Nothing announced its first smartphone, the Nothing Phone (1) today, March 23, during a virtual event titled “The Truth.” The phone will be powered by an unspecified Qualcomm chip and boot Nothing OS, a proprietary operating system based on Android. It will launch officially sometime this summer.
Naturally, Nothing OS will be one of the most highly anticipated features of the Nothing Phone (1). Founder Carl Pei was instrumental in shaping one of the most revered Android skins, OxygenOS, at OnePlus before leaving the company last year. It seems, Carl is bringing the same vision to Nothing giving the global tech enthusiast community—which has been vocally wary of the growing Oppo-fication at OnePlus—another shot at getting the “best of Android”.
But if you thought Carl is going after OnePlus, you can’t be more wrong. Nothing wants to be “the most compelling alternative to Apple,” he said during the keynote.
Nothing isn’t sharing any concreate details about the Nothing Phone (1) yet, but it is outlining some of the key aspects of the software that will drive the phone.
“Nothing OS captures the best features of pure Android, distilling the operating system to just the essentials, where every byte has a purpose,” the company said in a press release.
In simpler terms the software that Nothing is readying will be clean, bloat-free, and offer fast and smooth experience. It will have colours and font inspired from its brand logo. Nothing seems to be also working on elements of sound (while reiterating it is not an audio company) that would apparently make the software stand out from the crowd. A Nothing OS launcher will be available for select smartphone models in April.
Nothing has also confirmed that the Nothing Phone (1) will get three years of major OS and four years of security updates. So, it’s still not beating Samsung there, but we’ll see how things pan out once there’s more clarity –including on the hardware side—closer to launch.
Nothing has already hinted that it wants to get into multiple categories and Nothing OS will be designed to “connect and integrate” these products and those from other “world-leading” brands. Watch this space for more.
