Nothing has dropped a software update for the Nothing Phone (3a) and Nothing Phone (3a) Pro mid-range smartphones, and it gives the Essential Key the ability it always seemed to have been built for… kind of.
In the Nothing Community blog post that accompanies the rollout of Nothing OS 3.1, the company boasts that “The big news is that Essential Key now works within the Nothing Camera app”.
So, is this the update that turns the Essential Key into the camera shutter we erroneously assumed it to be ahead of launch? Not quite, but it’s a start. Permit us to explain.
Luke Baker
What Nothing OS 3.1 does for the Camera app
Nothing OS 3.1 doesn’t so much turn the Essential Key into a camera shutter button as it does extend the existing Essential Space feature into the Camera app.
You’re still tapping the Essential Key to capture what’s on screen, and holding the button to attach an accompanying voice note. That information is still being sent to the AI-enabled ‘Essential Space’ app.
It’s just that this function now works within the live Camera app, capturing whatever’s currently framed within the viewfinder. This in itself is a powerful expansion of the Essential Space concept, exposing real world content alongside all the online content that it previously catalogued.
And, yes, it does technically allow you to use the convenient Essential Key button to take pictures, even if it’s still well short of the full iPhone 16 Camera Control treatment.
Nothing
What else does Nothing OS 3.1 add?
Aside from those useful new Camera app Essential Key capabilities, Nothing OS 3.1 adds some welcome tweaks and fixes.
The camera app has been improved, making the zoom operation more intuitive, correcting selfies, improving white balance on indoors scenes, and clearing up backlit portraits.
For the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro specifically, Nothing has improved focus accuracy at 2x.
When I used the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro, I found the camera app to be somewhat sluggish. Thankfully, Nothing appears to have addressed that with “Faster overall camera performance and responsiveness”. I’ve only spent a couple of minutes with the update, but it certainly seems to be a smoother camera experience at first glance.
Away from the camera, Nothing has optimised Essential Space, improved the AOD animations, and performed the general bug fixing pass you’d expect of any firmware update.
Nothing OS 3.1 is available to download for the Nothing Phone (3a) and (3a) Pro right now.
