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The Nothing Phone 3a is a good budget Android phone for anyone just looking for a large, responsive screen and killer battery life. Coming ahead of the all-but-certain flagship Nothing Phone 3, the 3a is Nothings newest budget smartphone, and it largely succeeds at what its trying to achieve that is, provide a solid option for buyers looking for a large, 120hz display, excellent battery life, and average cameras at a price that doesn't break the bank. But after a week of testing, I couldn't help but feel like its inconsistent performance, measly IP64 rating, and relatively short update plans hold it back from true greatness.Nothing Phone 3a PhotosNothing Phone 3a Design and FeaturesAs with most modern smartphones, there's nothing surprising about the front of the Nothing Phone 3a. Its 6.77" AMOLED display, which hits up to 120hz at FHD+ resolution (2220x1080), is plenty responsive and sharp, even if it's not setting any records and it shouldn't try to at its price point. With Auto Brightness maxed out, I didn't have much trouble viewing anything in direct sunlight though I'm not remotely convinced it was hitting the 3,000 nits that Nothing claims it can achieve.But while the front of the phone screen is all business as usual, the back is where all the flair is. Nothing has cornered a distinct industrial aesthetic with its ever-growing lineup that continues with the Nothing Phone 3a, which is once again sporting a transparent back panel (upgraded from polycarbonate to glass this time) and familiar glyph interface.The glyph interface uses a collection of lights on the back of the phone to share information with you while the phone is face down. This can range from notifications to timers or even using it as a flashlight. You can also have it flash to the beat of music you play on your phone, albeit awkwardly and not always in perfect sync.The glyphs are largely meant to incentivize you to spend less time using your screen by granting you a lot of information via LED lights. If that's your goal, then the deep customization offered for your notifications and beyond can undoubtedly be useful. But analyzing lights just felt like an unnecessary, gimmicky step to me, so I quickly returned to eyeballing my notifications on the front of my phone the way I've been happily doing for years. I love that Nothing continues to embrace this admittedly cool identity, though, and I can see its benefits it's just not for me.Taking a cue from the iPhone 16's Action Button, the Nothing Phone 3a comes with a brand-new Essential Key. This button on the right side of the phone can be double-clicked to enter the Essential Space, an AI-focused hub used to collect and sort photos, notes, and more for easy access. As someone perpetually skeptical of AI, I was nevertheless impressed by how efficient the Essential Key and Essential Space make some tasks.While out and about with the Nothing Phone 3a, I occasionally held down the Essential Key to take voice notes. When I checked for them in the Essential Space later, I found that it had automatically transcribed the notes with no errors, making them a cinch to skim through. Voice transcribing isn't anything new, of course, but being able to quickly hold a button, say a few words, and then have Essential Space handle the rest behind the scenes was admittedly cool.As for what's in the box, you'll get the phone and a USB-C cable. But as is all too common with smartphone releases nowadays, the Nothing Phone 3a doesn't include a charging brick. If you're like me (see: a millennial), you have a bin in your home filled with random cables and bricks, so it'd hopefully be only a minor inconvenience. And if necessary, buying a brick separately isn't a significant expense. Just be sure you get one that takes advantage of the phone's 50W charging capabilities so you can top off quickly.Speaking of inconveniences, the Nothing Phone 3a offers a mediocre IP64 rating, which only protects it against water splashes while leaving it vulnerable if submerged. Granted, if you're planning on going diving with your phone, you probably shouldn't be eyeing budget devices like the Nothing Phone 3a anyway. Still, it always sucks to see such a low rating on any phone, budget or otherwise.Nothing Phone 3a SoftwareThe Nothing Phone 3a comes with Nothing OS 3.1 out of the box. This reskinned Android 15 will be familiar to anyone who has used a Google Pixel device in the past few years. A few unique customization features help it stand out, especially in how it all interacts with the glyph system on the back of the phone, but there's little here that feels wildly different than what you've come to expect from Android.Nothing promises 3 years of Android updates and 6 years of security updates for the Nothing Phone 3a, which is somewhat disappointing in an era where more well-known companies like Samsung and Google offer up to 7 years of both. I'm the type to upgrade phones every 2-3 years anyway, but if you're looking for a device with amazing longevity, the Nothing Phone 3a makes for an iffy prospect.Nothing Phone 3a Gaming and PerformanceThe Nothing Phone 3a's Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 processor and 12GB RAM should ensure solid performance for the average user, and that was my experience well, most of the time. Moving around the phone was usually pretty snappy, but I'd get some stuttering here and there when doing things like opening my app drawer or switching tabs. It wasn't a constant problem, but it happened frequently enough to convince me that the Nothing Phone 3a wouldn't meet my needs as someone used to a flagship device as my daily driver.Gaming is a mixed bag, too. Benchmark tests consistently place the Nothing Phone 3a in the same ballpark as flagships from around three years ago, with comparable results coming from phones like the Google Pixel 7 and Samsung Galaxy S21. Since the Nothing Phone 3a costs less than half of the price of more recent flagships, though, that's certainly understandable. But the numbers still hurt a bit.Heres how the Nothing Phone 3a performed in our suite of benchmark tests:Geekbench 6: CPU - Single-core: 1166 / Multi-core: 3268Geekbench 6: Vulkan GPU - 44353DMark: Wildlife Extreme - 1053 3DMark: Steel Nomad Light - 3793DMark: Steel Nomad Light stress test - 379Suffice it to say the Nothing Phone 3a isn't a stellar gaming device. But that's not to say it can't be used to enjoy your favorite games as long as you're willing to make some concessions. In my experience, the phone handled any game I threw at it so long as I micromanaged some settings and didn't try to push it too hard.I was able to enjoy a few rounds of Vampire Survivors without stressing out the Nothing Phone 3a, and I found that it's a great choice for any older games that don't require much power under the hood. Unsurprisingly, though, I wasn't able to get games like Call of Duty Mobile or Fortnite to maintain high frames with the best graphical quality for any extended play sessions. But if you're fine with your settings being bumped down a peg or two, you'll get passable performance without serious heat concerns.Elsewhere, the Nothing Phone 3a's 5,000mAh battery life is exceptional. It consistently got me through a day and a half of watching videos, scrolling through news, and constantly texting my wife to argue about what we were going to eat for dinner. Of course, it's worth pointing out that days where I threw in some heavier gaming obviously didn't fare quite as well, but that's to be expected. The 50W fast charging got me from under 10% to 100% in under an hour, too, which was plenty fast. Sadly, the phone doesn't support wireless charging, so that's kind of a bummer.Nothing Phone 3a CameraThe Nothing Phone 3a's cameras aren't industry-leading, but they offer photos that can be hard to distinguish from those taken on more expensive midrange phones. That being said, it's important to remember that a budget phone isn't an iPhone 16 Pro Max so if efficient, high-quality phone photography is one of your passions, the Nothing Phone 3a isn't the device you're looking for. For the amateur photographer, though, they'll get the job done.Here's what you're getting with the Nothing Phone 3a:50MP wide, f/1.88, 1/1.57 sensor, 84.5 FOV, OIS, EIS50MP telephoto, f/2.0, 1/2.74 sensor, 49.5 FOV, EIS, 2x optical zoom, 4x in-sensor zoom, 30x ultra zoom8MP ultrawide, f/2.2, 120 FOV32 MP selfie, f2.2, 1/3.44 sensor, 89 FOVIf you want a few more options, you can always opt for the 3a Pro for about eighty bucks more. Its meaningful differences are a 50MP periscope lens with 3x optical zoom and a main camera that works moderately better in low-light conditions. As such, the upgrade is likely not worth the extra money unless you're positive that you'll make use of these improvements.Nothing Phone 3a Camera SamplesCompared to shots taken on my Samsung Galaxy S24, I often found that the Nothing Phone 3a's main camera photos were a little heavy on the contrast but otherwise sharp and punchy enough to stand toe-to-toe. Low-light photos fared okay on the base model, but the 3a Pro is definitely the better choice if you plan to be regularly snapping pictures in darker settings. Regardless of which version of the phone you pick, though, the measly 8MP ultrawide is just dreadful and not worth messing with.The Nothing Phone 3a can also shoot 4K video at 30 FPS or 1080p at up to 60 FPS, but as with photo quality, you're getting budget results from a budget phone. If you're a content creator or really like making great-looking reels for social media, you'll probably be more disappointed with the Nothing Phone 3a's video capabilities than most folks. Some videos can be kind of jittery, and anything shot in less than extremely bright environments turns out noticeably grainy. But it's an acceptable quality for just capturing memories of a pet being silly.Purchasing GuideThe Nothing Phone 3a is available from Nothing for $379. The 3a Pro is $459, with its only differences being contained within its cameras. It's also available on Amazon.
