{"id":11985,"date":"2024-07-23T00:05:50","date_gmt":"2024-07-23T00:05:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/?p=11985"},"modified":"2024-07-23T00:05:50","modified_gmt":"2024-07-23T00:05:50","slug":"cmf-phone-1-review-a-phenomenal-budget-smartphone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/?p=11985","title":{"rendered":"CMF Phone 1 Review: A Phenomenal Budget Smartphone"},"content":{"rendered":"


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I’m coming up<\/span> on 10 years of covering mobile phones, and after some time with the CMF Phone 1<\/a>, I don’t think I have used a more perfect phone for the money. CMF is a sub-brand<\/a> by Nothing, founded by Carl Pei of OnePlus fame<\/a>. It’s been dabbling in ultralow-cost devices, like smartwatches and earbuds, but the CMF Phone 1 is its first Android phone. And it costs $199.<\/p>\n

I make it a point to review cheap smartphones<\/a>\u2014I remember the days when I scrounged every penny I earned to buy my first smartphone, the $200 Samsung Galaxy Captivate in 2010. It’s important to help steer people on a limited budget to good<\/em> devices. This year alone, I’ve tried the $150 Moto G Play<\/a> and the $199 Galaxy A15<\/a>\u2014the latter of which I found to be a disappointing successor to the excellent Galaxy A14 from 2023<\/a>. But none of these phones hold a candle to the CMF Phone 1, which blows its peers away.<\/p>\n

Phenomenal Value<\/h2>\n

CMF’s design language for the Phone 1 is its first win. This device is far more visually interesting than any other $199 handset in the US. The industrial look comes alive when you embrace the $35 swappable back covers. Use the included screwdriver to pop off the screws and you can change the back to a different color. My choice was orange.<\/p>\n

The screwdriver is a bit short, and so it’s a little hard to remove the screws\u2014I can’t imagine changing the back often<\/em>. This also doesn’t mean you’ll be able to start repairing stuff yourself or swap out the battery\u2014CMF urges customers not to remove the battery without authorization (there’s a warning label on the battery). There’s disappointingly not much here to make repairs easier, unlike HMD’s new Skyline<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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