WEBVTT - Much Ado About Nothing Phone 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.800 Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 0:00:11.800 --> 0:00:14.360 Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 0:00:14.440 --> 0:00:17.760 Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with my Heart Radio 0:00:17.840 --> 0:00:20.960 and how the tech are you? You know? A few 0:00:20.960 --> 0:00:24.560 weeks back, I talked about the fair phone as a 0:00:24.640 --> 0:00:28.360 sort of gateway topic that could let me talk about 0:00:28.360 --> 0:00:31.840 a lot of serious challenges that the tech industry and 0:00:32.320 --> 0:00:36.800 we as consumers face if we want to try and 0:00:36.960 --> 0:00:43.559 be ethical and responsible with our our tech purchases and strategies. 0:00:43.960 --> 0:00:48.040 So in that episode, we talked about environmental and social issues, 0:00:48.680 --> 0:00:52.040 and we covered things like sustainability, and we covered things 0:00:52.080 --> 0:00:54.600 like human rights because there are a lot of different 0:00:54.640 --> 0:00:56.920 steps in the supply chain where that's a real issue. 0:00:57.840 --> 0:01:02.320 And today, due to a listener request, the listener actually 0:01:02.400 --> 0:01:05.119 downloaded the I Heart Radio app, they went to tech 0:01:05.200 --> 0:01:07.960 Stuff left me a nice little voice message asking if 0:01:07.959 --> 0:01:10.160 I could talk about this. We're gonna talk about a 0:01:10.200 --> 0:01:15.080 different smartphone and what sets it apart from other devices 0:01:15.120 --> 0:01:18.280 in its category. Uh, it is not going to be 0:01:18.319 --> 0:01:22.080 nearly as heavy as the fair phone episode was because 0:01:22.120 --> 0:01:25.920 we're not gonna dive back into all the human rights 0:01:25.920 --> 0:01:29.400 stuff and sustainability stuff. To great extent, but I hope 0:01:29.440 --> 0:01:32.319 you will learn some interesting things along the way. So 0:01:32.560 --> 0:01:35.520 the phone we're going to talk about today is the 0:01:35.640 --> 0:01:42.720 Nothing Phone, specifically the Nothing Phone open bracket one, closed bracket, 0:01:43.160 --> 0:01:46.279 so the Nothing Phone one. Uh. This phone actually shares 0:01:46.400 --> 0:01:51.400 a couple of superficial similarities with the Fair Phone and 0:01:51.720 --> 0:01:57.840 one important non superficial similarity. So for one thing, it 0:01:57.960 --> 0:02:00.000 is not going to be sold in the United States. 0:02:00.040 --> 0:02:02.160 Neither the Fair Phone nor the Nothing Phone will be 0:02:02.200 --> 0:02:03.920 sold here in the US. So if you are in 0:02:03.920 --> 0:02:07.120 the United States, I'm sorry this phone is not going 0:02:07.160 --> 0:02:10.640 to be available. I can't get it either. So um, 0:02:10.639 --> 0:02:12.560 but you know, listen to the episode because there's some 0:02:12.600 --> 0:02:15.600 important stuff in here. And by the way, it's clear 0:02:15.639 --> 0:02:17.680 that it's not gonna be sold in the US because 0:02:18.360 --> 0:02:22.280 the f c C, the Federal Communications Commission, didn't certify 0:02:22.400 --> 0:02:25.639 the device, and that as a requirement if you're going 0:02:25.680 --> 0:02:29.040 to have a cellular device operate on United States networks. 0:02:30.320 --> 0:02:34.560 Superficial similarity number two. Both Fair Phone and the Nothing 0:02:34.600 --> 0:02:40.320 Phone one rely on a version of the Android operating system, 0:02:40.360 --> 0:02:43.520 and we're gonna talk more about you know, Android OS 0:02:43.639 --> 0:02:47.120 and how it appears on more phones in a little 0:02:47.120 --> 0:02:52.000 bit in this episode, now one less superficial. One important 0:02:52.000 --> 0:02:55.600 similarity between the Fair Phone and the Nothing Phone is 0:02:55.639 --> 0:02:58.880 that the Nothing Phone also takes a pretty cool approach 0:02:58.919 --> 0:03:01.680 when it comes to at least some of the material 0:03:01.840 --> 0:03:04.920 in the phone itself. So the Nothing Phone has an 0:03:05.000 --> 0:03:09.880 aluminum case that is then coded with gorilla glass. So 0:03:10.120 --> 0:03:12.560 when you look at the Nothing Phone, it kind of 0:03:12.600 --> 0:03:15.399 look like it has a clear case, and then you're 0:03:15.440 --> 0:03:22.560 looking into the the aluminum uh casing itself almost like 0:03:22.600 --> 0:03:25.160 you're almost like you have stripped the shell off of 0:03:25.200 --> 0:03:30.160 another smartphone. It has that kind of cool esthetically industrial 0:03:30.200 --> 0:03:33.520 look I think. Anyway, the bit that's important is that 0:03:34.000 --> 0:03:38.960 the company says they use recycled aluminum to make those cases, 0:03:39.760 --> 0:03:43.520 which is following that sort of ethical sustainability approach that 0:03:43.560 --> 0:03:45.320 Fair Phone uses. So I wanted to call that out 0:03:45.360 --> 0:03:47.400 because I think that's really cool. I think that's a 0:03:47.480 --> 0:03:50.880 great thing to do, is to rely on recycled materials 0:03:50.960 --> 0:03:55.240 rather than mining for new ones. But really that's where 0:03:55.680 --> 0:03:59.120 the surface similarities kind of end between the Fair Phone 0:03:59.160 --> 0:04:02.000 and the Nothing Phone. So the Nothing Phone isn't really 0:04:02.040 --> 0:04:06.320 meant to address sustainability or ethics issues in the text 0:04:06.440 --> 0:04:09.080 fear the same way the fair phone does. It doesn't 0:04:09.240 --> 0:04:13.960 push his hard in that in that regard. But boy, howdy, 0:04:14.360 --> 0:04:18.560 the marketing for the Nothing phone has been, i'll say, 0:04:18.600 --> 0:04:22.080 pretty aggressive. If you just pop on over to Nothing 0:04:22.120 --> 0:04:24.520 Technologies web page, you'll get to read some of that 0:04:24.640 --> 0:04:29.920 marketing and you'll see stuff like quote less distractions, more soul, 0:04:30.600 --> 0:04:37.159 just pure instinct, formed as a machine told through beautiful symbols, 0:04:37.800 --> 0:04:43.200 deeper interactions, and brave simplicity. Phone one can bring us 0:04:43.240 --> 0:04:48.159 back to us end quote. Now. I like that This 0:04:48.200 --> 0:04:50.640 doesn't actually say a whole bunch of useful stuff about 0:04:50.640 --> 0:04:54.359 the phone itself, but it feels like it's really deep 0:04:54.400 --> 0:04:57.520 and meaningful. All right. Now, Before I dive into the phone, 0:04:57.560 --> 0:05:01.400 which you know will be most the bigger part of 0:05:01.400 --> 0:05:04.320 this episode, and talk about what it does and some 0:05:04.360 --> 0:05:07.160 other related stuff about it, I want to talk first 0:05:07.200 --> 0:05:11.120 about the company behind it, which is called Nothing Technology Limited. 0:05:12.040 --> 0:05:15.440 One of the co founders of Nothing Technology is a 0:05:15.440 --> 0:05:20.320 guy named Carl Pay. Now, Carl Pay co founded another 0:05:20.400 --> 0:05:26.120 phone company called one Plus. This happened back in One 0:05:26.160 --> 0:05:32.159 plus is an incredibly successful hardware company, especially in places 0:05:32.200 --> 0:05:36.560 like India. The smartphones that one plus makes are popular 0:05:36.640 --> 0:05:41.240 among millions hundreds of millions of users. One plus does 0:05:41.320 --> 0:05:44.120 something similar to what Nothing is trying to do, which 0:05:44.160 --> 0:05:48.280 is it produces Android based smartphones that aim to market 0:05:48.960 --> 0:05:53.880 interesting features for a mid range price. So in both 0:05:54.040 --> 0:05:58.800 one plus and Nothing Technology, pays companies aren't necessarily pushing 0:05:58.880 --> 0:06:03.240 to create the flagship device for that platform, that being 0:06:03.279 --> 0:06:08.719 Android phones, but rather one that is compelling while costing 0:06:08.800 --> 0:06:15.120 less than competing phones are in the same general field. Now, 0:06:15.200 --> 0:06:19.760 Pay left one Plus in twenty which came as a 0:06:19.760 --> 0:06:22.719 surprise to some people because the company had grown into 0:06:22.760 --> 0:06:28.080 a big brand. It was incredibly successful, so why leave, Well, 0:06:28.279 --> 0:06:30.920 Pay was getting ready to launch a new company. In fact, 0:06:30.960 --> 0:06:35.039 he did it almost immediately after leaving one plus, and 0:06:35.080 --> 0:06:37.960 he secured investments from some pretty interesting folks here in 0:06:37.960 --> 0:06:42.000 the United States, which includes former Apple designer Tony Fidel 0:06:42.720 --> 0:06:46.240 Reddits CEO Steve Hoffman is one of the big investors. 0:06:46.320 --> 0:06:50.240 Twitches co founder Kevin Lynn is another, and there were more. 0:06:50.720 --> 0:06:54.360 And Pay started talking about how tech had kind of 0:06:54.440 --> 0:06:58.080 lost its way, like it lost its magical touch on us, 0:06:58.520 --> 0:07:01.000 and this would lead right into the marketing spiel for 0:07:01.120 --> 0:07:05.240 Nothing technology in general and Nothing Phone in particular. So 0:07:05.360 --> 0:07:08.400 Pay was essentially saying that, you know, in the early 0:07:08.480 --> 0:07:13.000 smartphone days, so really, when Steve Jobs first introduced the iPhone, 0:07:13.560 --> 0:07:18.480 consumers reacted with excitement and wonder and they just gushed 0:07:18.520 --> 0:07:21.360 about these new devices. It was something to celebrate. And 0:07:21.400 --> 0:07:24.040 if you just go back and watch early Apple iPhone 0:07:24.080 --> 0:07:28.200 press events like for the first few iPhones, especially the 0:07:28.200 --> 0:07:31.040 ones that Steve Jobs lead before his passing in two 0:07:31.040 --> 0:07:35.040 thousand eleven, if you watch those, you'll really see what 0:07:35.120 --> 0:07:37.320 pay is kind of talking about. You'll see these big 0:07:37.360 --> 0:07:40.960 reactions from the crowd over these things. Like it was 0:07:41.000 --> 0:07:44.880 this enthusiasm and joy. It came across almost as if 0:07:44.880 --> 0:07:46.880 Steve Jobs was promising the crowd that they were all 0:07:46.920 --> 0:07:50.280 going to go to Disneyland on his dime. But these days, 0:07:50.800 --> 0:07:53.640 Pay has said, folks tend to be a little more 0:07:54.160 --> 0:07:59.640 reserved and skeptical, maybe even apathetic. They're not excited about 0:08:00.040 --> 0:08:05.120 new products. They might still refresh them regularly because their 0:08:05.160 --> 0:08:09.280 devices start getting less useful as time goes on, but 0:08:09.360 --> 0:08:13.560 they're not enthusiastic about it. And Pay puts a lot 0:08:13.560 --> 0:08:16.880 of the blame on the products themselves, although I think 0:08:17.000 --> 0:08:19.640 really the blame goes on the companies that have created 0:08:19.680 --> 0:08:26.920 this this incredible rapid refresh cycle that has kind of 0:08:26.960 --> 0:08:29.400 burned us all out, Right, Like when there's a new 0:08:29.400 --> 0:08:32.960 one every single year, there gets to be a point 0:08:33.040 --> 0:08:37.079 where it's hard to innovate in a way that sets 0:08:37.080 --> 0:08:40.720 something head and shoulders above everything that came before. Right, 0:08:41.040 --> 0:08:45.520 you start to refine and you make things more powerful 0:08:45.559 --> 0:08:50.920 and faster and more attractive, But it's hard to create 0:08:51.000 --> 0:08:55.640 something that is a huge leap forward. It tends to 0:08:55.640 --> 0:08:57.880 be smaller steps, and that just tends to get us 0:08:57.960 --> 0:09:00.040 less excited over time, because we start to come to 0:09:00.120 --> 0:09:02.559 expect these things like, of course it's gonna be faster, 0:09:03.080 --> 0:09:06.360 of course it's going to be prettier. What else does 0:09:06.360 --> 0:09:09.600 it have? That's kind of what pay was saying, And um, 0:09:09.840 --> 0:09:12.199 he wanted to create a company that would design awesome 0:09:12.240 --> 0:09:15.400 devices that people would want to use, devices that could 0:09:15.480 --> 0:09:19.400 connect people to each other and include really cool features 0:09:19.440 --> 0:09:23.960 along the way. So he launched Nothing Technology, which has 0:09:24.160 --> 0:09:26.760 already come out with a set of wireless earbuds called 0:09:26.800 --> 0:09:29.960 the ear one. It did that in one and the 0:09:30.080 --> 0:09:33.120 Nothing Phone, for those who don't know it, came out 0:09:33.160 --> 0:09:35.880 earlier this year too, in July. So this is a 0:09:35.880 --> 0:09:37.560 phone now that has been on the market for a 0:09:37.559 --> 0:09:42.480 few months now. Back one, the ear one bud's got 0:09:42.640 --> 0:09:44.760 pretty good reviews. And by the way, when I say 0:09:44.840 --> 0:09:49.600 ere one is really ear open bracket, one close bracket 0:09:49.920 --> 0:09:53.080 or parentheses if you prefer. So, Yeah, the both the 0:09:53.200 --> 0:09:57.040 phone and the ear have parentheses one in close parentheses 0:09:57.760 --> 0:10:00.320 after them. That's kind of how they're designating it. Just 0:10:00.720 --> 0:10:05.360 year one so whatever. Anyway, got really good reviews. People 0:10:05.760 --> 0:10:09.160 said that the sound quality was great, that the battery 0:10:09.200 --> 0:10:11.640 life was great, that it had a really neat kind 0:10:11.640 --> 0:10:14.280 of aesthetic to it because the case is made out 0:10:14.280 --> 0:10:18.560 of a clear plastic, transparent plastic. So that was kind 0:10:18.559 --> 0:10:21.080 of set it apart from like the white air pods 0:10:21.120 --> 0:10:24.560 from Apple or things like that. And it was obvious 0:10:24.640 --> 0:10:27.040 that nothing technology was going to produce stuff of of 0:10:27.080 --> 0:10:30.360 good quality and intriguing design. So the earbuds came out 0:10:32.000 --> 0:10:33.640 and the word was then that a phone was going 0:10:33.720 --> 0:10:37.280 to follow the next year, and that happened. It launched 0:10:37.360 --> 0:10:41.720 in London, England in July. All right, so let's talk 0:10:41.720 --> 0:10:46.040 a little bit about that phone. The phone's operating system, 0:10:46.200 --> 0:10:48.840 which I mentioned earlier, is a version of Android OS, 0:10:49.520 --> 0:10:53.280 is called Nothing OS. But Nothing didn't make their own 0:10:53.280 --> 0:10:56.079 operating system. Really, what they did was create a skin, 0:10:56.240 --> 0:10:59.800 a user interface that sits on top of an Android 0:11:00.040 --> 0:11:04.160 OS core or body if you prefer. And this is 0:11:04.240 --> 0:11:07.560 kind of what Google was planning for. When folks over 0:11:07.600 --> 0:11:11.679 at Google were first developing the Android operating system, Apple 0:11:11.800 --> 0:11:14.080 was preparing to launch the iPhone. So this is like 0:11:14.400 --> 0:11:17.920 two thousand seven, and folks over at Google, we're trying 0:11:17.960 --> 0:11:21.960 to create a next generation smartphone operating system that other 0:11:22.080 --> 0:11:26.640 manufacturers can install on their devices. Google wasn't really keen 0:11:26.720 --> 0:11:31.319 on jumping into the hardware business itself. All Right, I'm 0:11:31.320 --> 0:11:33.520 gonna take a quick break. When we come back, I'll 0:11:33.520 --> 0:11:38.960 talk more about Google's approach versus Apple's approach and how 0:11:39.040 --> 0:11:42.920 that would define the strategy that these two companies made 0:11:43.080 --> 0:11:47.280 when they were getting into the smartphone arena. But first, 0:11:47.600 --> 0:11:59.640 let's take this quick break, Okay. As I said before 0:11:59.640 --> 0:12:03.720 the break, Apple was coming into the smartphone market primarily 0:12:03.800 --> 0:12:06.400 as a hardware company. That's what Apple was known for. 0:12:06.520 --> 0:12:10.520 Everyone new Apple for its Mac computers and for its 0:12:10.559 --> 0:12:15.040 iPod devices, which had become monstrous lee popular in the 0:12:15.080 --> 0:12:19.360 mid two thousand's. Now more recently, the more recent years, 0:12:19.400 --> 0:12:22.959 Apple has started to shift to become more services focused. 0:12:23.400 --> 0:12:26.319 That's something that Tim Cook has been leading the charge 0:12:26.400 --> 0:12:29.120 on in order to generate revenue by having Apple make 0:12:29.200 --> 0:12:32.360 more money from things like subscriptions and by taking a 0:12:32.440 --> 0:12:36.360 cut of in app transactions, so there's less of a 0:12:36.520 --> 0:12:40.319 focus on the hardware itself. I mean, Apple still makes hardware, 0:12:40.720 --> 0:12:42.600 and they still put a lot of effort into it, 0:12:43.280 --> 0:12:46.160 but the push from a revenue standpoint has really kind 0:12:46.160 --> 0:12:49.320 of shifted to services and less on how many of 0:12:49.320 --> 0:12:52.400 these things can we sell this. By the way, it's 0:12:52.440 --> 0:12:54.240 sort of what pay was getting at when he was 0:12:54.360 --> 0:12:57.800 arguing that device design had kind of lost its way. 0:12:57.880 --> 0:13:01.160 He's sort of imp lies at least in my mind. 0:13:01.160 --> 0:13:04.240 Maybe I'm inferring. I'm inferring that Pay is saying that 0:13:04.760 --> 0:13:09.640 companies like Apple no longer innovate in design the way 0:13:09.640 --> 0:13:13.840 they used to. Uh their focused too much on finding 0:13:13.880 --> 0:13:16.880 ways to make money through services. By the way, that's 0:13:16.920 --> 0:13:20.080 something that around the world we're seeing regulators push back on, 0:13:20.240 --> 0:13:24.199 right because we've seen a lot of of developers complain 0:13:24.720 --> 0:13:27.560 that Apple locks them into a system and does not 0:13:27.640 --> 0:13:30.439 allow them to use any alternatives, and that that is 0:13:30.480 --> 0:13:33.959 anti competitive. So that's something else playing out around the 0:13:34.000 --> 0:13:37.640 world right now, Well over at Google, the plan all 0:13:37.679 --> 0:13:42.240 along was to provide an operating system platform that other 0:13:42.360 --> 0:13:47.679 companies could use, because that operating system naturally emphasizes Google's 0:13:47.800 --> 0:13:51.800 other services, and that's where Google derives revenue. So Google 0:13:51.880 --> 0:13:54.160 was kind of looking at this services approach from the 0:13:54.200 --> 0:13:58.960 beginning and wasn't really keen on getting into making its 0:13:59.040 --> 0:14:04.800 own smartphones, so Google would not benefit directly from hardware sales, 0:14:05.120 --> 0:14:07.719 but down the road, the company would make bookoos of 0:14:07.800 --> 0:14:10.920 buckos because hundreds of millions of people would be using 0:14:10.960 --> 0:14:14.680 phones with an operating system that tends to guide people 0:14:14.720 --> 0:14:17.920 into using Google services. And again, Google has also gotten 0:14:17.920 --> 0:14:21.160 in trouble for this, and there have been regulators claiming 0:14:21.160 --> 0:14:25.800 that Google practices anti competitive strategies in the market. But 0:14:25.960 --> 0:14:30.840 this means there's a fundamental difference between iOS and Android, 0:14:31.520 --> 0:14:34.560 and it gets to the very core of this. iOS 0:14:34.800 --> 0:14:38.280 is only meant to run on Apple devices, right, You're 0:14:38.360 --> 0:14:41.280 only supposed to run iOS on things like iPhones and 0:14:41.360 --> 0:14:44.920 iPads and that kind of stuff. Android operating system is 0:14:44.920 --> 0:14:49.000 meant to run on whatever hardware a manufacturer wants to 0:14:49.880 --> 0:14:53.560 put it on, assuming that they certify with Google to 0:14:53.800 --> 0:14:57.880 run Android and manufacturers can tweak Android too that it 0:14:57.920 --> 0:15:00.880 doesn't have to just be a pure droid experience. They 0:15:00.880 --> 0:15:04.080 can actually put their own user interface on top of 0:15:04.120 --> 0:15:07.600 the Android operating system. They can also include their own 0:15:07.640 --> 0:15:11.160 apps as native apps on that, so that if you 0:15:11.200 --> 0:15:15.480 were to get say a Motorola smartphone versus the Samsung 0:15:15.560 --> 0:15:18.720 smartphone back in the day, you could have very different 0:15:18.720 --> 0:15:22.480 apps on the homepage on there. Also, phone carriers can 0:15:22.480 --> 0:15:25.280 get in on this too, so if you have T 0:15:25.480 --> 0:15:27.640 Mobile versus if you have a T and T, you 0:15:27.640 --> 0:15:31.000 could also have different apps pre installed on your phone 0:15:31.000 --> 0:15:33.640 and on the home page. Now what this means is 0:15:34.280 --> 0:15:37.120 you could buy two totally different Android phones made by 0:15:37.160 --> 0:15:40.600 two different manufacturers, running on two different phone carriers. And 0:15:41.280 --> 0:15:43.800 even though they're both wearing the same operating system, even 0:15:43.880 --> 0:15:46.120 if all the internals are the same, like they're using 0:15:46.160 --> 0:15:48.840 the same processor, they've got the same amount of memory, 0:15:48.880 --> 0:15:52.040 the same amount of storage space. You can have a 0:15:52.160 --> 0:15:55.280 very different look to the home page on the two 0:15:55.280 --> 0:16:00.880 different devices, and often users lack the permissions to remove 0:16:01.120 --> 0:16:04.680 some of those native apps that the various manufacturers and 0:16:04.720 --> 0:16:07.640 carriers have pre installed on the phone. So you get 0:16:07.640 --> 0:16:09.400 a phone it's got an app on it that you 0:16:09.440 --> 0:16:12.280 don't want, you never use, but you can't remove it. 0:16:12.280 --> 0:16:15.080 It's just stuck there. Now, we have a name for 0:16:15.120 --> 0:16:19.400 this kind of software. We call it bloat where so 0:16:19.440 --> 0:16:22.640 this is the stuff that manufacturers and carriers add on 0:16:22.760 --> 0:16:26.400 top of a device and users are not typically able 0:16:26.440 --> 0:16:30.080 to remove it, and it bloats the operating system. So 0:16:30.160 --> 0:16:32.760 not only might you be irritated that there's this app 0:16:32.800 --> 0:16:34.800 on your phone that you don't want but you can't 0:16:34.840 --> 0:16:38.120 take it off, you might also get mad that that 0:16:38.200 --> 0:16:41.840 app or apps are taking up space on your phone 0:16:42.160 --> 0:16:44.040 that you wanted to use for something else. Like you 0:16:44.120 --> 0:16:46.600 might think, oh, I'm not going to be able to 0:16:46.640 --> 0:16:49.280 take as many photos as I want because this app 0:16:49.440 --> 0:16:51.720 I don't want. There's no way for me to get 0:16:51.800 --> 0:16:53.960 rid of it, and I can't free up that space 0:16:54.360 --> 0:16:56.880 or free up that processing. It's slowing my phone down, 0:16:57.480 --> 0:17:01.760 and it's making the experience less enjoyable. That is the 0:17:01.840 --> 0:17:05.200 kind of issue with bloatwear. Well Nothing touts its version 0:17:05.240 --> 0:17:09.320 of Android is being free of bloatwear. They say it's 0:17:09.359 --> 0:17:12.359 more of a pure Android OS experience that is free 0:17:12.359 --> 0:17:16.000 of bloatwear, and presumably that means that you could also 0:17:16.640 --> 0:17:19.760 uninstall any apps that come preinstalled on a Nothing phone. 0:17:19.800 --> 0:17:22.840 I don't know that for a fact, but if it's 0:17:22.840 --> 0:17:25.560 truly free of bloatwear, it should be possible. Now. The 0:17:25.560 --> 0:17:31.160 company also says it uses quote bespoke widgets, fonts, sounds, 0:17:31.200 --> 0:17:37.600 and wallpapers end quote bespoke. Okay. I love tech and stuff, 0:17:37.680 --> 0:17:41.879 but marketing speak sometimes makes my eyes roll around uncontrollably 0:17:41.920 --> 0:17:44.919 in my head. I am sure it's very pretty to 0:17:44.960 --> 0:17:50.360 look at, I have no doubt about it, but bespoke okay. Anyway, 0:17:50.880 --> 0:17:54.639 One benefit that Nothing touts of its phone is that 0:17:54.680 --> 0:17:59.160 the operating system doesn't prioritize first party apps over third 0:17:59.160 --> 0:18:03.199 party apps. So what that means is that whatever you 0:18:03.240 --> 0:18:06.880 install on a Nothing phone should run just as smoothly, 0:18:07.040 --> 0:18:12.520 just as well as any native apps preinstalled on that phone, 0:18:12.560 --> 0:18:16.600 any apps from Nothing itself. They should all run at 0:18:16.600 --> 0:18:20.040 the same capability based upon the phone's technical specs, which 0:18:20.040 --> 0:18:22.359 we will get into in a bit. So if you 0:18:22.400 --> 0:18:25.760 were to install an app that had a greater requirement 0:18:25.880 --> 0:18:29.199 on the hardware than a Nothing app would, yes, that 0:18:29.240 --> 0:18:32.639 will make a difference. But it's saying we are not 0:18:32.680 --> 0:18:37.119 prioritizing our own stuff over anyone else's. This phone is yours, 0:18:37.160 --> 0:18:39.760 and whatever you put on it should run as as 0:18:39.800 --> 0:18:44.240 well as possible based on the hardware. One example they 0:18:44.280 --> 0:18:46.840 give is a Tesla app that lets you use your 0:18:46.880 --> 0:18:50.480 phone to do stuff like unlock your Tesla vehicle. Now, 0:18:50.480 --> 0:18:53.440 the company also says that the phone tracks your app 0:18:53.560 --> 0:18:56.879 usage so that your most used apps are ready to 0:18:56.960 --> 0:18:59.960 load right away. So if you happen to use something 0:19:00.160 --> 0:19:03.560 like a Netflix app right to watch videos all the 0:19:03.600 --> 0:19:07.720 time on your phone, then the Nothing phone essentially prioritizes 0:19:07.760 --> 0:19:10.520 that app so that it takes less time to pop 0:19:10.640 --> 0:19:13.879 up once you select it, and and there's less lag there. 0:19:14.560 --> 0:19:17.760 So apps that you use much less frequently are quote 0:19:17.960 --> 0:19:20.959 frozen to conserve power end quote, which I think just 0:19:21.040 --> 0:19:23.520 means it has to go through the whole loading process 0:19:23.560 --> 0:19:27.359 in order to get those active. Oh and the phone 0:19:27.480 --> 0:19:33.000 one also has a native n f T gallery where 0:19:33.080 --> 0:19:36.440 you can display your n f T s and even 0:19:36.480 --> 0:19:40.680 track their prices on your home screen, so you can 0:19:41.840 --> 0:19:46.280 display the digital things you've purchased and how much they're worth. 0:19:46.560 --> 0:19:49.480 Now y'all already know how I feel about n f 0:19:49.520 --> 0:19:53.040 T s, The fact that this display incorporates prices into 0:19:53.040 --> 0:19:56.840 it feels really a key. It just reinforces the criticisms 0:19:56.880 --> 0:19:59.840 I have about n f T S in general, so 0:20:00.240 --> 0:20:03.479 this ain't a feature that I find particularly compelling. Also, 0:20:04.119 --> 0:20:07.720 it's curious to me that there's still kind of promoting 0:20:07.760 --> 0:20:12.160 that just because I feel like the general feeling about 0:20:12.280 --> 0:20:15.679 n f T S has really become much more negative, 0:20:15.720 --> 0:20:21.159 except for that small niche group of n f T 0:20:21.880 --> 0:20:27.000 enthusiasts and evangelists. But that's neither here nor there. Now. 0:20:27.040 --> 0:20:30.560 If you flip the phone so that the back faces up, 0:20:31.000 --> 0:20:34.480 you'll see that you've got your gorilla glass coated aluminum 0:20:34.520 --> 0:20:36.920 case has the sort of industrial look because you're looking 0:20:36.960 --> 0:20:40.120 at just little panels of aluminium on the back. You'll 0:20:40.119 --> 0:20:42.879 see that as a couple of camera lenses. Um. So 0:20:43.400 --> 0:20:45.880 you also will see that if you get a notification 0:20:46.000 --> 0:20:49.480 or a call, that bright lights will light up on 0:20:49.520 --> 0:20:55.400 the back of the case in different shapes. There's actually 0:20:55.400 --> 0:20:59.119 two sets of lights. Each set has ten lights in 0:20:59.160 --> 0:21:04.200 it that can make these shapes. They are called glyphs. 0:21:04.720 --> 0:21:08.320 Nothing calls these glyphs. So one set of ten is 0:21:08.400 --> 0:21:11.760 for phone notifications. The other set of ten is for 0:21:12.000 --> 0:21:15.800 different ring tones. And you can actually tweak how these 0:21:15.840 --> 0:21:19.400 glyphs light up, and you can customize them so that 0:21:19.440 --> 0:21:21.680 the glyphs will light up one way for say, an 0:21:21.680 --> 0:21:26.840 incoming Facebook message, and they'll light up a different way 0:21:27.520 --> 0:21:31.359 for a Twitter notification. Or you can have one glyph 0:21:31.400 --> 0:21:34.760 appear if it's your mom calling you, and a totally 0:21:34.760 --> 0:21:37.840 different one appearing if it's a your significant other calling you. 0:21:38.520 --> 0:21:42.000 And you can tell who's calling or what's going on 0:21:42.040 --> 0:21:43.679 with your phone just by looking at the back of 0:21:43.680 --> 0:21:47.360 it and seeing the pattern of lights light up. I'll 0:21:47.400 --> 0:21:50.480 talk about that more when we come back from this 0:21:50.560 --> 0:22:03.600 quick break. Okay, So there are these lights, these glyphs 0:22:03.640 --> 0:22:07.160 that can light up in different shapes on the back 0:22:07.200 --> 0:22:11.680 of this phone and indicate that you've received a message 0:22:11.760 --> 0:22:15.119 or that someone's calling you. Now, I probably would end 0:22:15.160 --> 0:22:18.560 up spending ages setting up these glyphs to customize every 0:22:18.600 --> 0:22:21.760 notification I can and every incoming call that I could 0:22:22.320 --> 0:22:25.720 like in my context list, and then I would promptly 0:22:25.800 --> 0:22:30.320 forget what was what, so I would have to float 0:22:30.359 --> 0:22:32.879 the phone over anyway just to see what I was getting, 0:22:32.920 --> 0:22:34.919 like whether it was a phone call or a notification 0:22:35.000 --> 0:22:38.280 or whatever it might be. But that's on me, right, 0:22:38.440 --> 0:22:42.439 Like I can't imagine looking at one of twenty different 0:22:42.480 --> 0:22:47.720 potential patterns and immediately knowing, oh, that's a Twitter message 0:22:47.800 --> 0:22:50.240 or something. If I had actually used all of them, 0:22:50.240 --> 0:22:52.400 that is, if I only used a couple ensure, Yeah, 0:22:52.400 --> 0:22:54.360 I mean that makes it way easier. But if you're 0:22:54.440 --> 0:22:58.040 using all of them, you must have a better memory 0:22:58.080 --> 0:23:00.800 than I do, which isn't saying much if we're being honest, 0:23:01.200 --> 0:23:03.520 I can't really blame the phone for that. That's more 0:23:03.920 --> 0:23:06.480 of a failing on my part. I think the glyphs 0:23:06.480 --> 0:23:10.240 feature is kind of nifty. I mean, it's definitely the 0:23:10.560 --> 0:23:13.680 eye catching feature on the phone. It's probably the most 0:23:13.680 --> 0:23:16.480 effective way to grab someone's attention to the phone because 0:23:16.520 --> 0:23:20.480 it's different from what other phones do. This is something 0:23:20.560 --> 0:23:23.720 that sets it apart. But I would not call it 0:23:23.760 --> 0:23:26.920 a killer feature on the phone simply because it really 0:23:26.960 --> 0:23:32.240 has limited usefulness. One thing that is interesting is that 0:23:32.320 --> 0:23:37.320 these glyphs are are actually tied to specific notification sounds 0:23:37.359 --> 0:23:41.040 and ringtones on the phone. So, in other words, the 0:23:41.119 --> 0:23:44.560 way you would assign a glyph to, let's say, a 0:23:44.600 --> 0:23:47.879 Twitter notification is that you would go into the Twitter 0:23:47.960 --> 0:23:50.720 app and you would go into its settings, and you 0:23:50.760 --> 0:23:54.920 would change the notification sound for an incoming tweet to 0:23:55.760 --> 0:23:59.560 a specific sound on the list. That sound correlates to 0:23:59.760 --> 0:24:04.120 one of the ten glyphs for notifications, and so if 0:24:04.160 --> 0:24:08.159 you have sounds turned on, you'll get that specific notification 0:24:08.280 --> 0:24:12.720 sound and the corresponding glyph pattern will light up. So, 0:24:13.840 --> 0:24:15.879 in other words, what you're really doing is you're changing 0:24:15.920 --> 0:24:19.320 sounds and ring tones. You're not really choosing a specific 0:24:19.320 --> 0:24:21.919 glyph so much as you're choosing the sound that corresponds 0:24:22.000 --> 0:24:26.159 to that glyph. So you're stuck with the pre made 0:24:26.280 --> 0:24:30.359 ring tones to choose a specific glyph for specific people. 0:24:30.760 --> 0:24:32.520 So if there's a glyph you really like but you 0:24:32.560 --> 0:24:34.520 hate the ring tone, well, you can put your phone 0:24:34.520 --> 0:24:37.160 on silent, the glyph will light up, the ring tone 0:24:37.200 --> 0:24:40.399 won't play, but you're stuck with that ring tone with 0:24:40.440 --> 0:24:42.800 that glyph. Right. You can't change the ring tone and 0:24:42.920 --> 0:24:45.359 keep that same glyph. You'll get whatever glyph goes with 0:24:45.400 --> 0:24:48.399 the new ring tone. Um, I just think it's kind 0:24:48.440 --> 0:24:51.719 of a weird gimmick more than a feature. That quote 0:24:51.800 --> 0:24:55.200 brings us all back together, all right, So let's talk 0:24:55.600 --> 0:24:59.840 about actual specs here. So the phone's processor is a 0:25:00.040 --> 0:25:05.480 WELLcom snap Dragon seven seven eight G plus. This chip 0:25:05.600 --> 0:25:08.639