Nothing may be taking its time bringing Android 13 to its Phone (1), but the company can’t be accused of not issuing plenty of small updates to the device in the meantime. Today the latest one went out, and it’s labeled Nothing OS 1.1.6.
This brings with it support for Google’s AR Core, as well as 5G on Jio in India. For the camera, the update promises sharper videos with improved stability, and an always-on by default recording light indicator. The Launcher experience should feel more fluid, the battery status displayed is more accurate, and the NFC sound effect has been updated.
The maximum brightness when displaying HDR content has been increased, but it’s not clear to what level. Back in August there was some controversy regarding the panel’s maximum brightness, which was advertised as 1,200 nits but found never to reach that peak.
Nothing then clarified that the hardware is capable of that, but in the service of “a balanced user experience regarding heat and battery consumption” it was capped in software at 700 nits. It looks like this cap has either been removed entirely with the latest update, or at least upped somewhat.
Finally, there are a couple of Glyph-related improvements packed in: an updated, “more reactive” Flip to Glyph animation, as well as the Glyph charging light now being “synced to sound effect”. Naturally, the usual unnamed “general bug fixes” are mentioned too.
The update may be going out in stages as these things usually are, which means that it might take a few days for it to trickle out to all the units in the wild. It’s a 62MB download when you do get it.
