What’s happened? The London-based smartphone manufacturer Nothing has rolled out its latest firmware build based on Android 16 for two of its budget offerings.
- Called the Nothing OS 4.0, the software update is rolling out for two of Nothing’s most affordable smartphones.
- These include the Phone 3a and the Phone 3a Pro. So far, these phones have been running a version of Nothing OS 3 based on Android 15.
- The new update brings a wide range of enhancements, including design refreshes, smoother multitasking, and new AI-powered tools and camera options.
Why is this important? Google’s Android 16 brings improved system performance, smarter notifications, better security, and a couple of new features.
- Nothing OS 4.0 also has a long list of additions, including a new AI usage dashboard that tracks large AI model usage for improved privacy and transparency.
- Users can now hide apps directly from the home screen or the app drawer. Popular widgets, including Weather, Pedometer, and Screen Time, now have more size options.
- Further, the company has made system-wide optimizations to minimize startup speed.
Why should I care? While those are just the operating system upgrades, Phone 3a and Phone 3a Pro users also get plenty of new features.
- For instance, Flip to Record can now take photos and add notes while recording. Then there are two community driver apps: Playground (Alpha) and Essential Apps (Alpha).
- Nothing has also redesigned its native app icons with a fresh look, along with updating the status bar icons.
- For dark mode fans out there, budget phones now offer “Extra dark mode,” which delivers a more immersive dark aesthetic.
OK, what’s next? With Nothing OS 4.0, the Phone 3a and the Phone 3a Pro now have a toggle to choose whether Flip to Glpyh switches to silent or vibration mode. Further, the Glyph Progress feature now uses Android 16 Live Update notifications.
- The Camera app now has presents, filters, supports Motion Photos, watermarks, and a refreshed user interface.
- While the update is rolling out to a limited number of Phone 3a and Phone 3a Pro users at first, Nothing will roll it out to all users once it determines whether everything is working as intended.