The only problem is that from the main Glyph settings page, it’s not immediately clear how much detail you can see in the notification. You can certainly choose from notifications, such as Instagram Direct Messages (and Are not Direct message required), but in apps like Telegram and Facebook Messenger, you can choose specific chats. These notifications don’t always show up in Glyph settings, so when a notification comes in, you’ll need to press and hold the down arrow on the notification itself to mark it as a “Basic Glyph” message. “.
The Glyph Light also works with the Glyph Stopwatch, which you can set to your preferred length and start with your phone face down. One of the LED strips will light up and begin to fade in proportion to the timer. No need to look at your phone! LEDs can now also be integrated with third-party apps, though Nothing will only work with Uber at launch. Right now, if you call an Uber driver, you don’t have to keep checking the app to see how far away they are—just look at the LED strip to see the driver’s progress. It worked flawlessly on a couple of rides I booked last week, though I definitely have to check my phone to make sure I know the driver’s name and license plate number.
However, these little features are smart ways to help you stay present and avoid checking your phone unnecessarily. Issue? It’s hard to erase years of muscle memory of putting on a smartphone face upward. I often… forget that Glyph lights are a thing. You will need time to get used to it. Also, if Nothing wants me to put its phone face down on every conceivable surface, the least it can do is include a transparent case to keep the Gorilla Glass 5 display from breaking. exposed. I haven’t seen any scratches yet, but they seem inevitable.
Not using your phone is a big part of Nothing’s ethos—the company wants to make its software and hardware more “intentional” so you only use your phone when you need it. Its new monochrome look is part of that game. It takes a page from Google’s “Bedtime mode” in Android, which converts your phone’s software to grayscale to prevent you from scrolling the page before you go to sleep. There is no application label at all.
However, after using the grayscale interface permanently for several weeks, I don’t think it works. I’ve been using my phone less because my favorite third-party Reddit client has stopped working (and I won’t be downloading the official Reddit app, thank you very much), but when all your phone set is always in monochrome, I won’t necessarily get that Pavlovian shock like I do with Bedtime Mode where I should really go to bed. Instead, it just looks like a really elegant design.
Looks is where I have to put Nothing props. Nothing OS 2.0 is gorgeous, especially with the many widgets of Nothing’s own. Even better, you can put these widgets on the lock screen and it looks much better than anything I’ve seen on any other Android phone. Notification sounds and ringtones are also very unique. Nothing introduces “Glyph Editor” yet and I spent way too much time creating some custom ringtones and notification alerts. It reminds me of the good old days of Android, which fostered a “do whatever you want with your phone” mentality.
All or nothing
The Nothing Phone fundamentals (2) are pretty great overall. 6.7-inch AMOLED display with liquid Screen refresh rate 120 Hz looks great and bright comfortably on sunny days. The 4,700 mAh battery easily lasted me all day—after four hours of using the device, I usually had more than 40 percent left in the battery. It could easily last a full day and a half.
It is now powered by last year’s flagship processor, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, with 8 GB RAM (128 GB internal storage). It’s snappy and feels like one of the most responsive phones I’ve ever used, with quick animations and quick app launches. It’s super smooth.
