Exclusive: Ahead of Phone 2a launch, Nothing OS head Mladen Hoyss explains its UI choices

We sat down with Mladen Hoyss, the mastermind behind Nothing OS, to learn more about why Nothing chose a monochrome UI, new features coming to the OS, native apps, bloatware, and just generally what makes Nothing OS special.

In Short

• Nothing Phone 2a's OS offers a unique, bloatware-free user experience.
• OS design inspired by monochrome photography.
• Despite early stage, OS is mature and provides a unique, seamless experience.

Nothing is unique –– a transparent back design, Glyph interface with gamified customisations, and an OS unlike any other. After using the Nothing Phone 2a for a few weeks, I find that the Nothing OS plays a huge role in making the phone’s experience stand out. The OS strikes a perfect balance between offering a stock Android experience and customisations, while remaining bloatware-free. The OS features functional widgets that aren’t just shortcuts; it pays significant attention to aesthetics.

Something I found particularly interesting about the OS was that it improves your experience in such a subtle way that it’s hard to pinpoint. For many users who are familiar with Android, it may initially appear as just a different skin or launcher. However, with continued use, you realise the functionality is deeply integrated with the aesthetics. The more I used the device, the more I was curious about the OS. So my curiosity led me to sit down with Mladen Hoyss, the mastermind behind Nothing OS, to learn more about why Nothing chose a monochrome UI, new features coming to the OS, native apps, bloatware, and just generally what makes Nothing OS special.

“We look at functional aesthetics as the North Star to whatever we are designing,” says Hoyss, who has a background in industrial design. “It has to be functional, but the functionality needs to have the same aesthetic as everything else we are doing. It could be a wallpaper or something system-wide,” he added. “The biggest challenge of Nothing OS is to give users that same experience that they have from unboxing our phone when they see the hardware, as when they turn the phone around. This goes line in line with transparency being such a big part of our aesthetic, so how do we make this really transparent and bring that design language from the back of the phone to the front?” The answer is of course, Nothing OS.

And a very big part of the Nothing OS aesthetics is the monochrome design. And Hoyss’ passion for photography was a big inspiration behind the aesthetics of the OS. “I'm a very passionate photographer. And I'm inspired by black and white photography because it does a good job in isolating compositions, isolating forms, and isolating the story. There's less colours, so there's less distraction,” he said. “So I thought, why don't we just create software that gives you the same amount of focus?”

Another thing about the Nothing OS you would notice is its stalk experience that is bloatware-free. But in a world of MIUIs and ColorOS filled with bloatware, how does Nothing manage this? “Not having any bloatware in our software is a major, major thing," says Hoyss, who is the Software Creative Director at Nothing. “We have zero interest in doing something like that. We really want to keep it a clean, fast and smooth experience as we have done so far,” he added.

But there have also been only a handful versions of Nothing OS. We are currently on Nothing OS 2.5. Even Oxygen OS and OneUI started with promises of a stock experience, but look where they are today. So, the real question is will Nothing OS remain bloatware-free?

“We're not going to give in on any of these terms from third party companies or apps. It's really up to the user. We want to give users out of the box experience when it comes to apps and software that they use. But, if there is some amazing productivity tool, and it works with our OS functionality-wise, productivity-wise, design-wise, and if it can bring a better experience to the user, then why not? But it needs to be perfect, it needs to be very smooth and it needs to check all the boxes. But again, this is not about money. This is just if we think there is something that's going to improve the user experience,” says Hoyss.

Hoyss also let me in on a new widget that will soon be coming to Nothing OS. He says, “you will soon see a camera widget that will act like a shortcut that will remember your presets”. This could be really cool for photography enthusiasts. It would also make clicking pictures in your favourite presets or setting, so much quicker. Just tap on the widget and shoot.

But like Hoyss said, Nothing OS is still “very young”, so it may be really cool, but it still has room for improvement. For instance, the OS does not have any native apps. Nothing uses most Google apps like Google Photos, and Keep Notes, but it doesn’t have any of its own apps. The OS also lacks icon pack support for some very popular apps in India like Nykaa, Myntra, Amazon and even Google Pay.

However, Hoyss promises that “we are looking to update that”. “We are looking at it very closely and every version will bring more and more unique Nothing experience to the users”.

But going back to the basics, if it's just about a custom version of Android, then almost everyone is doing that. Light or heavy, almost all Android OEMs are using their own versions and layers of customisations. So the question is, when Nothing OS is aiming for a stock Android experience, then why at all have a custom version of Android? Why do you even need a Nothing OS? “The keyword here is unique experience”, says Hoyss. “No matter if it's hardware or software, it needs to be one.”

As I said, Nothing OS is still in its early stages, but despite being so “young”, it’s already very mature. The operating system adeptly embodies its core philosophy of providing users a unique and seamless experience that stands out in the crowded world of Android customisation. We just hope to see more native apps, more multitasking capabilities in the future.

Published By:
Nandini Yadav
Published On:
Feb 24, 2024