Nothing Phone (3a) and (3a) Pro hands-on review: This town ain’t big enough for the both of us

With the flagship race well underway for 2025, attention is turning to the cheaper end of the smartphone spectrum. Here we have two new mid-range phones from London-based brand Nothing – the Nothing Phone (3a) and Nothing Phone (3a) Pro.

The Phone (a) series started as an affordable alternative to the higher-end Nothing Phone (1) and Phone (2) but things have shifted this year, with the mid-rangers launching before the Phone (3) is barely even a twinkle in rumour scoopers’ eyes.

This will likely be due to the popularity of last year’s Nothing Phone (2a), which I called Nothing’s best-value handset yet. Of course, that was swiftly followed by the Nothing Phone (2a) Plus, which I summarised as “a big nothing”.

So the previous generation covered the entire gamut, from bargain to bargain bin. And now we have two Phone (a) handsets again, albeit launching concurrently instead of months apart. Will history repeat itself, or has Nothing figured out the balance this time around? Let’s dig in.

Nothing Phone (3a) and (3a) Pro hands-on review: Specifications, prices and release date

Nothing Phone (3a) and (3a) Pro hands-on review: Design, key features and first impressions

As you can see in the table above, the Phone (3a) and Phone (3a) Pro share many features, with the only notable differences being the Pro’s superior cameras and the standard Phone (3a) offering a cheaper 128GB variant.

They may not be all that different from one another, but the Phone (3a) series handsets do include several upgrades over the Phone (2a) and Phone (2a) Plus. The display is now 6.77in – the largest on a Nothing Phone to date – and is apparently the brand’s brightest yet, with a stated peak of 3000 nits. The 2,392 x 1,080 resolution is marginally lower than the Phone (2a)’s 2,412 x 1,080 panel but the 120Hz refresh is the same.

Accommodating that larger display is a bigger body that’s both taller and wider than the Phone (2a), albeit with a marginally slimmer depth (8.4mm vs 8.5mm). I immediately felt the extra bulk when I took the phones out of their boxes, with the width in particular feeling a little unwieldy. Comparing it to holding the Phone (2a), I’m not sure that the slightly larger display is worth this less manageable build.

The Gorilla Glass used in the previous generation has been replaced with the Chinese-made Panda Glass – I don’t know if this is an upgrade or not but it is claimed to do the same job – and the IP rating is a slightly higher IP64 now, certifying the phones as fully dustproof.

The edges are still plastic but both phones now have glass on the rear, which makes them feel that little bit more premium. Beneath that glass, both phones have the exposed components style that has become synonymous with the Nothing brand, as well as the iconic Glyph notification lights around the rear cameras.

Rounding out the feature additions is support for eSIMs – allowing you to either have two nano SIM cards installed at the same time or one nano SIM and an eSIM – and the new Essential Key.

This glossy button sits just below the power button on the right edge. I’ll discuss what it does in the AI and software section below but for now, I want to talk about its positioning.

For a southpaw like me, the Essential Key sits roughly beneath my ring finger, which isn’t ideal, but when holding the phone with my right hand, my thumb naturally sits over the power button. This means I either have to bend my thumb to a weird angle or readjust my grip to tap the Essential Key once – let alone double-tap it – which doesn’t feel particularly intuitive.

It’s not awkward enough to be an instant dealbreaker but I’d have preferred the Essential Key to be high up on the left side, where Apple puts the iPhone’s Action Button or Oppo and OnePlus put the alert slider.

Nothing Phone (3a) and (3a) Pro hands-on review: Cameras

The Phone (3a)’s camera module is a natural progression of the (2a)’s “googly eye” look, adding a third lens but otherwise keeping the same bubble housing and central position.

The (3a) Pro’s camera module is, in my opinion, clunkier; it’s a large circle that protrudes a good few millimetres from the rear of the phone, with the extra bulk providing space for the periscope telephoto camera. I don’t mind the design – the lens layout evokes a constellation to me – but the thick plastic rim around the housing cheapens the overall look.

As well as offering a 3x optical zoom over the standard (3a)’s 2x, the Phone (3a) Pro’s periscope telephoto camera also uses a much larger 1/1.95” sensor (compared to the Phone (3a)’s 1/2.74” sensor), which should allow it to take in more light and achieve a greater level of detail.

The 50-megapixel main cameras are very similar but the (3a) Pro’s has a marginally larger sensor (1/1.56”, compared to 1/1.57”). The 8-megapixel ultrawide cameras are identical and both are a massive downgrade from the Phone (2a). Considering that I found the Phone (2a) to be quite mediocre on the detail front, I don’t have high hopes for these 8-megapixel lenses.

The selfie cameras appear to be direct carry-overs from last year, with the Phone (3a) using the Phone (2a)’s 32-megapixel (f/2.2) lens and the Phone (3a) Pro using the Phone (2a) Plus’ 50-megapixel (f/2.2) camera. Testing them side-by-side last year, I preferred the detail in the sharper 50-megapixel unit but found that it didn’t handle skin tones as well as its predecessor – so hopefully Nothing has also tweaked the image processing.

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Nothing Phone (3a) and (3a) Pro hands-on review: AI and Software

Both phones run Android 15 out of the box with NothingOS 3.1 pasted on top. This striking widget-based launcher is one of the main appeals of Nothing phones over other Android devices, with the option to create a highly personalised, streamlined homescreen.

Software support is decent enough too, with Nothing pledging three years of OS updates and six years of security patches.

Because we live in the times we do, the Phone (3a) series devices include Nothing’s spin on AI. After reviewing more phones than I can count and consistently being underwhelmed by their gimmicky AI features, my knee-jerk reaction to those two letters is of the eye-rolling variety.

With that being said, Nothing’s Essential Space feature has my attention. This is described by the brand as a “second memory” but in reality, it’s more of a second, more in-depth screenshot function. Tapping the Essential Key will screenshot whatever is on your screen – be it video content, social media, the camera viewfinder etc – with the option to add notes by text or voice. Tapping it again will save the shot to the Essential Space app. You can also go straight to adding a voice note by pressing and holding the key.

Suggested uses include pointing the camera at a flyer for a gig and telling it to remind you to buy tickets, creating a to-do list and the times you need to have things done by, notes for lunch ideas later in the week, collecting inspiration colour samples and more.

You can then access these captures by double-tapping the Essential Key, which takes you to the Essential Space. This app is similar in approach to Samsung’s Now Brief but more user-led in what it offers you. Your captures are organised by time, can be sorted into themed collections and, most importantly, anything relating to reminders is placed into a helpful to-do list.

As someone with ADHD-influenced time management skills, this was very appealing to me. You can even add the Essential Space to-do list as a widget on your homescreen, with the text turning from white to red when you’re in danger of overrunning the set deadline.

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Nothing Phone (3a) and (3a) Pro hands-on review: Early verdict

My initial feeling about these handsets is that they could have just been one phone. There aren’t many significant differences between them and while I have high hopes for the (3a) Pro’s periscope telephoto camera, I don’t think it will be impressive enough to justify the extra £70 to £120 in price.

That’s a question to be settled when I come to the full reviews, however. For now, it’s clear that the Phone (3a) series makes several exciting improvements to last year’s models. The displays are bigger and brighter, both models get a new telephoto camera and the simplified approach to AI looks genuinely useful.

I’ll have a lot more to say on the Nothing Phone (3a) and Phone (3a) Pro in the coming weeks – including which of them I feel is most worth your time – but for now, I feel confident that Nothing has at least one more bargain mid-range phone on its hands.