Android 13 comes early for adventurous Nothing Phone 1 owners
TheNothing Phone 1is an unconventional phone in more ways than one. Its design is an instant conversation starter — whether it was the semi-transparent back panel or the relatively stock Android user interface, it certainly made some buzz when it first hit our radars. Less spectacular is the software support asthe Android 13 updatewon’t arrive for the device until thefirst half of 2023. Thankfully, there are other ways to get Google’s latest software release running on the device and that’s through Paranoid Android.
The developer-led team behind the custom ROMannounced in Julythat it would begin developing for the Nothing Phone 1 thanks to the sheer amount of resources made available to them. Paranoid Android was able to get its Android 12-based Sapphire build on the phone shortly after.
Fast forward to this weekend and the team has moved onto Android 13 with its first alpha of Topaz. The first phone to get it? Of course, the Nothing Phone 1.
The Paranoid Android team took the time to respond to some questions about the new ROM onTwitter, assuring that the group will frequently update the builds with security patches. In response to anotherquestionabout migrating from the alpha build to a beta build in the future, the team said the transition will be seamless. Thecustom ROMweighs in at just over 1.8GB and will wipe all existing data on your Nothing Phone 1. As always, it’s wise to back up your device’s data if you ever intend to hop between operating systems.
It should take a couple of months for the PA team to go stable on Topaz, but that’ll be still far ahead of Nothing’s official target for deploying Android 13 onto the Phone 1. In fact, it might run with the best of the Samsung pack in the larger context of Android 13 updates.
The Paranoid Android team also showed off the Topaz custom ROM’s default wallpaper, titled Supernova, designed by Swedish artistHampus Olsson. You can check out the wallpaperhere.
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