Nothing Phone 3a and Phone 3a Pro Review: Budget Android Phones with a Twist

Image credits: Julian Chokkattu; Getty Images

The smartphone market has been experiencing a slowdown in innovation, but British startup Nothing is trying to change that with its new Phone (3a) and Phone (3a) Pro devices. These budget phones come with unique designs, featuring multiple shapes and "Glyph" lights on the back that light up to preset ringtones and notification sound effects. The Phone (3a) will retail at a starting price of £329, while the Phone (3a) Pro, with better camera features, will start at £449.

The Nothing brand, founded by Carl Pei, a co-founder of Chinese smartphone brand OnePlus, aims to bring "warmth" back to consumer tech products. The company has been selling its phones through a beta program in the US, which may partly be due to concerns about connectivity. The phones should work on T-Mobile, but they will only work on 4G with AT&T and Verizon, and enabling 5G requires a call to the carrier to whitelist the devices. The Phone (3a) and Phone (3a) Pro have a triple camera system, including a 50-megapixel main lens, a 50-megapixel telephoto lens, and an 8-megapixel ultrawide lens, and they ship with Qualcomm's Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 processor.

One of the standout features of the Phone (3a) and Phone (3a) Pro is their design. The Phone (3a) maintains the design aesthetic of previous Nothing phones, while the Phone (3a) Pro has a thick circular camera module that houses a periscope telephoto camera. The phones also have a 120-Hz refresh rate display, which provides fluid responsiveness, and a 5,000-mAh battery that can last a full day with heavy use. The Essential Key, a new button on the Phone (3a) series, allows users to capture their screen, add a voice or text note, and analyze the screenshot using artificial intelligence.

The cameras on the Phone (3a) and Phone (3a) Pro are also noteworthy. The main camera may seem identical between both phones, but the Pro model has a different sensor with larger pixels, which can take in more light and fare better in low-light conditions. The phones also offer higher levels of AI-enhanced digital zoom, up to 6X on the Pro, but the quality isn't great, so it's recommended to stick with optical quality. The software on the phones is also unique, with Nothing's Nothing OS layer on top of Android, which provides a different experience from other Android phones.

In terms of technical specifications, the Phone (3a) and Phone (3a) Pro have the following features: * Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 processor * 4,500 mm² vapor chamber to keep temperatures low * RAM Booster that combines physical and virtual RAM, enabling up to 20GB of memory * Triple camera system with a 50-megapixel main lens, a 50-megapixel telephoto lens, and an 8-megapixel ultrawide lens * TrueLens Engine 3.0 that utilizes AI processing and multi-frame technology to enhance image quality * Essential Space feature that provides quick access to other on-device tools, such as Camera Capture and Flip to Record.