Nothing has started the open beta programme for Nothing OS 1.5 — the company's version of Android 13 — on Thursday. The programme is open to a limited few who had enrolled in the beta programme. Nothing will gather feedback from the beta testers and keep tweaking 1.5 till public release in early 2023, the company said.
As per the company, "Nothing OS 1.5 promises to be smoother and more secure", with exciting new custom features just for Phone (1). My update has yet to land as of this writing, and I will share my experience as soon as I update my Phone (1) and use it for a couple of days.
According to Nothing, on offer are the following features — some of these are part of the Android 13 package, while some others, such as a custom app and a self-repair feature — clearing caches and expired system dumps — are unique to Nothing.
Custom app developed by Nothing.
Up to 50 percent increase in app loading speed.
More Material You — more colour schemes available for matching third party apps to wallpaper.
Multi-language support that allows different languages for different apps.
Privacy upgrades, including: photo picker. Choose which images you want to share with each app; notification permissions: control which apps can send you notifications; media permissions: group the types of media you want to share, e.g., photos and videos, music and audio, files.
New QR code scanner in Quick Settings.
Clipboard preview: copied text appears on clipboard in the bottom corner of the screen. So you can directly edit the text before pasting.
New look for Media Control.
Foreground services. Close active background apps directly from the notification centre to save battery.
Live caption: detects speech on your device and automatically generates captions.
Increased background memory. Reducing the wait for frequently used apps to load.
New self-repair feature that keeps Phone (1) running like it’s new. By clearing unused cache and expired system dumps.
Improved Quick Settings. Featuring new network and Bluetooth device pop-ups.
New UI for volume control. Easily adjust individual volume sliders without unlocking the screen (e.g. music vs alarm).
Improved Game Mode. New UI for light notifications and added Google Game Dashboard. Dashboard supports screenshots, screen recording, FPS display, and Do Not Disturb.Nothing, however, notes that, considering the software is still in its beta stage and not final, there are bound to be bugs during tested. Apps such as Netflix and Google Pay will not be functional, said Nothing.
If you're part of the beta programme and wish to update, head to Settings>System>System Update. Once you get the prompt, hit update and voila, you have Android 13 on your Nothing Phone (1).
