Paranoid Android brings its first alpha of what it calls Topaz
The Nothing Phone (1) is 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 as the Android 13 update won’t arrive for the device until the first 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 ROM announced in July that 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 on Twitter, assuring that the group will frequently update the builds with security patches. In response to another question about migrating from the alpha build to a beta build in the future, the team said the transition will be seamless. The custom ROM weighs 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 artist Hampus Olsson. You can check out the wallpaper here.
