A Closer Look: What is the new Nothing Phone 2?

In A Closer Look, The National provides an in-depth take on one of the main stories of the week.

Many of us spend hours every week glued to the screens of our phones, but one mobile device manufacturer is on a mission to save us from ourselves.

Nothing, a company started in London by the same mind behind One Plus, Carl Pei, is releasing its second phone this week in a further attempt to keep you from switching on that screen light.

So how does it manage to tell you that your food order is out for delivery, or any other number of notifications, without getting you to look at the screen?

Host Sarah Forster speaks to The National's Alvin Cabral to find out.

What is the Nothing phone and why is there so much hype around it?

How $600 Nothing Phone aims to help users minimise screen time

Photos taken with the Nothing phone – in pictures

The new 'Nothing Phone' is being launched in London, and the company behind the device has shown off examples of photos taken with the phone. All photos: Nothing

It comes with two cameras, both of which creators say are superior in spec to those on rival phones such as the iPhone.

The main camera of the phone uses a 50 MP Sony IMX766 sensor.

The device was designed by Nothing, a London-based company run by the OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei.

The phone is entirely made of aluminium and uses Android as its operating system.

A photograph of the London sky taken with the phone.

Stormy seas

Weather warnings show that Storm Eunice is soon to make landfall. The videographer and I are scrambling to return to the other side of the Channel before it does. As we race to the port of Calais, I see miles of wire fencing topped with barbed wire all around it, a silent ‘Keep Out’ sign for those who, unlike us, aren’t lucky enough to have the right to move freely and safely across borders.

We set sail on a giant ferry whose length dwarfs the dinghies migrants use by nearly a 100 times. Despite the windy rain lashing at the portholes, we arrive safely in Dover; grateful but acutely aware of the miserable conditions the people we’ve left behind are in and of the privilege of choice.