Nothing doesn’t have a Phone 3 yet, instead choosing to make a lateral move to not one, but two new mid-range devices, the Nothing Phone 3a and, intriguingly, the 3a Pro. Reassuringly, Nothing continues to design phones unlike anything else out there. Its retro-future design aesthetic for the exposed-but-not hardware on the rear of the phones, as well as the dot-matrix fonts, animations and software, are all back.
Hardware design remains Nothing’s biggest strength. I get asked about the Nothing phone more than I do when I’m using the latest iPhone, Samsung’s foldables or anything else. It’s just different. The Phone 3a series now has a glass backing (upgraded from polycarbonate) and you can still see screw fittings, electronics and a return of Nothing’s Glyph lighting system. The Phone 3a is rated IP64, adding better protection this year against rogue water sprays and liquid incidents.
Nothing has once again rejigged the exposed hardware, and the Glyph lighting details are all at the top of the phone, circling the camera unit. On the Phone 3a Pro, courtesy of a new periscope sensor capable of 3X optical zoom, a substantial circular camera unit protrudes from the back.
If you think the 3a Pro’s camera module looks chunky, it also adds roughly 10 grams to its weight compared to the base Nothing Phone 3a. But for camera obsessives, only one of these phones will hold your attention. (Although the blue iteration of the Nothing Phone 3a is gorgeous.)
The Nothing Phone 3a Pro’s 50-megapixel telephoto sensor can stretch to 3x optical zoom, but it also includes a rather useable, in my early testing, lossless cropped 6x zoom. There’s also a 50MP primary sensor with f/1.88 lens, and dual-pixel phase detection auto-focus (PDAF). Nothing has crammed in an ultrawide 8MP sensor with a 120-degree field of view.
The 3a Pro also has a telemacro mode and can combine focus as close as 15cm (5.9 inches) away with the zoom of the telephoto. It’s a feature that makes macro photography far more useful – and still rare on phones outside of China.
The base model Phone 3a’s main 50MP camera has single-pixel PDAF, but otherwise keeps the same primary camera specs. Its telephoto stretches to 2x optical zoom, and a third ultrawide 8MP camera.
While we’ll explore the camera more deeply in our review, my early impressions are positive. Images are crisp and Nothing has a knack for curated filters that look good. I especially like the frosted glass effect, which Nothing also offers for wallpaper customization.
Nothing says its TrueLens Engine 3.0 combines AI-powered tone mapping with Ultra XDR, which it co-developed with Google, to tune photos. It involves a burst of 8 RAW images, which are all processed together to adjust the brightness of each pixel up to five times. Nothing’s image processing seems to lean towards punchy, high-contrast photos and video.
The Phone 3a and Phone 3a Pro are otherwise identical in specs. Compared to the Nothing Phone 2a, both new devices have a bigger 6.77-inch AMOLED LTPS display, now using Panda Glass rather than Corning’s Gorilla Glass. As you might expect from most (but not all) phones, the 3a has an always-on display, can reach 120Hz refresh rates and it now hits 1,300 nits, making it brighter than the company’s last phone, too.
Once again, the phones both have a big 5,000mAh battery and fast charging at up to 50W. According to Nothing, this means it should take less than an hour to charge the device entirely, while you should be able to get halfway there in 19 minutes. One of the only parts of the Nothing Phone 3a series that hints that they aren’t quite at a flagship level is their processor: a Snapdragon 7s Gen 3. We’ll put that chip through its paces in our review, but it is supposed to help with Nothing’s own custom software pecadillos, like the TrueLens Engine. The company says that chip makes the 3a series 92 percent better at AI processing than its predecessor.
In a nod to both its OnePlus history and the recent trend for adding buttons, Nothing added its Essential Key to the Phone 3a, on the right edge below the power button. Oddly, it has a different finish to the rest of the machined buttons on the 3a and feels a bit cheaper. It works like an AI assistant launcher on other smartphones, like Samsung’s Gemini AI launcher, although the AI hooks come later. One press will capture and send content a screenshot to Nothing’s Essential Space app, while a longer press will start recording a voice note. You can also double-press to launch straight into the Essential Space app, which is a storage space for all those collections.
Nothing uses the same AI tricks we’ve seen elsewhere; it just simplifies them. The Phone 3a will transcribe your voice notes, automate reminders, and even describe your photos and screenshots if needed. As I juggle work commitments, other writing projects, life and everything else, this is an intriguing soup of AI tools, storage and automation, all in a single place.
This also seems to be Nothing’s equivalent of Android’s Labs setting. The company is teasing further functionality, such as focused search, flip-to-record, Camera Capture (using the Essential key while in the camera app), Smart Collections of all your notes and more. It seems to be the Notes equivalent of how Google Photos gives you quick and easy access to the images and videos you’re looking for.
With the Phone 3a Pro’s software more broadly, Nothing OS is fun. Despite a learning curve in places, it’s playful. The icons, fonts, and animations across Nothing’s take on Android 15 add a refreshing touch of personality in a sea of smartphone sameness.
Perhaps there are a few too many creative cooks, as Nothing’s decorative touches jostle with what I assume are Google’s baked-in fonts and menus. Some of the icons are hard to discern, too. After powering up the Phone 3a for the first time, a pixelated smiley face appeared on the home screen. I’d tap it and realize it does nothing. It turns out this is Nothing’s attempt at showing your screen time – but it doesn’t need to be a 2×2 widget.
Other nice touches include a monochrome theme (on these monochrome phones), app label removal and a smart app drawer that corrals similar apps together for more straightforward navigation.
Availability in the US will come through a Beta Program, like in previous years. The Phone 3a ($379) is available to preorder now in grey, black and blue, with devices landing March 11, while the Phone 3a Pro ($459) in black and grey, goes on preorder March 11 and launches March 25. In the UK, the company’s Nothing Store in London will be one of the first places to offer the phone directly, from 11AM GMT on March 8.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/nothings-phone-3a-pro-is-a-stylish-almost-flagship-experience-for-459-103058974.html?src=rss
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