Nothing OS 1.5 Open Beta begins as firm details Android 13 update for Phone (1)

Damien Wilde | Dec 15 2022 - 5:23 am PT

Despite only a tiny foothold in the Android market, fans are expecting big things from Carl Pei’s Nothing. The first such major event since the launch of the Nothing Phone (1) earlier this year is the start of the Nothing OS 1.5 or Android 13 Open Beta phase.

Starting today, those that have been accepted onto the Nothing OS 1.5 Beta will be able to download this Android 13-based build. As you would expect, many of the features already available on Pixel smartphones are making the jump to this third-party skin including enhanced Material You theming, improved Media player notifications, enhanced privacy controls, and even the addition of Live caption support for playing media. There’s also said to be a 50% boost in app loading speed and increased overall device performance.

You can check out the full Nothing OS 1.5 Open Beta update based upon the Android 13 changelog below:

Custom Weather app developed by Nothing

Up to 50% increase in app loading speed

More Material You. More color 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 center 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

In an interview with Android Authority, Nothing CEO Carl Pei gave further explanation for the delay in the Android 13 rollout for the firm’s only device. He explained that hundreds of developers were needed in a short space of time and outsourced engineers from an undisclosed Android smartphone OEM to meet demands.

Pei explained that this team “hadn’t really done this before” and this company had “made their own skins before but they hadn’t consulted with other companies.” This process posed quality and consistency problems according to the Nothing CEO, with lots of work going on behind the scenes now to improve the future software roadmap.

The company has hired over 100 software engineers to help get Android 13 ready for general public usage. However, the Nothing OS 1.5 Open Beta update is rolling out based on device IMEI over the next few days. If you are enrolled, you can check for the update by heading to Settings > System > System update A stable release is expected to launch in “early 2023.”