The British consumer electronics manufacturer, Nothing, had committed to release its newest skin – Nothing OS 3.0 access to all eligible devices by this month. The company has fulfilled its promise and released the open beta for CMF Phone 1. Today, they expanded the open beta to Nothing Phone 2a Plus and Phone 1.
As always, they officially made the announcement on their community forum and social media platforms. If you want to try out the Android 15-based Nothing OS 3.0 open beta on your Phone 2a Plus, please ensure it is running on Nothing OS 2.6 builds: PacmanPro-U2.6-240924-2223 or PacmanPro-U2.6-241125-2243.
Nothing is yet to release the stable update for any of their eligible phones, but it is expected to be released by this month for Nothing Phone 2a. The sibling, Phone 2a Plus, is expected to receive the update next month.
Nothing OS 3.0 is all set to bring a major refresh to the UI elements. The new skin brings easy-to-read font, simplified settings interface, redesigned notifications and quick settings panel, new customization options for lock screen, AI-powered app drawer, new widget picker, new pop-up view, camera improvements, and more.
Here’s the complete list of changes officially mentioned in the Nothing Phone 2a Plus Nothing OS 3.0 open beta 1 update.
- Shared Widgets
- Use widgets to link up with friends and family. See another person’s widgets displayed on your home screen and interact with each other through reactions. A new way to stay connected.
- Lock screen
- New lock screen customisation page. Access by long-pressing the lock screen.
- Upgraded clock faces. Choose your favourite style.
- Expanded widget space, allowing you to place more widgets on your lock screen.
- Smart Drawer
- Added AI-powered Smart Drawer feature to automatically categorise your apps into folders. For better organisation and easy access.
- For ultimate convenience, you can pin your favourite apps to the top of the app drawer. No scrolling required.
- Quick Settings
- Reconsidered Quick Settings design with an optimised editing experience.
- Enhanced widget library design.
- Updated visuals in Settings including better Network & Internet and Bluetooth options.
- Camera improvements
- Faster camera launch speed under the Camera Widget.
- Reduced HDR scene processing time.
- Optimised portrait effects by fine-tuning blur intensity based on face size.
- Boosted camera performance in low-light environments.
- Improved zoom slider display.
- Enhanced pop-up view
- Movable pop-up view for cleaner and more productive multi-tasking.
- Easily resize the pop-up view by dragging the bottom corners.
- Pin the pop-up view on the screen edge for quick access.
- View information without leaving your current app. Simply swipe down on incoming notifications to enter the pop-up view. Enable via Settings > System > Pop-up view.
- Other improvements
- AI-powered selection and prioritisation of your frequently used apps, keeping them at your fingertips for a more efficient experience
- Added support for auto-archive function to automatically free up storage space without removing apps or data from your device.
- Partial screen sharing for more efficient and secure screen recording. Record just an app window rather than the entire screen.
- Updated setup wizard to version 3.0 for the smoothest introduction to Nothing OS.
- Enabled predictive back animations for apps that have opted in.
- New fingerprint animation with signature dot matrix styling.
- New charging animation with signature dot matrix styling.
- Note
- Shared Widgets are currently supported by Nothing devices only. At this stage, only Photo Widgets (square) can be shared. We are rapidly developing support for other widgets, so stay tuned.
- Since Shared Widgets are in beta, you might encounter some issues. We appreciate your patience as continue to improve your experience.
How to Join Nothing OS 3.0 Open Beta on Nothing Phone 2a Plus
If you’re in a hurry and want to try out the changes available on the Nothing OS 3.0, you can join the open beta program.
WARNING: Since the Nothing OS 3.0 is in its initial phase of testing, we don’t recommend installing it on your primary smartphone, even if you’re planning to install it on your secondary device. We advice you to wait for users feedback and then install it on your smartphone. Please try to wait for a couple of days.
Step 1: First things first, please ensure that your Nothing Phone 2a Plus is running on Nothing OS 2.6 with a build number of PacmanPro-U2.6-240924-2223 or PacmanPro-U2.6-241125-2243.
Step 2: You need to download this APK on your smartphone, once downloaded install the app on your Phone 2a Plus.
Step 3: Open Settings and navigate to System > Update to Beta version.
Step 4: Now tap “Check for new version” and follow the on-screen instructions. You will receive the Nothing OS 3.0 open beta 1 on your Nothing Phone 2a Plus via special OTA.
In case you want to rollback to Nothing OS 2.6, then you can download the rollback file and sideload it on your smartphone, the steps as well as the rollback package is available on the community forum, you can check it here.
If you already installed the Nothing OS 3.0 open beta 1 on your Phone 2a Plus, you can share your experience in the comments section. Your insights will be valuable in helping other users understand the features and performance of this new update.
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