Nothing, the tech company known largely for its association with Carl Pei, has played a seemingly innocuous and reasonably understandable April Fool’s Day stunt. Taking to Twitter, the company posted a photo of what it said is the Another (1) Phone. Stylised after the way it names its own phone, it’s certainly a little bit ironic to note how a smartphone maker that unveiled an Android phone recently decided to take a dig at… Android phones.
That’s Not All From Nothing
The company’s post on Twitter says, “Say hello to just Another (1). You’ve seen a phone just like this before. Experience edge-to-edge monotony. It’s inspiringly uninspired. Utterly unoriginal. And exactly the same as everything else. Coming to bore you soon.”
While such sentiments should largely fall in line with the overall notions linked to the global smartphone industry, that’s not all from Nothing. Keen eyed observers would do well to note a shortened URL written atop the mock smartphone’s screen within Nothing’s stunt.
Copying and following along the link should take you to a YouTube video, where all the information behind this prank is placed within the video’s description. Announcing a competition based purely on boredom, Nothing says, “To say thanks for taking the time to scour our fake phone to find this link, we’re giving you the chance to win a Nothing phone (1) when we launch it this summer. Tell us the most boring tech product you’ve ever seen and your social handle below. We’ll pick the winner on 4th April. Happy April Fool’s!”
The company’s original stunt takes a shot at an increasing amount of homologation in the smartphone industry. With a standardised set of experiences in terms of the quality and types of displays, camera features and most importantly the overall design of smartphones, the standard layout of it the entire industry is there for all to see.
Going forward, Nothing claims that its take on the Android smartphone is one that stands out. The company has hyped up its offering of software widgets as a key way to mark a difference between itself and competitors, and stated that the overall design difference should play a big role in helping separate the brand from others.
