As of 2025, there are just a few smartphone brands that care about creative design. Gone are the days of refreshing and outlandish Nokia feature phone and smartphone designs that never failed to amaze us with their weird and wacky shapes and form factors. What excited me back then were the new and experimental designs (N-gage, Nokia 7600), where the focus was more on the experience and just doing something differently. Lately, Apple has single-handedly managed to turn every smartphone into a slab with two sheets of glass.

Even the most expensive foldables from premium brands appear like boring glass slabs. Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android may have paved the way for what seems to be an ideal software ecosystem. But we are now stuck with a bunch of boring icons, predictable animations, and transitions that feel far too basic. Clearly, they aren’t built to amaze us anymore; they simply exist to deliver and serve a bunch of apps.

Nothing as a brand stands out in this sea of, well, nothings (at least from a design standpoint). With a product philosophy based on design, it takes those gutsy decisions that big-name brands are too afraid to take, paving a path for a refreshing series of products that not only dare to appear different (in a tasteful manner) but also strive to remain that way several years into the game. With the latest Nothing Phone 3a, it’s evidently clear that its formula works and how!

Nothing Phone 3a Design: Notable improvements

• Dimensions – 163.5 x 77.5 x 8.3mm
• Weight – 201g
• Durability – IP64

The nostalgic and futuristic design philosophy between the Nothing Phone 2a and the new Phone 3a remains the same. It does not take too much effort to spot similarities between the two. The part at the top right corner, which is now made of metal, and the red square were also present on the Phone 2a.

Also obvious is that most of the design effort has gone into the new Phone 3a Pro model, which gets a better 3X telephoto camera instead of the 2X unit on the Phone 3a.

Compared to the Phone 3a Pro, the Phone 3a gets a new colour option called Blue. However, we received the standard White model for review.

Despite its design similarities with the Phone 2a, the 3a’s rear panel is now made of glass instead of plastic. It no longer is a dust magnet, and we barely noticed any fingerprints on the White unit we received.

Alongside the usual power button is also a new Essential Key, which I will go into detail about in the software section of this review.

The phone’s frame is made of polycarbonate and surely reminded us of the old HTC One X and the Nokia Lumias (1020 and 1520) because of its soft matte finish. The glass back has helped bump up the Phone 3a’s water and dust resistance to an IP64 rating, which is not much to talk about but is good to have. It’s good for splashes or sprays of water but not immersion. Like most manufacturers, it’s highly recommended to avoid this as much as possible, as damage due to water ingress is not covered under warranty.

The design of the Nothing Phone 3a isn’t fresh going by the company’s standards, but it surely stands out when placed alongside similarly priced smartphones from the mid-range with their done-and-dusted glass, faux leather or textured rear panels. Such levels of creativity are not even found in the premium segment.

I observed a few assembly issues that might be specific to my review unit.

Thankfully, these are down to the bits that go under the glass rear panel. The shiny metal part (as seen in the above image) at the top right corner is misaligned by a millimetre, as it seems to be rotated in the clockwise direction. The red box is also misaligned by very little but tilts in the opposite anticlockwise direction. We hope that future batches will address these issues.

Nothing Phone 3a Display: Excellent for its price

• Display size – 6.77-inch, 1,080 x 2,392 pixels, Full-HD+ (387 PPI)
• Display type – AMOLED, 60-90-120Hz
• Protection – Panda Glass

The Nothing Phone 3a has a display that is similar to that of the previous Phone 2a. It also has the same 120Hz refresh rate. It offers 1,300 nits of maximum brightness and 3,000 nits of peak brightness, which makes outdoor use problem-free. The display glass and the flexible AMOLED panel are both flat, which means you get excellent viewing angles minus the unnecessary reflections available on some competing models that offer quad-curved displays.

While impressive, the Nothing Phone 3a’s AMOLED display lacks HDR10+ certification

Colours are a tad bit saturated in the Alive mode for screen colour but appear natural with the Standard mode. My only problem with it is that it lacks an HDR10 or HDR10+ certification for video streaming, which is available on some competing smartphones in India.

Nothing Phone 3a Software: More art than smartphone UI

• Software version – Nothing OS 3.1
• Android version – Android 15
• Software commitment – 3 years of software, 6 years of security updates

Unlike most smartphone interfaces that feel like they have been designed for mass consumption and appeal, Nothing OS feels more hand-crafted and unique. It took me a day to recognise the gallery icon (until then, I assumed Google Photos was the default gallery app), but once I found it and placed it on the home screen, I was able to find it instantly all the time.

The widgets on the home screen have also been given their fair share of attention.

I absolutely dig the Date widget, which simply displays the current date with a bold font. The entertaining bit is that you get a tiny page folded in its bottom right corner every day, forcing you to swipe up the page and reveal the current day’s date (along with agenda items). It’s this minute attention to detail (even if it is manual) that made me notice and remember the current date.

The Do Not Disturb widget turns into a bold red when activated and stands out from the rest of the interface when active. The compass widget with a tap wakes up to point north like every good compass should. I just wished that it woke up with the phone and remained that way for a few seconds.

There is a fun News Reporter widget (which looks like an old radio speaker) that, upon tapping, wakes up and starts reading out the news (as per your preferences). Each bar of its speaker-like design goes from red to grey as the news is being read out. So, even if you pause it, you will know how many more hand-picked news items remain to be read out. The news selection and voice seem to be AI-generated or at least read out by a pre-defined AI-like voice. There’s even a page-turning sound after each byte, giving it a very old-school feel.

Coming to the basics, there’s a new Inter font, that can be used as the system font. This means that Inter will be forced in every third-party app that does not use its special font, making the UI and OS appear more consistent. Inter, just like the other fonts used in Nothing OS, somehow gel very well together.

And there are a few things that Nothing OS does a bit differently. The lock screen can have up to 4 widgets, which are scrollable once you lift the phone.

Nothing on OS has one of the coolest lock screens I have laid eyes on in recent times, and it is also shockingly customisable. However, tapping on a notification here will take you directly to the notifications tray. I initially didn’t like it (it’s not normal for Android phones), but I somehow got used to it a few days into the testing process.

Last but definitely not least is Nothing’s take on artificial intelligence (AI). Nothing executives keep speaking about how they want to do AI differently compared to being a content formatting tool or a meeting summariser, transcribing and the usual image editing/generation that everyone (including Apple) else has done to death (with or without success). Nothing’s take on AI is Essential Space, which could have something to do with Andy Rubin’s startup, absorbed by Nothing back in 2021.

When I started using Essential Space, I assumed it was just another attempt to push AI in your face. But the Essential Key (a physical button on the left side) made me curious enough to give it a shot.

Pressing down the Essential Key once takes a screenshot of what’s on your display, and then you are prompted to add typed notes about your current thought or press the record button for a voice note. Once recorded, press it once again to stop recording and then once again to save to Essential Space.

The intriguing part is how Essential Space digests and preps this data for recall. Currently, everything functions through the use of screenshots, but there are plans to integrate the camera with Essential Key to extract information from your surroundings for recall. There’s also a focused mode planned for future release that will let you record an entire meeting. After this, the tool will not only recognise speakers and transcribe information; it will also create to-dos based on the conversation. With the current implementation, I often find myself taking screenshots of things I need to remember and leaving notes on them. The app generated useful summaries for each screenshot and also created to-dos automatically based on what’s in the screenshot and the audio or text note it was tagged with.

The only downside of Essential Space is that you cannot take away your data. Hopefully, in the future, all of the data gathered by this feature will be available in files and folders backed up to the cloud, which can then be offloaded onto another OS if needed. Currently, I have find a folder that saves all the screenshots for Essential Space in the Internal Storage> Pictures> EssentialSpace folder.

Nothing Phone 3a Performance: Great, but far from the best

• Processor – Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 3, 2.5GHz, 4nm
• RAM – 8GB (LPDDR4X)
• Storage – 128/256GB (UFS 2.2)

Everyday software performance is pretty smooth despite Nothing’s rather controversial use of UFS 2.2 storage. The adaptive display panel smartly switches the refresh rate between 120-60Hz (depending on the screen brightness) when browsing through the software interface but is capped at 90Hz (or 90-60Hz) when opening native and third-party apps. Video and games are limited to 60Hz only.

Gaming performance was good, as I managed to run Call of Duty: Mobile at Very High graphics and frame rate. The display’s touch sampling rate of 480Hz, which is only available in Game Mode, seemed just about sufficient. I’ve experienced better touch sensitivity, especially while playing games on competing devices.

The vapour chamber cooling system sure does its job of maintaining the phone’s performance under stress

The phone warms up while playing games and gets hot when using the camera app outdoors; however, the camera app does not shut down nor show any warnings about limiting use. Indeed, the vapour cooling system was doing its job. However, the phone always struggled with processing images (it takes a second or two after capture), which is something I also noticed on the Realme P3 Pro (has the same chip). I also noticed some sluggishness when using the camera app, especially when switching between camera modes or switching cameras.

As far as benchmarks go, the Nothing Phone 3a performs as expected, as can be seen from the table below.

Nothing Phone 3a Cameras: Well above average

• Primary camera – 50-megapixel, OIS, f/1.5 aperture, AF
• Ultrawide camera – 8-megapixel, f/2.2 aperture, FF
• Telephoto camera – 50-megapixel, 2X, EIS, f/2.0 aperture, AF
• Selfie camera – 32-megapixel, f/2.2 aperture, FF

Note: Our camera samples and observations are based on the latest software update (received around March 10), and it brought about some drastic camera improvements versus the previous update the phone was tested with. The update (Asteroids-V3.1-250302-1856-IND) also added several new features, including the ability to create and share new camera filters/presets mentioned below.

Nothing brought the widest selection of cameras available in this segment or price point. While most smartphones pack a wide + ultra-wide combination, Nothing has managed a 2X telephoto camera, which is an interesting addition given the price point.

In a recent update, Nothing even added the ability to create, share or import someone else’s custom preset (via cube files), which is unique and could become popular in the Nothing community.

Another intriguing feature I like is the presets that can be applied when shooting. These presets are not just colour, hue, or saturation adjustments; they also define which camera mode (even video) and what magnification can be used when selected. You can also add advanced settings, like keeping the flash on, image quality (binned or full resolution), and even turning the grid on or off, which is brilliant! You can pin these presets to your home screen as a widget and launch directly into a particular custom preset.

Nothing Phone 3a ultrawide camera samples (tap images to expand)

Coming to the cameras, the ultra-wide camera is the weakest one of the three, but it is by no means bad. It offers decent performance for its price point, producing photos that are a bit low on detail but pack good dynamic range, ensuring enough detail in the darker areas. Lens barrel distortion is under control as well. Of course, all of this mainly applies to daylight shooting, as the results captured at night appear soft and look like paintings.

Nothing Phone 3a primary camera samples (tap images to expand)

The primary camera is indeed the best and most capable of the three. Unlike the Nothing Phone 3a, it’s the only one with optical image stabilisation (OIS). Photographs captured in all shooting scenarios come out sharp and pack plenty of resolved detail. The primary camera also offers the best colour accuracy among the three, even though the photos appear a bit saturated compared to the actual scene.

Nothing Phone 3a 2X telephoto camera samples (tap images to expand)

The telephoto camera feeds on light. The colours it produces are a bit more saturated than the primary camera’s; it also adds a bit of sharpening to images, which can appear excessive when shooting portrait photos. Provided there’s good light, you get plenty of detail, and some crispy captures with good natural bokeh. The accuracy of edge detection varies depending on the complexity of your subject’s hairstyle.

You begin to notice a drop in image quality under artificial light or when shooting against a source of light. When using portrait mode, the camera tries its best, but the absence of OIS does not allow it to pick up enough details from faces. Your subjects will also need to be perfectly still in such lighting conditions.

The telephoto camera performs better when not using the dedicated Portrait mode. 4X lossless samples are usable, but you will notice a drop in detail when you pixel peep. Despite its daylight capabilities, those who plan to use Portrait Mode often are indeed better off with the Phone 3a Pro‘s 3X telephoto camera, which is optically stabilised.

Selfies pack good detail and accurate edge detection in daylight but come out average in low light (tap image to expand)

Video recordings are indeed an area that Nothing needs to work on. For a low-end, mid-range smartphone, it meets expectations by offering good stabilisation and decent detail when shooting video at 1080p and 4K. However, this only applies when shooting in broad daylight, as low-light video capture is quite poor.

Consistency in terms of colour reproduction between the three cameras is something Nothing still needs to work on. Of course, we’re discussing a Rs. 25,000 phone, but it would be great if Nothing could figure it out with future updates. All camera samples were clicked with the Auto-tone feature turned off, as it just added unnecessary colour saturation.

Nothing Phone 3a Battery:

• Battery capacity – 5,000mAh
• Wired charging – 50W
• Charger in the box – No

Despite having a slightly smaller battery than most competing smartphones, nothing has managed to squeeze the most out of it, thanks to good software optimisation. While the phone lasted me a whole day and a bit longer with heavy usage (calls, messaging, camera usage, and a bit of gaming), it managed a good score of 28 hours and 37 minutes, which is better than what the Realme P3 Pro’ manages with a higher-capacity battery.

Our PCMark Work battery test, which replicates regular smartphone usage scenarios, running the battery down to 20 percent, lasted a solid 17 hours and 40 minutes of continuous usage. Again, the figure is a bit surprising, as the Realme P3 Pro, with the same chipset, an AMOLED display, and a larger 6,000mAh battery, managed 10 minutes less.

Charging speeds are relatively slow at 50W, given that most phones in this segment offer better. In our testing, we managed to charge the Nothing Phone 3a to 46 percent in 30 minutes and complete the charging process in 1 hour and 26 minutes when plugged into a 100W GaN charger. For comparison, Realme’s P3 Pro charged a bigger 6,000mAh battery in 1 hour and 6 minutes.

Nothing Phone 3a Verdict

With its focus on design and balanced hardware choices, Nothing certainly has come up with a winner in the mid-range (budget in global markets). It beautifully combines hardware, cosmetic design, and software. And it’s even more applause-worthy, given that so much effort has been put into a low-end mid-ranger!

That said, the new camera hardware is an upgrade over the previous model. While it works alright, Nothing should work on delivering more camera updates to improve its performance even further.

Indeed, there are better-performing alternatives like the Poco F6 (Review), the OnePlus Nord CE 4 (Review) and the recently launched “flagship killer” iQOO Neo 10R (First Impressions) in India. But when it comes to design and software execution, Nothing’s Phone 3a is a phone I can pick up and use when I get bored of other smartphones. It has the software that I want to use on every Android smartphone.