Last week, I attended my final Board meeting as your 2025 Community Board Observer! Check out my previous Q2 2025 digest if you missed it. Here’s everything I discussed with the board for Q3:
We saw some really cool things from Nothing over the last 3 months. Firstly, the release of Nothing’s latest generation of TWS, the Ear (3), with its new metallic design and talk button for next-level mic quality. We saw the release of Nothing Playground, a platform for discovering and sharing community-created Glyph Toys, Camera Presets and EQ Profiles all in one place; as well as the first version of Essential Apps, where you can generate and share your own Nothing OS widgets with just a prompt.
Essential Apps is currently in alpha and has a waitlist for access, which you can join at playground.nothing.tech. The team is expanding, and they’re actively working on preparing the platform for public release which is expected soon.
We talked about the expansion of the Community Review Program, where regular members of the community can sign up to test and review Nothing & CMF products, without the need to be a top-tier content creator. As part of the program, I’ve tested both CMF Watch 3 Pro and CMF Headphone Pro, which I’ve really enjoyed! You can register your interest to join the program at any time.
Nothing also announced a successful Series C funding round, becoming a unicorn company at a $1.3 billion USD valuation. Alongside this, Carl also wrote that they’re working on bringing the next community investment round to us - something I know a lot of you are interested in. Keep an eye out for more details coming soon.
Lots of points since my last board meeting were addressed too, such as Phone (3) regional availability, Headphone (1) transparency issues, which were fixed with a firmware update and the introduction of a true dark mode, which is now available in Nothing OS.
We did however discuss the delay in new product availability in India specifically, as lots of you have been asking when the CMF Headphone Pro and the CMF Watch 3 Pro will be coming. Nothing is working hard on bringing these devices to you as soon as possible and is looking to improve communications around variations in regional availability. Akis has also made a statement on Headphone Pro:
I also raised your comments around the Nothing OS 4.0 Beta. Firstly, the lack of a feedback loop and updates during the Closed Beta, and the fact the Open Beta left a lot to be desired in terms of upgrading from OS 3.5.
An important point to note is that the first release of a new Beta OS won’t usually be the same as the final one - there should be multiple updates which evolve and mature over time. So while you may not see much of a difference in the first instance, you should see more features and changes as time goes on. Nothing is looking at how they can better set expectations for these Beta programs in future, and is learning from every beta program they hold, to improve future beta programs.
We talked about the Phone (3) pricing and the available discount and trade-in programs for Phone (1) and Phone (2) users, which went down really well in most countries, with the exception of India, where Phone (3) was discounted further on Flipkart after only a few months. I also mentioned the incorrect camera samples bundled with the Phone (3) retail demo app, which Nothing has already responded to. They’ve learnt a lot from the release of Phone (3) and will apply these learnings to future phone launches.
And lastly, we saw the first release of Lock Glimpse in Phone (3a) series OS 4.0 Open Beta this morning, so I relayed your initial reactions to this feature. This feature is still in its infancy within the beta OS, and more communications and clarifications will be coming soon. Since recording, Akis has released a statement on Lock Glimpse.
So, that’s my term as your CBO over! I’ve still got a few things to wrap up, before handing over to the next CBO, so I’ll still be collecting all of your feedback in the meantime.
Thanks once again to everyone that originally voted and put trust in me to be the voice of the community this year. It’s been such a rewarding and fulfilling experience. I’ve met so many new people online and at events and meet-ups, and loved chatting with so many of you. Nothing has come such a long way in the last year, the community is ever growing, and it’s been such a privilege to be the Board Observer for 2025.
Applications to become the next CBO will be opening soon, so keep an eye out for news. I’m hoping to see some familiar faces applying and representing the community next year! If you have any questions about the role, please feel free to ask below or shoot me a message.
I’ll still be very active in the community as always, and a part of the mod team, so you’ll see me around online and hopefully at some in-person events soon!
