It's safe to say that all the hype around Nothing's new phone has sufficiently died down. Perhaps the most interesting thing I noticed is the complete silence about the device here on NL. It's like it flew right by us without making so much as an impression. I think that only goes to show what really happened to Nothing Phone(1) on a larger scale.

This is a device from a new startup by Carl Pei. Specs and value aside, it was heavily banking on "beginner's luck" and some USPs that aims to convince people they look cool too. But from the look of things, that hasn't Pei-d off. While you won't see any sales numbers from Nothing, the radio silence from every corner of the internet should tell you all you need to know - this thing was bust.

Not even the fancy and completely gimmicky glyph lights or the clean Nothing skin could sway people to engage with the phone. But surely, people like new shiny things and "innovation", right? A quick glance at Phone(1)'s competition will tell you why that's not so.

We have the Pixel 6A. God knows how much fanboys wanted to die on social media about the 60Hz on that phone when first announced. Now that the dust have settled, it's still one of the best phones out there. Value for money, Software charms, Camera, Pixel - it was a home run twice over.

How about Samsung and the gazillion other mid-rangers from Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo and co? It's a buffet of 120Hz screens, fast charging, garbage software support, jacked specs, 2MP macro sensors, and so on. Let me tell you: throw enough spaghetti on the wall, and some of them will stick eventually.

But the takeaway from all of this - at least the way I see it - is that people love innovation, but will most times only pay lip service. What we truly want is stability. The tendency to avoid relearning as much as we can. That's why people let the flashy glyph gimmick pass on by. A shame, considering that smartphone manufacturers are shrinking; we need new players, but there won't one if they don't get the chance. I'm not saying Nothing is destined to fail, but Microsoft is two iterations into their niche Android phone, yet no dice: that should tell you something.

The Nothing Phone (1) is a piece of device, but once you look past the glyph (especially the glyph) is just not as "reassuringly stable" as the alternatives out there.

This phone hardly makes topics of discussion here.