Nothing Phone 3a Pro review
Pros
- Decent telephoto for the money
- Fresh Essential Key implementation
- Design still something special
Cons
- New camera module somewhat ugly
- Performance not outstanding for the money
- Sluggish camera app
Key Features
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Review Price: £449
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Dedicated telephoto camera 50MP 3x periscope camera unusual for the money
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Special context-sensitive Essential Key Dedicated button for organised screenshots and other memory aids
Introduction
London-based brand Nothing set out less than five years ago to disrupt the smartphone market. Arguably its biggest achievement to date has been managing to make a genuinely interesting mid-range phone with the Nothing Phone (2a).
Now, with the Nothing Phone (3a) Pr,o the company is at it again, adding an unusually well-rounded camera and a bespoke hardware button to its already distinctive offering.
This is the first time we’ve seen Nothing employing such ‘Pro’ language for one of its phones. With that language comes a new higher price of £449, and with it raised expectations.
At this price the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro is contending with the Google Pixel 8a (and its imminent successor), the Samsung Galaxy A55 (ditto), the Motorola Edge 50 Neo, and several other high quality yet mid-range devices..
Design
- Now familiar semi-transparent design
- All-plastic body with new glass rear
- Context-sensitive Essential Key
Nothing hasn’t seemed too interested in being subtle with its smartphone design, and that’s truer than ever with the Phone (3a) Pro.
With a footprint of 163.52 x 77.5mm, it’s even bigger than the Nothing Phone (2a). It’s a tad slimmer at 8.39mm, but also quite a bit heavier at 211g. This is a phone that refuses to be ignored, for better and for worse.
The bulky flat-edged frame is plastic, as before, though I appreciate the way Nothing has leant into this material choice. It’s not one of those manufacturers that tackily tries to make plastic look like metal, but rather goes for a matte, lightly textured finish. It’s quite obviously plastic.
There’s the same semi-transparent look around back, with various elements of the phone’s internals (or at least stylish echoes of those internals) showing through the glass cover. And it really is glass this time around, lending the phone a more premium feel.
Nothing has also upped the dust resistance rating from IP54 to IP64. That’s a welcome improvement, though it still falls short of the Pixel 8a and Galaxy A55 on water resistance.
One of the most obvious design additions is a huge camera module on the rear of the phone. It’s obviously necessary to enable the inclusion of the phone’s signature periscope camera, but it’s also a bit of an eyesore – especially with its shiny plastic surround and somewhat ugly mish-mash of lens and flash elements.
When Nothing teased an extra hardware button on the right hand side of its new phone, it seemed inevitable that this would be a dedicated camera button. If this brand has proved anything in its brief existence, however, it’s that it doesn’t conform to expectations.
The Essential Key is only partially linked to the Phone (3a) Pro’s camera. Rather, it’s a new form of creative memory aid that combines contextual information with AI, voice recorder and screenshot functions. I will talk more about how that works in the Software section, but it’s a genuine point of differentiation over its rivals.
Screen
- 6.77-inch 120Hz AMOLED
- 2392 x 1080 (FHD+) resolution
- Big, bright, and accurate
Nothing has slightly upped the size of the display here since the days of the Nothing Phone (2a). At 6.77-inches it’s not a huge increase, while it retains an FHD+ resolution and a 120Hz peak refresh rate.
The biggest improvement to the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro’s display is its brightness. At 800 nits in typical usage, 1300 nits in high brightness mode, and up to 3000 nits in HDR highlights, it obliterates the Phone (2a) and Phone (2a) Plus, which both could hit 700, 1100, and 1300 nits, respectively.
It’s quite the improvement. I’m not sure why the Netflix app doesn’t announce that it’s supporting HDR playback on the phone, though. It’s a bit of a bind when the most popular streaming app can’t make the most of your phone’s bolstered peak brightness.
Colour accuracy seems on point, however, and this is a thoroughly pleasant screen to use across all manner of content.
Nothing supplies a solid optical in-display fingerprint sensor, which I found to be reasonably quick and reliable during my testing.
Performance
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 3
- 12GB of RAM
- Generally smooth performance, but not outstanding
After dipping into MediaTek’s parts bin for the Nothing Phone (2a) series, Nothing has returned to Qualcomm’s more mainstream offerings for the Phone (3a) Pro.
It runs on the Snapdragon 7s Gen 3, which props up Qualcomm’s current mid-range chip family. Paired with 12GB of RAM as standard, this is a capable set-up, though it doesn’t break any mid-range smartphone speed records.
In fact, just taking our usual suite of benchmark tests, the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro fails to impress. It’s a little faster than the Nothing Phone (2a) in CPU terms, but actually falls behind in GPU terms.
That’s a little problematic when you consider that the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro is significantly more expensive than its predecessor, and thus is operating against a much tougher group of rivals. It’s not too far off the level of performance of the Samsung Galaxy A55, but the Pixel 8a and the Poco X7 Pro are both way faster – the latter for much less money.
In general usage, I found the phone to be extremely smooth. Tasks such as flitting between multiple apps, unlocking the phone, and jumping into the camera app all performed fluidly enough.
The one performance issue I had with the phone was within the camera app, where I experienced a number of halts and stutters. This would appear to be a software issue rather than a performance limitation, however, and one I’d expect Nothing to iron ahead of launch.
In gaming terms, the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro is capable of running Genshin Impact with higher graphical settings, albeit not flawlessly. Nudge those sliders down a pip or two, however, and you’re in for a perfectly civilised gaming experience.
Nothing only appears to be offering the one storage option in the UK, which is a bit of a shame. However, 256GB remains a healthy, competitive capacity.
Camera
- New and improved 50MP main sensor
- 50MP 3x periscope a first for Nothing
- 8MP ultra-wide
- 50MP selfie camera
If there’s one thing that earns Nothing’s new mid-ranger its ‘Pro’ moniker it’s the camera system. It goes above and beyond what we usually see for the money.
Let’s start with the all-new component – Nothing’s first telephoto camera. I’m a little surprised to see this debuting in the (3a) series rather than the more flagship-worthy Nothing Phone (3), which will launch later in the year.
Still, here we are with a 50MP 1/1.95-inch Sony Lytia 600 sensor with an f/2.55 aperture, shooting a 70mm equivalent focal length, or 3x in Nothing’s reckoning. Together with OIS, it’s capable of taking rich and sharp native 3x shots, albeit with a hint of overexposure at times.
It can also grab some handsome 6x and even 10x hybrid zoom shots. At the opposite end of the scale, it can focus on subjects as near as 15cm away, which opens up a whole new category of artfully framed close-ups.
The main sensor has also received a boost, even compared to the Nothing Phone (3a). Here you’re getting a 50MP 1/1.56-inch sensor with an f/1.88 aperture and OIS. Ahead of the phone’s launch, Nothing boasted that this main camera boasted an unusually large full well capacity, bolstering HDR performance.
Nothing has applied some of Google’s Ultra XDR magic to boost the dynamic range of its shots, and it can produce some stunningly rich and vibrant shots. (Interesting side note: the HDR processing on some of my snaps looked way off on my MacBook Pro, but fine on a MacBook Air and an older iPad – signs of a clash between Nothing’s image processing and Apple’s XDR standard, or simply that I need to make a trip to an Apple Store?).
There’s a little inconsistency from camera to camera, which speaks to that price point, and is perhaps one argument for keeping it to just one or two cameras in such cheaper phones. When it’s on song, though, the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro can capture some lovely shots. Night shots, too, look nice and sharp, albeit prone to excessive lens flare.
The 8MP camera isn’t an amazing performer in terms of detail, and it can’t match the dynamic range of the other cameras. The 50MP selfie camera, however, is capable of very good things, with plenty of detail and natural skin tones, as well as a choice of close or wider angles.
Video is somewhat disappointingly limited to 4K at 30fps, but footage captured at 1080p/60fps was smooth and nicely even.
Software
- Nothing OS 3.1 based on Android 15
- Essential Space a handy memory aid
- Glyph Interface slick but largely a gimmick
- 3 years Android updates, 4 years security updates
The Nothing Phone (3a) runs on Android 15, coated in its custom Nothing OS 3.1 UI.
Nothing’s approach to Android customisation has always been quite distinctive, and it’s the rare third party manufacturer with the confidence and taste to try something a little difference whilst mostly pulling it off.
I’m still not convinced by the company’s custom icon pack option, which converts all of the app icons to a coolly monochrome look. It looks great, but it doesn’t help you to differentiate apps. Sure enough, this is no longer a default provision, and must be purposely activated in the Settings menu.
There’s no denying the sheer style of Nothing’s approach, with its retro fonts and clean minimalist palette. It’s all on display in its glorious Weather app, as well as in its sharp custom widgets. This look occasionally clashes with Android’s underpinnings, which just makes me daydream of a parallel universe in which Nothing is in a position to ‘do an Apple’ and make its own OS to run on its own hardware.
In terms of new features, the option to switch to an AI-driven app tray is an interesting one. This turns the swipe-up menu into something closer to iOS’s app categories, dividing apps according to their type. I prefer the default system, but it’s a nice (and purely optional) inclusion.
The main software addition here feeds into the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro’s Essential Key. Press this shiny button while using your phone and the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro will take a screenshot, sending it to the Essential Space app, where AI will process and label what’s on screen.
Press and hold that button, and the screenshot will be accompanied by a voice note, which will then be transcribed into the appropriate Essential Space entry. If you press the Essential Key while in the camera app, whatever’s on the viewfinder will be used as the basis for your note. If you’re a compulsive mixed-media note taker, it’s a potentially life-enhancing system.
I would have liked to have seen more in-depth visual results, however. Perhaps I’ve been spoiled by Google’s Circle to Search – which is also supported on the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro – but when I Circle to Search an Essential Space entry and get way more useful information from this second-hand method, it suggests there’s room for growth.
Nothing has stuck with its Glyph notification system, which is here in a slightly simpler form than it was in the Nothing Phone (1) and Nothing Phone (2). There are three LED lights surrounding the huge camera module.
Like the Nothing Phone (2a), these will light up with incoming calls and notifications, while also providing visual feedback on camera timers. They can also be set to synch up with music playback, and even indicate the progress of your Uber or Zomato order.
It’s another design inclusion that helps the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro stand out from its peers, but to be brutally honest, I’ve never found this Glyph system to be remotely useful from a practical standpoint. If you’re a ‘phone out and face down’ type of user, however, I can imagine it being more of a boon.
Nothing is promising three years of Android OS updates and four years of security patches. That was fine in the Nothing Phone (2a), but the Phone (3a) Pro is now mixing with phones that offer up to seven years of support.
Battery Life
- 5,000mAh battery with two-day potential
- 50W charging support, but no charger bundled
- No wireless charging
Nothing supplies a 5,000mAh battery with the Phone (3a) Pro, which is the same as the Nothing Phone (2a) and most other phones of this size.
Predictably enough, this yields up to two days of usage for lighter users. On one such lighter day, with 2 hours 30 minutes of screen on time (and the screen forced to 120Hz), I was left with just shy of 60%.
For more intensive usage, you should still find yourself getting to the end of a long working day with a comfortable amount of power to spare.
Similar to last year’s model, an hour with your favourite video streaming service with the screen set to half brightness saps about 5% of a charge, while 30 minutes of light gaming ate just 3%.
Nothing has bumped up its charging provision ever so slightly, supporting up to 50W wired charging. The company quotes a 1 to 100% time of 56 minutes, presumably using one of its own chargers.
You’ll need to supply such a charger yourself, though. Using the modern 140W MacBook Pro charger that I had to hand, a 15 minute charge took me from empty to 25%, while 30 minutes got me up to 47%.
That’s a little slower than my experience with the Nothing Phone (2a), but such unpredictable charging figures are an inevitable result when manufacturers don’t supply their own bricks.
There’s still no wireless charging here. Again, that’s more of a problem in a £450 than in a sub-£300 phone, but it’s still not what you’d call a common feature this far down the market.
Should you buy it?
You want zoom at a low price
If you insist upon a decent optical telephoto camera, but don’t have more than £450 to spend, the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro is a relatively unique solution.
You want your phone to melt into the background
Nothing’s style is confident and pronounced, but it won’t exactly disappear into your pocket or bag.
Final Thoughts
Nothing has made some thoughtful and innovative additions since last year’s Nothing Phone (2a). In particular, the provision of a dedicated 3x periscope camera isn’t something we see too often south of £500.
The company’s new Essential Key hardware button also opens up a fascinating new path for logging your thoughts and discoveries. It could use some fleshing out, but we’re interested to see where it goes.
Nothing’s software is as sharp and stylish as ever, and its hardware makes a statement that no other affordable brand can match.
Despite these improvements, this is undeniably a much more expensive phone than the Nothing Phone (2a), with much tougher competition. It doesn’t land its punches quite so cleanly as a result, though it is still one of the best mid-range phone choice around.
Trusted Score
How we test
We test every mobile phone we review thoroughly. We use industry-standard tests to compare features properly and we use the phone as our main device over the review period. We’ll always tell you what we find and we never, ever, accept money to review a product.
Find out more about how we test in our ethics policy.
- Thorough camera testing in well-lit and low-light conditions
- Tested and benchmarked using respected industry tests
FAQs
No, Nothing has sacrificed wireless charging to hit a lower price point.
No, Nothing hasn’t included a charging brick in the box, just a USB-C to USB-C cable.
3 years of major Android updates, 4 years of security updates
Test Data
| Nothing Phone 3a Pro review |
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Full Specs
| Nothing Phone 3a Pro review | |
|---|---|
| UK RRP | £449 |
| Manufacturer | Nothing |
| Screen Size | 6.77 inches |
| Storage Capacity | 256GB |
| Rear Camera | 50MP + 50MP + 8MP |
| Front Camera | 50MP |
| Video Recording | No |
| IP rating | Not Disclosed |
| Battery | 5000 mAh |
| Fast Charging | No |
| Size (Dimensions) | 77.5 x 8.39 x 163.52 MM |
| Weight | 211 G |
| Operating System | Android 15 |
| Release Date | 2025 |
| First Reviewed Date | 04/03/2025 |
| Resolution | 2392 x 1080 |
| HDR | No |
| Refresh Rate | 120 Hz |
| Ports | USB-C |
| Chipset | Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 |
| RAM | 12GB |
| Colours | Black, Grey |
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