CMF Telephone 1 Assessment: The finances phenom

CMF Telephone 1 Intro

The CMF Telephone 1 usually will get talked about as the most effective finances cellphone round.

In some ways it’s – it has a surprisingly easy efficiency for a $200 machine, simply beating opponents. It is received an excellent trying OLED display screen too. Being a subsidiary of the intelligent Nothing model, you’ve got a design with a twist too, as you may unscrew the again and swap it for a brand new one, and even screw in a kickstand to the cellphone. Actually cool!

Nonetheless, after utilizing it for some time, we discovered the digicam a bit missing. Is {that a} deal-breaker or only a slight disappointment within the grand scheme of issues? Learn on to seek out out.

The PhoneArena Assessment rating for the CMF Telephone 1 is 5.5, increased than the typical ranking of 5.3 for telephones on this value class. The CMF Telephone 1 scores manner above the typical in classes equivalent to efficiency, charging, show high quality and design. Nonetheless, it has a decrease rating for digicam high quality and software program.

CMF Telephone 1 Specs

A zippy processor

CMF Telephone 1 Design and Show

A intelligent modular design

The CMF Telephone 1 encompasses a plastic again, and whereas that may be a shortcoming for a lot of telephones, CMF has its personal twist on the design that truly turns this into a singular promoting level.

The again of the cellphone unscrews and you may simply swap it for a unique one! We now have the plastic gentle inexperienced coloration for evaluate, however you may swap for an orange or blue vegan leather-based, with a pleasant texture to it. And since this cellphone is plastic, you do not actually need a case.

The cellphone additionally comes with a built-in display screen protector proper out the field, which is a pleasant contact. 

You don’t get a charger within the field, although. Remember the fact that the cellphone helps 33W charging speeds, so if you’d like the quickest charging speeds, you need to get a correct charger.

With a 6.7-inch 1080p OLED show with 120Hz refresh fee, the CMF Telephone 1 gives greater than many rivals, which nonetheless include LCD screens at that value.

An OLED display screen has a way more vibrant colours and deeper blacks.

Our display screen lab measurements present that the Telephone 1 reaches almost 1,200 nits of max brightness, which is respectable, so you can use the cellphone open air with out an excessive amount of of a difficulty.

We do want the display screen may get dimmer at night time although. The minimal brightness is 2.4 nits, which generally is a bit too shiny if you happen to use the cellphone in mattress with the lights off.

In the case of biometrics, you’ve got an in-screen optical fingerprint reader.

It will get the job finished, however the accuracy will not be excellent and there’s a tiny little bit of lag when utilizing it. Nothing main, however you can discover that if you happen to worth a quick unlocking expertise.

CMF Telephone 1 Digital camera

Just one digicam on board

Regardless of what seems like two cameras on the again of the CMF Telephone 1, solely considered one of them is definitely helpful, the 50MP most important one. The second being a 2MP depth sensor, it has doubtful worth and is there principally for decor.

That is fairly the controversial determination, however hey, if it is an excellent digicam, perhaps customers might be keen to stay with it.

Our in depth digicam rating, nevertheless, exhibits fairly just a few weaknesses. The CMF Telephone 1 – missing a zoom digicam and an ultra-wide digicam – is of course one of many worst scoring machine we now have ever examined in terms of general digicam high quality.

Zooming even barely will not be a good suggestion as element is sorely missing, and you’ll discover that general colours seem a bit bland and publicity is usually a tiny bit off.

However these are the technical particulars, let’s take a look at the precise real-world photographs we took with the Telephone 1.

CMF Telephone 1 Digital camera Pattern Photographs

It isn’t all unhealthy, as you may see above.

Colours in photographs are a bit washed out and element is on the mushy facet, however contemplating many different telephones go manner too far within the different route with oversaturated tonalities, some individuals would possibly truly discover some attraction on this.

We just like the portrait photographs, they turned out with good, real looking colours and a delightful background blur.

Nonetheless, photographs captured at night time have ghost-like colours and element falls off a cliff rapidly. They aren’t fully unusable, however positively not what you anticipate from a contemporary cellphone.

Video High quality

Video Thumbnail

Video high quality with the CMF Telephone 1 is respectable. You may report 4K video and CMF has addressed the largest downside for many finances telephones – stabilization, so footage seems very steady.

After all, there are slight points. You might have extra noise, which you’ll see even throughout the day, however particularly if you strive zooming in.

For essentially the most half, although, the CMF Telephone 1 does decently effectively.

CMF Telephone 1 Efficiency & Benchmarks

Stable, stutter-free efficiency

The CMF Telephone 1 is powered by the Mediatek Dimensity 7300 (4 nm) paired with 6GB of RAM.

It is a stable configuration that ensures you get a delightful expertise in day by day use with no main hiccups. That’s usually not the case on different finances telephones, so the CMF Telephone 1 is mostly a step forward of the competitors right here.

Efficiency Benchmarks:

Within the GeekBench CPU take a look at, the CMF Telephone 1 outperforms the Galaxy A25 5G by an excellent margin.

It’s also one of many greatest gaming telephones at its value, beating the best way costlier Galaxy A35 5G in terms of gaming.

It is also good that you’ve got 128GB of on-board storage AND a micro SD card slot for expandable reminiscence. The latter is a rarity lately.

CMF Telephone 1 Software program

The Telephone 1 runs on Nothing OS 2.6, based mostly on Android 14. Nothing commits to 2 OS updates and three years of safety updates, which isn’t rather a lot.

In January 2025, the Telephone 1 nonetheless hasn’t obtained the most recent Android 15 replace, so you need to be ready to attend a bit longer for these updates.

On the brilliant facet, the system may be very effectively optimized and runs surprisingly easily for a $200 cellphone.

It isn’t with out the occasional dropped body right here and there, however nothing just like the lag you usually see on different telephones on this value. The gesture navigation additionally works effectively and if you happen to just like the distinct Nothing design language, you’ll benefit from the little quirks within the system too.

We didn’t like, nevertheless, that you simply can’t take away the Google widget from the house display screen. Pixel telephones are the identical manner, and this can be very irritating not having the ability to absolutely management the look of your own home display screen. 

CMF Telephone 1 Battery

5,000mAh battery and common battery life, however quick charging 

With a 5,000 mAh battery dimension, the CMF Telephone 1 offers you fairly good battery life, according to most different finances Android telephones.

In our in-house assessments, it scored almost 11 hours of video streaming, which is above the typical, however it received round 13 hours for internet looking, which is beneath the typical mark.

We estimated that its mixed display screen time is 6 hours and 55 minutes, which is places it proper in the midst of our rankings.

It helps 33W charging speeds, once more barely quicker than rivals.

We measured {that a} full 1% to 100% top-up takes 1 hour and eight minutes, which is unquestionably fairly quick for a finances cellphone.

There isn’t a wi-fi charging on board, however we do not anticipate to have it at this value.

CMF Telephone 1 Audio High quality and Haptics

The CMF Telephone 1 comes with a single (mono) speaker on the underside, however it will get surprisingly loud and boomy.

It has clear highs, however as typical on many finances telephones, there’s little when it comes to bass, so if you happen to wish to take heed to hip-hop or different comparable music that sometimes has a powerful bass line, you in all probability will not get pleasure from it an excessive amount of. For speaking head movies, nevertheless, the CMF Telephone 1 does completely effective.

Haptics are nothing distinctive, however they’re robust sufficient to not miss notifications or a buzzing name.

Must you purchase it?

The CMF Telephone 1 is a finances phenom! At $200, it is an absolute steal and whilst you can’t anticipate perfection, those that worth quick and easy efficiency ought to positively contemplate it.

The OLED display screen additionally seems good and it is good that it runs at 120Hz, plus the design is quirky in a great way.

In case you are after the best possible digicam, although, the CMF Telephone 1 will not be fairly that. One other necessary consideration is that it solely has 2 years of OS updates, not nice if you happen to plan on conserving the cellphone for longer.

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