Q1 2025 Community Board Observer digest

adbo · 2025-05-07T13:30:00+00:00

Hey community! I recently attended my second board meeting as Community Board Observer. If you missed my digest from my first board meeting for Q4 2024, do...

RavishKumar

Thank you for the update!

I do have one question, though—why is there so little focus on software updates for older devices?

It seems that most of the new features are being designed exclusively for the latest models, while older devices are often left behind. I believe the company should give equal attention to enhancing the experience for existing users as well.

Wishing the company tremendous success and hoping it grows by more than 200%!

Also, eagerly looking forward to Phone (3)!

adbo

RavishKumar I do have one question, though—why is there so little focus on software updates for older devices?

It seems that most of the new features are being designed exclusively for the latest models, while older devices are often left behind. I believe the company should give equal attention to enhancing the experience for existing users as well.

There could be multiple reasons a certain device is prioritised for updates over other ones. A few examples would be minor tweaks or hotfixes required for newer devices after release, or wanting to test new features with users with a certain device, or in a certain geography where a specific device is used more. Nothing have never missed their promised release schedule for any phones, as you can see from theFirmware Updates tracker. If there’s a specific device you have in mind, check when the last update was, and you can usually expect a further update in the 2 months after 🙂

burakdede Here’s 4 ways they could do if they really care about their older devices

I understand your point, but Nothing have decided on this to keep the user experience the same on all Nothing devices.

JeffreyLopez any news on phone 3?

No firm date yet but Carl recently confirmed it’s coming Q3 this year! Keep an eye onNewsroom for more

burakdede

adbo Essential Space is tied to the Essential Key, with the intention of it always being there, available for you to use at the press of a button. This means that Essential Space is not coming to any previous models.

That’s just a way of saying Nothing choose the lazy path. Here’s 4 ways they could do if they really care about their older devices:

https://nothing.community/d/31685-how-nothing-could-bring-essential-space-to-older-phones-if-they-want-to

JeffreyLopez

adbo

any news on phone 3?

I don’t care for teasers!

I what to know release date…………………………………………

burakdede

adbo I understand your point, but Nothing have decided on this to keep the user experience the same on all Nothing devices.

Keeping the user experience same on all Nothing phones by not having feature parity and making features exclusive to newer phones? This is the exact opposite of keeping the user experience same.

RohithTony

adbo no essential space for older phones (phone 1, 2 and nothing 2a)🥲, but even these models don’t have essential key why don’t you use power button as double press power button to activate essential space 🤔

Abhinav

RohithTony I guess they don’t want any extra load on Essential space compute servers, as they have no plans to add subscription for current 3a series and CMF 2 Pro users…

burakdede

Abhinav they just want to keep it exclusive for their shiny new devices.

Abhinav

burakdede Yeah, That can be an another reason… IYKYK 😈

Brewer Taranov

@adbo, Not a single word about the real problems of users of older devices. Well, thanks for another marketing text about new devices.

adbo

Brewer Taranov What specific problems are you referring to? I openly asked the community what they’d like me to say to the board and your comment doesn’t seem to mention any specific “problems of users of older devices”?

If you’re referring to Nothing OS related features, bugs, etc. then this is not applicable for a board meeting. The best method for reporting these types of requests will always be through Settings > System > Feedback. I am in discussions with the board regarding the CBO having a more technical discussion with some of the lead developers about some of the more prominent points I’ve seen discussed regularly, but this hasn’t happened yet.

Brewer Taranov

adbo not applicable for a board meeting.

Now it makes sense.

Abhinav

adbo When I go to Settings > System > Feedback, the team emails me back about the raised ticket and asks me to send a screen recording and follow pre-written steps to collect logs — which I already did from the Feedback page. Then they close my request after 48 hours and keep sending the same reply over and over again.
So, what should I do in this case?

(Just to clarify: I have the Indian unit of the Nothing Phone 2, which is different from the global version. So my request is being handled by the Indian Nothing tech team, not the global one.)

Nicol_s_XmgnXEMWGu

adbo What specific problems are you referring to? I openly asked the community what they’d like me to say to the board and your comment doesn’t seem to mention any specific “problems of users of older devices”?

Here are the most asked questions that we wanted to know. Some of them was answered but not a lot .
* Phone (3a) Series: Users are sharing their thoughts on the colors, value for money, and launch format of Nothing TV.
* Emergency Hungry: A user asks if the Emergency Hungry feature can also be seen by mobile operators.
* Community Widgets App: Users are asking if the Community Widgets App has been abandoned and if there will be calendar widgets.
* Dark Mode: Users are asking why there isn’t a truly black color in Dark Mode.
* Nothing Gallery App: Users report that the Nothing Gallery App doesn’t open by default in the camera and that basic functions are missing.
* Essential Space: Users report that they could no longer use the Essential Space feature because a monthly limit was reached.
* Nothing Phone 2a: Users express their disappointment that the promised update for the Nothing Phone 2a has not yet been received.
* Nothing OS 3.1 Update: Users are requesting a statement on OS 3.1 for older devices.
* Nothing touch: Users are asking Nothing to add features with Nothing touch.
* GPS: Users report that turning GPS on and off resets the screen time on the battery page.
* Inter Font Bug: Users report that the text “4G”, “4G+”, “5G”, and “5G+” in the status bar remains in the Roboto font even when the system font is changed to Inter font.
* Motion Photos: Users would like a feature that allows Motion Photos to be converted into videos or GIFs, similar to Apple phones.
* Glyphs: Users are asking why Glyphs are not integrated into more third-party apps.
* Power-Off Verification: Users report that the Power-Off Verification feature is not working.
* Weather App: Users report that the default weather app still feels somewhat unfinished.
* Patch Updates: Users report inconsistencies in the patch rollout.

And I’m also disappointed that essential space is not coming. It’s easy to add but this is just a excuse

And no, Even if it sounds like I hate nothing, I love it! I want the best for the company, but this kind of thing ruins it.

hardikvadher29

adbo you are primary person for community and lot’s of users make in depth review of nothing phone 2 camera issue , rohit talk about it like , they don’t have time to fix and you even didn’t ask why delay it’s almost 2 years and my 50,000 device ( i have choice iphone 13 or nothing phone 2 ) i make trust on this brand and personality i loved nothing os but disappointed with camera 📸

adbo

Abhinav this is something I raised in my first board meeting:

The team are going to look at changing the user journey here to improve the experience using the feedback feature. As well as bringing this to the board, I also spoke to Tom, the Customer Experience Manager, who’s going to raise these issues from his side too. He has assured me that your feedback is getting to the right team - so please continue to report bugs and help make Nothing OS better for everyone!

The key point here is that, even though the responses from support may be following a template and may not immediately resolve the issue you’re facing or acknowledge the feature you’re requesting, these are still getting raised directly with the correct technical teams within Nothing - so please continue to raise using this method.

You can also see above that I did present an alternative method to improve communications between customers, Nothing and the CBO. This was in the form of a user voice platform, similar to what Spotify uses, to collect and report on user feedback. I’m trying to gather sentiment around this, as I believe it’s something that could benefit both Nothing and the community heavily - so if you have any comments then please feel free to share!

Abhinav

adbo Thanks, glad to know the feedback is reaching the right team — hoping for a smoother experience soon!

rahulrn

adbo Guys, has anyone used essential space on non 3A devices/cmf 2…Doesthe apk method work…It didn’t work for me

CMF1_hacker

rahulrn I have side loaded the essential space apk on to my CMF1.

the software loads and runs but I am stuck at the press essential space button page.

I am creating a work around to attempt to fake/spoof/emulate an essential keypress with some other software. I don’t see why this won’t work if I can spoof a hardware key.

Luis Enrique

Good community update, it’s a shame that the essential space is not implemented in some way on the Phone (2) 😢

rahulrn

CMF1_hacker Tell us if this way works…I’m also stuck there

RavishKumar

Thanks for your response.

But I don’t agree with the decision to not provide Essential Space on older devices. The company clearly says it focuses on software, but now you’re saying Essential Space won’t come to older models? That means no responsibility for existing users who also expect new features.

Carl said Essential Space is for better improvements and features—but what do older device users get? Only security patch updates?

Even the promises made with OS 3.0 are not fully delivered:

Gallery is still in beta

Smart Drawer is in beta

Share Widget is in beta

I kindly request the software team to focus on all supported devices, not just new ones. Every user deserves the same experience.

Thanks!

CMF1_hacker

Essential Space wasn’t around when I bought the CMF1, so I don’t mind if it gets bypassed.

At £169 when can people expect for software support? I shouldn’t get the same support as someone that spent £5-600 on a phone (this is even obvious in update policies).

Personally, I expect all major android features, but that’s about it.

I’ll leave app design to the relevant third-party people.

Does NOTHING really need to water/consume resources on a “Gallery” app?