I sleep together it when this happens . One workweek we have a new , low - cost phone button that ’s underwhelming , and then a few week later we get a low - price phone that exceeds expectations . The Nothing Phone 3a Pro may be a act of an odd - appear duck’s egg , but that ’s about all that ’s awry with it . Lets get into why the Phone 3a Pro is so good .
Specs
50MP f/2.55 periscope camera with OIS and EIS .
8MP f/2.2 wide - angle .
50MP front tv camera
Nothing Phone 3a Pro: design
There’snothing conventionalabout the Nothing Phone 3a Pro ’s looks . It ’s violent , confused , and consuming yet surprisingly focused . It’sveryobviously a Nothing phone , with the trade name sticking to its love of transparent technical school and its now iconic Glyph Light illumination system to make it familiar . At the same time , the back of the Phone 3a Pro is a visual overload , with dissimilar embodiment and assembly line breaking up the chaos , and an asymmetrical camera mental faculty that edge on the unforgivable .
Whether you care it or not is perhaps not the point . It ’s middle - catching and unparalleled , and you just wo n’t mistake it for anything else . I do think this is the point of Nothing permit its figure team at large on the 3a Pro . It ’s about as anti - iPhone as it ’s potential to get , and a very unlike approach to many other young phone brands ( Nothing is celebrating its 5th anniversary this yr ) , which sometimes idly slant into take inspiration from Apple ’s popular smartphone .
There ’s an extra clit on the side of the earphone , called the Essential Space samara . This is part of Nothing ’s AI scheme and we ’ll come to its functionality concisely . The button is determine below the power samara , and crucially it ’s a different conformation and grain ( it ’s surprisingly awkward ) , but I did slip it for the power button at first . Also , it ’s really easy to accidentally press it until you get used to its posture .
Nothing has n’t ignored the essential , despite the over - the - top design . The aluminum chassis has a pleasing texture that adds grip , and the rear panel is now drinking glass rather than polycarbonate used on previous a - serial phone . The 211 gramme weight sounds wakeless than it feel , down in part to the excellent balance . There ’s a metal ring around the camera faculty for some added panache , and an IP64 detritus and piss resistor rating . It feels really well - made and long-lasting , and the wacky design adds to the depression it ’s far more expensive than it really is .
Nothing Phone 3a Pro: camera
The Phone 3a Pro ’s main 50 - megapixel camera collects more light than the Phone 3a ’s similar photographic camera , and it ’s joined by a 50MP periscope telephoto camera for a 3x opthalmic soar . There ’s a 2x in - sensing element ( meaning cropped ) zoom , a cutoff to 6x zoom in the app , an 8MP extensive - slant camera , and a 50MP selfie camera capable of register 4 K TV at 30 frames - per - second .
You ’re going to enjoy taking photos with the Nothing Phone 3a Pro . The principal tv camera assume punchy , vibrant , well bring out shots , and it ’s enjoyable to experiment with the low pick of filter available . These include a cracking black and white mode , which make the contrast and brightnessjust correct . The 3x zoom packs in plenty of detail , but the real surprise is the decent 6x soar , which takes usable photograph despite not being an optic mode .
Night stab are also very good , with little grounds of edge enhancement , adorable born texture , and a good splash of realistic color . The let - down is the 8MP wide - angle tv camera , which is to be expectedbecause they’reallterrible . It ’s a step down over late full - slant tv camera on Nothing ’s telephone set too , and at this item they may as well have just consider it off whole . This apart , the camera is splendid .
Essential Space keyAndy Boxall / Digital Trends
There ’s a new Gallery app installed with the tardy rendering of Nothing OS , but it ’s a barebones affair . It does n’t even have its own editing suite , and just guides you to Google Photos when you tap the Edit button . I adopt it ’s there for the Essential Space lineament , which swear on screenshots to engage , but I ’m getting forward of myself here .
Nothing Phone 3a Pro: software, performance, and Glyph Lights
You get two selection for howAndroid 15looks on the Nothing Phone 3a Pro : the default Google Android style , or Nothing ’s own unique take on the design . take the full Nothing OS 3.1 experience and app picture are replaced by black and white , pixel art version , there are multiple widgets including ones with games and a compass , and your ignition lock silver screen wallpaper gets a swirly , misty flavour when you unlock the phone .
Like the earphone itself , the Nothing OS count is unequaled but if you ’re going to use it , I ’d urge turn on the icon public figure , as it can be really confusing to find what you require otherwise . I ’ve turn used to the stark , minimalist stylus and now rather like it . Notifications have been entirely reliable , the entire system smooth and dissolute , and all my apps have run without a problem . Nothing ’s software is a pleasure to use .
Nothing is also the lord at system sounds , with a wide pick of play notification alerts with touch Glyph Light flash . The igniter can be used to chase timers and Uber rides , and be synchronize with music playback too . The 6.77 - inch screen with its 120Hz refresh rate do well , and it has been easily view in restrained sunshine , but the ambient brightness can be deadening to react when you habituate it indoors .
Andy Boxall / Digital Trends
The Nothing Phone 3a Pro uses the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 processor and come with 12 GB of RAM and 256 GB of store space . It ’s absolutely fair to middling for casual use , and work game likeAsphalt fable : Unitewithout issue . Nothing will bring home the bacon three years of major Android update and four years of security updates .
Nothing Phone 3a Pro: Essential Space
Nothing does n’t really babble about AI , and AI is n’t part of the Phone 3a Pro ’s branding and identity , which is really refreshing after theSamsung Galaxy S25and Apple iPhone 16e both went overboard on AI “ smartness . ” Nothing ’s film a different approach with its AI - power Essential Space . Activated using the dedicated side push button , it ’s designed to keep track of things you store on your telephone set as reminders or “ import . ”
It ’s mostly driven by screenshots take with the Essential Space release , but you could also long press it to register a voice note . twofold tap the clit to open up the Essential Space app , where it stores all your memories and reminders , complete with summary that take into account account notes you add to screenshots . For example , I stored a screenshot of a product we may add to our Best of MWC 2025 awards post with a note to speculate this , and the AI sum-up narrate me if it was a good theme or not . It add location and cost details to a screenshot of a just the ticket reservation Thomas Nelson Page .
At the second Essential Space is challenging , peculiarly if you use screenshots as a remembering financial aid a quite a little , but it ’s go to get a lot more utilitarian in the future with features like tot up exposure , mental image identification , and the power to append content to specific Essential Space folders using your voice . ItusesAI , but it does n’t make a point of promote the fact it ’s AI on you , and it feels friendlier and easier to translate because of it . However , until the new features get it ’s not much more than a glorified central organizer peter at the import . That ’s fine , but it ’s not a reason to buy , and we hope for more from it in the nigh future .
Andy Boxall / Digital Trends
Nothing Phone 3a Pro: battery and charging
A 5,000mAh provides the Nothing Phone 3a Pro with zip , and during my habit it has lasted around four hours before it was below 10 % remain . This is without playing plot for any meaningful time , but using seafaring , the photographic camera , and other apps on both 5 K and Wi - Fi . It ’s not uncollectible , but it ca n’t match phones like theOnePlus 13R.
The Nothing Phone 3a Pro does not come with a battery charger in the boxwood , and will reload to 100 % in about an time of day with a courser like theAnker Prime Charging post , or theTwelve South PlugBug . The Nothing Phone 3a Pro does not have wireless charging , something Nothing reserves for its flagship phones .
Nothing Phone 3a Pro: price and availability
The 12GB/256 GB Nothing Phone 3a Pro will be usable to order from March 11 in the U.K. and be 449 British pounds , which is around $ 570 . Some other regions will get a cheaper 8GB/128 GB version of the Nothing Phone 3a Pro . If you ’re in the U.S. Nothing will turn the Phone 3a Prothrough its Developer Program , just as it did with thePhone 2a .
What else should you consider?Apple ’s iPhone 16eis $ 599 , but unless you ’re despairing for an iPhone then the Phone 3a Pro is the far superior steal in terms of value . TheOnePlus 13Ris $ 600 and a fantastic buy , or you could also view the newSamsung Galaxy A56 , which is 499 pound .
Nothing Phone 3a Pro: the best Nothing phone yet
After the oddNothing Phone 2a Plusrelease , Nothing is directly back to the top of its plot with the Nothing Phone 3a Pro . I used it as my main smartphone the week leading up to MWC 2025 , and also while I ’ve been in Barcelona for the show , and it has n’t put a foot wrong . It has been reliable to apply and taken some great photos , but most of all it has beenfun .
The Phone 3a Pro is one of the few smartphones to put a smile on my face , whether it ’s through the out - there design , the silly sound consequence , the flash of the Glyph Lights , the pedometer widget , or the really cool black and white filter for the camera . Even the filter switcher in the camera app depend unique , and I adore Nothing ’s attending to detail throughout the software package and the earpiece ’s aim . It separates it from other phones at a alike price .
The Nothing Phone 3a Pro is brilliant , and I wholeheartedly recommend you buy it .
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Wide-angleAndy Boxall / Digital Trends
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Andy Boxall / Digital Trends
Andy Boxall / Digital Trends
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