Nothing Phone (3a) review: Bang for the buck

Phone (3a) has all the right features to deliver smooth performance and as a bonus, it has the best design language compared to any of its peers in the sub-Rs 30,000 price range.

Just a couple of weeks ago, emerging smartphone brand Nothing Inc. rolled out the new Phone (3a) and (3a) Pro in India.

They come with big upgrades over the predecessors in almost all aspects. I used the Phone (3a) for the last several days and here are my thoughts on the latest Android phone.

Design, build quality and display

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

However, there is one difference. As you can see in the photo, the regular Phone (3a) features a triple camera aligned in a horizontal orientation. The Phone (3a) Pro features main camera module in a circular formation.

[Left ] Nothing Phone (3a) and [Right] Phone (3a) Pro.

Also, it has three Glyph LED flashes around the camera module on the back. It can be programmed to flash lights in a particular way whenever a phone receives messages or calls or timers.

Nothing Phone (3a).

Our review unit is white and is an instant crowd puller. Besides the black colour model, the company also offers a blue variant.

The side rail is made of polycarbonate-based material. It is sturdy and comes with a matte finish, offering a good grip for the fingers to hold onto the device.

Further, the device comes with an IP64 rating, meaning it can survive accidental water splashes.

And, the display on the front and the back panel is protected by Panda glass shield. It can the protect device from daily wear and tear like scratches when kept in the pant pockets with coins and keys.

Nothing Phone (3a).

The most notable addition we see in the Phone (3a) series is the Essential Space 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.

Nothing Phone (3a)'s Essential Space feature.

A single long press on the button 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.

As I mentioned in Nothing Phone (3a) Pro, the Essential Space button should have been on the other side. Every time I tried to touch the power button to view time or notifications, 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 finish to distinguish it from other buttons, which come with a matte finish. Only after several days, my fingers were able to register it in their muscle memory.

The new Phone (3a) devices also come with dual-SIM slot (& support e-SIM), an in-display fingerprint sensor, type-C port and stereo speakers. The latter delivers amazingly good audio output.

Nothing Phone (3a).

The Phone (3a) series sports a 6.77-inch full HD+ (1080 x 2392p) flexible AMOLED display, support dynamic refresh rate (30-120Hz) and offer up to 3,000 nits peak brightness. It is as good as Pro model, great for consuming multimedia content and doom scroll on Instagram and other social media platforms.

Nothing Phone (3a).

It also has features to reduce the blue light and lessen the strain on the eyes while reading long-form news articles or e-books at night.

The in-display fingerprint sensor works like a charm without any issues.

Performance

It is powered by 4nm class Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 octa-core with Adreno 720 GPU. It does fine job with day-to-day tasks without any pressing issues to complain about. It supports almost all popular games available on Google Playstore.

Nothing Phone (3a).

The Phone (3a) Pro runs Android 15-based NothingOS 3. It is as clean as a Pixel phone with just core Google apps and a handful of Nothing apps. But, it 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.

Nothing Phone (3a) supports LED-based Glyph UI.

The device comes with a massive 5,000mAh battery. It can easily last a whole 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 can still last up to late evening.

Nothing Phone (3a).

It supports a 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 in a little over an hour.

Nothing Phone (3a)'s camera sample.

Photography

The Phone (3a) boasts of 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 1/2.74-inch Samsung 2x telephoto lens) with LED flash on the back.

Nothing Phone (3a)'s camera sample.

As you can notice from the camera samples, it takes pretty good photos in almost all light conditions.

Nothing Phone (3a)'s camera sample.

Also, it adds a bit of vibrancy to the colour of the subjects, be it a human face or a flower or a pet. It makes it look lively and worthy to be posted on social media platforms.

Nothing Phone (3a)'s camera sample.

With ultra-wide angle, it can accomodate a vast area in the frame without using any software tricks like bending structures as such.

Nothing Phone (3a)'s camera sample with ultra-wide angle mode.

Nothing Phone (3a)'s camera sample with 1X zoom.

Nothing Phone (3a)'s camera sample with 2X optical zoom.

Nothing Phone (3a)'s camera sample with 4X optical zoom.

Nothing Phone (3a)'s camera sample with 10X optical zoom.

It supports 2X optical zoom and up to 4X lossless zoom and can digitally zoom up to 30X. The picture quality remains sharp and crisp up to 10X, and beyond that, the pictures begin to accumulate noise.

Nothing Phone (3a)'s camera sample with 30X optical zoom.

At night, the Phone (3a) does a fantastic job with balancing the light coming coming from the sources such as street lamps and billboards.

Nothing Phone (3a)'s camera sample.

Nothing Phone (3a)'s camera sample.

Nothing Phone (3a)'s camera sample.

It also supports Portrait modes with multiple special effects such as Velvet, Twist, pentacle and snowflake. It succeeds in delivering dramatic photos.

Nothing Phone (3a)'s camera sample.

Like the Pro variant, regular Phone (3a) supports 4K video recording with up to 30 fps (frames per second) with EIS (Electronic Image Stabilisation). The video quality is good for its price range.

Nothing Phone (3a)'s camera sample with 10X zoom.

On the front, it feartures 32MP (1/3.44-inch sensor) for selfies and video calling (up to full 1080p).

Nothing Phone (3a)'s camera sample.

Final thoughts

Nothing Phone (3a) is a fantastic value-for-money midrange phone.

Like I noted in the Phone (3a) Pro review, Essential Space is a really good value addition. It enhances user experience and with new features slated for release in the coming months, the device will only get better over time.

And, hopefully, in the next iteration, the company shifts the Essential Space button to the left side, preferbly on the top of the volume rockers.

Nothing Phone (3a).

The build quality is decent. The camera is noticeable great compared to the predecessor and also delivers smooth performance in addition to offering a full day of battery life.

Also, the Glyph UI and see-through design makes the Phone (3a) unique among the peers in the sub-Rs 30,000 price-tag.

The new Phone (3a) comes in three colours-- black, blue and white. It is available in two configurations--8GB RAM + 128GB storage and 8GB RAM + 256GB storage-- for Rs 24,999 and Rs 26,999, respectively.

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