After using the Nothing OS 5 Open Beta, I wanted to share the bugs, design problems and things I don’t like.
BUGS
There is a bug when you tap the screen while AOD is on to wake the phone up — the PIN screen opens automatically.
My phone is overheating for no reason.
The screen-off animation is broken.
There’s a small gap between the navigation pill background and the screen edge.
Photo quality got worse. Maybe it’s just my impression, but that’s what I noticed.
UI AND DESIGN
The interface feels too compact, especially in the Settings app. The panels are bigger, but the icons and labels are smaller, making the whole interface look like I changed the display size in Settings.
This is especially noticeable when switching between Settings and other apps. The small size of the interface stands out immediately because other apps don’t have this problem.
There’s also a huge problem with padding across the system. For example, the distance between the screen edge and UI elements is different in the Settings app and in Quick Settings. These inconsistencies make the whole system feel less cohesive.
The buttons in the media player are too small, while the play/pause button is huge.
Dot indicators are too small across the system, at least in Quick Settings.
On the lock screen, small notifications are shifted too far to the left, which breaks the layout. The notification expand button is also too small.
The lock screen also has a sizing problem: notifications and the media player are wider than the widgets’ area.
QUICK SETTINGS
There are too many inconsistent colors and shapes in Quick Settings. A turned-on 2×1 tile doesn’t feel turned on. I can barely tell if it is on or off.
A 2×1 tile like Flashlight doesn’t open its additional controls when you tap on the text instead of the icon. You took Pixel’s icons but forgot to take Pixel’s logic.
The “Bluetooth settings” button in Bluetooth Controls is really confusing and unnecessary. It would be better to put a small button at the top instead.
In Bluetooth Controls, the noise cancellation outline touches the edge of the panel.
These inconsistencies are even more noticeable in dark mode.
The new volume and brightness sliders stand out from the overall design. I’d like to see a new, more beautiful volume slider that actually fits the Nothing OS design.
The icons at the top of the new Quick Settings are strange. Some have an outline, some have a background, and some have nothing. They don’t look like parts of the same system.
The new player in Quick Settings is strange and ugly.
The gaps in the classic Quick Settings between the media player and other elements are still different.
ANIMATIONS AND MOTION
The Quick Settings opening animations are terrible.
There are no tile expansion animations, and the spring animation used for sliding feels strange. The spring animations borrowed from Pixel feel out of place in Nothing OS. They feel too strong and don’t fit the rest of the interface.
Opening separated notifications and Quick Settings is even worse. It’s just a simple scroll.
ANIMATIONS HAVE TO BE CHANGED!!!
A spring animation when switching between separated notifications and Quick Settings would also be nice.
The unlocking animation feels too simple and flat. The Nothing OS 4.0 animation feels better.
There are many parts of the system animations that need to be changed. I’ve already discussed this in more detail here:
The new Gallery app has the same problem with motion consistency. The same types of elements have different animations. For example, the panel that opens when you press the three dots has a different animation from similar elements in the app.
There is also no transition animation between pages in the Gallery app. The pages just change without any transition, which makes the app feel unfinished.
Toggle Switches should be animated like the standard Toggle Switch was before. The old animation felt much better and more alive.
And if Nothing decided to focus so much on small details, I’d also love to see the navigation pill actually animated instead of being just a static element.
HAPTICS
I really want to see deep haptic integration in Nothing OS.
Most interactive elements should have some kind of haptic feedback. Right now, vibration in Nothing OS is a huge misunderstanding of what haptics can actually do.
It shouldn’t be the same constant, flat vibration for everything. Haptics should build up and fade away depending on the interaction instead of just producing a single flat buzz.
This is something Pixel does much better. Its haptics feel integrated into the interface, and the vibration has a sense of progression. I’d really like Nothing to develop its own version of this.
Right now, vibration is one of the weakest parts of the system for me.
WHAT I’D LIKE TO SEE IN NOTHING OS 5.0
Apart from fixing everything mentioned above, I’d like to see:
Current track and artist names on AOD, like on Pixel phones.
Actually animated Nothing’s own icons, such as Glyphs or Glyph Timer, instead of just using Pixel’s animations.
Use the wallpaper color as the main clock color. Otherwise, there’s no reason for white to be in the color list.
Make the media player more expressive. The flat progress line feels old.
Add call recording when pressing the Essential button during a call.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I like some of the direction Nothing is taking with OS 5, but there are too many inconsistencies in animations, spacing, sizing, haptics and interaction logic.
Some parts of Nothing OS 4.0 simply feel more polished and coherent to me. OS 5 has a lot of new visual changes, but changing the appearance isn’t enough if the animations, interactions and haptics don’t support it.
