The Nothing Phone (1) smartphone has been confirmed and now has an official release window. It’ll be the second product in the Nothing lineup after the launch of the company’s Nothing ear (1) wireless earbuds. In addition to the smartphone, Nothing OS and the Nothing ecosystem were also revealed during the brand’s “The Truth” live-streamed event.
Nothing might not be a brand name that many are familiar with, but that could change in the future. The company was started by Carl Pei, one of the original co-founders of OnePlus. In addition to releasing a set of earbuds, the brand also acquired the remnants of Essential in early 2021. Speaking of which, a number of former employees came together following the end of Essential to start OSOM. Similar to Nothing, OSOM also has plans to release a new smartphone soon.
The main philosophy behind the Nothing Phone (1) appears to be seamless connectivity. During the event, Pei, praised the Apple Ecosystem for its seamless integration and made clear the intention to create a viable alternative in the form of the Nothing ecosystem. The Nothing Phone (1) will be a part of this new ecosystem and will work seamlessly with different Nothing products, and even devices from other partner brands as well. According to Pei, consumers currently don’t have viable alternatives to Apple’s ecosystem and this stifles innovation. While a MacBook, iPad, iPhone, and Apple Watch all work seamlessly with one another, the flawless connectivity experience falls apart as soon as someone moves to Android or Windows. The Nothing ecosystem seeks to change that.
Nothing Phone (1) Features And Launch Date
Launching in Summer 2022, the Nothing Phone (1) will feature a Snapdragon-based SoC that’ll deliver high performance and efficiency, according to the company. Other important specs like memory, storage, and display size, remain unknown at the moment. In terms of the design, no official render has been provided. However, during the official live stream, something akin to a logo of the smartphone was revealed. The Nothing Phone (1) will also run on Nothing OS, which is based on Android, and will come with 40% fewer pre-installed apps. The Nothing Phone (1) is also said to feature a brand new voice recorder, non-intrusive animations, and dot-matrix style widgets. Once purchased, the Nothing Phone (1) will get three years of OS updates and four years of security updates.
Nothing also revealed that it is collaborating with multiple different partners including Samsung, Sony, BYD, Google, Qualcomm, and Visionox. This raises the possibility that the Nothing Phone (1) could feature a display panel from Samsung and a camera sensor from Sony. For reference, BYD is a Chinese auto giant which specializes in making EVs and battery packs.
From what’s been confirmed, Nothing seems to know what it wants to deliver as a brand. The Nothing Phone (1) seems like a promising device that claims to bring something genuinely new to the table, and the advertised ecosystem is likely to be music to the ears of any tech enthusiast that loves the seamless connectivity of Apple devices but prefers the openness of Android and Windows.
