All the things you didn’t know you could do with the Nothing Phone (2)

By now, you’ve probably already heard of a certain transparent phone making waves in the market since last year. The Nothing Phone (1) released in 2022 made headlines as the first ever phone with a see-through back panel; and through it, the first ever phone to incorporate functional LED lighting zones into that same back panel, called the Glyph Interface.

But as famous as the Glyph Interface has become, that’s not what we’re here to talk about. Here, we’ll be directing our focus to the Nothing Phone (2), more specifically, to the Nothing OS 2.0.4 which comes packed with a host of new widgets, improved features, and customization tools which you might not have known about.

So, let’s take a look at all the other things you can do with the Nothing Phone (2).

Nothing OS 2.0.4 and all the wonderful widgets

Photo Album Widget

Probably one of the best updates that came with the Nothing OS 2.0 is the Photo Widget. This widget is essentially a swipeable mini album which you can place on your home screen and lock screen.

To enable this widget, simply long press on the home screen, tap on Widgets, under Nothing widgets, tap on Photos. You can decide on whether you’d want a rounded square or circular frame.

Once you’ve placed the widget on the home screen, a menu will pop up with the Add photos option for you to select your desired photos.

FYI, you can also have a photo album widget on your lock screen. Simply go to Settings, find Lock Screen, and tap on Lockscreen widgets and select Photos.

Quick Settings Toggle

Ever found yourself using some functions more than others? Think: Turning on/off Mobile Data and Bluetooth, enabling Location and Do Not Disturb mode, Auto Rotate, and such. Now, you can access those functions with a single tap on the home screen itself instead of having to access settings or rely on the drag down quick settings menu.

To do this, access the Widgets menu and under Nothing widgets, select Quick Settings. Choose your desired widget tile, and drag it onto the home screen. A menu will open, and you can decide which function you want the icon to be.

Quick Look

The Quick Look widget gives you an overall glance at the weather as well as the temperature for the day. But not just that, it will also keep track of the events or meetings scheduled for the day and set an automatic reminder in the widget.

You will need to sync your calendar to your phone in order to activate the reminder function. You will again find this widget under the Nothing widgets drawer, where you’ll be able to find Quick Look. Once it is placed on the home screen, long press the widget and drag it to Widget settings and toggle the Schedule function on.

Swipeable weather app

The weather app on the Nothing Phone (2) now has a unique swipeable feature. You are able to swipe upwards or downwards on the widget itself to view the current weather, the current temperature, as well as the lowest and highest temperature throughout the day.

You can find this widget among the Nothing widgets under Weather. You can select between a circular or a rounded square widget. Alternatively, you may also opt for weather widget that shows all the weather details in full sight.

Multiple clock

Here’s one that will be useful for those currently in long-distance relationships, or those needing to work according to different time zones. Apart from the time of your current location, you can now set multiple clocks for different cities around the world.

To set up multiple world clocks, enter the Widgets menu. Under Nothing widgets, tap on Clock to open up the drawer. A few clock widget styles will appear; find World and drag the widget to your home screen. It will initially show your Home clock first. To select a different time zone, long press the widget to select it, then release. Tap on the pencil icon at the bottom right of the widget, and tap Specific city to choose which time zone you would like the clock to display.

Compass

Another handy new feature in the Nothing OS 2.0 is the Compass widget. This will be particularly useful for hikers, where getting your bearings spot on is crucial. Not only is it an NSEW compass, you can also swipe the widget vertically to show your exact coordinates and latitude.

Customize the Nothing Phone (2) to make it truly yours

Lock screen widgets

One neat trick on the Nothing Phone (2) is that you are able to customize the lock screen beyond just wallpaper and clock placement. With the Phone (2), you can set widgets on the lock screen, including the new Photo Album, Compass, and Quick Settings widgets.

You can set this by going into Settings, find and tap on Lock screen. Then tap on Lockscreen widgets to personalize your lockscreen.

On the same Lock screen page, you even have the option of deciding which are the two shortcuts you’d want to appear on the bottom left and right screen. Right now you have three options: Google Wallet, Torch, or Camera. You can set this by tapping on Lockscreen shortcut.

Turn all apps to monochrome

Right now, all apps developed by Nothing that comes with the Phone (2) will automatically have that monochrome design. However, not all third party apps are yet to integrate this style for the Phone (2). Don’t fret, you can still achieve your grayscale aesthetics in no time.

First, you will need to download two apps: Nothing Launcher and Nothing Icon Pack. To be safe, we recommend downloading the ones developed by NOTHING TECHNOLOGY LIMITED.

Once you’ve downloaded the apps, simply long press the home screen, select Customisation, and find Icon Pack. You will be directed to a home screen preview, where you will be able to see which icon design you’d prefer. Select the Nothing option and that’s it! Now all your icons, including those from third party apps, are in monochrome!

Set folder icon for app groups

Grouping apps into a folder is a great way to declutter and save space on your home screen. Most of the other time, it can also be very unsightly. On the Nothing Phone (2), you can stylize the way you want your folders to look in shape as well as folder icons.

Once you have your apps grouped together, simply long press the folder and select Customise. There, you can choose which folder shape and style you prefer, or set a snazzy dot matric folder icon that best suits that folder category.

Have Google just a swipe away

Make Google a part of your home screen by enabling the browser to be just a swipe away, or have the Google Search Bar a permanent feature on all your home pages!

To enable or disable swipe access to Google, long press the home page and tap on Home Settings. Find Swipe to access the Google app and toggle the button on or off.

Similarly, to remove or add the Google Search Bar on the home page, long press the home screen but this time tap on Customisation. Select Home screen layout and toggle the Search bar on or off, then tap Apply.

Create your own Nothing wallpaper with Lenticular filter

Are you an admirer of one of Nothing’s unique aesthetic? You may have come across some of their stylish lenticular wallpapers iconic to the brand. Well now, you can create your very own!

It’s easy too! When you’ve got the Camera app open, tap the venn diagram icon at the top of the screen (it should be the third option from the left). You will have a whole row of filters to choose from, but the first option Lenticular will you that stylized Nothing look.

Performance and functional tools

Split screen view

Can’t get enough content? Then you’re going to love that Split screen function on the Phone (2).

First, open the apps you intend to use. Go into the quick navigation menu (swipe upwards from the bottom of the screen with your finger/thumb on the screen the whole time) where it displays all the apps currently opened. Navigate to the app you want to split, and tap on the icon at the top. A drop down menu will appear, select Split top. Then, select the other app you want to use – this will be the bottom app.

You can control the size of the apps by dragging the middle line vertically.

The good thing about the split screen view is that even when you exit the split apps to use another app, it will remain split for you to jump back in easily.

Pop up view

If there are important apps which will require your utmost attention, you can have it in Pop up view. This way, the app will appear as a little pop up box at the side of the screen, which will remain there even when you open another app.

You can do this by going into the quick navigation menu, find the app and tap on the icon above it, and select Pop-Up View.

To enlarge the app, simply tap on the pop-up box; and to minimize it again, drag upwards from the bottom of the app.

Hide app icons

Ever found yourself keeping apps that you hardly use, but are too important to delete (MySejahtera or other government apps, maybe?). Now, you can hide them from your Home Screen AND the App Drawer so it doesn’t clutter your phone, yet convenient enough for you to retrieve them.

To hide icons, open up your App Drawer (swipe up swiftly on the home page) and swipe to the right. This will bring you to the Hidden icons page. Tap the pencil button to open up the page where all the icons on your Nothing Phone (2) will appear. Find the app icon you want to hide, and press the ‘+’ symbol on the icon. The apps will now be hidden on your device.

To unhide an app icon, return to the Hidden icon page, tap the pencil button on the top right of the screen, and tap the ‘-‘ symbol on the icon you want to unhide.

Lock apps you want to keep private

Want to keep certain apps away from the eyes of your little nieces or nephews? Or perhaps your own children need your phone for school and you don’t want them interfering with important work matters on your Gmail or Google Drive.

You can always lock your apps by going into Settings > Apps > App locker, and selecting the apps you want to be password protected. Before you do this though, you will need to set your Screen lock as it will use the same pattern or PIN number as access.

Clone apps

How about apps that you use constantly, maybe for personal use and work matters? You can clone apps by heading into Settings > Apps > Cloned apps. There, select which apps you want cloned by toggling the enable/disable button.

Now, you will have two app icons of the same app, both using separate accounts.

Bonus features and updates on the Nothing Phone (2)

Improved camera processing and zoom consistency

The new Nothing OS 2.0.4 comes with camera upgrades that improves photo processing for scenes with bright backlight. Moreover, switching between camera zoom (.6, x1, x2) is now smoother and quicker.

To fully enjoy the power of the Nothing OS 2.0, we’d recommend updating your device to the latest version. To see if your Phone (2) is on the latest OS, go to Settings and scroll all the way down to About phone. Here, it will tell you if your OS is up to date. To update, navigate to System on the Settings menu, and tap System update.

As of the time of writing, the latest OS version is Nothing OS 2.0.4.

Access Tesla controls on your Nothing Phone (2)

Tesla owners can rejoice, as the Nothing Phone (2) can also be used to connect to your Tesla car. You will find this in Settings, under Experimental features. From there, select Connect to Tesla.

Use the Ear (2) and CMF Buds Pro Case as phone holder

Here’s a bonus trick you might not have known. If you have the Ear (2) or the CMF Buds Pro, you can actually use the case as phone holders! Here’s what it looks like with the CMF Buds Pro case:

As for what’s next for the Phone (2), we can expect the latest Nothing OS 2.5 to be released soon, with even more customization options such as glass filter for wallpapers, three finger swipe screenshot, and new double tap power button function. There will be new widgets making their debut, including a pedometer, media player, and screen time tracker widgets.

These additions will be amidst other improvements relating to UI design, Glyph Interface timer, and other upgrades.

Nothing December Deal

Want more reasons to get the Nothing Phone (2)? Well, you’ll be delighted to know that in partnership with its Zitron (Nothing’s exclusive distributor in Malaysia), Nothing has officially opened the Nothing Image Store at Plaza Low Yat. Aside from selling Nothing devices, the store will serve as the brand’s after-sales service centre.

Interested in getting the Nothing Phone (2) for yourself? Great news! Nothing will be having a December deal where you can have RM500 OFF on the Phone (2).

Here are the details for Nothing’s December Year End campaign:

• Nothing Phone (2) (12GB+512GB) – RM500 OFF
• Nothing Phone (2) (12GB+256GB) – RM400 OFF
• Nothing Ear (2) – RM100 OFF
• CMF Watch Pro – RM40 OFF
• CMF Buds Pro – RM40 OFF
• CMF Power 65W GaN Charger – RM30 OFF

The online sales will begin from the 18th of December to the 3rd of January.

You can enjoy discounts on the Phone (2) and Ear (2) on Nothing’s official store on Shopee and Lazada; while the CMF Watch Pro, Buds Pro, and GaN Charger will be available on the CMF official Shopee and Lazada stores.

Alternatively, the discounts will also be available on the official online stores of DirectD, Thunder Match (TMT), Urban Republic, Vivid Mobile, TAC Mobile, and SS Solution.

This article is brought to you by Nothing (Malaysia)