Nothing OS 3.0 Review: The Perfect User-Interface for Budget Android?

Except for Motorola, Nothing is the only mainstream brand that delivers a close-to-stock Android software experience on its devices. Nothing smartphones are powered by their own designed and developed user interface, the Nothing OS, which is based on Android (of course!).

The latest version of the Nothing OS is called the Nothing OS 3, which is based on the latest Android 15. We have been using this UI for the last few days on the recently launched Nothing Phone 3a and here is our full review of it.

Let’s see how it holds up against popular UIs like ColorOS or HyperOS (formerly MIUI), and bring an answer to the question: is this a perfect user interface for budget Android?

Home Screen Customization

Nothing OS 3.0 brings a simple and modern-looking UI design. There are plenty of widgets to play with. You can choose from two design languages on the UI, one is your classic Android style and the second one is Nothing exclusive.

Both follow a similar pattern with the only difference being the icons. The Nothing style uses a two-tone icon design while the Android style uses the original icon design.

You get two app grid options: 4 and 5. You can also install third-party icon packs. The app opening and closing animations are good. It follows the stock Android animation style and doesn’t get as aggressive as ColorOS or HyperOS in terms of animations and transitions.

You get two list styles in the app drawer menu: default and smart. Default is how it works on Android whereas the “Smart” style categorizes icons according to their types such as social, entertainment, productivity, etc.

Lockscreen Customization

On the Nothing OS 3.0, you can add widgets directly to the lock screen. This is a very useful feature that allows the user to see and interact with certain preset widgets without unlocking the device.

There are various clock styles to choose from. However, apart from this, you cannot do anything else with the lock screen. It doesn’t have as advanced lock screen customization as HyperOS, ColorOS, or even MagicOS.

Font Style

You get two different font styles on the Nothing OS. One is Inter, which is Nothing’s own designed font style and the other one is Roboto. While the Inter font looks good, the integration of font into the UI is not as good. Third-party apps and web pages still use the not-so-good Roboto font style which is a downside.

Animations and Transitions

As said earlier, the Nothing OS uses stock Android-style animation across the UI. You get nice app opening animations as well as a lock screen-to-home screen and lock screen-to-AOD transition. Though the animations are not as good as HyperOS or MagicOS, it is fluent and good for a budget and mid-range device. The blur and frosted glass effect is also absent on most parts of the UI.

Control Centre, Notifications, and Music Player

The Nothing OS 3.0 uses a custom-style control centre. It is fully customizable which means you can add/remove and even resize some of the toggles at your convenience. Notifications are similar to how it works on stock Android.

Coming down to the Music Player, you can access the player from either the lock screen or the control centre when music or audio is playing. The Player is a classic Pixel style designed with a live time bar and interactive buttons.

System apps and bloatware

Once you set up the Nothing OS, the first thing you will notice is how clean it is. There are no useless bloatware or additional apps whatsoever. As for the system apps, you get all the basic apps such as a Calculator, Dialer, Calendar, and Messaging app of Google. There are very few of Nothing’s own developed applications.

Always-On-Display

The Nothing OS 3.0 gets a very basic Always-On-Display. It gives the basic information displayed on the lock screen. You can set the AOD to either scheduled time or tap-to-show. The customization is very limited here.

Glyph Interface

One of the standout features of the Nothing devices is Glyph Interface. It can be customized fully using the built-in Glyph Interface feature. You can adjust the intensity of the LEDs, you can turn it on/off, and can also enable it for Music Visualization. The glyph lights are synced with the ringtone. It can also be enabled as a Volume Indicator. You can also create your custom pattern for the Glyph Interface from the settings.

Haptic Feedback

The Nothing OS 3.0 gets the haptic feedback for basic actions like back swipe and notification. The intensity of the haptics can be adjusted into three levels: low, medium, and high. However, overall implementation of the Haptic feedback is poor. In the case of Nothing Phone 3a, the vibration motor is good enough for the price, but the software just fails to use it to its full potential.

Multi-tasking features

The multi-tasking features are not so good on the Nothing OS 3.0. You do get the support of floating app windows and split screen, but the integration isn’t as good. Some apps do not support these features and the overall usability feels less satisfying. So if you are someone who loves to multitask a lot on your smartphone, the Nothing OS is not going to make you happy.

Final Verdict

So this concludes our full review of Nothing OS 3.0. This review makes all the possible pros and cons. evident. In a nutshell, the user interface is very good and polished. The overall transition feels good, the optimization is also good and the UI design stands out well from the crowd. However, there are a few downsides as well such as poor haptic integration, limited customization support, lack of basic features such as sidebar, and less useful multitasking features.

Pros:

Good UI animations and transitions.
Smoother UI operations.
The collection of widgets is good.
Modern and minimalist UI design.

Cons:

Poor haptic feedback and integration.
Limited customization support.
The lack of features like a sidebar can be bothersome.
Subpar multitasking capabilities.
Built-in sounds like notifications and ringtones are not very appealing.

Is Nothing OS 3.0 a perfect UI for budget devices?

Well, the answer isn’t entirely straightforward. However, considering the state of other UIs, it’s fair to say that Nothing OS 3.0 can be a near-perfect choice for devices priced below $400 or ₹30,000, if not perfect.

That said, once you move beyond this segment, the competition heats up, with options like OxygenOS stepping in to offer stronger alternatives.

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