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That Extra Button On Nothing’s New Phones Might Soon Cost Money (APK Teardown)
C. Scott Brown / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Essential Space is a new AI-powered app on the Nothing Phone 3a series, triggered by pressing a new hardware button.
- An APK teardown of the latest version of the app suggests Nothing could soon charge a subscription fee for using Essential Space.
- One string of code suggests a price of $120, although it’s possible this could be an annual or even lifetime fee.
When Nothing launched the new Phone 3a and Phone 3a Pro, we were surprised to see the phones come with a new button called the Essential Key. Pressing this button interacts with the new Essential Space app, an AI-powered tool that can create reminders and do other productivity-based functions using audio recordings and screenshots. While this is still a beta feature at the moment, the existence of a fully dedicated hardware key for its use heavily suggests that Nothing is all-in on the concept (even if the placement of that key is controversial).
However, when these phones launched, Nothing made no mention of Essential Space costing money. Now, though, we have evidence to suggest that at least some parts of Essential Space could require a paid subscription in the future.
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An APK teardown helps predict features that may arrive on a service in the future based on work-in-progress code. However, it is possible that such predicted features may not make it to a public release.
In the latest version of Essential Space — which, for clarity, is just an Android app that is controlled with the new Essential Key — we found several strings related to a “free trial” and “AI credits.” Obviously, these terms don’t assure us of an imminent paid subscription model, but we can extrapolate that something with a “free trial” is almost certainly paired with a paid service. The term “AI credits” also heavily suggests a system for paying for (or otherwise earning) tokens that can be exchanged for services within Essential Space.
Check out the strings for yourself below:
Code
AI credits are used to analyse an item recorded and saved in Essential Space. Your free trial will expire on %s. Ready to explore Essential Space? Tap 'Continue' to unlock all features and get early access to what's coming next, like Smart Collections, Focused Search, Flip to Record, and Camera Capture. Start 1 year free trial Join our early access program Join early access to experience the full potential of Essential Space and help shape our Al-powered features. the fact that this account has already joined Early Access through another Nothing phone Limited Access You reached your monthly processing limit Early Access Status The other interesting string here is the one talking about new features for Essential Space. Smart Collections, Focused Search, and Flip to Record are all, at this time, features that don’t yet appear in Essential Space. From their names, we can deduce that Smart Collections probably organizes your Essential Space items automatically; Focused Search probably allows for AI-powered search throughout your phone; and Flip to Record probably allows you to place your phone face-down on a flat surface to trigger an Essential Space voice memo automatically. Meanwhile, Camera Capture already works in Essential Space: it takes a screenshot of what your camera viewfinder shows, allowing you to save a low-quality screenshot for Essential Space without needing to save a high-quality image.
Essential Space subscription price tag: $120?
On top of these strings, we also found something else. Check out these three below:
Code
Continue Enroll (USD 120) Of these, the third one is the most shocking: a $120 price. Granted, it is doubtful that that would be a monthly fee and much more likely that it could be for a year or even a lifetime subscription. Still, if it is an annual subscription, that would work out to about $10 per month, which is a lot to ask for what is, as of today, a beta service that only offers a few tools.
To summarize what we see here, it appears that three things are possibly happening:
- Nothing will probably launch new features for Essential Space, including Smart Collections, Focused Search, and Flip to Record.
- Some or all of these features will be available through a free trial once Essential Space exits its beta status.
- Paying for access to these services could cost as much as $120 per year.
We reached out to Nothing for comment on these findings. A Nothing spokesperson gave us the following statement:
We’re currently offering early access to Essential Space and are focused on refining the experience based on user feedback. Essential Space is Nothing’s new, AI-powered hub for notes, ideas, and inspirations – designed to capture, process, and recall like a second memory. No decisions have been made yet around potential pricing and our focus remains on improving the product.
What do you think about this? Given what you know so far about Essential Space, do you think it would be worth paying for? How much would you pay for it? Let us know in the comments below.
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