Nothing Launches Its Phone (1) US Beta Program for $299

Nothing has done it – the Phone (1) can be purchased in the US under a new Beta “Membership” program.

After a bit of confusing teasing about a US-related launch back in December, Nothing has opened up orders for their Phone (1) in the US and it’ll cost you $299. They are calling this the “Nothing OS 1.5 Beta Membership” and the “Nothing Beta Membership” for some reason, adding to the previous confusion I mentioned already.

This is not really a membership program as far as I can tell. All you are doing is buying the Phone (1) with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage in black for $299. It comes with Nothing OS 1.5, which is Android 13. And you then can use it in the US. Like, there isn’t a membership piece to this where you get monthly or yearly benefits or anything that you would typically associate with a membership. You really are just buying the phone for $299 and using in the US.

Nothing’s marketing bro needs to chill.

With that in mind, Nothing has not confirmed in any of the “membership” details that this phone will work very well in the US. The official carrier support for the Nothing Phone (1) in the US, even under this OS 1.5 and Android 13 is as follows:

Carrier: AT&T

• LTE Bands: 2/4/5/12/17/26/66
• 5G Bands: not supported

Carrier: T-Mobile

• LTE Bands: 2/4/5/12/26/66
• 5G Bands: N5/N41

Carrier: Verizon

• LTE Bands: 2/4/5/66
• 5G Bands: not supported

So it won’t work on 5G at Verizon or AT&T. And is T-Mobile even using n5 for 5G yet? Their site doesn’t say it is. Did Nothing mean n71?

UPDATE: Yeah, we were right in that Nothing had the T-Mobile 5G bands wrong. They have since updated the FAQ to say that only n41 is supported. n5 was an error. So the carrier support is really bad.

What else do you need to know before buying Nothing’s phone lightshow?

• The phone is not a “beta” phone and is a proper retail unit, like you would buy in the UK
• Nothing “won’t be held responsible for malfunction” of it, though, since it is running beta software
• Limitations of the phone include potential app malfunctions (Google Wallet, Netflix, and YouTube)
• Want to buy another version of the phone, like the white one? Can’t. This black 8-128GB model is designated for this program
• The phone can be returned within 14 days if it isn’t to your liking

Ready to test out Nothing’s first phone? You can buy it at Nothing’s site.