Nothing Phone (3a) review: More than just a looker

Best Prices Today: Nothing Phone (3a)

Nothing introduced the Phone (2a) at MWC last year and it was an immediate hit. The phone brought the signature Nothing style and feature set at a more affordable price point, and for a lot of people, it hit the sweet spot.

This year, things have changed. Instead of a successor to the (2a) Plus, we now have a brand-new (3a) Pro that’s even more premium.

The Pro model improves the camera specifications, but it also comes with a drastic design change and a higher price tag. The Phone (3a), on the other hand, bears a bit more resemblance to its predecessor, and it launches at the same price, starting from £329 in the UK.

In my opinion, the standard Phone (3a) has a more attractive design, and of course, that price is more tempting too. But, how much do you miss out on by opting for the cheaper model? I’ve been using it as my main device for the past week – here’s what I make of Nothing’s latest mid-ranger.

Design & Build

• Plastic frame, transparent back
• Glyph interface
• 201g, IP64 rating

Despite being a mid-range phone that’s mostly made from plastic, the Nothing Phone (3a) looks and feels premium throughout. In fact, the white model that I have in for testing might be my favourite-looking phone ever.

I wasn’t so keen on last year’s Phone (2a) with its eye-like horizontal dual cameras, but the extended triple camera array reminds me of the Pixel-series visor, and I mean that in a good way.

Nothing is a brand that’s clearly not afraid to take risks in the design department, and while this cyberpunk retro-futuristic finish is sure to limit the phone’s broad appeal, those that dig it are sure to fall in love – and I count myself among them.

The white model that I have in for testing might be my favourite-looking phone ever

The brand’s signature Glyph lighting system is present on this model, and it’s in a similar position to the (2a). This time, though, every glyph is curved. It’s a small change, but one that makes for a more cohesive look.

The phone has a boxy, iPhone-like construction with a flat front and rear panel. There’s a fairly significant camera bump that protrudes from the rear panel, but it’s positioned centrally and is wide enough to ensure that the phone doesn’t rock about when it’s face up on a table.

The buttons are in a similar place to the older model, also very similar to the iPhone, with the power button on the right side and the volume controls on the left. This time, though, there’s an extra button below the power button, with a smooth glossy finish that makes it stand out from the others.

It’s dubbed the Essential Key, and we’ll explore more about its purpose in the software section. Without going into too much detail, it’s a way to quickly record things that you need to remember. I’m a fan of physical controls and always welcome a new button, but I was disappointed to learn that this one’s not very customisable at the moment. We’ll see if that remains the case in the long term.

The phone has an IP64 rating for dust and water resistance. This means it’s fully protected against dust ingress and can withstand sprays of water from all directions. So, it’ll handle a day at the beach without issue, just don’t go fully submerging the thing.

Screen & Speakers

• 6.77-inch 120Hz OLED
• 1080 x 2392 resolution, 3000 nits
• Stereo speakers

The Nothing Phone (3a) has a spacious 6.77-inch display that’s fully flat and has symmetrical bezels on all sides. The bezels are a tiny bit chunkier than you’d find on a flagship device, but the symmetry gives the phone a premium sheen that you won’t find on many similarly-priced rivals.

The display maxes out at 3000 nits, a very respectable figure at this price point, and it’s more than bright enough to compete with direct sunlight. It also helps with HDR content, and the highlights are dazzling in supported apps.

The screen has a 120Hz refresh rate, which makes scrolling through the OS feel smooth and snappy, and it can dynamically adjust down to 60Hz to conserve battery life. Again, it’s very impressive for the price point, especially when Apple’s new iPhone 16e sports a 60Hz panel at almost twice the cost.

The (3a) has dual stereo speakers, one positioned next to the USB-C port and another that doubles up as the earpiece. There are plenty of phones around this price that only come with a mono speaker, so it’s another welcome addition.

As for the sound quality, it’s surprisingly good. The speakers can get very loud, and there’s loads of clarity in the high end. The bass is lacking, but that’s par for the course. If you want to get the party started, you’ll likely want to check out one of the best Bluetooth speakers instead. That said, the music visualisation feature of the Glyph lights does help get you in that raving mood.

Specs & Performance

• Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 3
• 8GB / 12GB RAM
• 128GB / 256GB storage

The Nothing Phone (3a) is powered by the Snapdragon 7s Gen 3, a mid-range SoC from Qualcomm, and it’s one of the first phones to land in Europe with this chipset. This means you shouldn’t expect performance that rivals the top flagship devices, but there’s still more than enough grunt here to keep up with the majority of users.

The Phone (3a) is available in two varieties. You can either select 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage or 12GB of RAM and 256GB storage. I have the 12GB/256GB model in for testing, so I can only speak to the performance of that particular model.

In benchmarks, it’s easy to see the difference between this phone and a top performer like the Galaxy S25 Ultra, but when you’re actually using it, the gap doesn’t feel very large at all. I’m sure some of this can be attributed to the slick animation style and efficiency of Nothing OS, but regardless, the phone feels super quick.

The only time I could really tell I was using a slightly lower-tier chip was during gaming, but even then, the phone exceeded my expectations

I never saw any stuttering when I was navigating the OS and apps always opened quickly, multitasking was no issue, either. The only time I could really tell I was using a slightly lower-tier chip was during gaming, but even then, the phone exceeded my expectations.

Genshin Impact is a notoriously challenging title to run, especially at higher graphics presets. The Nothing Phone (3a) had no trouble running it at 30fps on the High preset, you can even bump that to the Highest if you don’t mind the occasional dip in frame rate. 60fps proved more challenging, but it’s certainly playable on the lower presets.

The phone stayed nice and cool under load, too. The plastic frame no doubt helps keep that heat away from your palms, and it makes longer gaming sessions nice and comfortable.

Benchmarks:

Cameras

• 50 Mp f/1.88 main camera, 1/1.57-inch sensor
• 50 Mp f/2.0 2x telephoto, 1/2.74-inch sensor
• 8 Mp f/2.2 ultrawide
• 32 Mp f/2.2 selfie camera, fixed focus

The Nothing Phone (3a) has a triple camera setup on its rear, adding a telephoto to the arsenal compared to last year’s model.

There’s a 50Mp main camera with a sizable 1/1.57-inch sensor, and the new 2x telephoto also gets the 50Mp treatment, albeit with a significantly smaller sensor size. It’s only the ultrawide that lets the team down, with a measly 8Mp resolution and no autofocus.

It’s a very versatile set of lenses, especially considering the price point, as many other phones will only net you a main and an ultrawide camera. I can’t help but wish the telephoto had a 3x lens like its Pro sibling, though. 2x just isn’t that much reach, and given the high resolution of the main sensor, a digital crop would likely be sufficient.

The camera app allows you to zoom up to 30x, but you definitely shouldn’t push it that far. 10x and below looks better, but shooting at the native focal lengths yields significantly better results.

Viewing the photos in the phone itself, I thought the image processing was adding too much contrast and sharpening. However, when I viewed the same photos on my computer, they looked a lot more natural and pleasing. I can’t really explain why that happened, but regardless, the actual images look very decent.

It’s an affordable phone, so you can’t expect it to go toe to toe with camera-focused flagships, but for a casual user these lenses get the job done handily. That’s especially true in the daylight, but you’ll need a steadier hand in the evenings, as motion blur and grain become more of an issue on the auxiliary lenses.

One feature that’s unique to the Nothing Phones is the ability to use the Glyphs as a fill light. I quite like this, as the shadows aren’t quite as harsh as using the flash, but the white colour of the LEDs means that it only works well in certain environments.

When it comes to video, it’s a fairly mediocre showing. Only the main and telephoto can shoot 4K, and at a maximum of 30fps. If you want 60fps, the same lenses will do so at 1080p, while the ultrawide and selfie camera max out at 1080p 30fps. The footage looks decent enough, but if you’re serious about filming video content, this isn’t the ideal tool for the job.

Battery Life & Charging

• 5000mAh battery
• 50W wired charging
• No charger in the box

The Nothing Phone (3a) has a 5000mAh battery inside. This was once a class-leading figure, but it’s now increasingly common. We’re seeing plenty of mid-rangers exceeding that figure – like the Honor Magic 7 Lite and Realme 14 Pro+, both of which boast 6000mAh cells.

I was able to achieve almost two days of use per charge

Because of this, I wasn’t expecting anything special in terms of longevity, but I was pleasantly surprised. On average, I was able to achieve almost two days of use per charge, well over 7 hours of screen-on time according to the software. It’s pretty great. Of course, battery life all depends on how you use the phone, and if you’re playing intensive games for long stretches, you’ll drain it much quicker.

When it’s time to charge, you won’t be waiting an age, as the Phone (3a) supports wired charging at up to 50W speeds. That’ll get you from fully dead to around 70% charged in just half an hour.

There’s no wireless charging support, which is perfectly understandable at this price point, and there’s no charger in the box either. So you’ll need to factor in the cost of a decent charger if you don’t have one in your arsenal.

Software & Apps

• NothingOS 3.1 powered by Android 15
• New Essential Space feature
• Supports Gemini and Circle to Search

Possibly the best thing about using a Nothing phone is that the software looks just as good as the hardware. In the mid-range segment, you’ll often find phones that are loaded up with ads and bloatware to offset the cost of the device, but that’s not the case with Nothing OS. It’s a slick, bloat-free experience that feels premium through and through.

The attention to detail is almost unmatched, the brand’s signature style extends deep into the settings menus, and small details like the page turn animation on the calendar widget show how much thought was put into every aspect.

The aesthetics won’t be for everyone, but that’s true for the outside of the phone too. Personally, I think it’s the best-looking Android skin, and I love having the ability to make all my app icons monochromatic for a slick minimalist vibe.

…this operating system feels super quick and smooth, no matter what you’re doing

Something that’s less divisive is the performance, this operating system feels super quick and smooth, no matter what you’re doing. Nothing has clearly optimised the software well, and it really makes for a flagship-like experience.

The latest Google features are available on this model, which means you can use Circle to Search as well as having Gemini as the default search assistant. These features are rolling out fairly widely now, but they’re still not on every Android phone, and I’m pleased to see them here.

One of the big additions this year is the Essential Space, which has its own hardware button for quick access. A quick press of the button will take a screenshot, and it’ll give you the opportunity to take a note to go along with it. A long press will start a voice recording, and a double press will open Essential Space, where all of these snippets are stored.

Inside the Essential Space, AI automatically analyses and summarises your notes and screenshots, and you can add them to different collections to keep things organised. Nothing says in the reviewer’s guide that it’s designed to take “the friction out of logging and recalling content, it can capture, process and remember so you don’t have to, just like a second memory.”

This is an early access feature that will continue to improve as updates roll out. In the future, the Essential Space will support camera capture, AI-powered search and smart categorisation and more. As of right now, it’s handy, and slightly less cumbersome than my usual combination of screenshots and Google Keep, but I wouldn’t quite call it a game changer. 

Personally, I’d much prefer to have control over what the Essential Key does. A quick way to open Google Wallet would be nice, or maybe a shortcut to a specific camera mode. If I were to hazard a guess, I think Nothing wants to get people trying the new feature first, and then we might see the button open up for different uses in the future – but I could be wrong.

Another improvement that’s worth mentioning is the promised support term. Nothing promises the Phone (3a) Series will get updates for six years starting on launch day. This includes three years of Android updates and four years of security updates, in addition to corrective and functionality updates. It’s not quite on par with flagships from Samsung and Google, but in this price bracket, it’s in line with the competition.

Price & Availability

The Nothing Phone (3a) is available in two flavours. The base model, with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, goes for £329 in the UK. It’s also available with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage for £379.

At the time of writing, I only have the UK pricing information, but if the Nothing (2a) is anything to go by, it’ll also be available globally, including the US.

If you’re in the UK, you’ll be able to get the Nothing Phone (3a) on contract with EE, and of course, it’s also available to purchase outright on Nothing’s website. If you go for the latter option, be sure to check out our guide to the best SIM-only deals.

Other similarly priced rivals in the mid-range space include the OnePlus Nord 4 and the freshly launched Samsung Galaxy A36.

Should you buy the Nothing Phone (3a)?

The Nothing Phone (3a) is one of the most stylish and well-equipped phones in its price category, and after living with it for a week, I find myself with little to complain about.

It feels incredibly premium, the software is speedy and good-looking, the performance is decent and the battery life is great. The cameras aren’t anything too special, but they outclass a lot of similarly priced rivals, and they even best pricier phones like the Honor Magic 7 Lite.

While I’ve not used the Pro, from a value standpoint the Nothing Phone (3a) is probably the better buy, especially if you’re not too fussy with the cameras.

All in all, this is an excellent all-round mid-ranger from Nothing once again. If the price and aesthetics appeal, you really can’t go wrong.

Specs

• NothingOS 3.1 powered by Android 15
• 6.77-inch, 1080 x 2392, OLED, 120Hz
• In-display fingerprint sensor
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 3
• 8GB / 12GB RAM
• 128GB / 512GB storage
• Cameras:
• 50Mp main sensor
• 8Mp ultrawide
• 50Mp 2x telephoto
• 32Mp selfie camera
• Up to 4K @ 60fps rear video
• Stereo speakers
• Dual-SIM
• Wi-Fi 6, 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac /ax
• Bluetooth 5.4
• 5000mAh battery
• 50W wired charging
• 163.52 x 77.5 x 8.35 mm
• IP64 certified
• 201g
• Colours: White, Black, Blue

Best Prices Today: Nothing Phone (3a)