Carl Pei, the CEO of Nothing Tech, has revealed some details about the upcoming Android 13 software upgrade for the Nothing Phone 1. The Nothing OS 1.5 update is apparently a complete rewrite of the code.
What we can expect in the Nothing OS 1.5 update
Speaking to Android Authority, Pei said that his start-up had failed to hire engineers to work on the operating system for the smartphone. In a bid to meet the deadline, the company decided to outsource the work to 400 engineers, who were employees of another OEM. Pei claims that these part-time workers lacked motivation to work on Nothing OS since it was not their own project, and this is the reason why the operating system may appear bland in terms of features.
Things have reportedly changed since then, Nothing Tech now employs 100 engineers of its own, and they have been busy working on the Nothing OS 1.5 update. The company had recently announced a closed beta of the Android 13 beta, and the underlying firmware code for the operating system has been swapped, i.e. it is no longer the code that was developed upon by the third-party OEM’s workers, it is now the version that was built from scratch by Nothing’s employees.
Pei says that users may not recognize the difference in the code, but also said that the upcoming firmware has some important changes, and quality of life improvements. This will include a custom weather app, new audio controls for the volume slider, a new Bluetooth pop-up window, and a QR Code Scanner shortcut in the quick settings panel. The custom Android skin will support Material You theming.
The Nothing OS 1.5 update will also gain some performance improvements to help apps load faster. The operating system will go into open beta in the coming week or so. It is not clear when the stable Android 13 update for Nothing Phone 1 will be released, but it could roll out in early 2023.
