The Nothing Cellphone 3 will include fancy LED lighting in spite of everything

The engaging, midrange, limited-availability Nothing Cellphone 2‘s Glyph Interface was new, neat, and, in a manner, polarizing: Followers appeared to both find it irresistible, or flip it off instantly and by no means use it. Not content material to rehash one thing it pioneered years in the past, Carl Pei’s design-forward Nothing smartphone lineup scrapped the rear-panel-spanning LED array this time round, at the same time as Nothing’s flagship Cellphone 3 is lastly set for a US launch.

In case you had been fearful the novel model would abandon its back-panel lighting magic, although, let your fears be soothed. Nothing has one thing else up its sleeve this time, within the type of a rear dot matrix show that may very well be each extra and fewer helpful than the Glyph Interface in several methods. It is known as the Glyph Matrix, and we have seen it in operation for all of 5 seconds (Supply: Nothing).

A smartphone with a second display… on the again

What’s previous is new once more

This iteration of Glyph is seemingly gone for good.

The blink-and-you’ll-miss-it teaser video reveals a black-and-white, dot matrix-style show within the higher proper nook of the (presumably) Nothing Cellphone 3’s again panel. It is from the primary slab telephone with a secondary show. Years in the past, the Xiaomi Mi 11 Extremely had a equally positioned notification panel, and the little-known Doogee S98 basically slapped a smartwatch in the midst of the digital camera array.

Each these telephones had their very own points, not least of which had been the rear show’s bulk, restricted utility, and issues to restore. In changing the Glyph Interface — which Nothing admitted to “killing” final month — the Glyph Matrix goals to offer the usefulness a novel display can provide, with out the drawbacks.

Particulars are as scarce because the teaser video is brief, however the brand new LED readout is a transparent departure from the largely ornamental lights on the again of Nothing’s earlier flagships. Many customers discovered them neat for music visualizations, and a few individuals genuinely discovered the rear-facing notifications, LED timer, and Flip to Glyph ringer silencer helpful. However Nothing apparently wished to shake up the back-panel notification sport.

To that finish, the Glyph Matrix seems to be a low-resolution, roughly 2cm show within the upper-right nook of the Cellphone 3’s actual panel. A cautious breakdown of the video signifies it may very well be round, however that would merely be because of the animation Nothing selected to spotlight. What’s clear is that it is nothing just like the earlier Glyph iteration.

Enter the (Glyph) Matrix: think about the probabilities.

The earliest reactions from followers of Nothing have been blended. Assuming the body-spanning LEDs of earlier Nothing flagships have disappeared fully, then gone, additionally, is the potential for low-light digital camera flash or eye-catching music visualization. Alternatively, an really readable show opens up tons of potentialities for delivering notifications with no need to have interaction with (and presumably get distracted by) a full-on smartphone show.

Apparently, the Glyph Matrix was immediately foretold by some Nothing group members. Throughout a promotion the place the corporate requested followers to create their very own Nothing Cellphone 3 ideas, fairly a couple of customers positioned a dot matrix show someplace on the again. A number of customers went as far as to put the LEDs within the top-right nook.

We might by no means understand how lengthy Nothing has had the brand new design in its again pocket, nevertheless it’s both a case of a telephone producer really listening to group options, or devoted followers critically having their finger on the heartbeat of novel smartphone design.