Nothing Phone (1)’s premiere is tomorrow. The full specs and features of their most overhyped product to date will finally be revealed. You don’t have to wait though - I have obtained the firmware and found out everything there is to know! 🧵
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Let’s start with the basics. Nothing Phone (1) - codename Spacewar - is launching with “Nothing OS (1)”, Android 12 (not 12L/QPR2). The software is based on Qualcomm’s fork of Android - pretty typical choice. As already announced, it is based on a Snapdragon 778G+.
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The chip is still a very good performer, however it has one major issue - its remaining software support. Google has recently introduced GRF - a way for chipset makers to update Android versions on their chips without changing the vendor.
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This makes it easier to update with the consequence of greatly limiting the life of a chip, unless it’s updated after the fact (which hasn’t happened yet). It is technically possible for OEMs to circumvent this, however it is extremely hard if not impossible.
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Snap 778 has an Android 11-based vendor, which is the oldest vendor version that Android 14 will be compatible with. This means that Nothing will struggle to update the Phone 1 past Android 14. As of now they made no effort to extend this in any way, staying on 11-based vendor.
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That’s it for the boring stuff, let’s get into the specs and features. Nothing Phone has 3 cameras: Sony IMX766, Samsung JN1😐 (UW) and Sony IMX471 (front). The camera hardware is aided by a set of 3rd party software libraries, namely ArcSoft’s Boken and HDR, and Vidhance’s EIS.
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The display is a 120Hz AMOLED FHD+ panel from Visionox - rm692e5. It has multiple tuned profiles including one for HDR10+, as already teased.
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Nothing has also opted for Dirac’s audio improving software, similar to many other brands including Xiaomi.
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Another feature included using a 3rd party solution is (unsecure) face unlock by ArcSoft. While that’s pretty uninteresting, one string in Nothing’s code is - it appears that they have, at one point, wanted to include an IR emitter to help the face unlock in bad lighting.
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The device includes a game mode. It seems like it’s a 3rd party solution, as it contains a lot of references to Chinese apps and some strings that match some Meizu devices. It seems like the feature is limited to DND, performance mode and mistouch protection on the Nothing Phone.
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The camera app on Nothing Phone seems to also be a customized 3rd party app. It weighs almost 400MB (!) and contains configs for other chinese manufacturers and a lot of other assets/code.
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From what I’ve been able to deduce, it should support motion photos, photo HDR, some beauty mode, “AI”, panoramas, bokeh, macro, time lapse, simple filters and expert mode. It also includes a whole lot more libraries from ArcSoft and Morpho.
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The app can be installed on some Android devices. While most features don’t work, it at least gives us a glance at the UI, revealing a generic OnePlus/Xiaomi-like app.
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The phone preloads a demo mode app. It seems like it’s also a reused/3rd party app (or it’s a OnePlus situation all over again).
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The phone’s back LEDs are referred to as the “lightbelt” with 6 main zones: battery, brightness 1, brightness 2, front camera, rear camera and usb.
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Included on the phone are four wallpapers. Download them in high quality here: androidfilehost.com/?fid=156642485
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The phone seems to be manufactured - and probably partially programmed - by an ODM named BYD Electronic. This would explain all the chinese and generic apps. It is kinda disappointing to see that on a device that’s supposed to have unique software.
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In the settings app we can find a list of uses for the glyph interface: reaction to a call, music visualization, Google Assistant feedback, charging time and notifications.
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That concludes my teardown of the Nothing Phone (1)’s firmware. If there’s anything else you’d like to know, let me know!
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