Nothing’s CEO, Carl Pei, has been interviewed in reference to the company’s first mobile phone, the Nothing phone (1).
The Nothing phone (1) , which will be the first phone from the OnePlus co-founder’s technology firm , Carl Pei, is expected with a lot of hype in Spain and in many other countries . A device that will presumably stand out in design, just as other devices such as the company’s Nothing ear (1) have done . An exclusive interview with Carl Pei, CEO of the company, clarifies some additional details about this phone and further clarifies the company’s roadmap.
Pei wanted to give a first look at the design and most important details of this new phone. He has done it accompanied by the chief designer of Nothing, Tom Howard, giving clues about what users can expect. The first detail is perhaps the most relevant: following the aesthetics of the ear (1) by Nothing.
In this specific section, both Howard and Pei point out in an interview with Wallpaper* that, as happened with the ear (1), the Nothing phone (1) will have a translucent back that will reveal the internal components of the device, while except those that the company considers the most important, such as the camera or the wireless charging coil.
What will the Nothing phone be like (1)
The first thing that both the CEO and the head of design emphasize is that they want to break with the established in the industry. “When you look inside almost any Android phone, almost all of them are exactly the same.” The idea is to offer a new approach “from the design perspective” . Pointing to the most important components, Nothing wants to “celebrate the good [components]” because there are more than “400 components in a smartphone, assembled in layers.”
Nothing wants this phone to allow users to see things that were previously out of sight. “You’re seeing components that the user normally never sees, so you almost have to go through the entire manufacturing process to bring them out,” says Howard. A process that the design chief himself describes as “a puzzle”.
This is something that David Sanmartín , co-founder and head of the company for Southern and Eastern Europe, already explained to us how transparent elements are a hallmark of the brand and its products. “We felt that there was a lot of room for differentiation when it came to design […] In that sense, it allowed us to also add transparent elements, which are and will be part of our visual identity and will be carried over to more products.”
In fact, Pei already spoke about this when he marked his roadmap at his ‘The Truth’ event. One of the details that Pei emphasized most in the development of the product not only had to do with their being transparent, or with their good balance in value for money , but also that they served so that “technology becomes a inspiration for future generations”.
And is that the key to the design of this phone is that it is not so simple. This process, in the case of the Nothing phone (1), involves “working with the engineers” to get these important parts out in the open. Howard presumes that to help visualize how they were going to accomplish this task, the Nothing team looked to a classic schematic landmark, Massimo Vignelli and Bob Noorda’s 1972 New York subway map.
They relate it to the fact that the ‘father’ of modern transit maps is Harry Beck’s 1933 London Underground map, which was inspired in part by the schematic view of electrical circuits, “emphasizing the importance of connections and clarity above all else.” What they want to achieve with the Nothing phone (1) is to have a “consistent way of designing products”, according to Carl Pei. “We wanted to have a very distinctive and iconic design language of our own.”
very personalized
In addition to all this, in the interview they emphasize the fact that this device will use Qualcomm Snapdragon processors, because its ecosystem “is mature, polished and familiar to a substantial part of the market.” Pei adds that Nothing focuses “on the underlying connectivity, so your phone becomes a control center for your digital life”, and also takes the opportunity to praise the work of Google.
The Nothing phone will rely on “custom wallpapers, widgets and sounds” that will attempt to emphasize this design philosophy. “Part of our job is to tell the story of how things work,” says Howard, specifying that “design is not just an ornament, but there must be a union between form and function.”
Finally, it details the fact that the frame of the Nothing phone (1) will be made from recycled aluminum to reduce its initial carbon footprint. A phone that will turn the Android smartphone market upside down , at least for a long time.