Nothing Phone (4a) Review: Reliable performer with cool unique design

Nothing Inc., earlier this month, launched the new Phone (4a) series in India.

It is available in three configurations—8GB RAM + 128GB storage, 8GB RAM + 256GB storage and 12GB RAM + 256GB storage—for Rs 31,999, Rs 34,999 and Rs 37,999, respectively. 

Design, build quality and display

Like the previous iterations, the Phone (4a) flaunts the trademark see-through design language.

It features a horizontally aligned triple-camera module and other internal components. However, it looks refined and more visually pleasing.

Nothing Phone (4a).

The new thing you notice in the Phone (4a) is the vertically aligned LED-based Glyph bar on the right side. It is much better than the predecessor in terms of brightness and functionality.

It has nine individually controllable mini-LEDs, which deliver 40 per cent brighter light than the Phone (3a) series. It is a patented tech that offers a more natural, neutral, and bleed-free glow.

Also, there is a red LED that blinks brightly when the camera is in video recording mode. This lets the person on the other end of the phone know that the camera is on.

Nothing Phone (4a).

Besides offering smart notifications, it can double as a fill light for photos and videos.

The device also features the Essential Space key. Unlike in the Phone (3a), where it was incorporated below the power button, the Phone 4a has it on the opposite side. This is the right placement for the AI button. I had issues with the predecessor, as fingers most often triggered the Essential button instead of the power button. Really appreciate the company for rectifying the design flaw.

When pressed, it opens Essential Space to offer the option to take instant notes. With an Artificial Intelligence-based algorithm, it can also generate personalised suggestions, summaries, or action points.

Nothing Phone (4a).

The device also sees significant upgrades in build quality. The display is now protected by Corning's Gorilla Glass 7i shield. And, the device comes with an IP64 rating, meaning it can repel water splashes across all angles. It can handle rain and a dust-heavy environment as well.

Besides white, the Phone (4a) is available in blue, pink, and black.

On the front, it sports a 6.78-inch 1.5K (1224 x 2720p) flexible AMOLED display with 10-bit colour depth, and support dynamic refresh rate (30-120Hz).

Nothing Phone (4a).

The screen is really good for multimedia consumption and playing graphics-rich games indoors. It supports HDR10+ content and supports peak brightness of 4,500 nits.

The display settings have provisions to reduce the blue light emission. This will lessen the strain on the eyes while reading long-form news articles or e-books at night.

Nothing Phone (4a).

It also features dual-SIM slots, but there is no option for a microSD card slot. It also comes with a Type-C USB port, stereo speakers and an in-display optical fingerprint sensor. The latter, by the way, works fine with a low false rejection rate.

Eco-friendly device

Several components of the new Phone (4a) are made of recycled materials. 30 per cent of the plastic used in nine parts are said to be repurposed.

Also, the company has used 100 per cent aluminium material in three parts of the device. Even the tin used in five circuit boards inside the phone is 100 per cent recycled. Also, 80 per cent of the steel used in at least 15 components is recycled.

Nothing Phone (4a).

The retail box of the device is 100 per cent plastic-free. And, the power supply used for the assembly of phones is sourced from renewable energy.

Performance

Under the hood, it houses a 4nm class Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 4 octa-core with Adreno 810 GPU, Hexagon NPU, AI Engine, Spectra Image Signal Processor and 8GB / 12GB LPDD4X RAM, 128GB / 256GB UFS 3.1 storage.

It can clock peak CPU speed up to 2.7 GHz. It performs all day-to-day activities such as loading apps faster, runs generative Artificial Intelligence apps smoothly and can handle graphics-rich games as well.

The devices come with Android 16-based Nothing OS 4.1. The user interface is as clean as the Google Pixel phones, with hardly any dubious third-party gaming apps or browsers, as we see in rival brands. It has mostly the core Google suite of apps in addition to Facebook, Instagram and Nothing's native utility tools.

Nothing Phone (4a).

However, I found the software a little buggy. I once noticed the battery icon in the top right corner, replaced with a video camera icon in green, indicating the video recording in progress. But it was not. I turned the screen off and turned it on again, then the battery icon reappeared, showing it is charging. This is one of the handful of bugs I noticed in one week of usage.

Key features of Nothing OS 4.0.

Nothing Phone (4a) received update with bug fixes.

This is not a deal breaker, as these issues can be fixed with software updates. The device is guaranteed to get three years of Android OS updates and six years of software patches for protection against cyber threats up to 2032.

Nothing Phone (4a).

The Phone (4a) houses a 5,400mAh battery, eight per cent bigger capacity compared to the predecessor, which came with 5,000mAh capacity.

With a full charge, it can deliver a full day of battery life under normal usage. It also supports a faster 50W wired charging speed. It can reach from zero to 100 per cent in under an hour.

Also, the device supports 7.5W reverse wired charging as well.

Nothing Phone (4a)'s camera sample.

Photography

It boasts of a triple camera module-- main 50MP camera (with f/1.88 aperture, 1/1.56-inch Samsung GN9 sensor, OIS: Optical Image Stabilisation) +  8MP 120-degree ultra-wide camera (with IMX355 sensor, f/2.2) +  50MP (with 1/2.75-inch Samsung JN5 3.5x periscope telephoto, OIS, 7x lossless zoom, up to 70x ultra zoom) with LED flash.

Nothing Phone (4a)'s camera sample.

The camera is powered by the TrueLens Engine 4 computational photography system and the Image Super Resolution(ISR) algorithm. It can take Ultra XDR photos with sharp details of the objects in almost all light conditions.

Nothing Phone (4a)'s camera sample.

With portrait mode, it does a fine job with naturally blurring the background to get that perfect bokeh effect.

Nothing Phone (4a)'s camera sample.

At night, too, it excels with nice, sharp details with less noise.

Nothing Phone (4a)'s camera sample.

With ultra-wide angle, it supports a 120-degree field of view, capturing the vast area of the landscape with nice details and vibrant colours.

Nothing Phone (4a)'s camera sample.

It supports 3.5x optical zoom, 7x in-sensor zoom and 70X ultra zoom. It does a phenomenal job with lossless quality photos up to 10X zoom.

Nothing Phone (4a)'s camera sample.

Even beyond that, thanks to optimised computational photography tricks, the 70X zoomed picture, though there is glaringly noticeable noise, is legible enough to identify the objects (like the type of bird, fruit, furniture) in the frame, very far away from the phone.

Nothing Phone (4a)'s camera sample.

With AI-powered imaging technology, users can edit photos to make them more visually pleasing. and AI-enhanced imaging, making it easy to capture everything from landscapes to distant subjects with clarity.

Nothing Phone (4a)'s camera sample.

On the front, it houses 32MP (with a 1/3.44-inch Samsung KD1 sensor, f/2.2). It takes pretty decent selfies in the sunlight.

Nothing Phone (4a)'s camera sample.

The back cameras can record 4K videos at 30 fps (frames per second). It supports 1080p recording at 30 or 60.

Nothing Phone (4a)'s camera sample.

Nothing Phone (4a)'s camera sample.

It can also record 1080p Ultra XDR at 30 fps. And with Slo-mo mode, it can record 1080p at 120 fps. It also supports Time Lapse at 4K  and 1080p resolution.

Nothing Phone (4a)'s camera sample.

The front camera can record 1080p full HD at 30 fps.

Final thoughts 

Like the predecessor, the Phone (4a) is a cost-effective premium mid-range phone.

Most rival brands can match the Phone (4a) spec-to-spec in terms of processor chipset, camera hardware, and battery life, but they lack creative design and a refreshing user interface.

Nothing Phone (4a).

The unique, cool transparent back panel design, clean vanilla Android OS and innovative Glyph Bar UI features make Phone (4a) a more compelling purchase under the Rs 40,000 range.

The Nothing Phone (4a) is available in four colours--black, blue, pink and white.

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