Nothing Phone (3a) review

The competition

At the time of writing, the Nothing Phone (3a) starts at €329 for its 8/128GB storage model. The 12/256GB model costs €50 extra. That's as much as the current pricing of the Nothing (2a) Plus, and it's €80 cheaper than the Nothing Phone (3a), so Nothing is seemingly pricing this one quite aggressively.

The US market is only getting the 256GB model, and it costs $379 there, making the Nothing phone (3a) an incredible value, almost without any meaningful competition.

Outside of the US, there is some meaningful competition to be considered, but the Nothing phone (3a) still offers very good value.

If you'd like something with more oomph under the hood, you could check out the Poco X7 Pro, which offers unsurpassed performance at the same price as the Phone (3a). It lacks a telephoto camera, though.

The Xiaomi 14T has the same set of cameras as the Nothing phone (3a) while offering better performance, but it comes with a price premium of around €30-40.

Poco X7 Pro • Xiaomi 14T • Motorola Edge 50 Pro

If the Nothing phone (3a) performance level looks fine to you, but you'd like something more compact and lighter with faster charging, you could look into the Motorola Edge 50 Pro, which is €30-40 more expensive.

Our verdict

Even with its growing lineup of devices, Nothing remains a relatively small company. Its future direction is uncertain, but the brand appears to be leaning more toward midrange and value-focused smartphones while adding a pinch of its quirky takes on design and UX. Of course, the true test will be the upcoming Nothing Phone (3), and if the Nothing Phone (3a) is any indication, expectations are high for what's next.

We definitely liked our time with the Nothing Phone (3a). Surprisingly, we didn't miss the 3x periscope telephoto of the Pro model all that much. Without it, the vanilla model arguably offers a better value proposition. There are other very compelling devices that might serve many prospective buyers better. Still, we believe that due to its unique looks and UX, the Nothing Phone (3a) has tons of character and if you value that, then we see no obvious reasons not to go for one.

Pros

• Competitive launch pricing.
• Eye-catching design with a new glass back and Essential Key.
• Decently bright OLED with 120Hz refresh rate, 10-bit colors and HDR support.
• Very loud speakers.
• Unique software design and aesthetic with plenty of custom bits.
• Very good performance with zero thermal throttling.
• Great all-around camera performance.

Cons

• The Essential key's prominent placement has moved the Power button to a new spot that takes some time to get used to.
• Competitors come with a higher ingress protection rating than IP64.
• Only the main camera can record 4K video.
• No eSIM support even though the Phone (3a) Pro supports it.
• No charger in the box.