Android is an excellent operating system, but how good it is all depends on the device you’re using. Google Pixel phones have always been lauded for their software experience, but Nothing Phone (2) is a good reminder that the Pixel has lost its way a bit.
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The Nothing Phone (2) runs on an Android skin known as “Nothing OS 2.0”. The skin is fairly lightweight, with a mostly Android experience that has some custom designs throughout and a few special features and settings, like tweaks to icons and widgets on the lock screen. It’s not like Samsung’s One UI, which effectively rebuilds the platform from the ground up.
Nothing quite like dressage style, but it goes beyond aesthetics.
Somehow, nothing really worked out to create one of the most stable Android experiences I’ve ever experienced. It’s fast, smooth, and consistently great. Even coming from the Pixel, which tends to outpace Samsung, Motorola, and others when it comes to software looks, I was blown away by how well anything in the operating system worked.
Years ago, that was the Pixel. Things were stable and consistent, but as time went on, things deteriorated. Pixels seem to “rot” faster than most other smartphones, the weirdest bugs form over time, performance hurts as a result, and some really crazy issues with updates. And we are talking about the Android maker here. It’s cool to see a startup beat Google itself with this.
I really hope that the Nothing example, along with Google’s ongoing work on improving Tensor, will help make a difference over time.
Top news for this week
Google Messages adds some new tweaks
Google Messages has been rolling out over the past week and has debuted some notable tweaks. It started with the release of animated emojis in chats. These look somewhat similar to Emoji Kitchen and are a real treat. Moreover, Google has also widely released a new badge for RCS messaging.
Android 14 beta 4
Google released the fourth Android 14 beta this week, which mostly contains some iterative tweaks to the operating system. Our next coverage:
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