Introduction
Nothing has built an interesting portfolio for the two years the company has been in existence, and the new Phone (3a) Pro and Phone (3a) slot in there just right. It is kind of odd that the company is releasing an “a” variant of a phone ahead of the actual Nothing phone (3), let alone two different models, but approaching phone launches unusually is part of the company’s ethos.
Nothing has a signature faux-transparent look to its devices that is shared by the new Nothing Phone (3a) pair, but even so, in a broader sense, it is rather unique. There is, ahem… nothing else on the market quite like the Nothing Phone (3a) and Phone (3a) Pro.
Nothing Phone (3a) Pro specs at a glance:
- Body: 163.5×77.5×8.4mm, 211g; plastic frame, glass back and front; IP64 dust tight and water resistant (water splashes), 3 LED light strips on the back (notifications, camera fill light, 26 addressable zones).
- Display: 6.77″ AMOLED, 1B colors, 120Hz, HDR10+, 800 nits (typ), 1300 nits (HBM), 3000 nits (peak), 1080x2392px resolution, 19.93:9 aspect ratio, 387ppi; Ultra HDR image support.
- Chipset: Qualcomm SM7635 Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 (4 nm): Octa-core (1×2.5 GHz Cortex-A720 & 3×2.4 GHz Cortex-A720 & 4×1.8 GHz Cortex-A520); Adreno 710 (940 MHz).
- Memory: 128GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 12GB RAM.
- OS/Software: Android 15, up to 3 major Android upgrades, Nothing OS 3.1.
- Rear camera: Wide (main): 50 MP, f/1.9, 24mm, 1/1.57″, 1.0µm, dual pixel PDAF, OIS; Telephoto: 50 MP, f/2.6, 70mm (15cm – ∞), 1/1.95″, 0.8µm, PDAF, OIS, 3x optical zoom; Ultra wide angle: 8 MP, f/2.2, 15mm, 120-degree, 1/4.0″, 1.12µm.
- Front camera: 50 MP, f/2.2, 24mm (wide), 1/2.76″.
- Video capture: Rear camera: 4K@30fps, 1080p@30/60/120fps, gyro-EIS, OIS; Front camera: 4K@30fps, 1080p@30fps.
- Battery: 5000mAh; 50W wired, 50% in 19 min, 100% in 56 min.
- Connectivity: 5G; eSIM; Wi-Fi 6; BT 5.4; NFC.
- Misc: Fingerprint reader (under display, optical); stereo speakers; Circle to Search.
Today, we have the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro in for review. Actually, the vanilla Nothing Phone (3a) is at the office as well, and we might be making references to it here and there, but the Pro model just seems like the more interesting device of the two very identical devices. They both have the same Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 chipset and the same 6.77-inch AMOLED display. They pretty much have full feature and connectivity parity. The one big difference is the camera setup.
The Nothing Phone (3a) Pro has a periscope-style 3x third camera on the back, while the vanilla Phone (3a) has to settle for a regular 2x zoom shooter. Of course, there are some design differences on the back side of both phones, but that’s about it. So, suppose you don’t particularly care about the telephoto camera. In that case, you can read the following pages and be sure that the observations also apply to the vanilla Nothing Phone (3a).
Unboxing
The Nothing Phone (3a) Pro ships in a simple yet not very typical box. Instead of your usual two-piece design, Nothing uses a book-style flap on its cardboard box with a second cardboard sleeve box on top. The inner box is nicely embossed. It definitely shows attention to detail. Everything is made out of cardboard and is recyclable. That includes the inner cradle for the phone itself.
Unfortunately, you don’t get a rich retail package with the Phone (3a) Pro. All that’s included is a branded USB Type-C to Type-C cable and a SIM ejector tool. That’s it. No charger and no case.