Nothing Phone (3a) Pro review: Feature-rich phone with cool design

Last week, Nothing Inc 's brand-new mid-range Phone (3a) and Phone (3a) Pro hit stores in India.

The latest Android phone comes with unique design and whole lot of the upgrades in terms camera hardware, processor and more over the predecessor.

I used the Phone (3a) Pro for close to a week and here are my thoughts on the device from the house of Nothing Inc.

Design, build quality and display

Nothing Phone (3a) Pro flaunts the signature see-through design with sturdy glass back and massive triple-camera module and Glyph LED.

The side rail is made of aerospace grade aluminium to offer stability to the structure. It can sustain a dent during a fall on a hard surface, but ensures the internal components stay in their place.

. The company has used high quality Panda glass shield for both the front and the back panel to survive daily wear like scratches when kept in the pant pockets with coins and keys.

Further, the company has pre-fitted a screen guard for extra protection. And, the device comes with IP64 water-and-dust resistant rating, meaning it can survive accidental water splashes.

On the front, it sports a 6.77-inch full HD+ (1080 x 2392p) flexible AMOLED display, supports variable refresh rate (30-120Hz) and offers up to 3,000 nits peak brightness.

. The big super bright display is great for consuming multimedia content in any lighting conditions. Even at outdoors, I was able to read messages and read news articles without any pressing issue to complain about.

. A notable addition to the new Phone (3a) series is the Essential Key below the power button. It opens Essential Space, which offers the option to take instant notes. With an Artificial Intelligence-based algorithm, it can also generate personalised suggestions, summaries, or action points.

A single long press will trigger the Essential assistant to record the audio. If you double press, it will open the Essential Space, which houses all the archived to-do lists and notes.

. However, one qualm I have is that the button should have been on the other side. Every time I tried to touch the power button to view time or notification, my finger used to reach for the Essential Space button and turn on the microphone to record the audio.

Nothing has marked the Essential Space button with a shiny chromium finish to distinguish it from other buttons, which come with a matte finish. But, after prolonged usage, like the buttons on the TV remote, the keys on the phone are used mostly with muscle memory of the fingers.

It took me a couple of days for the finger's muscle memory to kick in and go to the power button correctly. Now and then, I still accidently trigger the wrong button. To avoid it, I turned on the Always-on display mode to view time, weather updates and notifications.

. The new Phone (3a) Pro also come with dual-SIM slot (& support e-SIM), in-display fingerprint sensor, type-C port and stereo speakers. The latter is really good. The audio output doesn't get distorted even with the volume put to the max.

As far as the in-display fingerprint is concerned, it works fine like a charm.

Performance

Under the hood, The new Phone (3a) Pro is powered by 4nm class Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 octa-core with Adreno 720 GPU.

It is avalable in three variants--8GB RAM + 128GB storage, 8GB RAM + 256GB storage and 12GB RAM + 256GB storage. Our review unit is the latter.

The device performs smoothly in terms of day-to-day usage. It also supports several popular games available on the Google Play Store.

. The Phone (3a) Pro runs Android 15-based NothingOS 3. The user interface as clean as Google Pixel phone, but very different and refreshing. The minimalistic visual appeal of the app icons and customisation it offers with Glyph LED UI to deliver message/call notification is unparallel. It will only get better with new updates in the future.

Nothing has promised to offer a minimum of three years of Android updates and four years of software security patches against emerging cyber threats in the future.

The device comes with a massive a 5,000mAh battery. It can easily a waltz through the day under normal usage with Wi-Fi internet at the office and the home. If you happen to rely fully on the cellular network all day, the device still can last up to dinner time.

It supports 50W wired charging speed. It takes around 20 minutes to reach from zero to 50 per cent and can hit the 100 per cent mark by the end of the hour.

. Photography

The Phone (3a) Pro features a triple-camera module-- main 50MP main camera (with f/1.88 aperture, 1/1.56-inch Samsung sensor, OIS: Optical Image Stabilisation) + 8MP 114-degree ultra-wide camera (with f/2.2) + 50MP (with 1/1.95-inch Sony LYT-600 3x periscope telephoto, OIS) with LED flash.

. It takes brilliant photos in almost all lighting scenarios. It supports Ultra HDR, which ensures the subjects such as flowers and human face appear natural and vibrant, worthy to be shared on the social media platforms or add a Display Picture (DP) to his/her SM handle.

. With ultra-wide angle, it captures a wide area of the landscape without any software trick to bend structures to accomodate more things in to the frame.

. It also supports up to 6X optical zoom. There is no any noticeable loss of quality when switching between 1X, 2X, 3X and 6X. Even at 10X and 30X zoom, the pictures appear sharp. But, beyond that, the noise begin in creep in. It can support up to 60X, which comes in handy to capture photos during live concerts or taking pictures of planes during air shows.

. With night mode, here too, the Phone (3a) does a fine job in getting decent sharp photos with less noise.

. It supports Portrait mode with multiple special effects such as Velvet, twist, pentacle and snowflake to deliver dramatic photos and it succeeds.

. With macro close up shots, the device manages to capture minute details of the subjects such as insects and flowers pretty well in the sunlight.

. The device's main cameras support action mode and can record 4K video with up to 30 fps (frames per second) with EIS (Electronic Image Stabilisation). The video quality is good for its price range.

. On the front, it features a 50MP (with a 1/2.76-inch sensor, f/2.2) camera. It takes

. Front camera to can record 4K videos with up to 30fp. It does a fine job with high quality streaming during a video call.

. Final thoughts

Nothing's latest mid-range phone is jam-packed with the right features and aptly priced for the Indian market.

It has excellent build quality. It does good with day-to-day performance, and most importantly excels with battery life. The camera is decent for its price.

. I loved the refreshing NothingOS and Glyph UI, which makes the Phone (3a) Plus unique among its peers in the Rs 30,000 price range.

Also, Essential feature brings good value addition to the user experience, but it can be better. As noted earlier, I hope the company places the Essential Space button the opposite side, preferably above the volume rockers in the next iteration.

.Google Pixel 9 review: Incredibly good camera phone with Google AI features. Get the latest news on new launches, gadget reviews, apps, cybersecurity, and more on personal technology only on DH Tech .

Nothing Phone (3a) Pro review: Feature-rich phone with cool design

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