Last year, Nothing stepped into the midrange segment instead of putting out a flagship product. The Phone (2a) retained the core design philosophy associated with Nothing products, without going all out on the Glyph lighting like its elder sibling, the Phone (2) (our review here). Nothing soon updated it with a ‘Plus’ variant (our review here). As we stepped into 2025, a new Nothing flagship was presumed to be on the horizon, but the London-based tech outfit surprised us with a successor to the (2a) series. While the Phone (3) is still expected to launch this summer, the spring is a tiny bit more interesting with the Phone (3a) series. We spent a week with the Nothing Phone (3a); here is our in-depth review of the smartphone.
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In This Article
Nothing Phone (3a) Review: Design and Display
Here’s what you get inside the Nothing Phone (3a)’s retail box:
- Smartphone
- USB Type-C to Type-C cable
- Safety and warranty information booklet
The Nothing Phone (3a) retains the core design elements of its predecessor. The back panel is still see-through, and the segmented Glyph lighting surrounds the camera array. The horizontal camera panel sees the addition of a new telephoto lens, taking the total number of sensors to three. The design of the maze pattern in the bottom half of the back panel has been slightly tweaked.
The more notable design changes have been reserved for the Pro variant. However, Nothing has upped the ante when it comes to the base variant’s hardware specs. The new glass back panel elevates the in-hand feel of the device. Despite its see-through design, the glass panel does not attract a lot of fingerprints. Another thing we like about this smartphone is its flat form factor with rounded corners.
The plastic frame houses the side button along with the new ‘Essential’ key on its right edge. We’ll get into the functions of the Essential key later in the review, but its positioning is something that deserves more critique. Ideally, it should have been placed above the side key since the latter is used more frequently. It took us a few days to get accustomed to the new layout. The volume rocker keys are positioned on the left edge, while the SIM tray, primary microphone, USB Type-C port, and speaker grille make their way to the bottom. Up top lies the solitary secondary microphone. The earpiece doubles as the secondary speaker.
The 6.77-inch AMOLED display has a 120Hz refresh rate and can reach a peak brightness of 3,000 nits. In High Brightness Mode, this display can hit 1,300 nits. Using the smartphone in bright outdoor conditions is not a hassle as the display easily overcomes the surrounding light and maintains its legibility. The touch response is smooth, and the optical fingerprint scanner is snappy. The bezels surrounding the display are sleek and uniform.
The viewing experience on the Nothing Phone (3a) is taken to the next level with HDR10+ support. The detailed images are packed with vibrant colours. There are plenty of good viewing angles, and you don’t need to worry about propping the device in a particular position to get the best visuals. The AMOLED panel brings out the best in the deep blacks. However, what seals the deal for us is the loud and comprehensive audio output.
The Phone (3a) is rated IP64 for dust and water resistance. It can survive minor water splashes, but anything more than that can hamper its performance. We’d like to see a more comprehensive IP67 rating in the next iteration of the (a) series.
Nothing Phone (3a) Review: Performance and Cameras
Powering the Nothing Phone (3a) is the Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 chipset. It is available in 2 storage variants with a fixed 8GB RAM:
- 128GB: Rs 24,999
- 256GB: Rs 26,999
We ran the Geekbench 6 app on the smartphone, and it scored 1,157 and 3,263 points in the single-core test and multi-core tests, respectively. The Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 processor puts in a good shift in this smartphone. It crushes daily tasks like instant messaging, emailing, audio and video calling, social media browsing, and media streaming. The linear haptic motor provides smooth feedback. Apps take minimal time to load, and multitasking does not throw any complications. After a week-long review period, we can confidently say that the Nothing Phone (3a)’s everyday performance is unbeatable in this price segment.
The gaming performance on offer here isn’t out of the world, but casual gamers will not have any room for complaints. We played games like Call of Duty Mobile and Asphalt Legends Unite on this device and were pleased to see a consistent and jitter-free gameplay. The frame rate is restricted to 60fps for most games, but the graphics come through very nicely. The 4,500mm² steel vapour chamber does a good job of keeping the phone’s internal temperature in check.
Nothing Phone (3a) runs the Android 15-based Nothing OS 3.1 out of the box. Nothing has promised 3 major OS upgrades and 6 years of security patches for the (3a) series. There is no bloatware on the device. The dot matrix design, Nothing’s signature icon pack, and home screen widgets give the device its unique flair. We also like the customisation options for the home screen folders and the lock screen clock face. The design of the Gallery and Camera apps has been tweaked as well.
The new ‘Essential’ key has been integrated nicely into the OS. A single click takes a screenshot and lets you add a voice memo or text note on top of it. Long-pressing the button automatically starts recording the voice memo and grabs the frame on the screen. The screenshots are stored in the ‘Essential Space’, which can be accessed by double-pressing the Essential key. Nothing OS 3.1 uses AI to summarise the content of the screenshots and voice memos. You can create Collections for different projects. The Essential Space reminds us of the Screenshots app on the new Pixel 9 series. It is still in its infancy, and it’ll be interesting to see where Nothing takes this idea.
The Nothing Phone (3a) offered a pretty standard battery experience during the review period. We were able to coast through a day of heavy use with ease. After racking up a screen time of 6 hours, we were left with a 15% charge in the tank. The 5,000mAh battery pack supports 50W wired charging and takes almost an hour to charge fully.
Nothing Phone (3a)’s rear camera panel features a new 50MP telephoto lens with 2x optical zoom, which is a rarity in this price segment. Joining this sensor is a 50MP primary shooter and an 8MP ultrawide lens. The 32MP front-facing camera lies inside a punch-hole cutout on the display.
The 50MP primary shooter takes good pictures in outdoor daylight conditions. The pictures pack a lot of detail and showcase rich colours. We were quite happy to see the crisp shadows in the images, along with sharp subjects. In limited lighting conditions, the smartphone makes good use of its TrueLens Engine 3.0 to deliver clear images with minimal noise.
Images taken with the 8MP ultrawide lens are slightly softer, but their colour profile is on point. The pictures pack a good dynamic range. The field of view on offer is remarkable. The quality takes a bigger hit in limited lighting conditions, as the final results appear dim and noisy.
The new 50MP telephoto lens has 2x optical zoom. Images taken with this camera are very detailed and clear. The colours are nicely tuned and do justice to the scene. The difference in quality is noticeable when you compare these results with images taken with a 2x digital zoom. This makes the 2x telephoto lens a nice camera to have in your arsenal.
Another advantage of having a telephoto camera is that it breathes new life into 2x portraits. The portrait shots taken using the Nothing Phone (3a) are detailed and well-focused. We would have liked some more background blur, but its absence isn’t a deal breaker. The camera app offers up to 4x zoom for portraits, but the image quality takes a hit. The 32MP front-facing camera takes good selfies with minimal tone and texture correction. However, this camera’s video recording chops are limited to 1,080p @ 30fps. Meanwhile, the primary shooter and telephoto lens can record 4K videos @ 30fps.
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Verdict
If we were to brainstorm ideas for a perfect midrange smartphone, the Nothing Phone (3a) is one of the few devices that would come close to our expectations. It is an amazing feat that a tech outfit can churn out a device with a smooth display, bloatware-free OS, unique design, versatile cameras, and the much-needed X factor while keeping the price tag below Rs 25,000. If you’re tired of the plateau that modern smartphones seem to have hit, now would be a perfect time to get your hands on a Nothing device.
Nothing Phone (3a): Pros
- Unique design
- Smooth display
- Clean OS
- Telephoto lens
Nothing Phone (3a): Cons
- An IP67 rating would have been ideal
 for the last week, here is our review of the smartphone. Currently priced at Rs 24,999.){kind=link}