<\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/source><\/picture>\n
<\/span><\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\n
Not pictured: the sheer temperature of this room.<\/em><\/figcaption>Image: Nothing<\/cite><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
Pei continues. The Phone 1 runs Nothing OS, an Android skin whose design draws inspiration from the kind of synthesizers that design partner Teenage Engineering has used to make a name for itself. There\u2019s an integration with Tesla cars and an NFT gallery. Its frame is made of aluminum rather than steel, and both its front and back are made of Gorilla Glass 5. Meanwhile, in the design studio, I can feel my back starting to sweat. <\/p>\n
Eventually (surprise!), Pei emerges in the studio, and the pre-recorded launch turns into a live event. \u201cIt\u2019s humid and hot,\u201d are his first words to the livestream\u2019s host. Pei is being interviewed amongst the crowd, who keep having to shuffle around to make room for the camera crew. The lack of a stage means it\u2019s hard to actually watch the interview, and there\u2019s no active video feed being shown in this crowded room that I\u2019m able to watch. People are taking their own videos of the event, and out of the corner of my eye, I keep spotting a journalist narrating proceedings as he films the event for his (presumably) foreign-language audience. I consider leaving the room to watch the interview on one of the big screens located around the event space, hoping that the distance might make for a better spectacle. <\/p>\n
\n
\u201cIt\u2019s humid and hot\u201d<\/q><\/aside>\n<\/div>\nAfter Pei, there\u2019s an interview with a Qualcomm exec and another with someone from Indian retailer Flipkart. The way the livestream\u2019s audio is being re-pumped into the event while the interviews are happening makes it impossible to hear what\u2019s being said, even when you\u2019re just feet away from the content being recorded. It seems other people are struggling to hear as well if the amount of restless chatter I\u2019m hearing around me is anything to go by.<\/p>\n
I give up on watching the interviews, and after spotting Nothing\u2019s head of marketing Akis Evangelidis in the crowd, I peel away to ask him<\/em> how the event\u2019s going. He asks if we can step outside to get away from the heat, but otherwise, he seems happy. Close to 100,000 people have tuned into the livestream, the former OnePlus vice president says. He\u2019s reassured by that, he says, especially when so much of the Phone 1\u2019s design and features have been pre-announced in recent weeks. This, he says, is because Nothing wanted to be able to make the reveals \u201con our own terms\u201d rather than risk it happening via leaks. <\/p>\n\n
\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/source><\/picture>\n
<\/span><\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\n
Carl Pei with rapper ASAP Nast.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/span><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\u201cI\u2019ve been in touch with a few leakers out there,\u201d Evangelidis says. \u201cIt\u2019s quite advanced; they know their stuff.\u201d As we talk, event staff walk around wearing white wristbands. An announcement tells attendees that these wristbands mean that staff members have a Phone 1 that people can try out for themselves, like roaming demo stations. It seems to work a lot better than the crowded tables seen at most tech launches, and people aren\u2019t struggling to get hands-on time with the phone. The event is permeated by the shrill, synthy ringtones built into the Phone 1 as people try out one of its highlight features.<\/p>\n
After speaking with Evangelidis, I start to wonder how I\u2019d feel about the Nothing Phone 1 if I hadn\u2019t followed every minute step of the hype cycle before today. Imagine if, out of the blue, you heard that an obscure new consumer tech company led by OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei with a former Dyson designer among its staff had announced its debut smartphone. At \u00a3399, it\u2019s cheaper than an iPhone SE and runs an interesting-looking Android launcher filled with retro synth touches from design collaborators Teenage Engineering. Oh, and it\u2019s got a neat set of light strips on its back that serve as a modern, upgraded take on the notification light. It\u2019s cohesive, it\u2019s fun, it\u2019s charming. <\/p>\n
But, of course, this week wasn\u2019t the first we heard of the Phone 1. Instead, Pei and Co. have been slowly ramping up the hype for months through long interviews and an indulgent 20-minute livestream in March when Nothing laid out its grand plan for what it hoped to achieve with its smartphone \u2014 without actually announcing a smartphone. We had its design revealed a whole month ago, and its features and specs trickled out over the subsequent weeks alongside huge promises that this will be the company to deliver the sci-fi future we\u2019re all waiting for but no company has yet to deliver. <\/p>\n
Nothing has been in the headlines week after week as it has announced comparatively minor aspects of its phone. People have clearly been interested in the bold promises the company is making. Remember that this is a company that\u2019s just a year and a half old, announcing just its second product and very first smartphone. That alone is remarkable.<\/p>\n
So it felt like a letdown this week to attend what was ultimately a midrange Android phone launch. Not the start of a consumer tech revolution, not the start of a journey \u201cto make tech fun again,\u201d and not \u201can invitation to unlearn everything the industry has taught us (unless what \u201cthe industry has taught us\u201d is to \u201cexpect air conditioning and Wi-Fi\u201d). If the popular maxim to win over customers is to under-promise and over-deliver, Nothing has risked doing the opposite.<\/p>\n
As I leave the event, I wonder if this is the double-edged sword of hype. As a fresh new company, Nothing has had to promise the world to get attention and funding. But, after we all dutifully showed up to watch it deliver on these promises, we were greeted with a glass and aluminum rectangle that goes blink blink blink. An interesting-looking smartphone, sure, with thoughtful design touches and some new ideas. But the savior of modern consumer tech? Please.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Source: https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2022\/7\/14\/23216359\/nothing-phone-1-london-launch-hype<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Source: There was a lot riding on Nothing\u2019s Phone 1 launch this week. For months, the company\u2019s CEO Carl Pei, who rose to prominence as one of the co-founders of OnePlus, has been making big promises about Nothing\u2019s first smartphone. \u201cConsumer tech, how did we let it get so boring?\u201d the CEO asked rhetorically during […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10015,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"yoast_head":"\n
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