After the Nothing Phone (1) smartphone was confirmed not to be getting the Android 13 update this year, the company on December 1, started taking sign-ups for its upcoming open beta build of Nothing OS 1.5, which is based on Android 13.
Now, the company has officially announced the launched of the Open Beta program, as it starts rolling out Nothing OS 1.5, based Android 13. This was shared via a tweet on the company’s official twitter page. The new update comes with a new Weather app with custom Nothing UI, up to 50% increase in app loading speeds, more color schemes available for matching third party apps to your wallpaper, a new QR code scanner in Quick Settings, a clipboard preview in the bottom of the screen for quick edits before pasting, and a new look for Media Control.
Hello Nothing OS 1.5! Powered by Android 13. Today we launched our Open Beta program, which we’ll be gradually rolling out to Phone (1) users ahead of final release.
More details here: https://t.co/IknzKK1Nov pic.twitter.com/qsd0TylMiO
— Nothing (@nothing) December 15, 2022
The new update also comes with the ability to close active background apps from the notification area, an increase in background memory reducing the wait for frequently used apps to load, a new self-repair feature that “keeps Phone (1) running like it’s new” by clearing unused cache and expired system dumps, better Quick Settings with new network and Bluetooth device pop-ups, a new UI for volume control with easily adjustable sliders without the need to unlock the screen, and an improved Game Mode with a new UI for light notifications and the Google Game Dashboard, which supports screenshots, screen recording, FPS display, and Do Not Disturb.
The Android 13 update is expected to bring the new photo picker, the new notification permission, new media permissions, as well as support for using different apps in different languages. The final and stable build of the Nothing OS 1.5 update is expected to arrive in early 2023.
