Nothing Phone 1 was released this year with an impressive rear design and mid-range specifications. The device comes with Nothing OS, based on Android 12. However, since, Google has already released the stable Android 13, Nothing Phone 1 owners also want to taste the latest Android OS. If you are also one of them, keep reading this post as we’ll guide you on downloading and installing Android 13 on your Nothing Phone 1.
Nothing has launched its first phone in the Smartphone Market. The Nothing Phone (1) was in hype for much longer, and users were also waiting for it. The Nothing Phone (1) comes with many features and unique designs. So, talking about the design, it has a transparent back with a notification light, giving it an aesthetic look. The Snapdragon 778+ 5G processor powers the Nothing Phone (1). It comes with Android 12 with the Nothing OS.
Nothing Phone 1 Device Overview:
The Nothing Phone 1 features a 6.55 inches panel with a 120 Hz refresh rate. It is an FHD+ panel with a resolution of 1080 x 2400 pixels and an aspect ratio of 20:9. The screen has a peak brightness of 1200 nits. Under the hood, we get the Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G+ processor built on a 6nm manufacturing process. It is an octa-core processor with one Cortex-A78 core clocked at 2.5 GHz, three Cortex-A78 cores clocked at 2.4 GHz, and four Cortex-A55 cores clocked at 1.8 GHz. For handling the graphics-intensive tasks, we have the Adreno 642L. The smartphone comes with Android 12 out of the box with Nothing OS skin running on top.
In optics, we get a dual camera setup at the rear and a single selfie camera at the front. The dual rear camera setup consists of a 50 MP primary sensor paired with an f/1.9 lens and a 50 MP ultrawide sensor paired with an f/2.2 lens. The selfie camera at the front is a 16 MP primary sensor paired with an f/2.5 lens. The rear camera system can capture 4K videos at 30 fps, while the front camera is limited to 1080p video recording.
The smartphone comes with three storage options: 128GB internal storage + 8GB RAM, 256GB internal storage + 8GB RAM, and 256GB internal storage + 12GB RAM. We do not get a MicroSD slot for storage expansion. In terms of communications, we get Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6, Bluetooth 5.2, GPS, NFC, and USB Type-C 2.0. And for sensors, we get an under-display optical fingerprint sensor, accelerometer, proximity, gyro, and compass. Powering it all is a 4500 mAh battery that can be topped up quickly using a 33W power adapter. The company claims that the phone goes from 0 to 100 in 70 min. The smartphone is available in two color options: White and Black.
What’s New in Android 13?
Android 13 does not bring a lot of design changes, since it has already happened in Android 12. But, a few features have been introduced that users were waiting for so long, such as a QR Code scanner in the Quick Settings, per-app language preference, and improved multitasking.
Notifications Permissions: In phones with Android 12 or past Android OS, apps are given permission to send notifications, by default. However, you can change it through the app’s settings page. Android 13 takes it to another level. Apps targeting Android 13 will requires the user’s permission to send notifications. iOS has offered a similar feature for years and now Android users can take advantage of it.
Per-App Language Preference: Google constantly works on removing the language barrier. Taking a step ahead, the company has added language preference on a per-app basis. Of course, the developers will need to implement this feature. This could be a helpful feature for millions of Android users.
Privacy Features: Each new version of Android OS has something to strengthen the user’s privacy, and Android 13 is nothing different. In Android 12 or before, the app can access all photos and videos if you give access to files. This is changing in Android 13. A special photo picker has been added in Android 13 that will let you share selected photos and videos with an app. The app can’t see all the photos and videos on your device.
Updated Media Player and Audio Output Selector: With Android 13, Google has tweaked the design of the media player and audio output selector. The media player appearing in the notification area has a new look. The album image takes up the widgets’ entire background, and the controls have been moved a bit.
More Material You Color Schemes: Android 13 extends the available color schemes by offering more color palettes. This will be pretty modest, and some users may not even notice it. You need to dive deeper into the Color schemes option to apply the new color schemes.
Nothing OS 1.5 Beta (Android 13): Changelog
Nothing has started pushing the Nothing OS 1.5 beta update, which is based on Android 13. It’s a beta release and thus limited to users who have opted to test beta builds. If you have applied for it, but the application got rejected, you won’t get the beta build officially. But, we have got you covered. We have the download link for Nothing OS 1.5 beta build. You can download and install it on your Nothing Phone 1. Before you download the beta update, take a look at the changelog below.
- Up to 50% increase in app loading speed.
- More Material You. More color schemes are available for matching third-party apps to wallpaper.
- Multi-language support that allows different languages for different apps.
- Privacy upgrades. Including:
- Photo picker. Choose which images you want to share with each app.
- Notification permissions. Control which apps can send you notifications.
- Media permissions. Group the types of media you want to share e.g., photos and videos, music and audio, and files.
- New QR code scanner in Quick Settings.
- Clipboard preview: copied text appears on the clipboard in the bottom corner of the screen. So you can directly edit the text before pasting.
- New look for Media Control.
- Foreground services. Close active background apps directly from the notification center to save battery.
- Live caption: detects speech on your device and automatically generates captions.
- Increased background memory. Reducing the wait for frequently used apps to load.
- New self-repair feature that keeps Phone (1) running like it’s new. By clearing unused cache and expired system dumps.
- Improved Quick Settings. Featuring new network and Bluetooth device pop-ups.
- New UI for volume control. Easily adjust individual volume sliders without unlocking the screen (e.g. music vs alarm).
- Improved Game Mode. New UI for light notifications and added Google Game Dashboard. Dashboard supports screenshots, screen recording, FPS display, and Do Not Disturb.
Download Nothing OS 1.5 Beta for Nothing Phone 1
Grab the Android 13 update file for your Nothing Phone 1 using the download links below. Make sure to choose the correct package for your region.
How to Install Nothing OS 1.5 Beta on Nothing Phone 1
Before you install it, keep in mind the following points:
- This firmware file is only for Nothing Phone 1. Do not try to install it on any other device.
- Make sure the device is charged at least 50% to avoid accidental shutdown during the installation.
- Make sure the device has at least 5GB of free storage for smooth installation.
- The installation will not wipe the data, but we still recommend taking a complete backup to avoid any data loss.
- As per the company, Nothing and Google Pay may not work if you install the Android 13 beta (it’s working for most devices).
- Nothing Phone 1 EEA users will have to flash Nothing OS 1.1.8 and reboot twice. After this, they can install the Android 13 beta. Not doing so can show you Error 20 when installing the beta build.
You are ready to install Android 13 beta on your Nothing Phone 1. We have detailed the steps below.
Method 1: Via Local System Update
- Create a folder at the root of your phone’s internal storage and name it ota.
- Copy the downloaded Android 13 ZIP to this folder.
- Open your phone dialer and dial *#*#682#*#*. It will open the offline update tool.
- Navigate to the OTA file and select it. The flashing process should begin.
- Once the flashing is done, your phone will boot to Android 13.
Method 2: Via Recovery
If you couldn’t flash the Android 13 file on your Nothing Phone 1 using the first solution, try this solution. Here we’ll use ADB commands to flash the OTA file. Follow the steps below in the same order:
- Download ADB and Fastboot binaries on your Windows PC.
- Copy the download update ZIP to your PC and move it to the adb folder.
- Boot your Nothing Phone 1 into the Recovery mode. For this, press and hold the power button and volume down button at the same time. Release the buttons once the menu appears.
- Use the volume buttons to navigate to Recovery mode and press the power button to select it.
- Connect your phone and PC via a USB cable.
- Turn on USB Debugging. You can find this option under the Developers option.
- Go to the ADB folder on your PC, press Shift + right-click and select Open Windows PowerShell here.
- Run the following command to boot your phone into recovery mode:
adb reboot recovery
9. Press and hold the power button. While holding down this button, press the volume up button and release both buttons. A recovery menu should appear on your phone.
10. Select Apply Update from ADB.
11. Run the following command to sideload the Android 13 update package:
adb sideload “filename”.zip
[Note: Do not forget to replace “filename” with the actual name of the file. If the file is not located inside the adb folder, you have the enter the complete path.]
12. Your phone will begin flashing the Android 13 OTA file. It may take a couple of minutes. Once done, select the Reboot system now option on your phone to boot the device to the system.
We hope this guide was useful to you. Were you able to install Android 13 on your Nothing Phone 1? If yes, name your favorite feature from Android 13 in the comments below.
Abhishek