I’m one of those eagerly awaiting Nothing OS 4.0. With the open beta launching yesterday, I downloaded it to my phone and checked out the new features.
Frankly, this version didn’t have the impact I was expecting. We don’t see many of the customization innovations from OS 3.0 in this version. That’s one of the things that disappoints me. Still, it would be untrue to say there’s nothing new in terms of customization.
❤ What I liked:
📱 Essential Apps & Playground: This is definitely the best new feature in this version. The ability to create, share, and download widgets using only text, without any coding knowledge, thanks to AI, is an amazing feature. However, most of the widgets, glyphs, and presets shared publicly (because it’s a new feature) aren’t very useful. But it shows a lot of promise for the future.
📷 New Camera App and Presets: This is perhaps my favorite new feature in this version.The old camera app felt a bit forced, as if it was overwhelmed by the Nothing style. Actually, yes, I like this style, but it was a bit over the top. The new app is much simpler and more functional. The presets will also be very useful for those interested
⏰ Digital Clock Styles: Two new digital clock styles have been added to the lock screen. They’re not bad. I chose the second one and added it to my lock screen.
⚫ Extra Dark Mode: This looks visually appealing too, I’ve started using it. The OLED screen and black color match perfectly.
🪟 Floating Windows: The feature that previously allowed you to pop up a single app now lets you open two apps at the same time. I don’t use it, but it’s a nice feature.
Overall, these are the features I liked in the Nothing OS 4.0 open beta. Now,
💔 What’s missing:
🔋 Battery Icon: When Material Expressive 3 was announced in Android 16, one of my favorite features was being able to write the charge percentage inside the battery icon or inside a round icon. Trusting Nothing’s innovative approach, I expected this to come to OS 4.0. However, it was a disappointment.
💬 Notification Bar: I would have also loved to see the design innovations introduced with ME3, such as notifications magnetically attaching to each other and getting stuck when we want to delete them.
🖌️ More Customization: The best part of OS 3.0 was undoubtedly the greater customization options. They didn’t continue this in 4.0. I’m sure it’s not just me, but the entire Nothing community is waiting for more customization. Hopefully, they will pay more attention to this.
Overall, unlike OS 3.0, the focus is on Essential Apps & Playground rather than customization. As I mentioned earlier, this could be the future of the phone industry, and Nothing could be a pioneer in this. Still, I would have liked to see more in terms of design. Thanks, Nothing team, we’re eagerly awaiting the stable release!
Step by step, moving forward…
