Nothing Phone 2a Plus can now try out the first open beta of Nothing OS 3.0

Nothing OS 3.0 Open Beta 1 is rolling out globally for Nothing Phone 2a Plus, the company announced on Thursday via its community forum. The beta program will allow users to test out some of the new features before Nothing rolls out the update to all users later this month. Based on Android 15, Nothing OS 3.0 Open Beta 1 brings visual changes to the user interface (UI), including more customization options for the home and lock screens and new designs for the clock widget.

Nothing OS 3.0 Open Beta 1 comes with camera improvements

In a community afterthe company has announced that the Nothing OS 3.0 Open Beta 1 for the Phone 2a Plus will bring the same features as the recent updates for its other smartphones. It allows more direct editing of the lock screen by long pressing it. There are new watch faces, fonts and design layouts for improved home and lock screen customization.

Nothing OS 3.0 Open Beta 1 uses AI for its Smart Drawer feature. According to the changelog, it can automatically categorize apps based on usage patterns, while also allowing users to pin their most used apps to the top of the app drawer.

The update bundles camera improvements, including faster HDR processing time, faster start-up speed with the camera widget, better low-light performance, and an improved zoom slider display. Nothing says users can multitask faster by moving and resizing the pop-up display, which can also be docked to the edge of the screen.

Meanwhile, the Nothing Phone 2a Plus gets automatic archiving functionality, which is claimed to free up storage space without deleting apps. Nothing OS 3.0 Open Beta 1 also offers partial screen sharing and secure screen recording features.

Other features of the update include an updated setup wizard, new fingerprint and charging animations based on the signature dot-matrix style, revamped quick settings, expanded widget area, and predictive app back animations.