Nothing OS 1.5 based on Android 13 announcement is official

The latest stable software upgrade that updates the Nothing phone (1) to Android 13 has been available for some time now - albeit only to those who participated in the device's open beta program. Now, however, the company has formally announced its roll-out today (February 21, 2023).

Therefore, many more phone (1) users may find the major update waiting for them under Settings -> System Upgrade. On installation, Nothing notes that they may encounter a new first-party Weather app, not to mention new sound effects that correspond to their smartphone's unique Glyph lighting system.

Nothing OS 1.5 is indeed based on the newest version of Android, and thus confers its new privacy-focused options, which include those that help keep certain photos out of per-app sharing menus, alert the user when clipboard contents are accessed and more granular media-access permissions.

The phone (1)'s latest stable upgrade also adds the ability to get to potentially important functions such as a wallet or the camera app (which should be "refined" compared to Nothing OS based on Android 12) right from the lockscreen: a concept that may be familiar to those with experience of custom ROMs.

Nothing OS 1.5 is also rated to clear "unused" cache and "expired" system dumps automatically, crush bugs and increase background memory on the phone (1), which may cut app loading latency by up to 50% and generally make the device seem the "smoothest" it has ever been - according to Nothing, at least.

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