The one concern is that from the principle Glyph settings web page it’s not instantly clear how granular you possibly can go in notifications. You possibly can actually choose notifications from, say, Instagram Direct Messages (and never Direct Message Requests), however in apps like Telegram and Fb Messenger, you possibly can select particular conversations. These don’t at all times present up within the Glyph settings, so when a notification comes via, you’ll have to press and maintain the down arrow on the notification itself to mark it as an “Important Glyph” notification.
Glyph lights additionally work with the Glyph Timer, which you’ll be able to set to your most well-liked size and begin by turning the telephone face down. One of many LED strips will mild up and start fading in correspondence with the timer. No want to take a look at your telephone! The LEDs can now even be built-in with third-party apps, though Nothing solely labored with Uber at launch. Proper now, if you happen to name an Uber driver, you gained’t should maintain checking the app to see how far-off they’re—simply take a look at the LED strip to see the motive force’s progress. It labored completely on the few rides I booked final week, although I inevitably needed to verify my telephone to verify I knew my driver’s title and license plate.
Nonetheless, these little options are intelligent methods that can assist you keep current and keep away from unnecessarily checking your telephone. One downside? It’s onerous to erase years of muscle reminiscence of placing a smartphone face up. Too typically I simply … forgot that Glyph lights are a factor. You’ll want time to get used to it. Additionally, if Nothing needs me to place its telephone face down on each floor possible, the least it might do is embody a transparent case that may maintain the Gorilla Glass 5 display screen contact-free. I don’t see any scratches but, however they appear inevitable.
Not utilizing the telephone is an enormous a part of Nothing’s ethos—the corporate needs to make its software program and {hardware} extra “intentional” so that you just’re solely utilizing your handset whenever you want it. Its new monochrome interface is a part of that play. It takes a web page from Google’s “Bedtime Mode” in Android, which converts the telephone’s software program to grayscale to discourage you from doomscrolling earlier than mattress. There aren’t any app labels both.
Nonetheless, after utilizing a completely grayscale interface for a couple of weeks, I don’t suppose this works. I’m already utilizing my telephone much less as a result of my favourite third-party Reddit shopper shut down (and I cannot be downloading Reddit’s official app, thanks very a lot), however when your complete telephone is monochrome on a regular basis, I don’t essentially get that Pavlovian jolt as I do with Bedtime Mode that I ought to actually fall asleep. As a substitute, it simply seems like a extremely elegant design.
Seems to be are the place I’ve to provide Nothing props. Nothing OS 2.0 is beautiful, notably with a lot of Nothing’s personal widgets. Much more amazingly, you possibly can put these widgets on the lock display screen, and it appears to be like much better than something I’ve ever seen on another Android telephone. The notification and ringtone sounds are additionally distinctive. Nothing has additionally launched a “Glyph Composer,” and I spent far too lengthy making a couple of customized ringtones and notification alerts. It jogs my memory of the great outdated days of Android, which fostered a “do-whatever-you-want-with-your-phone” mentality.
All or Nothing
The basics of the Nothing Cellphone (2) are fairly nice general. The 6.7-inch AMOLED display screen has a fluid 120-Hz display screen refresh price that appears wonderful and will get comfortably vibrant on sunny days. The 4,700-mAh battery cell simply lasted me a full day—after 4 hours of display screen time, I normally had over 40 p.c left within the tank. It might simply final a full day and a half.
It’s now powered by final yr’s flagship processor, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, with 8 GB of RAM (128 GB of inside storage). It’s snappy and seems like some of the responsive telephones I’ve ever used, with speedy animations and fast app launches. It’s tremendous easy.