On December 1, Nothing started taking sign-ups for its upcoming open beta build of Nothing OS 1.5, based on Android 13. This came after the company was very open about the fact that a final build wouldn’t be available for Nothing Phone (1) owners this year.
Today the first beta has started rolling out to those who’ve signed up to receive it. Nothing OS 1.5 comes with a new Weather app with custom Nothing UI, up to 50% increases 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
There’s also 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.
Obviously, you also get everything that Google’s packed into Android 13, including a new photo picker, the new notification permission, new media permissions, and support for using different apps in different languages.
The final, stable build of Nothing OS 1.5 is promised to arrive in “early 2023”.
