Remember when the Google Pixel 7 cost $599? Or when you could grab a Galaxy Z Flip for under $1,000? As a tech reviewer, I’m painfully aware of how prices have changed in the last few years — and it hasn’t been a change for the better. Recently, though, we’ve seen a rise in smaller brands and spin-offs trying to offer maximum value at a minimal price. I am, of course, referring to Nothing and, by extension, its spin-off CMF by Nothing.

CMF’s plan is ambitious — peg its debut smartphone at $200 and surround it with accessories that cost less than half of that — but can it work? How much value can you get from an entire ecosystem that costs less than a Google Pixel 8a? Well, let’s find out.

The Buds Pro 2 are a no-brainer

I know you’d probably expect me to start at the top and work my way down through the CMF ecosystem, but for reasons that will eventually become clear, I’m going to do the opposite. Instead of starting with CMF’s debut Phone 1, which should be the star of the show, I’d rather kick things off with the supporting cast — a group that I actually think is much better than its lead. Up first in this impressive yet affordable group is the CMF Buds Pro 2.

Now, I’ll admit that I’m not always caught up on the latest developments in earbuds — I usually wear bone-conduction headphones while running for my safety — but I’ve been thoroughly impressed during my time with CMF’s Buds Pro 2. They’re a massive change from my last pair of budget buds, which was Google’s original Pixel Buds A-Series. Those earbuds came without noise canceling, a reliable IP rating against water or dust, and sat in a simple, shallow charging case that never felt very secure. Sure, I liked their simple controls and appreciated having Google Assistant in my ear by default, but they never punched above their $100 billing.

If there's one CMF product you should definitely buy, it's the Buds Pro 2.

The CMF Buds Pro 2, on the other hand, exceed their $60 price tag in just about every way. For less than the price of a new PlayStation 5 title, you get noise canceling, a workout-ready IP55 rating, and perhaps the best earbud case I’ve used in a long time. At the very least, the case’s customizable Smart Dial makes for an incredibly addicting fidget toy. And yes, I realize that some of my excitement comes from not having used budget-friendly earbuds in a while, but my colleagues at Sound Guys tend to agree — and they know a thing or two about audio.

Anyway, I’ll readily admit that I mostly worry about two things when it comes to earbuds: comfort and a good seal. The CMF Buds Pro 2, with their AirPods Pro-like design and soft ear tips, check both boxes. I find that I can keep the Buds Pro 2 in for a few hours at a time without reaching to adjust them — at least until my Spotify daylist switches or I convince myself that my cats are up to no good. When I’m done, the earbuds pop nicely back into their charging case with the help of some surprisingly strong magnets, ensuring that I can line them up easier than Samsung’s Galaxy Buds 3 Pro.

Of course, you will need the Nothing X app to customize the controls on your Smart Dial and the individual earbuds, but it also lets you tweak your equalizer and noise control (canceling) preferences, so I’d call it a valuable addition. I’ve also noticed that a few of the CMF Buds Pro 2 tap controls work better than others — fast forward works every time, even when I don’t want it to, while play and pause are hit or miss. I’m sure CMF can drill down its controls with a future update, though, so it’s not nearly enough of a problem to outweigh the remarkable value.

I’d recommend the Watch Pro 2, too

Moving on, I’m a little bit pickier with my smartwatches than I am with earbuds, typically preferring to keep a powerful Garmin or Coros GPS watch on my wrist. However, when the CMF Watch Pro 2 showed up, I was happy to try out a modular wearable, strapping it to my less-favored right wrist. And, at just $10 more than the Buds Pro 2, I was curious if anything would impress me about the seemingly simple watch.

Once again, the answer turned out to be yes. I might not be as impressed as I was by the Buds Pro 2 — after all, I have very high standards for the watch on my wrist — but it remains hard to argue against what you’re getting for just $70. CMF’s controls are simple and Coros-like, with a single button in the form of a rotating crown that, yes, actually serves a purpose (looking at you, Samsung and OnePlus). A press of the button from the watch face opens up a menu of options to scroll through, while a swipe left or right runs you through a set of widgets, all bearing Nothing’s signature dotted design language.

$70 for a watch with 11 days of battery life seems like a pretty good deal to me.

This brings me to my first issue — CMF’s mostly square widgets don’t feel like they’re optimized for the Watch Pro 2’s round AMOLED panel. Instead of giving each widget its own display, the Watch Pro 2 pairs them up, cramming the weather in with your Apple Watch-like tracking rings and shoving your recent calls, dialer, and contacts all onto one screen together. The shape of the widgets makes it feel like they were designed for a square display, while their size, even when combined, leaves plenty of space around the edges of the panel. And yet, the button-based menu, which uses the rotating crown, takes up the entire display and scrolls nicely with a rounded effect along the edge.

But, if you can live with the slightly unorthodox menus and widgets, the CMF Watch Pro 2 has much to offer. Its battery life is excellent — it claims 11 days of regular use or nine days of heavy use, and I’ve only had to charge it once since the watch arrived about two weeks ago.

Other touches, like the IP68 rating, 120 sport modes, and five auto-detectable activities, make the Watch Pro 2 sound like it should be an athlete’s dream and one of the best smartwatches for the money. It might turn out to be, but I can’t trust it with a few of my adventures. The few default bands I’ve used are made of a very plasticky faux leather material, which I can’t help thinking would become incredibly slippery during sweaty summer runs.

CMF’s interchangeable metal bezels are an interesting idea, too, allowing you to spice up your watch for several different occasions, but they seem like a nightmare for a frequent climber like me. They’re easy to twist on and off, only taking about a millimeter of travel, but I’ve already had a few times when the bezel hasn’t fully locked into place and come tumbling off in my living room. If you were, say, climbing in a gym and happened to smack your wrist against a hold, I could see it knocking the bezel loose or even damaging the metal itself. Have the same thing happen outside, and you might never see that bezel again.

And yet, I know that most people won’t go smacking their wrists into rocks or sweating their way through faux leather bands. For most people, their biggest headache will be the small, square widgets, while the long-lasting battery life, 80 watch faces at launch, and 24/7 health tracking will be more than worth the $70 price tag. This leaves us with one more piece of the CMF puzzle…

Reaching for the CMF Phone 1 isn’t quite so simple

And finally, we have what should be the star of the show — the CMF Phone 1. I find myself saying it should be the star rather than it is the star for one fundamental reason: The CMF Phone 1 doesn’t work in the US. It follows in the footsteps of Nothing’s Phone 2a, which was launched earlier in the year and arrived as part of a developer’s program without the proper band support for any of T-Mobile, Verizon, or AT&T. As such, I can’t recommend it to most people I know to cap off their less-than-a-Pixel-8a spending spree.

But, while it’s a no-go for the Americans I know, there’s a lot to like about this $200-equivalent phone in the rest of the world, and that’s without even considering the interchangeable accessories. CMF’s 6.67-inch AMOLED panel is vibrant, its 120Hz refresh rate is smooth, and I can’t help but like the dot-matrix design of Nothing OS (yes, the CMF Phone 1 uses its parent company’s flavor of Android). The Phone 1’s 33W wired charging is a nice touch, too, out-pacing what Samsung and Motorola offer for their similarly priced devices.

The CMF Phone 1 would be a great value... if it worked in the US.

And, although you probably shouldn’t buy a phone for the accessories that it comes with, CMF’s modular options are worth mentioning. This is the first time I’ve ever had a phone case come with a screwdriver, and I actually dig the setup. It’s a strange feeling to remove four screws and a twist-off button to change the parts on your phone, but it feels very industrial — not to mention the fact that there’s no way a phone case is coming off after it’s been screwed in. CMF’s other accessories are equally secure, with the card case and stand slotting into the small wheel in the bottom corner. It feels like a new take on an Erector set, which I did not expect in 2024.

However, several situations highlight the CMF Phone 1’s budget limitations. The phone is predominantly made of plastic, and its interchangeable nature means the plastic on the back panel is pretty flimsy. It’s meant to be easy to swap in and out, but this mostly results in a device with soft buttons and a little bit too much give to its back. CMF will only bring two full Android updates to its debut device, followed by a third year of security patches — it’s not the worst update commitment at this price point, but that’s hardly a ringing endorsement. I also personally can’t stand Nothing’s notification chimes and ringtones — to me, they sound like R2-D2 being crushed by a trash compactor.

Again, though, none of this matters when buying the CMF Phone 1, at least not in the US. For most of us, the phone simply won’t work due to having the wrong set of bands for our major carriers. As such, it’s tough to recommend the CMF Phone 1 as the last piece of an affordable ecosystem. You’ll get excellent value out of the CMF Buds Pro 2 and a solid (if not the most athletic) experience from the CMF Watch Pro 2, but you might have to wait a little bit longer before trying out a modular phone for yourself.

If you’re still interested, you can check out all three CMF by Nothing launches below.

Intel’s next-gen chips are set to launch in a little over a month and while Intel, like most chip makers these days, is playing up the AI capabilities of its upcoming Lunar Lake processors, I’m much more interested to see if the chips live up to Intel’s promises that we can expect up to a […]

The post Lilbits (chips edition): Intel Lunar Lake, Google Tensor G4, and Qualcomm Snapdragon 4s Gen 2 appeared first on Liliputing.

When OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei launched a new business called Nothing in 2021, the company promised to eliminate “the barriers between people and technology.” But so far what the company has actually built are a couple of unusual-looking smartphones and accessories like wireless earbuds, with some distinctive features like LED lights on the back. In […]

The post Nothing CEO Carl Pei: Smartphones will be the main platform for “AI first hardware” appeared first on Liliputing.

Google released the first Android 15 beta back on April 11, with the second beta following it up on May 15. Only a day before the second beta went out, Nothing rolled out Beta 1 to the Phone 2a. Now the company is opening up the update to the Phone 2.

Nothing announced in a blog post that Phone 2 owners can now join in on the Android 15 Beta 1 party. If you want to take part in the beta, the London-based phone maker warns that this build is meant for developers and advanced users. It also warns users to back up their data as the storage device will be formatted, and all data will be erased.

Nothing, the tech company known for its transparent gadget designs, has just unveiled its latest offering: the Phone 2a Special Edition. This new variant of Nothing’s affordable Android phone introduces a vibrant twist by combining red, yellow, and blue — colors that have previously been used individually in Nothing products — into a single, attention-grabbing device.

Adam, Design Director at Nothing, described the Phone 2a Special Edition as a celebration of primary colors within the brand’s identity. He emphasizes its unique aesthetic, which draws inspiration from design influences of the past while offering a fresh take on smartphone design.

The design has certainly sparked strong reactions online. Personally, I find the colored accents add a nice contrast to the phone’s transparent back, making it quite eye-catching. However, the internet seems divided on this opinion, with some loving the bold new look while others find it jarring or even downright ugly.

The pattern on the back has even been compared to a side view of someone on a toilet, showcasing the range of reactions this design is eliciting. Tech YouTuber Marques Brownlee (@MKBHD) summed up the divided opinions perfectly in his tweet: “You’re only allowed to love or hate this Nothing Phone 2a special edition design, no in between.”

Availability and Pricing

Aside from the new colorway, the Phone 2a Special Edition shares the same specifications as the standard model. It features a 6.7-inch 120Hz AMOLED display, a MediaTek Dimensity 7200 Pro chipset, a dual 50MP rear camera system (main and ultrawide), a 32MP front-facing camera, and a 5000mAh battery with 45W wired charging.

The Phone 2a Special Edition has 12GB RAM and 256GB storage and is priced at £349 / ₹27,999 INR / €379. Limited quantities are available now through nothing.tech, and a first-come, first-served in-person drop will take place at the Nothing Store in Soho, London, on June 1.

For US buyers, the standard Nothing Phone 2a is available for $350 through Nothing’s developer program. However, the Special Edition colorway is not yet available for direct purchase, but interested buyers can sign up to receive an alert when it becomes available in the US.

With opinions split, the Phone 2a Special Edition has certainly sparked curiosity and debate among the tech community. Whether it’s a hit or miss, one thing is clear — it’s got everyone talking.

Nothing is a relatively new company, but it already has its CMF sub-brand for cheaper products. We’ve heard for a while that a CMF smartphone could be on the way, and we’ve now got some apparent specs.

Developer and leaker MlgmXyysd posted purported CMF By Nothing Phone 1 specs on X. These specs suggest that the new CMF handset is derived from the Nothing Phone 2a in some ways.

The phone is said to pack a MediaTek Dimensity 7200 series chipset, a 6.67-inch 120Hz OLED panel, 8GB of RAM, and a 5,000mAh battery with 33W charging (down from 45W on the Phone 2a). The tipster also claimed that the device will be available in Black, Green, and Blue, while an Orange color scheme will be restricted to India.

This latest leak comes after a previous 91mobiles report listed purported specs. That report mentioned a 6.5-inch screen with Gorilla Glass, a 5,000mAh battery, 33W charging, and Black/White/Orange colors with a plastic body. It was also claimed that the CMF By Nothing Phone 1 would run Nothing OS and offer the same update policy as other Nothing phones (three years of OS updates and four years of security patches).

There are still a few unknowns about the device, though. There’s no word on camera details, storage, and whether it’ll have Glyph lighting like Nothing’s mainline handsets. So we’ll likely have to wait for more leaks to get these tidbits. But between the chipset, battery/RAM figures, and the screen, it looks like the handset could share some DNA with the Nothing Phone 2a.

Only a few weeks ago, an Android smartphone made by Nothing’s sub-brand was discovered on the BIS certification site. At the time, almost no information was available on the device. However, that may have changed thanks to a new leak.

According to 91mobiles sources, CMF by Nothing’s upcoming phone will be called the CMF Phone 1. This device will reportedly feature a plastic body and will come in three color options that include black, white, and orange.

Meanwhile, the display is said to measure 6.5 inches and will have some version of Gorilla Glass protection. On the back, there is a single camera, however, nothing is known about the lens.

Sitting inside of the device will reportedly be a MediaTek Dimensity 5G chip. This SoC is said to be joined by a 5,000mAh battery with 33W charging support.

On top of that, the device will run on Nothing OS, however, it won’t have all of the features that are available on Nothing’s other phones. The sources claim that CMF could announce three years of OS upgrades and four years of security updates.

Although the details are mostly vague, it sounds like an affordable entry-level handset that will be a tier below the Nothing Phone 2a. Further supporting this, the price is alleged to be around Rs 12,000 in India (~$144 USD). For comparison, the Nothing Phone 2a sells for $349.

When it comes to updates, Nothing has been on the ball with the Phone 2a. In fact, the handset received three updates just one month in April. Now the Nothing Phone 2a is getting another one, with the key highlight being ChatGPT integration.

Nothing announced on X (formerly Twitter) that Nothing OS 2.5.5 has rolled out to the Phone 2a. With that update, owners will get a handful of new ChatGPT features including:

Nothing is riding on a wave of good reception from consumers, thanks to impactful products like the Nothing Phone 2a, which we’ve liked for bringing something new to the budget smartphone market. But the company has also had its share of controversies, like the Nothing Chats debacle, which was a privacy nightmare. Nothing appears to have suffered an alleged data breach recently, as we could locate a bunch of information around Nothing Community profiles floating on the internet.

We have located a file on a text file-sharing website containing a data dump of several Nothing Community profiles. The data present in this dump includes already-public information, such as usernames, display names, join dates, comment counts, last-seen information, forum profile permissions, and more.

Nothing is fresh off its launch event for the new Nothing Ear (2024) and the Nothing Ear a, wherein they also announced a deeper ChatGPT integration within Nothing OS. This integration is rolling out through the Nothing OS 2.5.5 update, arriving first to the Nothing Phone 2, while it will roll out to the Phone 1 and the Phone 2a later this month.

While ChatGPT integration is the highlight of the Nothing OS 2.5.5, the update changelog for the Phone 2 is quite lengthy (h/t 1NormalUsername). The Nothing Phone 2 is also getting the “TrueLens Engine” with “Ultra XDR,” though unfortunately, Nothing did not elaborate on these marketing terms. If we can speculate, this could allow capturing photos with high dynamic range in the Ultra HDR format (or a similar HDR-focused format), essentially as a jpg file with an extra HDR gain map file.

Here are all the changes that users can expect on their phones after the update:

• ChatGPT Integration: The following features are available with the latest ChatGPT version installed from the Play Store:
  • Added a new gesture option in Nothing X to start a voice conversation with ChatGPT for Nothing Ear & Nothing Ear (a). Coming soon to our other audio products.
  • Added new ChatGPT widgets to launch ChatGPT in different modes from your home screen for quicker access.
  • Added a button on the screenshot and clipboard pop-up to directly paste the content to a new conversation in ChatGPT.
• More features:
  • Camera now supports Ultra XDR. To set, head to Camera settings > Ultra XDR.
  • Within the camera app, Photo and Portrait Modes now feature an HDR switch. Activate or deactivate via the settings at the top.
  • Added RAM Booster feature. To set, head to Settings > System > RAM Booster.
  • Added a Ring Mode option in Quick Settings for easier sound management.
  • Added a new Recorder widget for effortless audio recording on-the-go.
  • Introduced a new Battery widget to monitor power usage more efficiently.
  • Added Glyph Interface Debug Mode to developer options.
• Improvements and Bug Fixes:
  • Enhanced system stability, NFC functionality, and Wi-Fi connection stability.
  • Optimised animations for smoother widget and app openings.
  • Improved response speed when setting Bluetooth in Quick Settings.
  • Optimized volume settings to make interactions more intuitive.
  • Improved clarity of album cover display in the Music Player widget.
  • Fixed experience issues when switching SIM cards with the Data during call feature enabled.
  • Resolved flickering when launching apps from Quick Settings on the lock screen.
  • Resolved flickering issues on the AOD interface.
  • Addressed the disappearance of lock screen widgets after ending screen share in certain scenarios.
  • Addressed abnormal lock screen wallpaper display when swiping-to-unlock is interrupted.
  • Fixed a widget display issue which showed Bluetooth as being off when a watch was connected.
  • Resolved frequent refreshing and flickering when setting Wi-Fi in the Quick Settings widget.
  • Other bug fixes and performance enhancements.

Have you received the update on your Nothing Phone 2 yet? Let us know how you like the changes in the comments below!

ChatGPT has spurred the use of AI in mainstream use cases. Many people now prefer Google Gemini or ChatGPT to help with daily tasks, and every business is scrambling to integrate AI into its products and services. At the launch of the new Nothing Ear and Nothing Ear A earbuds, the company also announced that ChatGPT integration is coming to the earbuds and Nothing OS.

On the new Nothing Ear (2024) and Nothing Ear A earbuds, you can set a pinch shortcut to start a voice conversation with ChatGPT. Once set, you can pinch the earbud stem to begin talking to ChatGPT and tap once to stop the conversation. ChatGPT will then work its magic and get back to you with a response. You will need to be on Nothing OS 2.5.5 and set the shortcut through the Nothing X app for the ChatGPT integration to work.

The company says that the ChatGPT integration will also be rolled out to all of its Nothing and CMF audio products in June 2024.

If you don’t have the earbuds, you can still enjoy the deeper integration with Nothing OS. With Nothing OS 2.5.5, you can now add ChatGPT widgets for Text, Voice, and Vision when you have ChatGPT installed on your phone. This is beyond the regular 4×2 widget that the ChatGPT app offers to all Android users.

Further, Nothing OS 2.5.5 adds a Clipboard to ChatGPT shortcut when selecting text, letting you paste the text directly into a new conversation on ChatGPT.

When you take a screenshot, you will also see a new Screenshot to ChatGPT shortcut that allows you to paste the screenshot directly into a new conversation on ChatGPT.

Nothing OS 2.5.5 is rolling out to the Nothing Phone 2 today. It will also roll out to the Nothing Phone 1 and the Nothing Phone 2a later this month.

Do you like this ChatGPT integration within Nothing OS? Let us know in the comments below!

Nothing is all-in on smartphones now, with the recent Nothing Phone 2a earning strong marks from reviewers. However, the company started just a few years ago as an audio brand with the well-received Nothing Ear 1 earbuds. Since then, it’s launched a few other sets of earbuds, but today it’s revamping its naming system while simultaneously launching two new audio products: Nothing Ear and Nothing Ear A.

As you can see, the revamped earbud naming system includes removing numbers from the names. Nothing told us it is doing this to make customers feel less pressured to upgrade every time there’s a new release. Instead, you’d buy a set of Nothing earbuds now and then buy a new set in the same line sometime later when you feel an upgrade might be necessary (or, of course, opt for a more/less expensive model).

Nothing didn’t say anything about this new naming scheme also applying to its other products, including smartphones. Considering the Nothing Phone 2a dropped just a few months ago, we will assume that numbers will continue to be a part of its smartphone portfolio.

In addition to the new hardware, Nothing also announced deeper ChatGPT integration within these earbuds. On Nothing OS 2.5.5, with the ChatGPT app installed, you can set a pinch shortcut to start a conversation with ChatGPT.

Now, let’s break down what you get with the Nothing Ear and the Nothing Ear A.

Nothing Ear

First up, we have the premium model: Nothing Ear. While one might think these would be the Nothing Ear 3, the company isn’t going to call them that due to the previously mentioned abandonment of numbers.

Besides, these are more like Nothing 2.5 rather than a full numerical upgrade. They look incredibly similar to Nothing Ear 2, right down to the case design and available colorways (transparent black or white).

There are some differences, though, which I’ll list out for you here:

• Active Noise Cancelation (ANC) is now up to 45dB, a good bump over the 40dB limit of Ear 2.
• Battery life is allegedly better, with Nothing claiming 5.2 hours of power for Ear with ANC active, compared to four hours of juice under the same conditions for Ear 2.
• The earbuds now support LDAC as well as LHDC, which means they’re compatible with high-quality audio on more phones.
• Unfortunately, the driver shrunk a bit. Nothing Ear have 11mm custom drivers, while Ear 2 had 11.6mm custom drivers. This is probably not a big enough difference for people to notice, though.

Other than these three points, Nothing Ear are basically the same as Nothing Ear 2. Therefore, if you already own Nothing Ear 2, there’s not much reason to upgrade.

If you don’t already own Nothing Ear 2 (or don’t care about Nothing’s ambitions to stop you from upgrading yearly), these will set you back $149 / €149 / £129 — the same pricing as Ear 2. Pre-orders are open now at Nothing.tech and general sales begin on April 22, 2024.

Do note that Nothing confirmed Ear will replace Ear 2. When the company sells through its stock of Ear 2, it will not make more. If, for some reason, you’d rather have Ear 2 over these new models, you’d better grab them quickly.

Nothing Ear A

While Nothing Ear are an obvious iterative upgrade to Nothing Ear 2, Nothing Ear A are a bit trickier to peg. One would assume these would be the spiritual successors to Nothing’s previous budget-minded earbuds (Nothing Ear Stick), but these feel more like a slightly upgraded version of the original Nothing Ear 1.

Right off the bat, Nothing Ear A are in-ear earbuds, as opposed to Nothing Ear Stick, which simply rested in your ear canal, like Apple’s entry-tier AirPods. This allows them to support ANC, something that wasn’t possible with Ear Stick.

Nothing Ear A also have a brand new case design that’s unlike anything the company has done before. It’s smaller and curvier than the Ear/Ear 1/Ear 2 cases and nothing like the tube case for Ear Stick. There’s also a new colorway on offer: yellow. This is a fun choice for folks bored of the usual black/white colors Nothing offers.

As for specs, you’ll find a lot of crossovers here from Nothing Ear, including 11mm drivers, 45dB ANC, a triple-mic setup, LDAC support (but no LHDC), etc. There are a few significant differences, though:

• Unlike Nothing Ear, the Nothing Ear A case does not support wireless charging.
• Battery life is nominally better with Nothing Ear A. According to Nothing, Ear A get 5.5 hours of use with ANC on, about 0.3 hours better than Nothing Ear.
• The diaphragms of Nothing Ear are made of a premium ceramic material, while Nothing Ear A get PMI + TPU diaphragms, which is not as premium.

In other words, it’s easiest to think of Nothing Ear A as a cheaper version of Nothing Ear rather than a sequel to any other Nothing earbuds.

Speaking of being cheaper, Nothing Ear A will set you back $99 / €99 / £99. Like the Nothing Ear, you can pre-order them today from Nothing.tech and general sales begin on April 22, 2024. Also, these will become the only other earbuds Nothing offers outside of Nothing Ear. In other words, if you want Nothing Ear Stick or Nothing Ear 1, you should buy them soon, as they will no longer be in production.

Nothing is fresh off its launch event for the new Nothing Ear (2024) and the Nothing Ear a, wherein they also announced a deeper ChatGPT integration within Nothing OS. This integration is rolling out through the Nothing OS 2.5.5 update, arriving first to the Nothing Phone 2, while it will roll out to the Phone 1 and the Phone 2a later this month.

While ChatGPT integration is the highlight of the Nothing OS 2.5.5, the update changelog for the Phone 2 is quite lengthy (h/t 1NormalUsername). The Nothing Phone 2 is also getting the “TrueLens Engine” with “Ultra XDR,” though unfortunately, Nothing did not elaborate on these marketing terms. If we can speculate, this could allow capturing photos with high dynamic range in the Ultra HDR format (or a similar HDR-focused format), essentially as a jpg file with an extra HDR gain map file.

Here are all the changes that users can expect on their phones after the update:

• ChatGPT Integration: The following features are available with the latest ChatGPT version installed from the Play Store:
  • Added a new gesture option in Nothing X to start a voice conversation with ChatGPT for Nothing Ear & Nothing Ear (a). Coming soon to our other audio products.
  • Added new ChatGPT widgets to launch ChatGPT in different modes from your home screen for quicker access.
  • Added a button on the screenshot and clipboard pop-up to directly paste the content to a new conversation in ChatGPT.
• More features:
  • Camera now supports Ultra XDR. To set, head to Camera settings > Ultra XDR.
  • Within the camera app, Photo and Portrait Modes now feature an HDR switch. Activate or deactivate via the settings at the top.
  • Added RAM Booster feature. To set, head to Settings > System > RAM Booster.
  • Added a Ring Mode option in Quick Settings for easier sound management.
  • Added a new Recorder widget for effortless audio recording on-the-go.
  • Introduced a new Battery widget to monitor power usage more efficiently.
  • Added Glyph Interface Debug Mode to developer options.
• Improvements and Bug Fixes:
  • Enhanced system stability, NFC functionality, and Wi-Fi connection stability.
  • Optimised animations for smoother widget and app openings.
  • Improved response speed when setting Bluetooth in Quick Settings.
  • Optimized volume settings to make interactions more intuitive.
  • Improved clarity of album cover display in the Music Player widget.
  • Fixed experience issues when switching SIM cards with the Data during call feature enabled.
  • Resolved flickering when launching apps from Quick Settings on the lock screen.
  • Resolved flickering issues on the AOD interface.
  • Addressed the disappearance of lock screen widgets after ending screen share in certain scenarios.
  • Addressed abnormal lock screen wallpaper display when swiping-to-unlock is interrupted.
  • Fixed a widget display issue which showed Bluetooth as being off when a watch was connected.
  • Resolved frequent refreshing and flickering when setting Wi-Fi in the Quick Settings widget.
  • Other bug fixes and performance enhancements.

Have you received the update on your Nothing Phone 2 yet? Let us know how you like the changes in the comments below!

ChatGPT has spurred the use of AI in mainstream use cases. Many people now prefer Google Gemini or ChatGPT to help with daily tasks, and every business is scrambling to integrate AI into its products and services. At the launch of the new Nothing Ear and Nothing Ear A earbuds, the company also announced that ChatGPT integration is coming to the earbuds and Nothing OS.

On the new Nothing Ear (2024) and Nothing Ear A earbuds, you can set a pinch shortcut to start a voice conversation with ChatGPT. Once set, you can pinch the earbud stem to begin talking to ChatGPT and tap once to stop the conversation. ChatGPT will then work its magic and get back to you with a response. You will need to be on Nothing OS 2.5.5 and set the shortcut through the Nothing X app for the ChatGPT integration to work.

The company says that the ChatGPT integration will also be rolled out to all of its Nothing and CMF audio products in June 2024.

If you don’t have the earbuds, you can still enjoy the deeper integration with Nothing OS. With Nothing OS 2.5.5, you can now add ChatGPT widgets for Text, Voice, and Vision when you have ChatGPT installed on your phone. This is beyond the regular 4×2 widget that the ChatGPT app offers to all Android users.

Further, Nothing OS 2.5.5 adds a Clipboard to ChatGPT shortcut when selecting text, letting you paste the text directly into a new conversation on ChatGPT.

When you take a screenshot, you will also see a new Screenshot to ChatGPT shortcut that allows you to paste the screenshot directly into a new conversation on ChatGPT.

Nothing OS 2.5.5 is rolling out to the Nothing Phone 2 today. It will also roll out to the Nothing Phone 1 and the Nothing Phone 2a later this month.

Do you like this ChatGPT integration within Nothing OS? Let us know in the comments below!

Nothing is all-in on smartphones now, with the recent Nothing Phone 2a earning strong marks from reviewers. However, the company started just a few years ago as an audio brand with the well-received Nothing Ear 1 earbuds. Since then, it’s launched a few other sets of earbuds, but today it’s revamping its naming system while simultaneously launching two new audio products: Nothing Ear and Nothing Ear A.

As you can see, the revamped earbud naming system includes removing numbers from the names. Nothing told us it is doing this to make customers feel less pressured to upgrade every time there’s a new release. Instead, you’d buy a set of Nothing earbuds now and then buy a new set in the same line sometime later when you feel an upgrade might be necessary (or, of course, opt for a more/less expensive model).

Nothing didn’t say anything about this new naming scheme also applying to its other products, including smartphones. Considering the Nothing Phone 2a dropped just a few months ago, we will assume that numbers will continue to be a part of its smartphone portfolio.

In addition to the new hardware, Nothing also announced deeper ChatGPT integration within these earbuds. On Nothing OS 2.5.5, with the ChatGPT app installed, you can set a pinch shortcut to start a conversation with ChatGPT.

Now, let’s break down what you get with the Nothing Ear and the Nothing Ear A.

Nothing Ear

First up, we have the premium model: Nothing Ear. While one might think these would be the Nothing Ear 3, the company isn’t going to call them that due to the previously mentioned abandonment of numbers.

Besides, these are more like Nothing 2.5 rather than a full numerical upgrade. They look incredibly similar to Nothing Ear 2, right down to the case design and available colorways (transparent black or white).

There are some differences, though, which I’ll list out for you here:

• Active Noise Cancelation (ANC) is now up to 45dB, a good bump over the 40dB limit of Ear 2.
• Battery life is allegedly better, with Nothing claiming 5.2 hours of power for Ear with ANC active, compared to four hours of juice under the same conditions for Ear 2.
• The earbuds now support LDAC as well as LHDC, which means they’re compatible with high-quality audio on more phones.
• Unfortunately, the driver shrunk a bit. Nothing Ear have 11mm custom drivers, while Ear 2 had 11.6mm custom drivers. This is probably not a big enough difference for people to notice, though.

Other than these three points, Nothing Ear are basically the same as Nothing Ear 2. Therefore, if you already own Nothing Ear 2, there’s not much reason to upgrade.

If you don’t already own Nothing Ear 2 (or don’t care about Nothing’s ambitions to stop you from upgrading yearly), these will set you back $149 / €149 / £129 — the same pricing as Ear 2. Pre-orders are open now at Nothing.tech and general sales begin on April 22, 2024.

Do note that Nothing confirmed Ear will replace Ear 2. When the company sells through its stock of Ear 2, it will not make more. If, for some reason, you’d rather have Ear 2 over these new models, you’d better grab them quickly.

Nothing Ear A

While Nothing Ear are an obvious iterative upgrade to Nothing Ear 2, Nothing Ear A are a bit trickier to peg. One would assume these would be the spiritual successors to Nothing’s previous budget-minded earbuds (Nothing Ear Stick), but these feel more like a slightly upgraded version of the original Nothing Ear 1.

Right off the bat, Nothing Ear A are in-ear earbuds, as opposed to Nothing Ear Stick, which simply rested in your ear canal, like Apple’s entry-tier AirPods. This allows them to support ANC, something that wasn’t possible with Ear Stick.

Nothing Ear A also have a brand new case design that’s unlike anything the company has done before. It’s smaller and curvier than the Ear/Ear 1/Ear 2 cases and nothing like the tube case for Ear Stick. There’s also a new colorway on offer: yellow. This is a fun choice for folks bored of the usual black/white colors Nothing offers.

As for specs, you’ll find a lot of crossovers here from Nothing Ear, including 11mm drivers, 45dB ANC, a triple-mic setup, LDAC support (but no LHDC), etc. There are a few significant differences, though:

• Unlike Nothing Ear, the Nothing Ear A case does not support wireless charging.
• Battery life is nominally better with Nothing Ear A. According to Nothing, Ear A get 5.5 hours of use with ANC on, about 0.3 hours better than Nothing Ear.
• The diaphragms of Nothing Ear are made of a premium ceramic material, while Nothing Ear A get PMI + TPU diaphragms, which is not as premium.

In other words, it’s easiest to think of Nothing Ear A as a cheaper version of Nothing Ear rather than a sequel to any other Nothing earbuds.

Speaking of being cheaper, Nothing Ear A will set you back $99 / €99 / £99. Like the Nothing Ear, you can pre-order them today from Nothing.tech and general sales begin on April 22, 2024. Also, these will become the only other earbuds Nothing offers outside of Nothing Ear. In other words, if you want Nothing Ear Stick or Nothing Ear 1, you should buy them soon, as they will no longer be in production.

The Playdate is an unusual and ambitious handheld game console. The $199 console has a 1-bit display and a set of simple controls that includes a hand crank. Instead of enabling support for existing games, the folks behind the Playdate partnered with indie game developers to create a bunch of new games for the console, […]

The post Lilbits: Playdate’s growing game catalog, Zotac’s ZBOX PRO eGPU, and Framework’s firmware woes appeared first on Liliputing.

The Nothing Phone 2a is a unique new phone in the Carl Pei-led brand’s lineup, as it’s the first truly budget-minded phone from the startup. It’s not aiming for premium flagship territory, and it’s also not going for value flagship territory either. This is a phone designed for folks who want to spend as little money as possible while still getting all the basics. But how does it compare to the Nothing Phone 2? I spent time with both to find out.

Nothing Phone 2a vs Nothing Phone 2: What’s the same?

The Nothing Phone (2a) is the third smartphone from Nothing, but it’s the company’s first budget model, with prices starting at £319 in the UK, €329 in Europe, and $349 in the United States (although it will only be available in the US through a developer program at launch). But while that makes this new […]

The post Nothing Phone (2a) is a cheap(er) phone with premium features appeared first on Liliputing.

At Mobile World Congress 2024, we’ve seen a whole bunch of new tech. Today, though, we saw one of the more exciting smartphone launches of the week: the Nothing Phone 2a.

At a Barcelona restaurant packed with journalists, Nothing “unboxed” the Phone 2a by literally pulling apart two large boxes covering a display case with the Phone 2a inside. Because of the way it was propped, we could only see the back of it. However, that’s where a lot of interesting stuff is happening.

First, any concerns that the Phone 2a wouldn’t have Glyph lights can be put to rest. There are three lights on the back of the phone — far fewer than the 11 on the back of the Nothing Phone 2 — and the bottom “exclamation point” light isn’t one of them. That means the charging animation seen on the Phone 2 and the Phone 1 won’t be included with the Phone 2a, at least not in the same way. That’s a bit of a bummer.

The phone also has a unique camera module that’s centered in the top half, with the lenses grouped to look like eyes. This explains the “Fresh Eyes” tagline Nothing has been using in teasers so far.

Since the phone was in a glass display case, we couldn’t do much of a size comparison to other devices. However, judging from what we could tell, the Phone 2a is not significantly larger or smaller than the other two Nothing phones. If you were hoping for something more compact, it does not appear the Phone 2a will provide.

Since we couldn’t see the front of the phone, we can’t tell you much else. However, we do know through previous confirmations that the Phone 2a will come with the MediaTek Dimensity 7200 Pro and 12GB of RAM. We also know the phone is launching on March 5, so you only have about a week to go before we know everything.

Nothing revealed chipset details regarding the upcoming Nothing Phone 2a yesterday, confirming a Dimensity 7200 Pro SoC. The company also claimed that the new handset will be more powerful and efficient than the Nothing Phone 1.

Now, company co-founder Carl Pei has elaborated on these claims in an interview with Digital Trends.

“The Phone 2a is a clear upgrade from Phone 1, particularly in terms of performance. Phone 2a is 18% more powerful than Phone 1 and 16% more efficient in terms of battery consumption compared to Phone 1,” the executive asserted.

The comparisons suggest that Nothing wants Phone 1 owners to upgrade to the Phone 2a. But Pei didn’t clarify whether the Phone 2a would replace the Phone 1 in its portfolio.

What makes the Nothing Phone 2a better?

This disparity isn’t a surprise as the Nothing Phone 1’s Snapdragon 778G Plus chipset was a mid-range chipset back then. It’s been almost two years since the Phone 1 was launched, so that processor will have undoubtedly been surpassed by other mid-range chips.

The Snapdragon 778G Plus has a 6nm design compared to the Dimensity 7200 Pro’s smaller, more efficient 4nm process. So that partly accounts for the battery life claims.

The MediaTek chip also brings a more modern CPU, featuring two heavy Cortex-A715 cores and six little Cortex-A510 cores. In saying so, the older Snapdragon chip has four heavy CPU cores and four little cores. So we’re curious to see how the Nothing Phone 2a fares against the Phone 1 when it comes to multi-core workloads. It does, however, stand to reason that more little cores will result in a more power-efficient processor.

Nothing will launch the Phone 2a on March 5. So we’ll be sure to put the phone through its paces to see if it indeed eclipses the original handset as far as performance and battery life are concerned.

Nothing is continuing its drip-feed of Nothing Phone 2a spec disclosures in the run-up to its March 5 launch. Now, the smartphone brand has revealed the new phone’s processor.

Nothing confirmed in a YouTube video that the Nothing Phone 2a will be powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 7200 Pro processor. This is the first Nothing phone with a MediaTek chipset, following in the footsteps of the Snapdragon 778G Plus and Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 in the Nothing Phone 1 and 2 respectively.

Nothing product marketing manager Raymond Zhu noted in the video that the Dimensity 7200 Pro differs from the standard Dimensity 7200 in a couple of areas. For one, he says certain components such as the display IC chip and modem are roughly 10% more efficient. Nothing also developed some software features specifically for this chipset, such as a Smart Clean feature.

Otherwise, it seems like the Dimensity 7200 Pro is in line with the standard chip. That means we’re expecting a capable CPU (2x Cortex-A715 and 6x Cortex-A510) and a Mali-G610 MC4 GPU.

Nothing Phone 2a: Why MediaTek over Qualcomm?

Zhu claimed that the Dimensity 7200 Pro was chosen because the company wanted the “best possible performance” for its users.

“We knew MediaTek was a hard sell since Qualcomm is a lot better known (sic) here in the UK, but we couldn’t justify going with a lower-performing processor” Zhu explained.

Interestingly, the representative said that the choice of chipset came down to the Dimensity 7200 Pro, Snapdragon 7s Gen 2, and Snapdragon 782G. But Zhu confirmed that the Snapdragon chips had lower performance than the MediaTek SoC.

Nothing’s clip also showed a graphic (seen at the top) pointing to the Phone 2a packing 12GB of RAM. But it’s unclear if this figure applies to all variants.

Aside from Nothing’s official disclosures, we’ve also recently seen apparent leaked renders for the device. The renders show a phone with a circular camera housing and two cameras sitting side-by-side. Thankfully, it looks like the phone still retains the company’s Glyph lighting.

One of the biggest mysteries regarding the upcoming Nothing Phone 2a is what the phone will look like. A trusted source recently published purportedly leaked renders but later confirmed they were inaccurate. Now, the same source has posted what they claim are accurate Nothing Phone 2a renders.

Veteran leaker Steve Hemmerstoffer and SmartPrix posted new Nothing Phone 2a renders, and we get a decidedly different design compared to the previously posted images. Check the gallery below, showing an apparent Dark Gray model.

Perhaps the biggest tweak here is the move to a distinctive, center-aligned rear camera system with the two sensors being side-by-side. This differs from the previous render which offered a pair of vertically stacked rear cameras in the top-left corner of the phone, bringing to mind older iPhones.

We can also make out at least three LED lights on the back here, forming the apparent Glyph lighting setup. So those who were worried about this trademark Nothing feature disappearing on the budget phone can seemingly breath easy.

Otherwise, we’ve still got flat edges here, along with a center-aligned punch-hole cutout. We’ve also got volume keys on the left-hand edge while the power button sits on the right-hand edge. The phone is also said to measure 162.2 x 76.5 x 8.7mm.

SmartPrix also asserts that the phone will feature a Dimensity 7200 Pro chipset rather than a vanilla Dimensity 7200 SoC. The outlet further claims that you can expect dual 50MP rear cameras (S5KG9 main sensor and JN1 ultrawide sensor), a 32MP selfie camera, and a 5,000mAh battery with 45W wired charging. But we’ll take these claims with a pinch of salt as Hemmerstoffer doesn’t usually supply specs to his media partners.

Nothing revealed chipset details regarding the upcoming Nothing Phone 2a yesterday, confirming a Dimensity 7200 Pro SoC. The company also claimed that the new handset will be more powerful and efficient than the Nothing Phone 1.

Now, company co-founder Carl Pei has elaborated on these claims in an interview with Digital Trends.

Nothing is continuing its drip-feed of Nothing Phone 2a spec disclosures in the run-up to its March 5 launch. Now, the smartphone brand has revealed the new phone’s processor.

Nothing confirmed in a YouTube video that the Nothing Phone 2a will be powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 7200 Pro processor. This is the first Nothing phone with a MediaTek chipset, following in the footsteps of the Snapdragon 778G Plus and Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 in the Nothing Phone 1 and 2 respectively.

One of the biggest mysteries regarding the upcoming Nothing Phone 2a is what the phone will look like. A trusted source recently published purportedly leaked renders but later confirmed they were inaccurate. Now, the same source has posted what they claim are accurate Nothing Phone 2a renders.

Veteran leaker Steve Hemmerstoffer and SmartPrix posted new Nothing Phone 2a renders, and we get a decidedly different design compared to the previously posted images. Check the gallery below, showing an apparent Dark Gray model.

  The Nothing Phone (2a) is the target of multiple leaks and teasers in the coming days. The fact is that Nothing’s first mid-range smartphone ...

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