Nothing Phone (3)a Pro review: A distinctive mid-range device featuring a high-quality zoom camera.

SUMMARY

Nothing Phone 3a Pro Review: A Standout Mid-Range Smartphone

• The Nothing Phone 3a Pro, priced at $459, distinguishes itself in the mid-range market with its unique transparent design featuring customizable LED strips and a high-quality 50-megapixel 3x telephoto camera, a rare feature at this price point.

• Powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 chip, the phone offers snappy performance and impressive battery life, lasting up to three days on a single charge with typical usage.

• Running Nothing OS 3.1 based on Android 15, the device provides a clean and customizable user experience, enhanced by the inclusion of Google’s AI tools and Nothing’s innovative Essential Space app.

• Essential Space acts as an AI-powered notebook, allowing users to collect, analyze, and summarize screenshots, text, and voice notes; however, its current functionality is somewhat limited and requires a connection to Nothing’s servers.

• The phone’s triple-camera system, including an 8MP ultrawide, a 50MP main, and a 50MP 3x telephoto lens, delivers excellent image quality, particularly with the telephoto lens, though some overprocessing is noticeable at higher zoom levels.

• Despite some minor drawbacks like a non-customizable extra button and only three years of Android version updates, the Nothing Phone 3a Pro offers a compelling combination of features, design, and long-term software support, making it a strong contender in the competitive mid-range smartphone market.

Buy Nothing 3a Pro HERE

REVIEW

London-based Nothing has made high-quality camera zoom, a key differentiator between premium and mid-range smartphones, more accessible through a competitively priced offering.

High-end smartphones have consistently competed for superior camera technology, featuring enhanced image quality, extended zoom capabilities, and multiple lens configurations.  Although advancements in this area have gradually permeated more affordable models, optical zoom cameras remain scarce in devices priced below £600.

The Nothing Phone (3) a Pro, priced at £449 (€459/$459/A$849), distinguishes itself through its signature transparent design with illuminated elements and a 50-megapixel 3x telephoto camera, a feature typically found in significantly more expensive handsets.

This model builds upon the success of the Phone (2) a, incorporating a similar array of “glyph” LED strips on the rear panel, which dynamically illuminate to provide visual feedback for notifications, calls, timers, charging status, volume adjustments, and other functionalities.

The phone’s transparent back panel showcases an intriguing underlying design; however, the prominent camera array is its most distinctive feature.  Its substantial size and protrusion provide a convenient finger grip.  The 3a Pro features a glass front and back, complemented by high-quality plastic side panels.

The device incorporates a large, responsive OLED display offering excellent visuals and an integrated optical fingerprint sensor positioned beneath the screen near the bottom.

SPECIFICATIONS

Screen: 6.77in 120Hz FHD+ OLED (387ppi)

Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 3

RAM: 12GB

Storage: 256GB

Operating system: Nothing OS 3.1 (Android 15)

Camera: 50MP main, 50MP 3x tele and 8MP ultrawide, 50MP selfie

Connectivity: 5G, eSIM, wifi 6, NFC, Bluetooth 5.4 and GNSS

Water resistance: IP64 (spray resistant)

Dimensions: 163.5 x 77.5 x 8.4mm

Weight: 211g

The 3a Pro utilizes Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 mid-range chipset, offering robust performance suitable for most applications. While not matching the processing power of high-end processors, it delivers a responsive and fluid user experience.  The device handles demanding games effectively without excessive thermal buildup, exhibiting a performance improvement of approximately 25% compared to the Phone 2a.

Battery life is exceptional, consistently providing three days of usage on a single charge under typical conditions, including over seven hours of active screen time.  While intensive gaming and camera use impact battery duration, most users should anticipate charging every other day.

NOTHING OS

The Nothing Phone (3a) Pro operates on a customized Android 15 OS, providing a streamlined, responsive, and visually distinct user experience characterized by its distinctive dot-matrix design elements.  Extensive personalization options allow for adjustments to the phone’s aesthetic, encompassing monochrome and minimalist themes, resulting in a more engaging interface than most Android iterations.

The device integrates select Google AI functionalities, including Gemini and enhanced image editing capabilities within Google Photos.  A key enhancement is Nothing’s proprietary Essential Space application, functioning as an AI-powered organizational tool for diverse content types, including screenshots, text, and voice memos.

A dedicated side-mounted button facilitates screen capture, while a press-and-hold action initiates voice note recording.  The application processes captured data to generate summaries, transcriptions, and actionable items such as reminders or tasks.  The app interface presents organized content collections, offering a hybrid functionality reminiscent of Pinterest and Evernote.

ESSENTIAL SPACE

The application is currently in its early stages of development and requires a connection to Nothing’s servers for optimal functionality.  However, the core concept is robust, and it effectively serves its purpose of isolating screenshots and other data from the device’s main gallery.  While the AI summarization feature, like other AI-driven tools, exhibits some inconsistencies, the application’s ability to manage captured data on the device demonstrates significant potential compared to many currently available, less sophisticated AI features.

Regrettably, the side button’s functionality is not customizable, rendering the application unusable for those who do not find the Essential Space feature beneficial, unlike competing products such as Apple’s action button.  Furthermore, accidental activation of the side button, due to its proximity to the power button, resulted in numerous unintended screenshots.

Nothing will provide three years of Android updates and six years of security updates for the 3a Pro.  Although this lags slightly behind industry leaders, it surpasses the support offered by many competitors, representing a positive aspect of the product lifecycle.

CAMERA

The 3a Pro features a triple rear camera system: an 8MP ultrawide, a 50MP main camera, and a standout 50MP 3x telephoto lens—a unique feature in this phone’s price bracket.

The ultrawide camera delivers acceptable performance, although detail may appear slightly soft.  The main camera provides consistently good overall image quality with accurate color reproduction and dynamic range, performing well under diverse shooting conditions.  The 3x telephoto lens is arguably the system’s strongest component, capturing detailed images with a useful zoom range.  All three cameras exhibit a degree of overprocessing, noticeable upon close inspection of images.  While the main and telephoto cameras offer in-sensor zoom capabilities (2x and 6x respectively), image quality degrades significantly beyond 10x magnification, resulting in noticeable artifacts and a loss of detail.

In summary, the 3a Pro’s camera system represents a high-quality offering for a mid-range device, particularly notable for its inclusion of a true optical zoom, a rare feature at this price point.  However, it does not match the performance of top-tier Android or iPhone models.

SUSTAINABILITY

The battery is not guaranteed to retain at least 90% of its initial capacity for a minimum of 1,200 full charge cycles.  Phone 2a repairs are generally available in the UK; screen replacements are £89, and battery replacements are £29, plus approximately £35 for labor and shipping, provided by Nothing.

The device incorporates recycled aluminum, copper, plastic, steel, tin, and other materials. Its carbon footprint is 51.3 kg CO2e.  The company publishes regular sustainability reports.

PRICE

The Nothing Phone 3a Pro has a suggested retail price of $459.

Comparatively, the Phone 3a is priced at $359, the Google Pixel 8a at $499, the Samsung Galaxy A56 at $499, and the iPhone 16e at $599.

VERDICT

The Phone 3a Pro excels as a leading mid-range smartphone, achieving an optimal balance of features.

Few competitors offer a comparable optical zoom capability at this price point, and the 3a Pro’s implementation is particularly impressive.  Its attributes include a vibrant, high-resolution display; robust mid-range processing power; and exceptional battery longevity.  The distinctive design stands out in a crowded market, while the comprehensive software support, extending up to six years, ensures long-term value.

While the AI-powered screenshot and note-taking application demonstrates promise, its current functionality is somewhat limited.  Assigning a dedicated, non-reconfigurable button to this feature seems suboptimal;  a user-configurable button assignment would be preferable.

The mid-range smartphone sector is highly competitive, yet the Nothing Phone 3a Pro successfully differentiates itself and merits strong consideration for consumers seeking a replacement device.

PROS

A high-quality camera featuring 3x optical zoom, a distinctive design, robust software with six years of support, a vibrant display, strong performance, extended battery life, a reliable fingerprint scanner, and splash resistance.

CONS

The AI functionality requires improvement; the additional button lacks customization options; only three years of Android version updates are provided; and the substantial camera array creates a significant protrusion on the rear.