There’s more to Nothing
As predicted earlier this month, Nothing – the tech company created by OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei – has indeed revealed its first smartphone.
Not that there is much backslapping for guessing this – the clues and hints were about as subtle as a neon brick to the face.
Anyway, we will get full details of the Nothing Phone (1) at its launch on July 12, but in the meantime YouTuber Marques Brownlee has been given the handset early.
In a video, he shows that the handset’s USP – the transparent back, so you can see what makes it tick – is not just aesthetically pleasing: it has functionality too.
It reveals a lighting system that will seem anarchic for fans of symmetry but is a handy way of telling apart notifications.
While all of the LEDs can illuminate at the same time to grab your attention, they can also dance to the ringtones.
As these can be allocated to specific contacts, you will be able to tell who is calling, even if your phone is face down and on silent mode, because of the pattern dancing around in front of you.
But it is more than that, which is just as well as I can’t remember the last time I heard a noniPhone ringtone in public.
The lights can also perform as a fill light for photography and video in low-light conditions. If you are recording video, you will also have a red recording light to alert others that they are being filmed.
Finally, there is my favourite trick: when plugged in, the little exclamation mark-shaped LED at the bottom will gradually fill up, giving you an at-a-glance assessment of how long you need to leave it plugged in.
This will turn off after a while but can be re-illuminated with a quick shake of the handset.
It is a neat set of innovations in an industry which – let’s be honest – has not been enormous for innovation in recent years. Whether it is enough to convince enough people to buy it depends on the other specs and its wider availability.
We would not bet on this being one you can get in New Zealand, unless you are prepared to play the importing game.
This article was first published at thebit.nz.