I’ve been a Nothing Phone (1) user, my friend owns a CMF Phone 2 Pro, and I’m currently using the Nothing Phone (3a).
After testing multiple devices, I can confidently say this is not an isolated hardware issue.
Whenever the display is set to 60Hz (Standard Refresh Rate), using the back gesture causes a noticeable grey color shift/flicker, especially on grey and light grey backgrounds.
To reproduce it:
- Set the display to 60Hz
- Keep the brightness between 0–15%
- Use the phone in a dim or dark room
- Swipe back on any screen containing grey backgrounds
The issue becomes extremely obvious.
Switch to 120Hz, and the problem becomes much less noticeable.
I recorded the behavior, although screen recording don’t always capture it accurately. Please test it yourselves instead of asking users to factory reset their phones again.
I’ve now seen this behavior on:
- Nothing Phone (1)
- Nothing Phone (3a)
- CMF Phone 2 Pro
So no, this isn’t “my device.”
This is a Nothing OS display optimization issue.
Nothing’s handling of grey shades is simply not optimized properly. Grey looks much more washed out and unstable compared to other Android skins.
Here’s the biggest proof.
I installed a Pixel-based Custom ROM on my Nothing Phone (3a).
Guess what?
The issue disappeared.
No weird grey shifting. No annoying flickering. No strange rendering.
That alone proves this is software-related, not a hardware limitation.
I also sold my Nothing Phone (1) because I believed the display was degrading.
Now that I’ve experienced exactly the same behavior on my Phone (3a), I realize the problem wasn’t my hardware.
It was Nothing OS.
Another disappointing part is Extra Dark Mode.
It only affects:
- Settings
- Notification Panel
- App Drawer
That’s it.
The rest of the UI and apps remain unchanged.
What’s the point of calling it “Extra Dark” if it barely changes anything?
Even though Nothing OS 4 is based on Android 16, many system components still feel like they’re running on older Android implementations.
Instead of feeling polished, the software often feels like older code patched with new features.
Optimization still isn’t where it should be.
And let’s talk about the UI updates.
Why does it take months—sometimes nearly a year—to update something as simple as a battery icon or network signal icon?
Last year, people criticized the old battery icon during the Nothing OS 4 teasers.
Months later, Nothing finally updated it… but even then it shipped with issues.
Now Android 16’s newer network signal style has already been adopted by many brands, yet older Nothing devices are still waiting while newer models receive it first.
Why?
Supported devices should receive UI improvements together—not in pieces over several product generations.
Another thing I’ve noticed…
Software update changelogs across different Nothing and CMF devices often look almost identical.
Sometimes it genuinely feels like they’re just copied and pasted instead of being written specifically for each device.
That doesn’t inspire confidence.
I’ve submitted feedback multiple times.
The responses are always the same:
- Factory reset.
- Safe Mode.
- Clear cache.
- Contact support.
Those replies don’t fix software optimization.
I’ve also created posts on the Nothing Community before.
Some disappeared. Some were merged. Some were muted.
I honestly expect this post to receive the same treatment.
I’m posting this because I genuinely wanted Nothing to succeed.
The hardware is great.
The design is unique.
But software optimization still feels unfinished.
At this point, many Custom ROM developers seem to optimize Nothing devices better than Nothing itself.
Maybe it’s time to learn from them—or even hire some of them.
Please stop treating repeated feedback as isolated user complaints.
Multiple users have been reporting these issues for a long time.
It’s time to acknowledge them and fix them properly.
