The Nothing Phone 2 could offer Pixel-like software

The Nothing Phone 1 was a well-rounded debut phone for the startup company, but one of our biggest complaints was the barebones software. The brand has since beefed up its software division, but what should we expect as a result? Well, the company may have just given us some answers.

Nothing software creative director Mladen M. Hoyss elaborated on the Nothing Phone 2 skin in an interview with XDA-Developers. Hoyss and some current Nothing colleagues previously worked on the Blloc Zero 18 minimalistic Android phone and Ratio launcher, and he notes that the Nothing Phone 2 skin is “kind of on the same page” as these offerings. However, he adds that the company wants to “start almost from scratch” in terms of the Nothing OS 2.0 looks.

It also seems like the Nothing Phone 2 skin could see notable improvements to the home screen. Hoyss argues that today’s home screens are pages featuring “basically logos of companies,” referring to the app icons.

The executive instead suggests that a home screen should have “what’s personal to you” and that your info and interests should be accessible “at a glance.”

Hoyss adds that the company’s approach is to focus on the “options that your smartphone already has out of the box” and bring them to the fore. The executive didn’t mention specifics but hinted that the Nothing Phone 2 software would be more “easy-to-use” and more “at-a-glance.”

The “at a glance” mentions bring to mind the Google Pixel line, which prominently features an “at-a-glance” widget on the home screen. This widget, which is also available for other Android phones, shows important contextual information throughout the day, such as the weather and upcoming meetings/events. However, the Pixel line also gets a few extra at-a-glance categories related to the Nest doorbell, package deliveries, smart home, and the timer/stopwatch.

In saying so, the executive told XDA-Developers that Nothing would offer its own spin on things and that he wouldn’t compare this functionality to other existing products. We still wouldn’t mind if Nothing was inspired by Google as Pixel features like the at-a-glance widget and Now Playing functionality are great examples of a proactive approach to smartphone software.