Nothing Phone 3a review: Elegant design, formidable performance

Nothing Phone 3a

London-based smartphone brand Nothing continues to differentiate its smartphones, offering a signature transparent aesthetic, while introducing subtle yet significant refinements. The Nothing 3a aims to deliver on that aspect as well, offering an upgraded triple camera setup, beefier battery, and a new Essential Key with AI features. However, does it offer enough in this competitive mid-range smartphone market? Read our in-depth review of the Nothing Phone 3a to know more.

The futuristic design philosophy of Nothing’s recent devices is clearly visible with the new Phone 3a. It retains the signature faux-transparent aesthetic while also maintaining the horizontal camera alignment on the back of its predecessor. However, the biggest design distinction is in the camera module. While the Nothing 3a Pro comes with a full circular protruding camera module, the Phone 3a retains a more compact layout with a standard horizontal triple-camera alignment, like the Phone 2a.

Nothing Phone 3a

Additionally, the Glyph Interface is retained here with three different light segments and 26 individually addressable LEDs. These lights can be customised to react to ringtones, notifications, and music playback. They can even be used to alert about incoming calls, function as a volume indicator, provide a countdown timer in the camera app, or serve as a soft fill light adjacent to the flashlight.

Thankfully, the biggest upgrade is the presence of a glass back panel instead of plastic. In our testing, it was prone to most dust and smudge marks. The phone's frame is made of polycarbonate and retains the IP64 rating from the flagship model. There’s also an extra button called the Essential Key, like the 3a Pro, but we will talk about it later.

When it comes to button placement, we found them surprisingly easy to use and were easily accessible with one hand, despite the phone’s big frame. The design of the Nothing Phone 3a is from a similar playbook but it genuinely offers something different, especially if we look at other similarly priced smartphones.

The Nothing Phone 3a has a big 6.77-inch AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate. It offers 1,300 nits of maximum brightness and 3,000 nits of peak brightness, which makes the phone easily visible outdoors. The display glass offers excellent viewing angles, minus the unnecessary reflections. However, the device lacks an HDR certification, which most other smartphones in its price range offer.

Nothing Phone 3a

Notably, the bezels on the smartphone are also large compared to the competition. However, this is not a dealbreaker, but noticeable if you compare it to a screen with ultra-slim bezels. In day-to-day use, or while playing games and watching movies on the go, the display provides a good viewing experience with ample contrast and punchy colours.

The Nothing Phone 3a runs on the latest Android 15, with Nothing OS 3.1 layered on top. The operating system has a sleek yet distinctive Dot Engine with a black and white design featuring unique apps and widgets. In total, we get a wide variety of custom widgets ranging from clocks and calendars to contacts and weather, which offer a streamlined-looking OS. The quick toggle and the notification pane area have also evolved over time and now feature a combination of large rectangles with multiple smaller circles to access different options.

Despite Nothing's rather controversial use of UFS 2.2 storage for the Phone 3a series, the device in our testing performed admirably well with zero micro stutters or app crashes. Gaming performance was also good, as games like Call of Duty: Mobile and BGMI ran lag-free at Very High or Smooth graphics and frame rate. However, the display's touch sampling rate of 480Hz, which is only available in Game Mode, seemed insufficient in most scenarios.

Nothing Phone 3a

The phone also struggled with processing images, as it takes a second or two after capturing a new photo. We also noticed some sluggishness when using the camera app, especially when switching between different camera modes or while moving between the different lenses. Thankfully, Nothing’s OS remains one of the cleanest and smoothest Android skins available, as it comes with zero bloatware or unnecessary app recommendations.

The animations and app scrolling feel smooth. The company also promises 3 years of major Android updates and 5 years of security patches, which makes the device relevant for long-term use.

With the Phone 3a, Nothing has brought the widest selection of cameras available in this price segment. While most smartphones either include a main + ultra-wide combination, the company has included a 2X telephoto camera as well, which is an interesting addition at this price point. The camera app also includes several colour presets to alter the saturation or tone of a photo.

The primary 50MP camera (native at 12MP) is indeed the best and most capable of the three lenses, and photographs captured in all shooting scenarios come out sharp and pack plenty of resolved detail. It also offers respectable colour accuracy, and the Contrast alongside the dynamic range is well-balanced. We can use the full 50MP resolution for clicking pictures. However, the difference in details is hardly noticeable.

Unlike the Phone 3a Pro, the Phone 3a’s 50MP telephoto camera only offers a native zoom of 2x or a 50mm equivalent. That's not particularly a lot, and may not be sufficient for clicking photos of far-off objects. That said, the dedicated 2x telephoto and 4x lossless zoom support produce cleaner and sharper photos than anything that can be pulled off through digital zoom. The colors are adequately balanced with a wide dynamic range, and the output is good enough even under low light.

However, the 8MP ultra-wide camera is the weakest of the lot, as it struggles to capture ample details, especially in low light or dark scenarios. Portrait mode does a decent job with edge detection, and the skin tones look pleasing, with adequate background separation. The front-facing 32 MP camera, though, is impressive and can click highly detailed selfies. It also offers 4K 30fps video recording with stabilization, which is a big plus, especially if you do vlogging or video calls.

Despite offering a smaller battery pack than most competing smartphones launched this year, the Phone 3a manages to pull off great battery endurance, thanks to its software’s optimisation. In our testing, the phone easily lasted a full day and a bit longer with heavy or medium usage, which involved calls, messages, social media apps, watching multiple videos, and a bit of gaming.

However, the charging speeds are relatively slower than the competition at 50W. Moreover, the company doesn’t provide the charger in the box, and a supported GaN charger tops up the 5,000mAh battery from 10-100% in just under an hour. Thankfully, Nothing bundles a Type-C to Type-C cable in the box.

With the Phone 3a series, Nothing has introduced a new feature with a physical button, named the Essential key. With a single press of the button, the device can be used to take a screenshot and add a quick text or voice note as a memory. Moreover, after the latest update, you can now use it in the camera app too to click quick photos with voice recordings.

Every content taken with the help of the Essential Key gets stored in the Essential Space app, keeping it separate from your usual photos or the gallery app.

With its focus on design and balanced hardware choices, the Nothing Phone 3a is a solid upgrade over its predecessors at a starting price of less than Rs 25,000. Indeed, it faces tough competition from performance-oriented alternatives in its price range, like the Poco F6, iQOO Neo 10R, or the OnePlus Nord 4 in India.

There are also other nits worth picking. The Essential Space feature is promising, but it needs a little bit more polish and features to become an integral part of your digital life. Moreover, the lack of a charger might be a big deal for budget-conscious users, with the charging speed also lacking the ultra-fast pace, compared to the competition.

However, when it comes to design and software execution, there is hardly any substitute for the Nothing Phone 3a in its price range, as with its clean, bloat-free operating system and impressive camera performance, especially in daylight, the phone offers a complete package for most average or casual smartphone users. It can also be the first Android smartphone for many users, especially for elderly people. However, if raw power is your utmost priority, there are other options to consider.