London-based Nothing today launched the Nothing Phone (3a) and Phone (3a) Pro smartphones, as the successors to last year’s Phone (2a) series. Here we have the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro, the top-end model that adds a periscope telephoto camera for the first time. It has a larger FHD+ 120Hz AMOLED screen, faster Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 SoC and also comes with a dedicated Essential Key.
The price of the phone has also been increased since it has more features compared to the Phone (2a) Plus. Is this worth the price? Let us dive into the review to find out.
Box Contents
- Nothing Phone (3a) Pro 12GB + 256GB in Grey colour
- USB Type-C to C cable
- SIM Ejector tool
- User manual and warranty information
Display, Hardware and Design
Starting with the display, the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro has a 6.77-inch Full HD+ flexible AMOLED display with a pixel resolution of 2392 x 1080 pixels, 20:9 aspect ratio and a pixel density of about 387 PPI. The display is bright, thanks to 800 nits (typical), 1300 nits out door and 3000 nits peak brightness, which is enabled when you are watching HDR content, offering up to 130% improvements in peak brightness compared to the Phone (2a) series.
The phone has a 30-120Hz refresh rate display can switch between 30Hz, 60Hz, 90Hz and 120Hz according to the content. It has 480Hz touch sampling rate, and 1000Hz touch sampling rate when in Gaming Mode. It offers a buttery smooth user experience, especially when you are scrolling through the UI and when gaming. It also has HDR 10+ support, which works for YouTube.
Under the display options, there are different options to adjust colours based on your preference. There is also a night light option that lets you reduce the display’s blue light emission, so it doesn’t cause eye strain when you are reading at night. It has an always-on display option, but it doesn’t offer a lot of customization, and is similar to the Pixel. It doesn’t have MEMC or DC Dimming option, but comes with 2160Hz PWM dimming that is enabled in low lighthing conditions. The phone comes with Panda Glass protection.
The phone has a tiny centre punch-hole that houses a 50-megapixel camera, similar to the Phone (2a) Plus. Above the display there is an earpiece on the top edge which also doubles up as a secondary speaker.
The phone has an optical in-display fingerprint scanner. The small bezel below the display is uniform to the sides and the top, similar to the older models. Even though the bottom bezel is minimal, the side bezels are thicker compared to some mid-range phones.
Coming to the button placements, the power button is present on the right side and there is a new Essential Key which we will discuss later. The volume rockers are on the left side. The dual SIM slot, primary microphone, USB Type-C port and the loudspeaker grill are on the bottom. The secondary microphone is on the top. The phone still has a polycarbonate frame, and it has a matte finish so it doesn’t slip easily.
100% recycled aluminium used in the mid-frame, 100% recycled tin on six circuit boards, Over 85% recycled steel is used for 18 stamping
parts in Phone (3a), Over 85% recycled steel is used for 21 stamping
parts in Phone (3a) Pro, Over 60% of the plastic parts are sustainably
sourced, Phone (3a) Series’ packaging is 100% plastic-free, and uses 60% recycled fibre, says the company. It has a carbon footprint of 51.3 kg, slightly less than the lower than the Phone (3a series).
The phone still features a transparent back with a unique design, and the phone now has a glass back instead of a polycarbonate back, which feels premium and doesn’t get scratched easily. Still, I would recommend you to use a case to protect the back since it’s a bit slippery.
The main highlight of the phone is the Glyph Interface, which still has 26 addressable LED lighting zones, compared to 33 in the Phone (2).
In addition to White, the phone also comes in Dark Grey colour. The phone is just 8.39mm thick, and weighs 211 grams. Even though the thickness of the phone has reduced, the phone is 21 grams heavier compared to the predecessor, mainly due to the glass back and an additional periscope camera.
The phone has IP64 ratings for splash resistance compared to IP54 in the Phone (2a) series, so it can manage slight spills or light rain, but you can’t immerse in water. Some competitors offer IP68 and even IP69 ratings in the price range, but this is mainly user’s preference since water damage is not covered under warranty.
Camera
- 50MP main camera with f/1.88 aperture, 1/1.56″ Samsung sensor, OIS
- 8MP 120° ultra-wide camera with Sony IMX355 sensor, f/2.2 aperture
- 50MP periscope telephoto camera with 1/1.95″ Sony LYT-600 sensor, f/2.55 aperture, OIS
- 50MP front camera with 1/2.76″ Samsung sensor f/2.2 aperture
The camera UI has seen a change, with more options on the screen. There are options for Night, Macro, Portrait, Photo, Video, and more option that has slo-mo, time-lapse, pano, and expert mode. The expert mode is pro mode, which lets you adjust white balance, focus, shutter speed (1/8000s to 32 seconds), ISO (50 to 10500) and option to select main, ultra-wide and telephoto lens. There is also RAW option.
Coming to the image quality, daylight shots came out well with good dynamic range and the images are natural-looking. After pixel binning technology, you get 12.5MP output from the main and the telephoto camera. HDR shots are better with improved dynamic range. The 8MP ultra-wide camera is a downgrade compared to 50MP in the Phone (2a), but the colors are almost similar. The 50MP periscope telephoto camera does a good job. 3x optical zoom and 6x in-sensor zoom are good. Even though the there is up to 60x zoom, quality is good up to 20x.
Instead of ultra-wide macro option in the older models, the company has added telemaco option which supports 15cm macro. The 50MP front camera is a good improved from the 2a, and you get full 50MP output. Edge detection in portrait is good, but when the lighting is not good, portrait shots look dark. Lowlight camera performance is good, and the auto night mode helps to keep the noise low.
Check out the camera samples.
It can record videos at 4k resolution at 30 fps from both main, telephoto and front cameras. It also has slow motion 108op at 120 fps. OIS in the main camera and telephoto does its job. Video quality from the main camera is brilliant. There is no HDR video option. Apart from the LED flash, you can also use the Glyph LED lights for both photos and videos.
Software, UI and Apps
The Nothing Phone (3a) Pro runs Android 14 out of the box, with Nothing OS 3.1 on top. It has February 2025 Android security patch. The company has promised 3 Android OS updates, same as the older models and for the first time, it will get 6 years of security patches. Apart from the fonts and UI, it gives a stock Android experience without any bloatware.
Nothing OS 3.0 has Lock screen customization, AI-powered Smart Drawer, Enhanced pop-up view, Redesigned Quick Settings, widget library, auto-archive function, partial screen sharing and more.
The essential Key below the power button launches Essential Space, an AI-powered hub for note-taking, ideas, and inspirations. You can press the Essential Key to capture and send content to Essential Space, long-press to record a voice note, and double-tap to head straight to all your saved content.
Out of 12GB LPDDR4X RAM, you get 11.7GB of usable RAM, and about 5GB of RAM is free when default apps are running in the background. It also has memory extension or virtual RAM for up to 8GB. Out of 256GB, you get about 224.8GB of free storage. It has UFS 2.2 storage, same as the Phone (2a) series. Apart from the Google apps, it doesn’t have any third-party apps.
The Glyph interface is the same as older models with volume indicator, timer, third-party integration for apps like Uber, Zomato and notifications. There are also new ringtones and notification tones.
Fingerprint sensor and Face unlock
The phone has an in-display optical fingerprint sensor which immediately unlocks the phone just by keeping your finger on the sensor. You don’t get any animation options. The phone also has face unlock that can unlock the phone in seconds, but it is not as secure as fingerprint.
Music Player and Multimedia
YouTube Music is the default music player. It doesn’t have Dolby Atmos or any other custom audio features. Audio through the stereo speakers is good and loud. Audio through the headphones is good as well. This has Widevine L1 so that you can play HD content on Amazon Prime Video, Netflix and other streaming apps. HDR works on YouTube, but you don’t get HDR playback on Netflix.
Dual SIM and Connectivity
It has the usual set of connectivity features such as 5G with support for n1, n3, n5, n8, n28, n38, n40, n41, n77, n78 bands, dual 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 6 802.11 ax (2.4 + 5GHz), Bluetooth 5.4, GPS + GLONASS and NFC support. It also has USB OTG support. The phone also has carrier aggregation. We did not face any call drops and the earpiece volume is good.
The Nothing Phone 3a Pro’s body SAR is 1.13W/Kg and head SAR is at 1.19/Kg which is almost similar to Phone (2a), and is well under the limit in India, which is 1.6 W/kg (over 1 g).
Performance and Benchmarks
The phone is powered by Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 4nmMobile Platform, which promises 33% faster CPU performance compared to MediaTek Dimensity 7200 Pro in the Phone (2a). This has Octa-Core Qualcomm Kryo CPUs that has 1 x Kryo Prime CPUs (Cortex A720-based) at up to 2.5GHz, 3 x Kryo Performance CPUs (Cortex A720-based) at up to 2.4GHz, 4x Kryo Efficiency CPUs (Cortex A520-based) at up to 1.8GHz. It also promises 92% AI improvements compared to the predecessor.
There is Adreno 810 GPU that decent gaming performance, and promises 11% better graphics compared to Mali-G610 MC4 GPU. The phone has advanced cooling system, says the company, but the exact size is has not been revealed. We did not face any issues or frame drops in the graphic-intensive games like COD, BGMI and Genshin Impact.
In 3D Mark wild life stress test, it scored 99.3% which is better than most competitors with the same chip. The temperature increased from 27 to 38 degrees, which is not much. That said, check out some synthetic benchmark scores below.
This shows a good improvement in performance compared to the Phone (2a) and even Phone (2a) Plus, and is on par with the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3.
Battery life
Coming to the battery life, the phone packs a 5000mAh (typical) built-in battery, same as the Phone (2a) series. Thanks to the opitimization, it lasts for more than a day even with heavy use on 5G. With minimal use on Wi-Fi, it should last for 2 days. I got 7 hours of screen on time with 2 days of use, with mixed use of mostly Wi-Fi and occasional 5G use in 120Hz.
With the 50W fast charging, it can charge from 0 to 50% in about 20 minutes and up to 100% in about 1 hour with the charge. I tried the Samsung’s 25W PPS charger, which took about 20 minutes more time to charge the phone. It doesn’t have wireless charging support.
Conclusion
At a starting price of Rs. 29,999, the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro offers upgrade in almost all the areas compared to the predecessor, and the main highlight is the periscope telephoto camera that you rarely see in phones in the price range. Even though the battery size is the same, the battery life has been improved, thanks to the optimization.
You still don’t get a charger in the box, and the company only sells 45W charger, so you will have to go for the 65W CMF charger or get a third-party charger.
Pricing and availability
The Nothing Phone (3a) Pro is priced at Rs. 29,999 for the 8GB + 128GB model, 8GB + 256GB model is priced at Rs. 31,999 and the top-end 12GB + 256GB model costs Rs. 33,999. With Rs. 2000 bank offer, the effective starting price is Rs. 27,999.
It will be available from Flipkart and Flipkart Minutes starting from 11 March. The Flipkart deliveries and sales on Vijay Sales, Croma and all leading retail stores will start from 15 March.
Alternatives
If you need a periscope telephoto camera, the realme 14 Pro+ is the direct competitor with a curved screen, and a bigger battery, but the telephoto zoom is better in Nothing. If you don’t need the periscope telephoto camera, or a 50MP front camera with 4K recording, you can go for the Phone (3a). For performance, there is OnePlus Nord 4, POCO F6 and more models that are cheaper.
Pros
- Good display
- Smooth performance
- Good cameras
- Good build with glass back
- Good battery life with fast charging
Cons
- No charger in the box
- Extra price only for camera change compared to Phone (3a)