The CMF Phone 1 (review) has finally gone official with the latest Android 14-based Nothing OS 2.6 update, which brings some brand-new features. While it’s not as feature-packed as Nothing OS 2.5, all the quality-of-life features it brings certainly impressed me a lot. It is expected that the brand will roll out Nothing OS 2.6 to its other devices as well. So, I have handpicked what I feel are the best new Nothing OS 2.6 features, and here’s the list!
1. Game Mode
With Nothing OS 2.6, we finally see a dedicated game mode arrive on Nothing phones. The new Game Mode is available in the System tab of the Settings panel. Here are some features that Game Mode brings to Nothing and CMF Phones:
- Game List Management to add or remove games for which the mode will kick in.
- Game Sidebar that shows performance mode, locks the brightness level, screen record, and adjusts your calls and notifications during a gaming session.
- Mistouch Prevention to avoid accidental touches that could interrupt the game-playing experience.
- Incoming Call Intelligent Anti-Disconnection that automatically disconnects calls within 5 to 10 seconds for uninterrupted game playing.
- Game Dashboard to manage all the games installed on your phone.
2. Pop-up View for Apps
With the new pop-up view, when in recent apps, you can drag and release any app at the top to open it in pop-up view. You can then move this pop-up anywhere on your screen and open apps underneath it still.
Tapping on it lets you enter an expanded view which you can also resize. However, in the expanded view, you can’t tap on anything underneath it.
The Pop-up view also lets you toggle on the ability to expand incoming notifications directly into the pop-up view by swiping down on them. The pop-up view in Nothing OS 2.6 is accessible via Settings -> System.
3. AI Vivid Mode in Camera
One of the coolest Nothing OS 2.6 features has to be the AI Vivid Mode in the Camera app. Now, in the standard photo mode in the Camera app, you will see a new icon at the top. Tapping on this new icon leads you to two new options – Natural Mode and Vivid Mode.
The Vivid Mode uses AI to analyze what your phone’s viewfinder is currently seeing, including the lighting, object, subject, foreground, background, and all. Then, it gives you an insight into the kind of processing it will carry out in that environment and conditions. You can choose whether you want to want to apply these changes or not.
4. Battery Health
The new Nothing OS 2.6 update brings a much-needed Battery Health feature as well. Previously, under Settings -> Battery, there was a single Battery health toggle that let you charge your Nothing phone “steadily overnight to preserve long-term battery health”.
The overnight charging feature is now called Smart Charging Mode and has been expanded. There’s now a new feature called Custom Charging Mode, and it does what it says.
This feature is similar to the Charge Limit feature that was introduced with the latest iOS 18 update, which lets you set limits of 80%, 85%, 90%, 95%, or 100%. Meanwhile, on Nothing OS 2.6, you can choose between the 70%, 80% and 90% charging limits.
In addition to these, there are a couple of other new features on the Nothing OS 2.6 like the Smart Cleanup in Storage settings. There are also 4 new wallpapers on the CMF Phone 1, along with the latest OS update.
There’s also a new Tips and Feedback page in Settings, and while it’s not necessarily a feature, using which you can submit feedback for the OS.
If you’re planning on getting the CMF Phone 1, well and good, since you will get these features right out of the box. If not, and are on a Nothing Phone right now, don’t worry. Nothing OS 2.6 will arrive on every Nothing Phone very soon, and you’ll get to enjoy these new features as well.
