Nothing Phone 1 Gets Android 13-Based Nothing OS 1.5 Open Beta Update: All Details

Nothing Phone 1 will have access to a clean Android 13 experience with minimal bloatware on Nothing OS 1.5.

Written by Anees Hussain, Edited by David Delima | Updated: 16 December 2022 13:20 IST

Nothing Phone 1 Gets Android 13-Based Nothing OS 1.5 Open Beta Update: All Details

Nothing claims to have improved its privacy settings on the Nothing OS 1.5

Highlights

Nothing OS 1.5 Open Beta introduces more Material You colour schemes
The company claims update provides 50 percent higher app loading speed
Nothing OS 1.5 stable version is expected to arrive in "early 2023"

Nothing Phone 1 users are receiving access to Nothing OS 1.5 beta, as part of the company's Open Beta programme. The London-based smartphone and electronics manufacturer commenced closed beta testing for the Android-13-based update on November 30, and promised to release an open beta version for a larger set of users in two weeks' time. Users who do not want to try out the beta version may have to wait for a few months to get the Android 13-based Nothing OS 1.5 stable update, which is expected to be released in early 2023, according to the company.

The Nothing Phone 1 maker announced the launch of its Open Beta programme for the Android 13-based Nothing OS 1.5 update via Twitter. The final release was previously confirmed to arrive in "early 2023".

We're so excited to bring Android 13 to Phone (1).

Beta testing is underway. If you own a Phone (1), you can be one of the first to experience Android 13 with our open Beta program. Starting mid-December 2022.

Sign-up via the form below.https://t.co/hz6EYc7JwP pic.twitter.com/ZJePt34K5I
— Nothing (@nothing) November 30, 2022

According to the company's official blog post, the latest Android 13-based update provides users of the Nothing Phone 1 with a 50 percent increase in app loading speed. The update also introduces multi-language support for third-party apps, and adds a new weather app featuring the company's customised Nothing UI.

Other additions include a new QR code scanner button in the Quick Settings menu, a clipboard preview feature that allows text copied by users to appear in the bottom corner of the screen which may be edited before pasting, a live caption feature that automatically generates captions on detected speech audio, and a "self-repair" feature that clears unused cached and expired system dumps automatically.

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Meanwhile, other UI changes on the latest update include the introduction of more colour schemes to Android 13's Material You design that the Nothing OS is based on which will allow users to match third-party app colours to their wallpaper, a redesigned media control and volume control menu, and a new UI for light notifications and Google Game Dashboard that allows for a smoother experience when Game Mode is activated on the Nothing Phone 1.

Users will also be able to close active background apps more easily with an option to clear apps now being made available on the notification center, according to Nothing.

Nothing has also introduced Android 13's privacy upgrades to its latest Nothing OS 1.5 beta update which encompasses an improved photo picker, a notifications permissions feature that lets users control which apps can push notifications, and a media permissions feature that allows users to group types of media such as photos and videos, music and audio, together.

Nothing, however, added that there will be more features to come on the fully-stable version of the Nothing OS 1.5 which is expected to arrive early next year.

Is the Nothing Phone 1 worth it beyond its design choices? We discuss this on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

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Nothing Phone 1

REVIEW
KEY SPECS
NEWS

Design
Display
Software
Performance
Battery Life
Camera
Value for Money

Good
Premium build quality, unique design
Vivid 120Hz OLED display
Wireless charging and IP53 rating
Decent battery life
Clean software, snappy performance
Very good primary camera

Bad
Secondary cameras struggle in low light
No bundled charger

Read detailed Nothing Phone 1 review

Display 6.55-inch

Front Camera 16-megapixel

Rear Camera 50-megapixel + 50-megapixel

RAM 8GB, 12GB

Storage 128GB, 256GB

Battery Capacity 4500mAh

OS Android 12

Resolution 1080x2400 pixels

More Nothing mobiles Nothing mobiles price in India

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