Nothing Phone (3a) and Phone (3a) Pro review: what sets the two apart?

I like Nothing more and more. The company started out as a maker of good, inexpensive plastic bombers. The devices are still inexpensive, but they are far from plastic bombers and have gone from good to outstandingly good. With the Phone (3a) and the Phone (3a) Pro, Nothing achieves something outstanding, thanks to two things: the design and the value for money.

Design and build quality

As with all Nothing products, there is a transparent back through which you can see a little of the inside, and again the Glyph lights. The back lights up for messages, calls or running timers. That remains the eye-catcher.

The Phone (3a) has a camera design similar to its predecessors. The (3a) Pro has a round camera module, as Xiaomi, Honor and OnePlus currently have too. It reminds me of a soda can with a pull tab. The frames are made of plastic on the surface. At first I thought I liked the Pro in silver better. When I held the Phone (3a) with the cream-colored frame and the black button in my hand, I found this design almost prettier. The build quality is in any case higher than on the predecessors.

The backs are no longer made of plastic but of Panda glass. It is supposed to be slightly more scratch-resistant than Gorilla Glass, but not quite as shatterproof. My Phone (3a) Pro involuntarily survived a fall from the couch onto the tiles without damage. Even on the gray Pro you hardly see fingerprints, though it stays smooth. A case would be a shame for this design. If anything, take at most a clear one.

Nothing OS 3.1

The interface also has a completely unique design that I like so much that I bought a Nothing-like theme for my other Android smartphones. Nothing OS 3.1 is based on Android 15 but looks quite different, and the animations match the look. As an Android user you hardly have to get used to anything. Nothing has given Android a nice glow-up. On top of that there are three years of system updates and four years of security updates, which I find more than fair for the price. I also like the widgets, including a nice one for ChatGPT.

Price, display, performance and battery

The Pro is available from €559. I don’t know how Nothing fits so much performance into this price. I hope they don’t go bankrupt from it.

• Display: 6.77-inch AMOLED with fairly thin bezels, up to 120 Hz and up to 3,000 nits. You don’t actually get that in the mid-range.
• Processor: Snapdragon 7s Gen 3, not a high-end chip, but better than in the previous year’s models. The devices run smoothly, not blazing fast like flagships with a Snapdragon 8 Elite, but with few stutters. For most people that’s enough.
• Battery: 5,000 mAh, massive for the price range. I haven’t used either of the two devices exclusively. I estimate that you easily get through a day on one charge, maybe longer.
• Charging: at 50 watts. Neither has wireless charging.

The differences between the 3a and 3a Pro

There are very few differences. Display, processor and battery are identical, and both are IP64 certified. I wondered why there are two models at all.

	Phone (3a)	Phone (3a) Pro
Main camera	50 MP	50 MP
Tele	50 MP telephoto	50 MP periscope
Ultrawide	8 MP	8 MP
Front camera	32 MP	50 MP
eSIM	no	yes

A periscope camera is normally not found in the mid-range. It improves the quality of zoom photos enormously and is also suitable for really nice macro photos. You can judge the camera quality yourself from the shots in the video. I don’t give much weight to numbers on a spec sheet when it comes to smartphones.

AI and the Essential Key

Circle to Search is available on both devices. I no longer want a smartphone without it. There is also the Essential Key, an additional button on the body that unfortunately gives me a bit of an Apple vibe. It is the gateway to Essential Space:

• Press once: a screenshot of the display that you can add a note to, for example which restaurant was being talked about during dinner.
• Press and hold: audio recording.
• Press twice: Essential Space opens with the collection of screenshots and audio recordings.

From briefings I know that the goal is an AI assistant of its own that is deeply integrated into the interface and doesn’t run through a separate app like Gemini. I haven’t seen it yet, it will probably come with future updates. Nothing goes its own way here, too. Whether it has to be a button, I don’t know. I press it by accident all the time, because I have small hands and it sits exactly where I lock and unlock on other Android smartphones. I would have preferred a widget.

Verdict

I’m glad Nothing exists, that they see things differently and develop devices for people who appreciate that. At first I found the concept of a see-through back with lights nerdy, now I find it edgy, cool and chic. Nothing packs a lot of power into a small price, and I hope they keep going like this. Who knows, maybe we have a worthy successor to Apple, which used to be different and innovative. I’m already looking forward to the Nothing Phone 3, which, unlike at other manufacturers, comes as a flagship after the stripped-down versions.