One of our favourite things about the Nothing Phone (2) is the Glyph, which is Nothing's name for the LED strips on the back of the device: it's a key differentiator between the Nothing Phone (2) and the best Android phones from rival handset makers. And a new, free software update makes it even better – or at least, that's what it's supposed to do.
As 9to5google reports, the new Nothing OS 2.5.1a software update promises to deliver improved synchronisation between the Glyph and your music. I'm saying "promises to" because the report also notes that early users have found it a little odd: some have found that the update makes the Glyph brighter, but others have found that it turns off the Glyph completely during the quiet bits instead of staying illuminated throughout the songs.
Why the Glyph is tons of fun, and useful too
The Glyph is designed to respond to various things that happen on your phone, such as giving you an unmissable visual indicator that you've got a call coming in or a new notification. And in music playback it can respond to the tunes you're playing.
It's one of the most fun features of the phone, and in our review we noted that it was useful in a wide range of situations: as a visual countdown timer, as an indicator of how far away your Uber driver is, and as personalised notifications for pretty much anything that happens on your phone. You can even get artist collaborations such as the Swedish House Mafia pack.
According to Nothing, the free software update delivers "improved overall Glyph light playback effect when synchronising with your device’s audio" as well as a fix for freezing issues caused by the App Locker "in certain scenarios". But it hasn't exactly been greeted with whoops of joy: users have responded that "sync with music and ringtones is worse than the last update", "the lights reacted to music perfectly before this update" and "this ruined the music visualizations big time".
The issues appear to be annoying a small subset of users; others seem quite happy with the update. And getting rid of the freezing bug is of course welcome too. The software update is a free upgrade and it's rolling out now.
