Nothing Phone (3a) Pro review: Second fiddle

For a company that’s never made a flagship phone, Nothing certainly gets a lot of attention. 

The British firm, founded by OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei, has aggressively targeted the mid-range segment since it began releasing phones in 2022. And with all its handsets boasting eye-catching designs, customisable ‘Glyph’ lights and retro-inspired software, they instantly stand out from the competition. 

In 2025, Nothing has taken the unusual step of launching its Phone (3a) Series before the regular Phone (3). There are two models again this year, though the standard (3a) is now joined by a ‘Pro’ instead of a ‘Plus’. 

Despite its name, the latter still costs just £449/$459. Is it the best phone at this price point, and are there enough reasons to buy it over the £329/$379 regular Phone (3a)? I spent two weeks with the Phone (3a) Pro to find out. 

Design & Build

• Semi-transparent back with ‘Glyph’ lights
• Huge rear camera bump
• IP64 water and dust resistance

In my hands-on with the Phone (3a) Pro, I described it as “the most unusual phone I’ve ever tried”, and I stand by that. 

As someone who reviewed the Phone (2a), that might come as a surprise. Indeed, the semi-transparent back and signature ‘Glyph’ lights we’ve come to associate with Nothing phones both remain. However, there are a couple of key hardware changes that make the (3a) Pro feel like a very different phone. 

The one you’ve probably already noticed is the rear camera module, a huge disc that takes up nearly the entire top half of the phone. It’s a big departure from the Phone (2a) and (3a)’s cameras, which are much more discreet. 

Anyron Copeman / Foundry

Now, I don’t have a problem with the way it looks, even though I prefer the design of other Nothing phones. But the extra bulk it adds to the device soon gets annoying. 

The camera bump sticks out significantly from the back of the phone, making it wobble when trying to use face-up on a table. It’s a shame because the glass back is grippy enough to make going case-free a realistic option. 

And at 211g, the Phone (3a) Pro is significantly heavier than both the 201g regular Phone (3a) and 190g Phone (2a). If you’re coming from any sub-200g phone, this is a difference you’ll notice. 

The other big change is the addition of a physical button to the plastic sides of the phone. And no, it’s not an Apple-inspired Action Button or Camera Control button.

Instead, it’s what Nothing is calling the ‘Essential Key’ – a shortcut that allows you to quickly capture voice notes, photos and screenshots, all of which are sent directly to the AI-enabled ‘Essential Space’ app. 

Anyron Copeman / Foundry

I’ll talk more about its functionality in the ‘Software & Features’ section, but what I will say is that it’s very sensitive. I can’t tell you how many times I accidentally pressed it when taking the phone out of my pocket or trying to find the power button. 

A big thing the phone has in its favour is durability. The (3a) Pro feels very well-built, and might just be the toughest glass-backed phone I’ve tried. You also get an improved IP64 rating, meaning it’s fully dust-resistant and can survive splashes of water, though full submersion is out of the question. 

Sadly, the Phone (3a)’s eye-catching blue finish isn’t available on the Pro. Instead, you get a choice between the dull grey I tested or a classic black. If you want a colourful phone, the (3a) Pro ain’t it. 

Screen & Speakers

• 6.7-inch FHD+ 120Hz AMOLED screen
• Optical under-display fingerprint sensor
• Stereo speakers

Phone displays have gotten so good recently that you can get a flagship-quality screen on a mid-range handset. And that’s undoubtedly true for the Phone (3a) Pro. 

It boasts a 6.77-inch, Full HD+ (1080 x 2392) flat AMOLED panel that’s up there with the very best. It offers the rich, vibrant colours and deep blacks we’ve come to associate with OLEDs, making it ideal for video content and social media. 

Despite not matching most flagships’ 1440p resolution, detail and clarity are still excellent. I couldn’t tell the difference between the displays on the Phone (3a) Pro and the £999/$999 Samsung Galaxy S25+, and I doubt you could either. 

Anyron Copeman / Foundry

That’s before we even get to the 120Hz refresh rate, which delivers the fast transitions and silky-smooth visuals that make the phone more enjoyable to navigate. The only slight catch is that the default ‘Dynamic’ mode can only go down to 30Hz, rather than 1Hz, limiting the power efficiency (and therefore battery life) benefits.

Nothing advertises up to 800 nits of typical brightness and 300 nits at its peak, making it one of the brightest displays around. I had no problems with outdoor visibility, even in bright sunlight. 

While the bezel isn’t quite as slim as many high-end phones, I do appreciate that it’s consistent all the way around the edge screen. It gives the device an attractive symmetry. 

I want to give the under-display fingerprint sensor a special shoutout. It’s an optical scanner rather than the more advanced ultrasonic version we see on flagships, but I found it to unlock more consistently and quickly than any phone I’ve tried recently. 

On paper, the Phone (3a) Pro offers an unremarkable pair of speakers. But the audio is surprisingly punchy, offering a depth we don’t often see on phones. It won’t replace dedicated speakers or headphones, but it’s plenty good enough for casual use. 

Anyron Copeman / Foundry

Specs & Performance

• Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 chipset
• 12GB RAM
• 256GB non-expandable storage

On paper, the Phone (3a) Pro is nothing (pun intended) special when it comes to performance. Just like the Phone (3a), it uses the Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 chipset, a clear step down from Qualcomm’s flagship Snapdragon 8 Elite. 

I was initially disappointed that Nothing decided against a more powerful chip on a phone that’s £120/$80 more expensive. But then I started using it. 

Anyron Copeman / Foundry

Rather than being a weakness, performance is actually one of the Phone (3a) Pro’s main strengths. Alongside 12GB of RAM, the phone is fluid and highly responsive, excelling across all everyday tasks: web browsing, social media, messages, email and taking lots of photos. 

It’s also very adept at multitasking, allowing me to quickly switch between them without missing a beat. There were some very occasional hesitations and stutters, but they felt like software bugs rather than a lack of power. 

Gaming is where its limitations begin to show, with some noticeable dropped frames while playing demanding AAA titles, so you might need to drop from 60fps to 30fps to ensure smooth gameplay. The Phone (3a) Pro also avoided getting noticeably hot, even during those longer sessions. 

But unless you’re an avid gamer or want to use some serious editing software, the Phone (3a) Pro has all the performance you could ever need. 

The same can be said for internal storage, despite the lack of support for Micro-SD expansion. 256GB is plenty for most people, especially if you rely on cloud storage for a lot of your files. 

Nothing Phone (3a) Pro benchmarks

Cameras

• 50Mp, f/1.9 main
• 50Mp, f/2.6 3x periscope telephoto
• 8Mp, f/2.2 ultrawide
• 50Mp, f/2.2 selfie

If I could find one main weakness with the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro, it’d be the cameras. Not that they’re especially bad – indeed, the phone can take some of the best photos of any mid-range phone – but they’re not consistent enough to be relied upon. 

Let’s start with the positives. In good lighting conditions, the main 50Mp lens is solid. It captures an excellent level of detail and great dynamic range while generally avoiding over- or underexposing backgrounds. 

Anyron Copeman / Foundry

Shots are generally true to life, while the phone handles complex landscapes and intricate architecture equally effectively. 

The big upgrade compared to the regular Phone (3a) is the 50Mp periscope telephoto, allowing it to offer a longer focal length (and so more zoom) than a regular telephoto without adding significantly to the overall thickness. 

It means the (3a) Pro can take full 50Mp shots at 3x optical zoom or 12Mp photos at 6x optical zoom. Images are impressively clear and crisp, to the extent that you might not be able to tell them apart from a flagship phone such as the Galaxy S25 Ultra. 

However, without a variable aperture lens (where the focal length can be adjusted), photos in between those optical zoom settings rely on the much inferior digital zoom. That’s also the case beyond 6x, where there’s a sharp decline in quality all the way to the maximum 60x. 

Where the telephoto lens really shines is macro photography, allowing you to capture incredible details from as little as 15cm away. It’s not an exaggeration to say that the Phone (3a) Pro’s macro photography is up there with the very best. 

You’ll also probably be relying on the telephoto for portrait-style photography. Edge detection can be an issue, but I was able to capture some gorgeous pet photos, and I love how much flexibility Nothing offers in terms of the level of background blur. 

On the front, the 50Mp lens is a great option. It keeps subjects in focus without blowing out the background, and I’m impressed by the way it handles skin tones. Being able to switch from the default 1.2x zoom to a slightly wider 1x mode is a nice touch. 

That’s a lot of positives, so what’s actually wrong with the cameras? Unfortunately, there are two big areas where the Phone (3a) Pro falls short. 

The first is when the lighting is less than ideal. Low-light environments are the obvious example – even with the long-exposure night mode enabled, the phone is very hit-and-miss. For every impressive photo, there’s another that gets it all wrong. 

The phone also struggles in harsh lighting conditions. Under the bright lights of the MWC show floor, the Phone (3a) Pro struggled with clarity and colour accuracy a lot more than I had expected. I ended up regretting using it for product photography while out in Barcelona. 

And then there’s the ultrawide. Given it’s just an 8Mp sensor, I wasn’t expecting image quality to be on par with the main or telephoto lenses. But the drop-off is so significant that it negated any benefits from the 120-degree field of view. Sadly, for the best photography experience, it’s best to avoid this lens altogether. 

See more image samples in the gallery below:

On the video side, the Phone (3a) Pro is limited to 4K at 30fps. That’s just fine for most people, but the quality of footage can vary significantly. And again, it struggles in low light. 

Overall, the Phone (3a) Pro’s cameras aren’t bad at all, especially at this price. But there are enough flaws for you to look elsewhere if top-quality photos and videos are important to you.  

Battery Life & Charging

• 5000mAh battery
• 50W wired charging
• No wireless charging

The Nothing Phone (3a) Pro has what’s probably the most popular battery capacity on a phone: 5000mAh. 

However, as we’ve seen in the past, battery life can vary hugely. Luckily, the (3a) Pro is one of the better ones I’ve tried, comfortably lasting a full day on a single charge. 

Anyron Copeman / Foundry

I used it during several long days at MWC in Barcelona, including lots of photography, high brightness and near-permanent use of mobile data and GPS. By bedtime (often after midnight), I still typically had around 20-30% charge left. 

Since I got back and have been working from home, I’ve generally gone two days between charges. Essentially, unless you plan on gaming every day, you don’t have to worry about battery life on the Phone (3a) Pro. 

The phone supports wired charging up to 50W, but like most phones these days, Nothing doesn’t include the charger in the box. Using a 65W one I had at home, it reached 25% after 15 minutes and 47% by the half-hour mark. You won’t get a full charge in an hour, but you will probably get a full day of usage. 

Sadly, there’s still no wireless charging, but that’s not a big surprise at this price point. 

Software & Features

Nothing’s software experience is one of the big reasons to buy its phones.  

The NothingOS 3.1 skin has a very different look and feel to ‘stock’ Android 15, but only if you want it to. Nothing allows you to adopt a Pixel-style home screen when you set up the Phone (3a) Pro, meaning you can avoid all of its quirks. 

Anyron Copeman / Foundry

However, if you’re a fan of customisation, I’d urge you to try it out. There are almost endless ways to create a look that’s truly yours, combining custom icons with dozens of widgets and Nothing’s signature retro aesthetic. There really is nothing else quite like it. 

Unlike Samsung’s One UI 7, Nothing still combines the notification tray and quick settings into one view, which I personally prefer. The latter is very easy to use, offering satisfying animations that make it feel very slick and polished. 

Anyron Copeman / Foundry

While there is some bloatware – many people will prefer to use Google apps rather than Nothing’s own versions, which often can’t be uninstalled – the attention to detail is impressive. Every Nothing app has a consistent look and feel, something you don’t often get from Android skins. 

Of course, the customisation options extend to the ‘Glyph Interface’ of lights on the back, which can be used to display incoming calls and notifications, show timer progress and even flash along to the music. If you prefer visual rather than sonic cues, it can be very useful. I just wish more third-party apps were supported – currently, it’s just Uber, Zomato and Google Calendar. 

Nothing has applied AI quite sparingly, relying on Google’s Gemini and Circle to Search for the bulk of it. They work just as well as on any other phone and are definitely worth having. 

The key differentiator is the previously mentioned ‘Essential Space’. It acts as a hub for basically anything you want to remember, allowing you to seamlessly add voice notes (which are then transcribed), photos, videos and screenshots via the ‘Essential Key’ hardware button. 

To access the full range of features, including the automatic categorisation of similar content, you’ll need to sign up for early access within the Essential Space app. 

Anyron Copeman / Foundry

However, I’ve still found that it often makes mistakes, misinterpreting some transcribed notes as tasks and adding screenshots that I don’t want to be there. The AI doesn’t seem advanced enough to avoid the app quickly feeling cluttered, and there’s no way to access Essential Space from another device. 

Nonetheless, the overall software experience is still excellent. That extends to support, with Nothing committing to a full six years of updates from launch day, meaning it’ll be safe to use until 2031. That includes three years of Android OS updates and four years of security patches. 

Price & Availability

The Nothing Phone (3a) is available to pre-order now in the UK and US, costing £449/$459. It’ll be released on 25 March. 

In the UK, you can pre-order outright from Nothing and Amazon. In the US, the phone is only available to pre-order outright from Nothing at this stage. 

With no networks or operators selling the phone on contract, you’ll have to buy outright and pair it with a SIM deal. See the best options in the UK below:

It puts the Phone (3a) Pro in direct competition with some of the best mid-range phones you can buy, including the Samsung Galaxy A56 and OnePlus Nord 4. The upcoming Google Pixel 9a also looks set to be a big rival. 

Also, Nothing’s own Phone (3a) costs just £329/$379 yet has a lot in common with the (3a) Pro. For most people, that’s a better value buy. 

Should you buy the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro?

As good as the Phone (3a) Pro is, probably not. The existence of Nothing’s own Phone (3a) makes this more expensive phone a tough sell. 

The only fundamental differences between the two concern the cameras, with the Pro getting a better telephoto lens, improved selfies and 4K video recording. In exchange, you’ll have to put up with a hefty camera bump. 

If you really care about photography at this price, the Pixel 9a will probably be a better bet. And if you want the best phone that Nothing makes, we’re expecting a more premium Phone (3) later this year. 

That puts the Phone (3a) Pro in an awkward middle ground, where it’s one of the best phones that I can’t recommend. 

Specs

• NothingOS 3.1 powered by Android 15 
• 6.77-inch, 1080 x 2392, OLED, 120Hz 
• In-display fingerprint sensor 
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 
• 12GB RAM 
• 256GB storage 
• 50Mp main 
• 8Mp ultrawide 
• 50Mp 3x periscope telephoto 
• 50Mp selfie camera 
• Up to 4K @ 30fps rear video 
• Stereo speakers 
• Dual-SIM 
• Wi-Fi 6, 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax 
• Bluetooth 5.4 
• 5000mAh battery 
• 50W wired charging 
• 163.5 x 77.5 x 8.4 mm 
• IP64 certified 
• 211g 
• Colours: Black, Grey