handing it over to one of our video editors for reasons completely unrelated to the ExpertBook Ultra. Rodneil issue.

The keyboard, though, was just as lovely as I remembered. The 1.5 mm key travel still struck a nice balance between comfort and responsiveness, while the ASUS ExpertCool keyboard with its Excimer UV coating gave me one less thing to worry about during long workdays.

People often say a good keyboard is one you stop thinking about. I never did.

Every now and then I’d be halfway through an article and randomly catch myself appreciating how good it felt to type on. It’s one of those things you don’t expect to notice after days of use, but somehow you still do.

The haptic touchpad, on the other hand, started feeling like it was fighting me a little this time around. I still think that’s more of a software thing than an ASUS thing. If there’s one thing Apple still has over practically everyone else, it’s the MacBook trackpad.

That said, I still never found myself reaching for a mouse.

I got distracted… again (thanks, 3K Tandem OLED)

Eventually, though, my brain would tap out.

That’s usually when I’d stop pretending to be productive and switch to whatever was helping me decompress that week.

This time, it was See You at Work Tomorrow. I initially watched for second female lead Kang Mina (due for a lead role, btw) but got hooked with the rest of the cast pretty quickly.

I also started Smoking Behind the Supermarket With You. It’s quietly become one of my comfort shows of late.

And naturally, there were the occasional fancams. This time, mostly of Kim Chaewon during LE SSERAFIM’s PUREFLOW concert stops.

Funny enough, I don’t think I consciously appreciated the 3K Tandem OLED display as much this time around. I think I just got used to how good it looked.

Somewhere between deadlines, comfort shows, anime, and Chaewon fancams, I stopped noticing the display altogether. I just enjoyed whatever happened to be on it.

That’s probably the highest compliment I can give it.

Turns out, I hadn’t changed my mind

One of the reasons I was genuinely happy the ExpertBook Ultra came back was because I wanted to see whether I’d remembered it too fondly. After all, that’s usually what time does. You remember the good parts, forget the little annoyances, and convince yourself something was better than it actually was.

That never happened here.

If anything, getting the laptop back just reinforced the conclusions I had already come to the first time around. It still feels impossibly light. I still think it’s everything I want my MacBook Pro to look and feel like. And yes, I still wish it ran macOS.

Sorry, Windows.

What surprised me more was that I never really found myself looking for reasons to disagree with my original review. I wasn’t paying attention to the little things anymore. Nor was I trying to re-review the laptop or see if I’d somehow missed a fatal flaw the first time around.

I just… used it.

It stopped feeling like a review unit and simply became the laptop I reached for whenever I had work to do or wanted to unwind with a K-drama at the end of the day. Looking back, that’s probably why nothing really changed. I had already formed my opinion. Getting it back just confirmed it.

The person I picture using this laptop also hasn’t changed. It’s still for people who’ve made strides in life and want a machine that reflects where they are while keeping up with everything they’re taking on.

That’s who I pictured when I first wrote about the ExpertBook Ultra.

Funny enough… That’s still who I picture today.

Sometimes the best review begins after the review ends

When ASUS took the laptop back, there was actually some relief. It signalled that the campaign was over.

That feeling didn’t last very long.

I couldn’t help but long for it shortly after, especially on days that I absolutely had to bring a laptop around. The weight really does play a big factor during days like this. And as ridiculous as it sounds, I never quite got over the Nano Ceramic finish either.

That’s probably what surprised me the most. Not that I still liked the ExpertBook Ultra. I already knew that.

It was realizing just how much of the experience stayed with me after it was gone.

If you’ve been considering the ExpertBook Ultra, my advice probably hasn’t changed after spending close to 30 days with it. Don’t buy it because it’s the lightest laptop around or because it packs every feature under the sun. Buy it because you want a machine that quietly gets out of your way and lets you focus on the work that matters. That’s what it ended up doing for me.

After this reunion, the ASUS ExpertBook Ultra will likely leave me again. Some exes are just like that. They’re meant to be exes.

And while they don’t stay, they leave an imprint on how you go about life moving forward.

I just know some part of me will always look for the best that I’ve found with the ExpertBook Ultra whenever another laptop lands on my desk.

Is that fair? Perhaps not. But it is what it is.

Thinking of making the switch?

If you’ve been considering the ASUS ExpertBook Ultra, ASUS Business Philippines is currently running an Early Bird Bundle Promo until August 31, 2026. Purchase any ASUS ExpertBook Ultra from participating ASUS Expert Stores and select tech retailers to receive over Php 13,000 worth of freebies, including an ASUS 100W GaN Charger and SSI Gift Certificates. (DTI Fair Trade Permit No. FTEB-261070 Series of 2026.)

The ASUS ExpertBook Ultra starts at Php 129,995 and is available through select ASUS authorized stores and tech retailers nationwide.

Every purchase also includes a 3-year battery and charger warranty extension, with upgradeable warranty coverage of up to 5 years, giving you added peace of mind long after you’ve taken it home.

Where to buy:

ASUS ExpertBook Ultra: https://ph.asus.click/ExpertBookUltra-WheretoBuy
ASUS Expert Store – Lazada: https://ph.asus.click/ASUSExpertBookStoreLazada
ASUS Expert Store – Shopee: https://ph.asus.click/ASUSExpertBookStoreShopee

For businesses, ASUS Business Philippines also offers flexible configurations tailored to your organization’s needs. To learn more about volume purchases, visit:
https://ph.asus.click/Business-VolumePurchase

Laptops

ROG STRIX G16 Review: Building for the moment

Setting it up however you want to make the most out of it

Published

August 10, 2026

Gab Orlina

As someone who loves to build PCs, gaming laptops do not completely appeal to me as much as it would for other people. Apart from the limited capacity to tinker and upgrade parts, in some cases, gaming performance doesn’t feel the same as an actual desktop PC.

Also, there’s the ever-present concern on its portability given that most gaming laptops come in rather hefty clam shells.

The other thing is that given we now have more portable ways to play the game, gaming laptops feel behind in the game. Handhelds like the ASUS ROG Ally X make it easy to just bring the games with you even if you won’t be able to play all genres anyways.

However, there are still those that dare to take the chance on the clam shell for all the other, non-gaming aspects it excels in.

So, when ROG came to us with the ASUS ROG STRIX G16, I wanted to give it a shot to see if it’s something worth totally investing in.

On paper, it promises to be an excellent device for all of its intended use cases, but you can say that about anything at this point. There has to be something different that truly makes this device worthwhile in 2026.

Performance-maxxing at its finest

If it isn’t obvious yet, I think that this new version of the ROG STRIX G16 performs absolutely well with the hardware it comes with.

Powered by the new Intel Core Ultra 9 and an NVIDIA RTX 5080, it covers every little use case you need it for. Editing spreadsheets, creating videos from scratch, playing RTX-compatible games with high quality details – it honestly can do no wrong.

On the outside, the device sports a 16-inch, 2.5K ROG Nebula Display, maxed out with a refresh rate of 300hz. While it does come in the unorthodox 16:10 aspect ratio, it doesn’t totally ruin the viewing nor gaming experience in my opinion.

Also, that high enough of a refresh rate already puts this display within the competitive gaming tier of performance. So, expect to hit more headshots when you play on this device, hopefully.

The thing is, for me, this is expected coming out from ASUS ROG. Great internal hardware, matched with the external hardware to maximize the gaming experience – it’s what they’re known for.

At this point, they’ve continuously raised the bar on maxing out gaming and productivity performance that it bears no repeating past this point.

So, what’s new?

Designing the experience your way

The ROG STRIX G16 for 2026 sports a rather subtle, nearly minimalist physical appearance upon unboxing. Bannered by an LED ROG logo and several nods to their brand messaging, it’s as unassuming as one would expect.

Once you turn it on, you are greeted with the flash of RGB light strips surrounding the keyboard and the underside of the laptop – all fully customizable on Armoury Crate. If you ask me, that’s not even the best part.

When you flip the device to the underside, you will notice this peg that can pass off as its rubber footing. However, inspect it further and it’s actually a switch that, when slid to the left, unlocks the protective cover of the laptop’s internal hardware.

Once unlocked, it allows you to easily add another M.2 SSD storage or expand your RAM to 64GB, which is a huge deal on its own.

Upgrading your laptop was never this easy nor safe to do, considering that you will normally need to remove the screws and potentially void the warranty. With the ROG STRIX G16, both of those worries are eliminated for you to craft the perfect gaming machine.

The only thing, though, is it’s still a pretty bulky machine that made some weird tweaks to the other components.

I’m personally not a fan of the unbelievably large trackpad and the somewhat awkward key travel while typing due to the switches being small for my hands. External peripherals are a must, but the components having weird quirks are not a total deal breaker.

No heat in the moment

ROG brings its new Intelligent Cooling system that it applied to the 2026 version of the STRIX G16, which promised better heat dissipation on paper. Part of the design choice to accompany this was to open up most ventilation on the rear end, unlike other models that still evenly distributed it to the sides.

This, to me, was a welcomed change especially with Intel chips that typically throttle during intense workloads.

The most obvious pain point I had before was immediately addressed by this new cooling system. Effectively, they made the heat dissipate through one ventilation area so it no longer affects other parts of the laptop to make the experience uncomfortable long term.

One example of this: the keyboard doesn’t take the heat after three hours of non-stop play on Performance mode while the system is throttling to achieve better frame rates.

Even after I shut down the laptop after use, the underside doesn’t get too warm either. I initially thought it had to be if that was an area you would have easy access to.

Well, I’m glad to never attempt to fry eggs on a laptop ever again, at least!

Battery levels that keep you in the clutch

For a device this powerful, it’s not a surprise to me that the battery drains quickly when you’re on the move. In my regular usage, I tallied around four to five hours before zero, only slightly improved to five and a half when leaving the device idle for a while.

Surprisingly enough, increasing the intensity of the load cuts these numbers only by a bit – clocking in three and a half hours maximum with heavy gaming.

Fortunately enough, the 380W charger charged it back to full at a quicker time and pace as its battery drain time.

Going from none to done took an average of two hours when idle, nearly two and half hours when in use while charging.

To me, this is more than enough time to go on a break when the games are tilting you too much. You can also use the 100W USB-C charger if you want to keep the laptop idle for longer and it will take four hours.

Is the ROG STRIX G16 your GadgetMatch?

For a laptop priced at a whopping PhP 319,995, the ASUS ROG STRIX G16 is the kind of all-around machine you can build to capture any moment. On its own, the performance truly speaks for itself whether you need it for work in the day or play till the wee hours.

However, when you’re willing to tinker around the machine like I was, you can unlock so much more out of it, especially in the hardware department. It’s a bonus that this machine lets you do it a lot easier without risking any warranties to be voided.

Admittedly, I still have some more questions about the design philosophy and longevity because of the hardware pre-built in.

For one, some design choices truly made it feel like you could only enjoy this with additional peripherals at your disposal. Plus, the battery charges fast to compensate for how quickly it runs out, too.

Although these aren’t deal breakers for me but for others, you might want to take note and try it out too.

Overall, you can’t go wrong with a machine that lets you achieve great performance when you’re willing to dig deeper into it.

As someone who loves to build PCs, this is one of the few gaming laptops that appeals to me while ignoring the obvious dent on my wallet. Even with other options out there, this might just be the one that you can future-proof as long as you can afford to do so!

Reviews

realme C100: Enduring and durable in spite of entry-level realities

Enough power but needs more agility

Published

July 11, 2026

Manila Connoisseur

Several smartphone brands have successfully balanced cost and capability in the entry-level and midrange segments. realme, on the other hand, appears to still be navigating this refinement process after the realignment in budget handsets.

The brand’s latest mass market offering, the realme C100, highlights an aggressive focus on physical endurance and battery capacity.

These are two welcome additions to give consumers more value for what they purchase. Yet, there are compromises in other areas that ultimately hold the package back from being a worthy everyday utility.

Long battery life

Bannering the realme C100 is its 8,000mAh Titan battery. This substantial boost in capacity translates to better longevity on a day-to-day basis.

For just casual usage patterns, it can easily last even up to four days. When left on standby, it can even stretch to an impressive nine days or so.

When finally time to recharge, the device supports 45W SUPERVOOC fast charging, which is ample for its segment.

As smartphone brands lean toward offering larger batteries, it’s a positive trade-off for those who don’t plan on purchasing power banks any time soon.

Unoptimized performance

The C100 is powered by a MediaTek Helio G92 Max processor and runs on the Android 16-based realme UI 7.0.

Performance is inconsistent at best. Light social media scrolling and casual streaming aren’t met with hiccups.

But, with gaming, the handset falters a bit, even with the supposedly less demanding titles like Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. There are frame drops, stutters, and a it of lag that disrupts the overall experience.

That’s even with GT Mode turned on.

This would also considerably hamper the workflow of utility workers’ daily routines, should they choose this.

Thankfully, with a long battery life, the C100 is still something you can wield to stay connected throughout the entire day, especially for commuters, students, and young professionals.

However, the lack of 5G connectivity is also a downer, especially if you’ll need a better and faster network.

Ideally, I would put it as chiefly just a tool for constant comms and something you’d put on your desk — expecting new messages, emails, and notifications or updates here and there.

Inferior display

In front, the realme C100 sports a 6.8-inch 120Hz display on paper. It has an HD+ resolution but the pixel density sits at just a mere 256ppi.

There’s visible graininess or lack of distinct sharpness, be it streaming YouTube or viewing photos you’ve just taken with the device.

The same hardware limitation reminds me of past compromises in previous C series entries. Photos appear muddy and noticeably soft on screen, so it’s difficult to judge image clarity until files are transferred to another display.

The 1,200 nits of peak brightness helps a bit, although it is still a bit trickier to see things under the bright sunlight.

Cameras: Decent, as usual

For its camera, the realme C100 has quite the standard 50MP main camera. It’s decent for captures in terms of color and detail, but I’ve seen better overall quality from previous C series entries.

It’s tough when its indoors and under low light conditions — as expected. Naturally, you can’t expect the same detail outside of 1x zoom.

Some quick samples:

It’s a you-get-what-you-paid for on the stills department; something you’d use for documentation more rather than artistic captures. I would have hoped for more stability with filming, so you can use it for quick reels or splice them for vlogs.

When I asked my nephew to use the phone for a bit, he didn’t take too many images, which tells a lot about what the camera package can offer.

Look and feel

Onto its appearance, the device comes with a simple, squarish build with a faux triple camera island at the back.

It’s nothing we haven’t seen before, though in the place of round cameras, they look more like app icons shape-wise.

There’s slightly curved corners, just the right amount of thickness, a decent 90.4% screen-to-body ratio, and a bit of weight given the larger battery.

To its credit, the phone has a good grip and a less slippery back, even with its fancy design.

It is obviously great to have ArmorShell Glass protection too, as durability and ruggedness are two non-negotiables in this segment to remain competitive.

Aside from that, the phone boasts of IP66, IP68, IP69, and IP69K dust and water resistance. The display itself is also optimized for wet touches through Rain Touch Mode.

Is this your BudgetMatch?

For consumers prioritizing raw survival metrics, the final verdict leans toward a Swipe Left. It’s close though.

While the market shift toward military-grade drop resistance, high-tier IP waterproofing, and massive batteries makes sense as they save users from the hidden or unexpected costs of broken screens, liquid damage, and purchasing extra power banks, smartphones still requires a baseline level of operational smoothness.

At this price point, there are multiple cheaper alternatives with a more stable and responsive user experience.