The CMF Phone 1: a totally naked budget Android smartphone with an extra-large, low-profile back panel of the $19$ T-Mobile

Being a budget phone and all, there are obviously some tradeoffs to consider. There’s no NFC, and the Phone 1 is only splash-resistant. The price is understandable, and you know the way the back of the phone comes off. In the US, carrier support is very limited. Like the Phone 2A, it will work on T-Mobile’s 4G and 5G networks, but only supports Verizon and AT&T’s 4G bands. But for the same price? It might just be worth it — if nothing else, it’s one heck of an accessory.

Budget gadgets are usually stuck with drab designs and lackluster specs, a challenge Nothing’s sub-brand CMF has decided to take on. The relatively new offshoot from Nothing focuses on the extreme lower end of the market and has until now sold a smartwatch, wireless earbuds, and chargers. Today marks its first smartphone, the CMF Phone 1, becoming available in the US through a beta program. The new Buds Pro 2 and the Watch Pro 2 are accompanied by unique accessories.

The back panel of the phone will come off so you can swap it for a different one. Each replacement has everything you need, including a little screwdriver, screws, and a color-matched sim tray.

There’s also a round accessory port cover in the bottom corner of the phone. It does not offer a functional use, but rather it protects the accessory port. There will be a lanyard, a wallet, and a kickstand, each with $25 and an eye-catching orange color.

The colorful replacements back panels are $35 each and are sold separately. In the box, you get a thoroughly respectable budget Android phone with a 6.7-inch OLED, 50-megapixel rear camera, a MediaTek Dimensity 7300 chipset, and a generous 5,000mAh battery. It has a black panel installed, and is available in orange, light green, and blue.

It’s straightforward to remove the back panel, but it takes force to break a fingernail, as I discovered. The panel is between your phone and the rest of the world so it’s probably for the best. Speaking of guts, it’s so weird seeing a modern phone all naked and exposed like that.

You can add accessories once the phone is encased again. The wallet is actually two pieces — a plastic panel with a MagSafe-like magnet embedded and the actual wallet. I am pretty sure that this magnetic mount for the phone is what led me to attach the phone to the MagSafe charging stand. You can attach the lanyard or kickstand with the wallet.

The lanyard is made from woven fabric. They could probably pull off wearing their phone with them if they were cooler than me. And the kickstand seems sturdy enough, though I wish the arm sat flush against the phone when not in use. They’re all a vibrant orange color — the gadget color of the year, I guess.

The price is remarkable. After setting up the CMF Phone 1, I was pretty surprised at how well it did, as I have tested cheap and flagshipphones for nearly a decade. The Watch Pro 2, an equally well-built smartwatch, will set you back just $69, and the Buds Pro 2 are $59. Better yet, they’re not just cheap devices. There’s plenty of character in their designs that make you want to use them.